‘It helped me get away from crime’: Cape Town’s College of Magic – a photo essay

Posted on September 17, 2021 by Admin

Photographer Tommy Trenchard documents students whose stories of transformation at the Hogwarts of South Africa are more than just fairytales

To fans of JK Rowling’s books, the story may sound somewhat familiar: a young boy living in difficult circumstances is enrolled in a mysterious school far from home, where his life is changed for ever by the transformative power of magic.

Anele Dyasi’s story is no fairytale, though, and the school in question is not Hogwarts, but the College of Magic in Cape Town, a unique institution that has been training some of the continent’s most skilled illusionists since the 1980s.

Excommunicated Spanish ‘witch’ village turns curse into tourist cash

Posted on August 22, 2021 by Admin

Embracing its strange past is a blessing for Trasmoz as thousands flock to its witchcraft attractions

Tucked into the foothills of northern Spain, the village of Trasmoz attracts thousands of tourists each year. For many, the allure is not its half-ruined castle nor stunning mountain backdrop but rather a curious quirk of history: Trasmoz is Spain’s only excommunicated and cursed village.

“So far, being excommunicated and cursed hasn’t been bad for us,” said Lola Ruiz Diaz, one of the 47 or so people who live all year round in Trasmoz, some 50 miles north-west of Zaragoza. “It’s turned out to be a point in our favour.”

Split in two: magicians to celebrate 100 years of sawing people in half

Posted on January 10, 2021 by Admin

London based Magic Circle’s event, streamed on Facebook, will feature David Copperfield, Debbie McGee and more

One hundred years ago next weekend, an English magician called Percy Thomas Tibbles literally and laboriously sawed through a sealed wooden box which contained a woman.

It was a sensation and has since become one of the best known magic tricks, performed with all manner of tools and varying degrees of blood - always involving someone cut in half and nearly always with them miraculously put back together.

Indian magician’s body found after tragic Houdini-style stunt

Posted on June 17, 2019 by Admin

Chanchal Lahiri’s still-chained body found 1km downstream on bank of river in Kolkata

Indian police have recovered the body of a magician who drowned when a Houdini-like stunt in a river went wrong.

Chanchal Lahiri, 42, known by his stage name of Mandrake, went missing on Sunday after a ferry took him towards the broadest part of the Hooghly river in Kolkata at around noon. There, he was lowered by crane into the muddy waters with chains and ropes. Lahiri was inside a small, padlocked cage. His arms and legs were apparently tied and he was blindfolded.