Magifest Legends

Any magic convention that lasts will eventually become part of the memories of everyone who ever attended. Some people have wonderful memories of Magifest.

But there are also stories that are passed around the underground, like a new move, some of which can’t be confirmed. But this is magic. Most of what we do can’t be confirmed.

Memories can be wrong. People can forget. I don’t have to explain to a bunch of magicians that people don’t always remember things correctly.

But a legend is always right. Because it is a legend. As newspaperman Maxwell Scott said in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, when the legend becomes fact, print the legend.

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"I heard Shin Lim was there doing magic at the bar before he was really famous."
—Vic Manfredi

"I've heard before that there used to be, maybe they still is, a secret poker game with some of the best cheats that show up. The rules are you can cheat but only if you can get away with it. If you're caught you're immediately ejected from the game."
—Dan Luckett

"I heard George is real."
—Chazz Barber

"Stoney (E. Thoburg Stone) was an irascible old fart. He ran security, and one night Johnny Ace Palmer, headlining at the convention, didn’t have his badge. Stoney wouldn’t let him in."
—Jep Hostetler

"I heard that David Copperfield flew around the room."
—Anonymous

"I heard a bunch of “girls” threw coffee beans on Steve Beam while he was on stage. I’ve also heard that I was one of them."
—Maria Schwieter

"David Williamson… Won’t say what! Lol."
—Anonymous

"I heard someone was in a Gorilla costume roaming the convention."
—Anonymous

"Pedro told story of a young magician kid he was working with, and the kid's family took them to Magifest and let them go on their own. They were 10. All the magicians took them under their wings, literally teaching them tricks when their hands were too small to hold a deck. It changed the kid's life. They are now a professional magician."
—Anonymous

"Rumor has it that Brent Braun can be seen roaming the halls, late at night, sessioning with all the late night magi."
—Scott R. Smith

"There's a story about Dave Williamson hiding out in the bathroom and magi coming in to see that he's totally vanished after walking in though there's no way out that isn't being seen. I do not know all of the details but if you come to Magifest you can ask around and get the story. There's a really good chance that you can ask Dave himself as he's always at a table somewhere in the lobby talking shop."
—krismyth

"I heard that in the bar area below the convention, someone folded a bill to look like a butterfly (a la MoneyMorphosis) and then turned it into a real butterfly that had the serial number on its wing."
—Nico López

"I heard there is a secret group of young adult magicians that make the craziest magic at conventions together. Will Tyrell, Cashan Wallace, and other friends all making product-ready magic within one weekend."
—Jameson Anders

"I witnessed the Harrison Greenbaum gala performance of the FU trick. I think Harrison is hilarious and enjoy the late night stuff, but it was not good for the family gala. I had never seen an audience member stand up and rebuke the show! Not something I’ll soon forget."
—Anonymous

"An absolute legend of magic who passed away shortly after one of the conventions did the cleanest open prediction I’ve ever seen. My friends and I, who have been in the industry a long time, were floored. It was after a lecture, we were the only ones left in the room. He quietly pulled out a deck of cards and fooled us so badly."
—Chris Beason

"I heard that Robert-Houdin's ghost actually made a real appearance, no gimmicks or sleight of vision. I didn't see it, however."
—Anonymous

"I heard that Joshua Jay is just Andi Gladwin in disguise, and the "Andi" you see in person is an ultra-realistic robot. Note to Andi: If you made a Josh Jay robot, you could save a fortune in makeup. Oh, but wait—then the robot would get to live Josh’s life. I see why you’re doing it this way."
—Kevin Noble

"One year Steve Beam performed, and during his close-up show, Lisa Menna had to leave the room. As she was on her way out, Steve ad-libbed that he would like a black coffee, as if delivering coffee was her job! A few of us took offense to the comment, treating one of our fellow females as a secretary. Maria Schweiter, Peg Shickler, and I started a plot of retaliation! We even checked with Jep Hostetler, who replied, with a wink, “I don't want to know anything about it.”

We took that as a yes.

All day Friday, the three of us borrowed trays, coffee pitchers, and mugs from the hotel restaurant. The Friday night show began, with Steve as MC. During a pause in Steve's act, the three of us entered from one of the side banquet doors. As we approached the stage, there was a look of terror in Steve's eyes. He had got wind of our plot, and had heard we were going to hit him with hot coffee!
Instead, we pelted him with mugs full of coffee beans to a thundering round of applause, and great laughter!"
—Jania Taylor

"I had heard unbelievable legends about David Williamson’s shows and lectures. Turns out you have to see it to believe it! By the time he got up from under the table, tugging on the kid’s shoe and sock and almost pulling him onto the floor, he could’ve stuffed an elephant into that lemon."
—Rick H

"I heard that Alex Boyer’s hair used to be short."
—Mason Quinette

"I heard Juan Tamariz was at a table with some well-known magicians and it was very late or early in the morning. Someone named a card and Juan reached down and turned over the top of the deck, and there it was. He repeated this at least six times without even touching the deck."
—Beau DeClue

"Once, in a Magifest close-up show, Steve Beam (the card magician) make a bird appear—in the audience!"
—Brett Sears

"We all dream of getting snowed in at the Magifest. One year, when it happened, Abb Dixon lined a briefcase with tinfoil, and when he got to the airport to fly home, he filled it with snow.

When he put it thought the x-ray machine it scanned totally black. Of course, the security agent ask him to open it up, and was astonished to see it was full of snow. The agent started poking holes in the snow with his finger, making sure there was nothing else concealed.

Then he turned to Abb and asked why had a briefcase full of snow. Abb, in an exaggerated Southern accent, said, "Because my Mama and Daddy ain't never seen snow!"
—Jania Taylor

"They say the first Magifest wasn't held in some stuffy hotel ballroom, but in the stuffy grand hall of Camelot itself. Merlin, naturally, was the Master of Ceremonies, his beard glittering with enchanted sparks. He opened the festivities with a display of his most potent magic, conjuring dragons from thin air and transforming knights into stone statues (which, thankfully, he turned back again). Morgan le Fey, ever the enchantress, arrived in a whirlwind of emerald smoke, captivating the court with illusions of impossible beauty and terrifying power. She summoned visions of future Magifests, showing glimpses of Juan Tamariz, the master of close-up magic, leaving spectators speechless with his impossible card tricks.

Word of the gathering had spread far and wide, attracting mystical figures from across the land. There was the mysterious Druid from Stonehenge, who could predict the winning lottery numbers centuries in advance (though he never played, claiming it "disrupted the space-time continuum"). And the mischievous Puck, who delighted in playing pranks on the attendees, swapping wands for rubber chickens and turning everyone's ale into strawberry jam. There was also a mysterious figure known only as "The Great Dedi," said to be able to perform miracles.

The highlight of the week was a grand magic competition. Merlin and Morgan le Fey were the judges, of course. Each magician presented their most astonishing feats: levitation, teleportation, transformations, and mind-reading. But as the competition reached its climax, a strange hush fell over the hall. A hooded figure, shrouded in shadow, stepped forward. No one knew their name, nor where they came from. A faint scent of sulfur lingered in the air as they raised a hand, revealing a ring that shimmered with an inner light, much like the one Plato had described centuries later. A raven, seemingly appearing from nowhere, perched on their shoulder, its obsidian eyes glinting in the torchlight. With a silent gesture, they summoned a swirling vortex of energy, and in a blink, vanished without a trace, leaving behind only an echoing whisper that some swore sounded like the name "John" - or perhaps "Joan" - and the faint scent of stardust. A single white feather drifted down from the spot where they had stood, a feather that seemed to defy gravity, floating upwards on an unseen current of air. To this day, no one knows who this mysterious magician was, or what became of them. Some whisper they were a being from another realm, a visitor from the future, perhaps even the legendary Comte de Saint-Germain himself, or maybe even a manifestation of magic itself.

The first Magifest ended with a grand feast, where the magicians shared secrets, swapped spells, and toasted to the future of their craft. And as the sun rose over Camelot, they vanished, leaving behind only whispers and legends of a magical gathering that would echo through the ages.

This story, passed down through generations of magicians, adds a mythical dimension to Magifest. It suggests that the spirit of magic and wonder that permeates the convention has its roots in an ancient and powerful tradition, and that some secrets of magic are perhaps best left unsolved."
—Robert Rabinowitz aka “Doktor Are”