Please sit down!

The Sawing a Body in Half Illusion is a timeless theatrical performance. In this trick, an assistant lies on a table and is secured with a wooden crate or shallow box. The assistant's head and feet remain visible and active as the magician appears to cut them with a saw blade.

At the moment of the sawing, the person's whole body fits into one half of the box. There are actually two individuals inside: one person reveals her head, while the other extends her feet. When the magician appears to saw them in half, he is merely cutting through the middle of the box, splitting it into two parts. The sections are then slightly separated, revealing the assistant's torso.

Magic in the sense of illusion is a performing art where an artist uses tricks and staged effects to create the appearance of impossible feats using entirely natural means. It sits alongside theater, dance, and music as live performance intended to evoke emotions such as wonder, tension, and humor.

Magic is defined as a performing art built from illusions, sleight of hand, misdirection, mechanical devices, and psychology, not from supernatural powers. Many contemporary magicians frame their work explicitly as performance art, focusing on narrative, visual design, and emotional impact rather than just “puzzles” for the audience.

Effective magic performances are meticulously designed, incorporating elements like scripting, timing, body language, lighting, music, and set design to enhance the illusion and atmosphere. Many contemporary magicians highlight that the true magic lies in the emotional experience—such as surprise, suspense, catharsis, or awe—rather than merely the secret techniques. Narrative magic approaches each routine as a story, complete with setup, conflict, and resolution, utilizing illusions as plot twists and climaxes.

Records from the ancient world describe conjuring and “wonder” performances, such as early cup-and-ball type illusions in Egypt, which mixed entertainment with religious or mystical contexts. As belief in witchcraft waned in early modern Europe, conjuring gradually became more acceptable public entertainment rather than feared occult practice. By the 18th and early 19th centuries, performers in England helped move magic from itinerant fairground acts toward ticketed shows for wealthier patrons in dedicated venues.

A poster for Robert-Houdin’s ‘incredible’ magic show from the late 1800s. Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin.

Late‑19th‑century magicians developed large touring shows with elaborate sets and posters, and performers used escapes and publicity to turn magic into international popular culture.

Between the 1920s and 1930s, stage magic remained hugely popular, with headline acts and iconic illusions helping define big-theatre spectacle. In the 1990s and 2000s, performers popularized street and stunt‑based magic, using real-world environments and a documentary feel rather than traditional stage framing.

Contemporary magicians increasingly mix magic with theater, comedy, narrative, and conceptual performance, treating illusions as a vehicle for storytelling, character, and artistic experimentation rather than just puzzle-solving tricks.

If we consider a magic show stage as a 360-degree circle, then at least three quarters of the stage is facing the audience. However, during the magic show, the audience in front of the stage, on the left and the right hemisphere, can see completely different magic effects, and they don't know each other at all. Especially, the audience on the left and the right hemisphere of the stage may see an opposite magic show. At this point, a question arises: How does the magician manage to make all the audience feel the same magic shock from every Angle? How is it that the audience often clapping for the climax of a magic trick at the same time?

The Front Row. Every instruction given by the magician on the stage is most clearly seen by the audience in the first row. If the magician and each front-row audience member have rehearsed and some shills are arranged among the back-row audience, the magic effect and the interaction with the audience can be easily accomplished.

At this time, people may witness a special phenomenon. When the audience in the first row stand up to watch the performance, the audience in the second row will also stand up because they are blocked by the first row. Then, the audience in the third row, the fourth row, and all those behind will stand up because they won't be able to see the performance if they don't stand up. If there is an audience in the crowd who does not stand up, the others will think that the sitting audience is stupid. Some viewers, who originally did not want to stand up, had no choice but to do so because they were afraid that other followers would think they were stupid. This would lead to a collective stupidity, which in fact could be immediately resolved by having the audience in the front row sit down. But 90% of the audience had no idea that the front-row audience was arranged by the magician. This phenomenon is known as the serial-position effect.

Thus, it is extremely difficult for a magician to control a super-giant stage. The larger the stage, the higher the demand for control. So most magicians will go through countless rehearsals on small stages before stepping onto the giant stage to ensure the accuracy of the performance.

As early as the 1920s and 1930s, American scientists conducted an experiment in a factory on the relationship between working conditions, social factors and production efficiency. The research found that when a person is under public attention or gaze, his learning and working efficiency will increase significantly.

By this conclusion, proactive people choose to be in the "front row", thus gaining more attention, which in turn promotes the improvement of their behavioral efficiency. And the improvement of efficiency, in turn, leads to further attention and recognition for this person. This is why teachers are more willing to interact with students in the front row, while enterprises choose applicants sitting in the front row.

The serial-position effect is the reliable tendency to remember the first and last items in a sequence better than the items in the middle. Items at the beginning of a list are recalled better because they receive more attention and rehearsal, making them more likely to enter long-term memory. Items at the end of a list are recalled better because they are still active in short-term or working memory at the time of recall.

When you plot recall probability against an item’s position in a list, you usually see a U‑shaped “serial-position curve”: high recall for early items, a dip in the middle, and high recall again for the last items.

Early items benefit from extra rehearsal and reduced interference, supporting transfer to long-term storage (primacy). Recent items benefit from being fresh in short-term memory, reducing the time available for forgetting or interference before they are recalled.

Middle items are less recalled because they are neither rehearsed enough for long-term memory nor recent enough to still be in short-term memory, and they suffer both proactive and retroactive interference.

Therefore, magic shows are an extension of behavioral science, featuring analysis and logic.

Cold reading in magic is a collection of techniques that let a performer seem to know personal facts about someone with little or no real prior information. Cold reading is a structured way of making high‑probability guesses, reading reactions, and then refining those guesses so they feel eerily accurate to the spectator. It is widely used in mentalism, psychic acts, and fortune‑telling to create the illusion of intuition, mind‑reading, or contact with spirits.

The performer starts with broad, generally true statements (often called “Barnum” statements), which most people will accept as specifically about them. While talking, the reader observes clothing, age, body language, and micro‑reactions to quickly learn which lines of guesswork are “hitting” and which to drop. In magic and mentalism, cold reading is used to make effects feel personal—naming details about someone’s life, personality, or relationships without obvious prior research.

Many ethical magicians frame it clearly as an illusion or psychological skill, while warning that the same techniques are used by fraudulent psychics to convince people they have supernatural abilities. Cold reading is a study within behavioral science that deduces personal information and preferences by examining and observing human behavior.

The following two cases illustrate cold reading in murder investigations.

I. Death of Elisa Lam

Elisa Lam (b. April 30, 1991), a 21-year-old Asian Canadian tourist, died in 2013 in a tragic and mysterious incident at the Cecil Hotel (now Stay on Main) in Los Angeles.

Lam arrived at the hotel on January 26, 2013, for a solo West Coast trip. She was wearing a red hoodie, was last seen alive on January 31, captured on erratic elevator surveillance footage where she pressed multiple buttons, hid, and gestured oddly.

Her parents reported her missing on February 8 after losing contact; her naked, decomposed body was found on February 19 in a locked rooftop water tank by a maintenance worker investigating guest complaints of low pressure and foul-tasting water.

Official Cause The Los Angeles County coroner ruled her death an accidental drowning, with bipolar disorder as a significant factor.

Toxicology showed traces of her prescribed medications (like bupropion and venlafaxine) but at low levels, suggesting she wasn't consistently taking them, possibly leading to a psychotic episode; no drugs, trauma, or assault evidence was found.

She had undressed in the tank, likely to aid swimming, but couldn't escape the 10-foot-deep structure.

Theories and Speculation Investigators believe she accessed the secured roof via fire escape and climbed an unsecured ladder to the tank.

Despite the ruling, online theories persist about foul play, drugs, or supernatural elements due to the hotel's dark history (linked to murders and suicides) and the eerie video, but no evidence supports them.

A 2021 Netflix documentary revisited the case without uncovering new proof of homicide.

The murderer in this case remains elusive. Yet, cold reading significantly influenced the investigation. Analyzing Elisa Lam's behavior, alongside the speculation from news reports, has ensured this case resonates deeply with audiences worldwide. The peculiar gestures, the red hoodie, and the enigmatic hotel—these striking elements possess the potential to captivate Hollywood movies.

II. Murder of Yingying Zhang

Yingying Zhang (b. Dec,21,1990) was a 26‑year‑old visiting Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana‑Champaign who was kidnapped and murdered on June 9, 2017, by former U of I physics graduate student Brendt Allen Christensen (b. June,30,1989).

Zhang was on her way to sign an apartment lease in Urbana, Illinois, when she missed a bus and waited at a campus bus stop.

Surveillance video showed her speaking with the driver of a black Saturn Astra, then getting into the car; that vehicle was later identified as Christensen’s.

Christensen had earlier that day posed as an undercover police officer and tried to coax another woman into his car; she refused and reported the incident.

Christensen took Zhang to his apartment, where he restrained, sexually assaulted, beat her with a baseball bat, stabbed her, and ultimately decapitated her.

Investigation and evidence showed Zhang was reported missing the same day, prompting a massive search involving local police, the FBI, and community volunteers.

Investigators matched the unique features of the car seen on surveillance (including a cracked hubcap and sunroof) to Christensen’s vehicle.

The FBI placed Christensen under surveillance and persuaded his girlfriend to wear a recording device in hopes of clearing him; instead, he confessed to her that he had kidnapped and killed Zhang and boasted about being a “serial killer.”

Digital evidence showed Christensen had visited fetish and “abduction” forums (such as “Abduction 101”) before the crime.

Christensen was arrested on June 30, 2017, and charged in federal court with kidnapping resulting in death and making false statements to the FBI.

At trial in 2019, his own defense admitted he killed Zhang; the jury quickly found him guilty on all counts.

Because it was a federal case, he was eligible for the death penalty, but the jury did not unanimously agree to impose it.

On July 18, 2019, Christensen was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus additional years for the false-statement charges.

After conviction, under an immunity agreement, Christensen told his attorneys he had dismembered Zhang’s body, placed the remains in garbage bags, and disposed of them in a dumpster near his apartment the day after the murder.

That dumpster was emptied within days; its contents were compacted and buried under around 30 feet of trash in a private landfill, making recovery of her remains extremely unlikely.

As of now, Zhang’s body has never been found, and her family has not been able to bring her home for burial.

The case deeply affected student communities and raised concerns about international student safety in the United States.

It prompted memorials, policy discussions, and the documentary film “Finding Yingying,” which focuses on Zhang’s life and her family’s experience rather than just the crime

The most remarkable and scrutinized element of this case is Brendt Allen Christensen's (born June 30, 1989) behavior and his exceptionally calm demeanor during the FBI interrogation.

During the entire interrogation, Brendt Allen Christensen's demeanor suggested he was confident of being acquitted. This level of assurance and calmness, however, raises questions: What is the source of his confidence?

If a murderer can continue to live confidently and calmly after committing a crime, they will be convicted unless the act was for national security. This resembles a game strategy.

Counter-Strike (CS) is a series of multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video games, in which opposing teams attempt to complete various objectives. The series began on Windows in 1999 with the release of the first game, Counter-Strike.

The game pits two teams, Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists, against each other in different objective-based game modes. The most common game modes involve the Terrorists planting a bomb while Counter-Terrorists attempt to stop them, or Counter-Terrorists attempting to rescue hostages that the Terrorists have captured. There are nine official game modes, all of which have distinct characteristics specific to that mode.

How can we ensure this game remains enjoyable and sustainable without concluding? Introduce a third team alongside the existing ones: the Counter-Terrorists and the Terrorists join forces.

When the Counter-terrorist Group or the Terrorist Group is nearing victory, a third group will intervene to eliminate the side with greater combat strength. This third group has the ability to recruit individuals from both the Counter-terrorist and Terrorist Groups who commit acts of betrayal against their own teams, citing national security reasons. These recruits are assured automatic inclusion in the third group following their assassination mission.

The counter-terrorist and terrorist groups are unaware of the third group's members. However, the third group knows everyone's identities and can strengthen itself by dividing members from both the counter-terrorist and terrorist groups.

Therefore, this game adds the analysis of teammates' behaviors on the basis of the difficulty of shooting games.

Cold Reading also refers to the act of reading a stranger's mind or making divination predictions without prior preparation. Originating from spiritualists, fortune-tellers and magic shows, it is used to create an impression of the "supernatural". It is often used in modern times for sales, dating or interpersonal communication, helping to win trust instantly.

“Tame Head” (often written as “tame head,” “tame‑head,”) is a type of black‑magic curse or sorcery belief in parts of Southeast and East Asia, especially in Thailand.

What “Tame Head” meansIt refers to a family of curses said to be created by using poisonous insects, animal parts, blood, and rituals, then sending the curse to harm or control a target.

In some folk accounts, practitioners “raise” many venomous creatures (snakes, centipedes, scorpions, spiders, etc.) in a container until only one survives; that surviving creature becomes the vessel of the curse.

The curse is believed to be able to cause love obsession, mental breakdown, extreme bad luck, wasting illness, or death, depending on the ritual and intent.

Types and alleged effects include:

Love/obedience curses: Making a partner become obsessively attached, unable to leave, or easily controlled.

Wealth and luck curses: Bringing money or gambling luck, often said to require later “payment” or cause backlash.

Harm or death curses: Causing mysterious illness, organ failure, or sudden death (“death tame”), sometimes described as the heart “bursting” or the victim vomiting blood for no clear medical reason.

These are folk beliefs, not verified phenomena. Sudden or unexplained deaths in Southeast Asia are sometimes attributed to tame head or similar magic in local rumor, even when medical explanations exist.

Nonetheless, belief in such curses can be very strong, and fear or guilt about having a curse placed on someone can contribute to anxiety, psychosomatic symptoms, or social conflict. In Thailand and neighboring regions, stories of black‑magic monks, occult rituals, and love curses periodically surface in the media and online, keeping the idea alive in modern urban legend culture.

Four major "Tame Head" categories

Touch, Enter, Curse, Follow

1. Touch: Whenever people come into contact with something, whether by inhalation or touching an object that has undergone the ritual, their state will be influenced. They may become inexplicably restless, experience significant emotional swings, and transform into a completely different person, suddenly developing new likes or delaying actions. This is typically used in matters of love or dating.

2. Enter: The main problem is that something invades the human body and causes distress. Typical symptoms are intense abdominal pain, swelling, and even a feeling of movement inside the body. The most exasperating aspect is that when visiting the hospital for an examination, the cause might remain undetected.

3. Curse: This type is the most dreaded because a wizard can cast a curse without needing to approach anyone directly; they can use a medium such as a person's photo, name, birthday, or even hair, nails, or personal belongings to inflict the curse. Typically, those who are cursed experience misfortune and encounter a series of accidents. Common physical symptoms include hoarseness, red streaks in the whites of the eyes, and unusual complexion and excitement.

Reference character: California Governor

4. Follow: This type is straightforward to grasp. It occurs when a sorcerer compels a spirit to disrupt and affect a person's thoughts, sleep, and life, leading to misfortune. Individuals might sense an intrusion into their lives, experience disturbances in the middle of the night, encounter unusual occurrences at home, and become excessively suspicious.

These types are all based on poisoning symptoms. And "Tame Head" precisely takes advantage of the cold reading technique to strike when people are most vulnerable and seeking help.

Throughout history, humans have instinctively responded to disasters with certain behaviors. But how exactly does cold reading function?

Disasters since 2000 have not only impacted the global landscape but have also significantly altered the way people live and think.

The 9/11 terrorist attacks occurred

On September 11, 2001, the 9/11 terrorist attacks that shocked the world occurred in the United States, killing nearly 3,000 people. This incident has transformed global security policies and counter-terrorism strategies.

SARS Virus

The 2003 SARS outbreak

caused by SARS-CoV-1,

infected over 8,000 people worldwide and resulted in approximately 774 deaths, originating 

in Guangdong, China.

Indonesia Tsunami

On December 26, 2004, a strong earthquake occurred in the Indian Ocean, triggering a huge tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people. The disaster has drawn global attention to natural disaster response mechanisms.

Global Financial Crisis erupts

In 2008, due to the global financial crisis triggered by the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis, which led to a global economic recession, millions of job losses, and financial market turmoil, many countries' economic policies underwent major adjustments.

Haiti Earthquake

On January 12, 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurred in Haiti, killing more than 230,000 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. The international community has reached out to promote attention to post-disaster reconstruction.

Japan Earthquake

On March 11, 2011, Japan experienced a devastating 9.0 magnitude earthquake, leading to a catastrophic tsunami and a nuclear disaster at Fukushima. The official death toll and missing persons count reached approximately 18,500, with estimates suggesting the final toll could be over 20,000.

Arab Protest

In 2011, a series of protests broke out in Arab countries demanding political reform and democratic freedoms, which eventually led to regime changes in several countries and had a profound impact on the Middle East.

Edward Snowden leaks

In 2013, former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked classified documents about the U.S. government surveillance project, sparking widespread global discussion about privacy and security.

Ukraine Crisis erupts

In 2014, a political crisis broke out in Ukraine, which led to the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by Russia, triggering sanctions and confrontations from the international community, and affecting the global geopolitical landscape.

Brexit Referendum

On June 23, 2016, the United Kingdom held a referendum to decide whether to leave the European Union, and finally chose to leave the European Union with a support rate of 52%, causing the EU to face major political and economic challenges.

COVID-19

In early 2020, the new coronavirus epidemic began to spread from Wuhan, China, and quickly spread to the world, causing millions of people to be infected. The global economy was severely impacted, and various countries took different epidemic prevention measures.

Global Vaccination

In 2021, with the development and approval of the new crown vaccine, various countries have launched large-scale vaccination campaigns in an effort to control the spread of the epidemic and restore economic and social life.

Russia-Ukraine conflict escalates

In February 2022, Russia launched a military operation against Ukraine, which led to a strong international response and sanctions. The conflict had a significant impact on the global energy supply and security situation.

Climate Change Summit

In 2023, leaders gathered at the Climate Change Summit to discuss measures to combat global warming and promote sustainable development and the transformation of the green economy.

Rapid development of artificial intelligence technology

In 2024, artificial intelligence technology has made breakthrough progress in many fields, promoting changes in technology, medical care, education and other industries, and also triggered extensive discussions on ethics and employment.

Every human disaster represents a compilation of human information, providing a thorough analysis of health, wealth, emotions, and human nature. When disasters occur, people respond urgently to the individuals, things, and events that are most significant to them. In these moments, it becomes clear what a person values most, what their most important secret is, how healthy they are, and the extent of their hidden wealth. If a nation or group aims to dominate the world, gathering such information about humanity is crucial. By understanding what humans prioritize, one can exert control over the world.

Behind all these disasters lies a common factor: extensive information dissemination and news reporting. The aim is to amplify fear. When people are faced with fear, they tend to display instinctive behaviors, making it the ideal moment for being manipulated. Whoever can control news and the Internet will receive 100% "attention" of the world.

For example, during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, most people globally lacked a clear understanding of the virus, and information was primarily disseminated through online news. During this period, cold reading could have had a significant impact by managing the fear and influence of the epidemic via the Internet. Consequently, it is unclear how many elderly individuals and children succumbed to fear rather than the virus itself. Alternatively, this might have been a psychological challenge, examining whether humans can be frightened to death by falsehoods.

Analyzing all disaster records from 2000 to 2025 uniformly reveals no apparent connections or significant clues among them.

However, if we consider this trajectory as a person's growth, by cold reading, we can infer that this person will experience a specific disaster in a particular year. From this, it can be predicted whether the next disaster will occur in 2028 or 2030? If this person happens to be standing in the first row on the world stage, should we say together "Please sit down?"

Noha Ellaboody

Cairo, Egypt

02:24 PM, Tuesday

Mar 03, 2026

Kris Pisey

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

07:19 PM, Tuesday

Mar 03, 2026

Co-writing by Artpendix Team