Random Doomed Magic Acts That Ended In Tragedy (10 items)

(#3) Madame DeLinsky Bit The Bullet

In 1820, a Polish magician lost his wife and unborn child while performing the infamous "bullet catch" trick. During the act, his wife and assistant, Madame DeLinsky, was fired at while on stage. Six soldiers were invited onstage to load their guns. To load the rifles, the men had to bite open the cartridge to add the gunpowder in the barrel. Then they could insert the rest of the cartridge.

The soldiers were paid "shills" - they had previously been instructed to actually bite the entire bullet, allowing them to fire blanks instead. One of the soldiers got a bit of stage fright and accidentally loaded his gun with the bullet. He then fatally shot the pregnant Madame DeLinsky on stage.
(#5) Vivian Hensley Swallowed A Razor Blade

Vivian Hensley wasn't a professional magician - he was actually a dentist from Australia. But that didn't stop him from performing a few tricks to his wife and son in 1938, specifically the trick that involved swallowing a razor blade. In Hensley's original stunt, he pretended to drop the blade down his throat while secretly stashing it up his sleeve. But he slipped up and accidentally swallowed the instrument.

Hensley's doctor fed him some cotton wool and performed an operation to attempt to locate the razor. Surgeons weren't able to find it, and Hensley passed from his injuries a few days later.
(#4) The Great Lafayette Was Trapped In A Burning Theatre

In 1911, "The Great Lafayette" - otherwise known as Sigmund Neuberger - was performing one of his most famous acts called "The Lion's Bride," in Edinburgh. In the trick, Lafayette was to be sacrificed to his giant 400-pound lion on stage. At the last second, however, Lafayette was to switch places and reveal himself to be in costume as the lion. Much of his stage decor was made up of oriental tenting and Chinese paper lanterns, and one such lantern caught fire during the act.

The entire stage became engulfed in flames. Lafayette was so paranoid about his tricks that three of the four exits backstage were locked, leaving only one exit open to his large cast and crew. Eleven people died, including Lafayette, who reportedly escaped and then returned to the blaze to save his beloved horse.

After the cremation of his body, Lafayette was again found under a trap door beneath the stage. It was only then that Lafayette's secret was revealed: he used a body double, and the real Lafayette had been stuck under the stage during the fire.
(#7) Chung Ling Soo Was Shot While On Stage

As another victim of the "bullet catch," Chung Ling Soo was shot and killed during his performance of "Condemned to Death by Boxer," in 1918. The performer failed to properly clean out the gun, and residual gunpowder ended up firing an actual bullet. This famous Chinese magician wasn't actually Chinese at all. He was originally a magician's assistant named William Robinson, who had an awkward stage presence.

His solution was to copy the act of a Chinese magician named Ching Ling Foo. He then used the persona as a way to avoid speaking during performances and even continued the act off-stage, using an interpreter everywhere he went. When he was shot, he broke character and spoke out in English for the first time, saying: "Oh my God. Something’s happened. Lower the curtain."
(#1) Genesta Trapped Himself In A Milk Can

Royden Joseph Gilbert Raison De La Genesta really had too long of a name to be in the entertainment industry, but nonetheless performed as a Houdini imitator. In 1930, Genesta attempted a famous Houdini trick: the milk-can escape. At that time, milk was transported from farms in human-sized cans.

Genesta's milk-can escape involved a secret trap door that allowed him to escape despite the locks on the can's opening. What he didn't know, however, is that the milk can had been dropped en route, and the escape door was dented and no longer functioned. He was submerged in the milk can for three minutes before his wife realized something was wrong. Not used to using the locked door, the crew took another fateful minute to open the padlocks. Genesta momentarily regained consciousness and passed shortly after.
(#8) Jeff Rayburn Hopper Escaped His Chains But Drowned

In 1984, Jeff Rayburn Hopper was rehearsing a trick for his afternoon show in Winona Lake, IN. His trick involved escaping from chains while submerged in open water. He jumped into the water about 100 yards from shore and actually managed to get all of his chains off. However, he started popping up to the surface yelling to his assistant for help.

High winds at the time made rescuing him impossible, and he drowned in just 6 feet of water.