Here's How The Performance Looks - The audience sees you holding out a rope with three knots. A coat hanger is hanging from the middle knot. You say the magic word and the magic hanger jumps from the center knot to the left hand knot.
Right in front of everyone. That's magic!
The audience gasps and then provides a round of applause.
And Now Here's What Really Happens - Before you begin the performance, take the rope and tie four knots at roughly equal distance apart. The first three knots should be regular knots. We'll call these knots A, B and C. The fourth should be a slip knot made to look like a normal knot. This is knot D. The hanger is hooked through knot C.
You start the trick by holding the rope between both hands. Knot A should be hidden by your left hand, and the other end of the rope should be in your right hand. So in effect the audience can see Knot B, Knot C (which supports the hanger) and Knot D (the slip knot which looks like a regular knot).
I'll leave you to make up the story that surrounds the trick, but the main thing is to tell your audience that it's a magic hanger that can jump from one knot to another at your command.
Once you've warmed your audience up and are ready to preform the trick, you have to do two things (apart from saying the magic word!);
Number One: Pull both ends of the rope tight between your hands. This will cause the slipknot to come undone and disappear. When you pull the rop, it's a good idea to do it as quickly as possible (so that the audience can't see what happens) and jerk the rope rather than pulling with constant pressure. This will help to dislodge the slipknot and make it impossible for anyone to see what really happens.
Number Two: As soon as you feel the slipknot come undone, let the rope slide through your left hand until Knot A becomes visible.
When the rope stops moving, what does the audience see?
Knot A, Knot B and Knot C complete with coat hanger. Thanks to the slipknot disappearing and the arrival of Knot A, it appears as though the hanger has magically jumped from the center knot to the knot on the left. If that doesn't impress the crowd, I don't know what will!
And the great thing about this trick is that it doesn't leave any evidence as to how it works. All the audience will see if they examine your rope is three regular knots with a coat hanger through the knot at the end.
All I suggest is that you practice this trick in front of a mirror until you can do it quickly and smoothly without any mistakes. Once you master this simple trick it will amaze everyone who sees it and they won't suspect a thing.
