http://www.ripleys.com/corporate/brands/......entures/

Look at the illusion to right of where the article begins. I would like to build this for Halloween. Does anyone know the name for this and where I might get the plans. I believe Ripley's calls it Stumpy!

I was going to say it's a version of "Spidora", except I could't see the side edges of the mirror. That could be done with very solid support of the mirror (so there's no chance the actor's weight would crack it) and with satin "coffin lining" pleated at an angle to disguise the mirror edge. I'm tempted to say it's a company-made promo photo, so there's gotta be some Photoshop work there.

Then I saw the other photo (link below). Note the boxes behind the setup, which certainly hide the actor's body. The actor's loose-hanging (VERY loose) shirt is positioned right up against the back wall of the box, disguising the place her body must be coming through the back of the box that the viewer mis-perceives the body's angle (plus it's a skinny guy above and certainly not a heavy girl in the other photo).

See a different photo HERE

Anybody else?

You may well be right Ross. I can't see any tell tale lines at 45 degrees.

Looks like Spidora to me.

No don't be daft! I see no legs atall!

The set-up is the same, the decoration is different.

Thanks for all the help. Spidora it is.

The illusion part of it, is also the same for Woman Without a Body. Again, the rest is in how you opt to decorate it.

I would prefer the original in my post. What is the best route to go.

Thanks,

To clarify my earlier post, I think you could do it either way, but I believe the way the illusion in the photo is done (and the cheapest way) is sticking the actor through the back of the box and covering the hole with a baggy shirt/vest. I think this because (a) there is no diagonal line where a mirror would be, and (b) those boxes behind the girl are quite spacious enough to hide the rest of her.

"Birth of Chloris" in "The Great Illusions of Magic" by Byron G. Wels It's a Tannens publication.

I'm sure Paul Osbourn's halloween book has the plans as well. Not sure as I no longer have that book.

http://www.joelsartore.com/stock/PEO006-00199/

It has little in common with a spidora besides the building materials. The predecessor to "Birth of Chloris" is the "Twister" illusion. Same concept, different design. Thank you Steven Conner for asking this question. You helped spark a fun idea and I'm going to give it a whirl.

That is not "SPIDORA".
It's a version of the "Sphinx", the first trick "done with mirrors.
Paul Osburne calls his version "Witch Dotor's Revenge"
http://hamiltonholtinc.stores.yahoo.net/widore.html

You rock. That's it.

There's no mirror. It looks like the half lady on a swing illusion from way back. Can't remember the name but the performer lies on the stomach with legs pointed straight back and back arched.

It's design is similar to the mirror version that's all. The sides are simply to cut the angles. There is no mirror here, the body is in the box behind: http://lotgk.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/ri......_barker/


DD

I've had a close-up look at a Stumpy. It's not a Spidora; no mirror. Ross/Wayne got it right.

No mirror; no mystery.The girl leaning over a piece of plywood look like a girl leaning over a piece of plywood. Wouldn't fool Helen Keller.
I remember Ward Hall using a Sphinx setup in a Snakegirl show thirty years back (Ellen Briskey was the girl) and no beffs even at close range. (A.K.Brill's Baby Betty Show)
Jimmy Dixon used a mirrorless setup for his three headed girl, but he added Blackart. So- so.
Spidora, which is a different setup works well close up but it's much harder to build. Ester-Lester had a nice Owen Bros unit. I've never seen Spidora presented in the origional form, which is the steps leading up to the door of a haunted house.
Another Roltar illusion worth a look, is the rarely seen Head on Two Sowards Chair.

google Spidora, go to images, 3 pics in the first row using stairs. (not necessarily a haunted house though)

s

Spidora is a spider web across a stair case.
Sphinx is a disembodied living head.

.http://www.sideshowworld.com/13-TGOD/Walt-H/Spidora-1/tgodspidora.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-anCWn2EkCo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q-SOqDQxKE&feature=relmfu