The $1.00 Head Twister Effect by Andrew Mayne

If you stand in front of a mirror long enough with a towel on your head you'll discover some interesting things about yourself. First you'll suspect that you have too much spare time. Later on you'll find out you can recreate some classic illusions with just a towel. My book Mad Mojo featured a few of these self-discoveries. One thing I found out was that I could place a towel over my head with my face showing and twist it around making it look like my head did a 360 degree turn.

Now I know there are more fancy versions of that effect, but I've never been convinced that the audience is any more fooled by them than my towel version (The full body twister is a different matter). I think the audience accepts the effect as a gag and not a miracle. My question is why pay $500 for a gag when you can make one that entertains just as well, maybe even better for $1.00?

The $1.00 Head Twister also has the added bonus of making your neck look like it's been horribly twisted. Fun for the whole family. This effect is presented as a gag and not some melodramatic illusion with music from a Michael Bay movie playing in the background. There are two principals at work here. The first is the reason for its inclusion in the section on strange contortions. The second is my little add-on gimmick that adds the twisting illusion.
In my variation and the classic head twisting effect the audience sees the face of the person whose head is being twisted, through an opening in the front. As the chamber is turned to the side they turn their head with it. Once the opening is out of view the person turns their head back around and to the opposite shoulder and catches the opening as it passes towards the audience. This continues for several revelations. In the original version the head is twisted back around and the effect is over.

In my $1.00 version the tube is lifted to reveal the performer's neck is really twisted and then spun back to normal. This is accomplished via a little reel stuck to the inside of the tube that has a thread that clips onto the magician's color. As the tube is spun around the reel spools out thread around the magician's neck. The tube is then spun back around to reel up the thread and finish the
illusion.