Designer: Walter Jeans

The Death of Cora was developed by Jeans around the turn of the 20th century. An assistant is placed into a sack and then laid on a shelf underneath a hanging spike rack. She is restrained with padlocks by a committee and the magician places a sheet of paper in a frame in the cabinet directly above the lady. The shelf is covered momentarily with a cloth and the spikes are released and seen piercing the bottom of the shelf. The magician immediately raises the spikes and removes the curtain showing the lady in the sack still lying on the shelf. The curtain is drawn once more and the spikes released again. The curtain is then removed and the spikes are seen piercing the sack but the lady has vanished. The Death of Cora was detailed in Will Goldston’s Further Exclusive Magical Secrets.