The Trained Fly

The set up

This trick requires:

a drinking straw

a clear container

and an ordinary fly

The act

The magician places ten sugar cubes spaced from on a flat dry surface like a table, and presents the ordinary fly in the clear container. He then tells the audience he can make train this fly to go to any sugar cube he wishes through hypnotism or something of that nature. He then asks any audience member to select a sugar cube. After the audience member picks the magician pulls out his wand (straw) and constantly taps the sugar cube with his wand while telling the fly what to do for about a minute or so. After the magician finishes the training he opens the jar and releases the fly, after flying for a little bit the fly will pick the sugar the magician tapped.

How the Trick Works

What makes the trick interesting is the magician literally trained the fly. The fly is attracted to sugar but dry sugar like the cubes the magician used has no scent until it is wet. The straw (wand) is used to bring a small amount of moisture to the selected the sugar cube, since it was the only one that has any moisture the scent stands out to the fly and attracts it more than the rest of the cubes