While most magicians who do money tricks make coins or bills vanish, Stuart Edge does the opposite. He 'magically' transforms $1 USD bills into $100 USD. The icing on the cake? The lucky recipients get to keep the money, which does not change back to its original value!
It all begins with Edge showcasing both a $1 USD bill and a $100 USD bill to the person he is playing the trick on. He then places the folded bills inside the person’s hand and asks him or her to make a fist. Edge then 'magically' proceeds to pull out the $100 USD bill from the fist, while leaving the dollar bill intact.
Then begins the cool part. Edge explains to the person that the $1 USD and $ 100 USD bills can be switched if, he/she really wishes it to. To seal the deal, the magician and the other party fist bump. Then, they both uncurl their fingers and voila! Edge is left holding the dollar bill, while his counterpart has the $100 USD!
While like all magic tricks this one too is an illusion, the $100 USD bills are real - part of the $1,000 USD stash that Edge withdrew from his personal savings account to help people in need. So far, Edge has remained tight-lipped about how the trick works, simply saying “it’s magic.”
In order to ensure that the people who participated were really deserving of the money, Edge spent six hours scouring his neighborhood streets of Provo and Orem, Utah to seek out people that needed it the most. Among them was a single mother struggling to pay rent, a talented guitar player facing some hard times and, an elderly couple that had lost their home.
Before Edge moved on to make someone else’s day, he asked the person who had just participated in the trick to give back in the future when, he or she was able to. Through the video he has made chronicling his good deeds, Edge hopes that other people will also follow suit and be generous to people in need.
Besides being a skillful magician, Edge is also a YouTube star. The video depicting his money trick has amassed almost two million views since it was uploaded a few weeks ago. In fact, Edge gave up his job to focus on creating similar videos that entertain and make people happy. As you can see from the reactions, it takes very little!
Resources: Huffingtonpost.com, shine.yahoo.com,stuartedge.blogspot.com