Dark Magic Rabbit

Outside/In

NHPR

Society & Culture, Documentary, Natural Sciences, Nature, Science

4.7 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 17 April 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A magician spins a black top hat to show their audience it’s empty. Then, with the wave of a wand and a few magic words, PRESTO: a snow white rabbit pokes its ears over the brim. Compared to sawing a person in half, pulling a rabbit out of a hat is a joyful bit of magic that entertainers have been doing for more than 200 years. But after the applause dies down, one is left wondering: where did the rabbit come from? And where did it go? Today, in honor of the Easter Bunny (who doesn’t actually appear in this episode), we’re pulling a handful of rabbit stories out of our proverbial hat. But be warned: these are dark tales of disappearing pets, occult eugenicists, and animal sacrifice. The secrets behind some magic tricks are more shocking than others. Featuring Nicole Cardoza, Gwyne Henke, Suzanne Loui, Sally Master, Ana DiMaria, Tanya Singer, and Meg Crane. Produced by Nate Hegyi, Marina Henke, Kate Dario, and Justine Paradis. For full credits, photos, and transcript, visit outsideinradio.org. SUPPORT To share your questions and feedback with Outside/In, call the show’s hotline and leave us a voicemail. The number is 1-844-GO-OTTER. No question is too serious or too silly. Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In. Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook. LINKS Join us for NHPR’s 3rd Annual Climate Summit! The theme is “Healthy Connections,” and we’ve got a great lineup of speakers and breakout sessions PLUS a trivia night. And the best part? It’s all FREE. Learn more and register here. Check out this video of magician and storyteller Nicole Cardoza performing for a group in Chicago in 2024. You can check out Gwyne Henke’s childhood rabbit poetry on our website. Tanya Singer reported on the history of Project Angora for Tablet. You can also learn more about Helena Weinrauch and her blue sweater here. Read more about the history of pregnancy testing in this paper on Egyptian grain method, rabbit tests, and more, and in A Woman’s Right to Know by Jesse Olszynko-Gryn, available as a free ebook from MIT Press. The story of Meg Crane’s Predictor test can also be found in the excellent Designing Motherhood, a book and exhibit on human reproduction through the lens of design. Pagan Kennedy’s New York Times article, which prompted Meg Crane to start sharing her story—and Pagan’s follow-up, which does include Meg. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	When Nicole Cardozo was a little kid, her mom and dad took her to see something special.
0:07.1	I remember the first time I saw a magic show, I must have been four, five. I was young.
0:14.3	Like a lot of childhood memories, the details are hazy. It was during the holidays, she thinks maybe at a mall, but there was definitely a Santa
0:21.4	and an old magician. He was wearing a suit. It was velvet in a hat. And the trick that stood out
0:30.0	was at the end of the show when the magician pulled a rabbit out of his top hat.
0:38.0	The moment this white buddy came out of this black hat,
0:41.2	I was like, sign me up.
0:42.3	This seems like the coolest job in the world.
0:51.6	A lot of little kids want to grow up and become something extraordinary.
0:55.4	An astronaut, a professional hockey player.
0:58.5	And Nicole actually made it happen.
1:01.9	Nowadays, she is a professional magician, touring around the country, performing sleight of hand.
1:06.9	Do you pull anything out of a hat?
1:08.3	I don't.
1:08.7	I really also don't wear hats.
1:10.5	The top hat is not necessarily like my kind of vibe.
1:14.1	But she respects the heck out of that classic trick.
1:17.9	I mean, Google magician and one of the first images that pops up is a guy in a top hat with a wand and a bunny.
1:24.1	Pulling a rabbit out of your hat, it's an idiom for doing something impossible. Like,
1:28.8	it really does feel like magic. If you, for example, see your card go into a deck and then
1:34.2	disappear and reappear, you could be left wondering like, oh, they probably have two cards.
1:39.4	But when you look at a hat and it's empty and then you see a full live breathing cute bunny sniffing and you can go
	...

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