The Girl Without A Middle

The Girl Without A Middle (also known as "The Disembodied Princess" and "No Guts") is an illusion in which the torso of the assistant vanishes. The assistant is locked in a cabinet and with head and legs in full view. After blades are put into place, apparently severing legs and head, the center doors are opened showing the torso has vanished.

Carl Owen and Floyd Thayer developed Girl without a Middle, as we know it today, for Howard Thurston in the 1920s. Thurston requested it based on an idea suggested by Cyril Yettmah, which required a stage trap.