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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Have you ever wondered how to pull a rabbit out of a hat, read minds or saw a human in half? The answers to these and other magical mysteries will be offered at a special presentation from 2 to 4 p.m. this Sunday at the museum.

Erudite, eloquent, enthusiastic and entertaining, Yellowknife magicians Terry Brookes and Steve Elms, a.k.a. the Frozen Fingered Magicians, offer a window into the world of magic at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre. Their lecture, titled The Mystery of Magic, is part of the Amazing Sundays programming at the museum.

Have you ever wondered how to pull a rabbit out of a hat, read minds or saw a human in half? The answers to these and other magical mysteries will be offered at a special presentation from 2 to 4 p.m. this Feb. 21 at the museum.

Using curious props, short video clips and mystifying demonstrations, Brookes and Elms plan to lead their audience from magic's ancient and medieval origins to the golden age of stage magic during the industrial revolution. They will follow magicians along the vaudeville circuit of the early 20th century and into the contemporary world inhabited by celebrity TV magicians such as David Copperfield, David Blaine, Criss Angel and Penn and Teller.

"It's a history of magic from our perspective interspersed with a few tricks here and there," Elms explained. "It's not a full-blown magic show per se. It's going to be an oral and visual history on the basics, showing where some of the different tricks came from."

Elms began performing magic shows for children's birthday parties while he was a kid growing up in Bay Roberts, N.L. He collected magic equipment and books from mail order catologues throughout his teen years and is still expanding his trunk of tricks in adulthood.

His magic partner, Brookes, became enamoured with illusion and slight-of-hand as a child attending company Christmas shows staged at his father's work in Vancouver. He has honed his skills ever since.

Elms and Brookes have made magic together in Yellowknife for about the past three years, appearing at children's events, a Christmas show for Diavik employees and giving impromptu demonstrations at the Arctic Winter Games.

"People like being mystified," Brookes said. "We like to be challenged by the unknown. It's human nature."

In addition to grand illusions and card tricks, the magicians share a fascination of mentalism, hypnotism, ventriloquism and other mysterious arts.