magic

You may remember him from when he dazzled Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie on the Today Show, pilfering all manner of goods from them while using nothing but misdirection and sleight-of-hand. Now he has a TED talk, where he reveals one of the strongest tricks he has in his arsenal: natural human psychology.

You may recognize this trick made famous by magician James Galea, but you probably haven't seen it done by a "totally pissed" Irishman in a pub!

J.K. Rowling writes that Ilvermorny was a magical school of witchcraft and wizardry, founded by a pureblood Irish wizard named Isolt Sayre in the 17th century. Ilvermorny sat atop the highest peak of Mount Greylock enshrouded by powerful concealment enchantments.

Sayre was a descendant of Salazar Slytherin and the renowned Irish witch Morrigan. Sayre lived with her parents in a small Irish town till the day her mother's estranged sister Gormlaith Gaunt (pureblood zealot) murdered Sayre's parents and kidnapped her away to Hag's Glen to stop her from marrying a muggle.

A decade later, following imprisonment and continued attempts at indoctrinating Sayre, she stole her aunt's wand, and managed an escape. 

Sayre went on to pose as a Muggle boy, sailing to the 'New World', where she came across a wealth of magical creatures and fellow wizards that'd ultimately help her create Ilvermorny.

The four Ilvermorny houses are named after magical creatures:

• Horned Serpent – a ‘great horned river serpent with a jewel set into its forehead’
• Pukwudgie – ‘a short, grey-faced, large-eared creature’
• Thunderbird – a creature that ‘can create storms as it flies’
• Wampus – ‘a magical, panther-like creature that is fast, strong and almost impossible to kill’

Check out the story over on Pottermore that was just released today!