The Phantom of the Panel: Illusionist Nicholas Wallace Delivers a Haunting, Voodoo-Inspired Audition on AGT
The horror genre is notoriously difficult to translate into a live stage illusion, but a recent audition on America’s Got Talent proved that psychological tension can leave an entire arena shivering in their seats. Walking into the center stage spotlight with a distinctly quiet, eerie aura, Nicholas Wallace introduced himself as someone who “dabbles in the strange and unusual.” Opening up about his lifelong connection to old objects and the spirits attached to them, Nicholas immediately set a deeply unsettling tone by gesturing to a draped piece of furniture resting on the dark stage.
Nicholas revealed the object to be a historic, salvaged rocking chair from the infamous, now-destroyed Quinty Hotel—a piece of furniture allegedly linked to a string of ordinary yet unexplained deaths of anyone who dared occupy it. To test the legend on live television, Nicholas invited judge Gabrielle Union to step onto the stage and take a seat in the relic. To simulate the hotel’s reported paranormal activity, he secured a tight blindfold around Gabrielle’s eyes, plunging her into complete darkness, before introducing a second artifact: a weathered, incredibly creepy antique doll found in a separate wing of the ruined hotel.
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What followed was a masterclass in voodoo-inspired illusion and sensory projection. Standing several feet away from a completely blindfolded Gabrielle, Nicholas instructed her to slowly raise her right arm the exact moment she felt a physical sensation. Nicholas then approached the antique doll, gently lifting its miniature right arm into the air. Shockingly, without a single word or physical prompt, Gabrielle’s right arm simultaneously drifted up into the sky.
The psychological experiment intensified as Nicholas began lightly running his fingers along the doll’s plastic shoulder and back. Across the stage, a visibly shaken Gabrielle began raising her hand on command, confirming to the audience that she was actively feeling a hand brushing against her skin, despite Nicholas never coming within arm’s reach of her. The absolute climax of the routine saw Nicholas sharply tilting the doll’s head, prompting Gabrielle to jump slightly in the chair from the phantom touch.
The post-performance feedback was an absolute mix of pure panic and immense awe. A thoroughly bewildered Julianne Hough admitted she was completely hypnotized by the performance, struggling to find words to process the boundary between magic and the paranormal. Howie Mandel delivered the ultimate badge of honor for a horror act, officially labeling Nicholas a “ghoul” and calling the routine incredibly creepy and beautifully weird.
Gabrielle Union, still visibly processing the bizarre physical sensations she experienced while blindfolded, confirmed to the panel that it genuinely felt as though someone was actively touching her shoulders throughout the set. Eager to get the haunted furniture out of the auditorium as quickly as possible, the judges enthusiastically united to award Nicholas Wallace a clean sweep of unanimous “yeses,” comfortably punching his ticket to the next round.
