It has been over a decade since Charlotte welcomed a new museum, but this changed when the Museum of Illusions opened its doors on December 9, 2022. As the name suggests, the museum offers more than 60 interactive exhibits all centered around optical illusions. These immersive exhibits include concepts ranging from holograms to an entire room dedicated to a vortex tunnel. According to The Charlotte Observer, while the museum is unique in Charlotte, the concept is not. Instead, the Museum of Illusions is a private chain of museums that originated in Croatia in 2015 and has gained immense popularity in recent years. The opening of the museum in Charlotte marks its 39th location in the world and only seventh in the United States.
In addition to other optical illusion attractions, one of the most coveted rooms and experiences in the new museum is its vortex room, which, according to CEO Jonathan Benjamin, includes the company’s longest, biggest, quietest model, with “extra-high rails” for increased safety. The mechanics behind the vortex utilizes laser lights to generate an illusion that effectively tricks your inner ear into believing the room is actually spinning when, in fact, it is not. Benjamin also comments on his own experience in the vortex tunnel, stating, “I’ve been through hundreds of times and I still have to catch my balance.” Furthermore, to gain access to the vortex room, he advises visitors to take the set of stairs closer to the museum entrance in order to trip the motion sensor and activate the spin cycle.
Many of the attractions center around illusions that are best enjoyed in person during your visit to the museum. However, others offer unique photo opportunities where you can strike a few poses and rotate the images to capture the illusion. Such photo opportunities arise amongst the museum’s room-sized installations, which include staff members, or “Illusion Experts” to explain the illusions and assist visitors in posing for and taking photos. One of these popular exhibits displays a room that appears to be right-side up when the photo is initially taken, but upon rotating the image on a phone, it appears as if participants in the picture are defying gravity and walking on the ceiling. Another sought-after room for pictures is the Ames Room, which creates the illusion that a person standing in one corner of the room is significantly larger than the other person in the opposite corner. This mind trick is achieved through the use of angled floors and ceilings, forced perspective, and distortion.
Caleb Morgan, the museum’s chief illusionist and UNC Charlotte graduate, was asked in a recent interview what being the museum’s chief illusionist entailed. The answers appeared to be mixed. Morgan replied saying, “I’m a full time performer, so I travel all over the country performing, but we’re kind of talking about how we can work together (more)…so we’ll definitely see.”
The efforts that went into the launching and opening of the museum chain’s Charlotte location, which is the largest of all the American locations according to Jonathan Benjamin, did not go unnoticed. During the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of the museum, Jason Harper, a morning anchor for Queen City News, opened by applauding the hard work behind the museum and noting how “the Museum of Illusions staff in Charlotte was probably not sleeping in the last two weeks preparing.” Additionally, he commented on how “all the construction crews…have been working to get everything painted and hung on the wall just right.” The Museum of Illusions is located in Downtown Charlotte on South Tryon Street. With its variety of immersive experiences and exhibits, the possibility of boredom is unlikely, and its attractions are definitely worth a visit.