Soo performed the trick that night, ignition of the residue in the channel allowed the flash from the pan to also ignite the charge behind the bullet not intended to be fired that was loaded into the barrel of the gun being used. Consequently, the bullet fired in the normal way, hitting Soo in the chest. The circumstances of the accident were verified by the gun expert Robert Churchill. Soo's death was ruled "accidental" with a final verdict of "misadventure". After Chung Ling Soo's death, the public was shocked to learn that he was not Chinese. Soo's true identity was largely known among professional magicians. A year before Soo's death, magician Will Goldston commented in an interview with Magician Monthly that the public did not question Soo's identity because "... he has always presented to the public that which they like and not which he might prefer". In popular culture Soo's story is related by the detective in Gus Van Sant's Last Days. It also figures prominently in Bruce Hartman's book, The Philosophical Detective, in the story "Illusionists." The character Stanley Crawford in Woody Allen's Magic in the Moonlight is an English illusionist who performs onstage incognito as a Chinese person billed as Wei Ling Soo. The character Colonel Freeleigh recounts the tale to a group of boys in Ray Bradbury's 1957 fix-up novel Dandelion Wine, set in the fictional town of Green Town, Illinois, which was based on the author's hometown, Waukegan, Illinois. His story is also referenced in the 2022 academic satire Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou. In the Jonathan Creek episode "The Omega Man", the title character starts to mention Chung Ling Soo during a television chat show before his companion tries to cut him off. In the New Tricks episode "Magic Majestic", Chung Ling Soo is said to have "spent his adult life feigning infirmity for one trick", and a display of his posters, costumes and props are seen at the Magic Circle building in London. See also List of entertainers who died during a performance Examples of yellowface Notes References Bibliography External links Wood Green Empire, Theatre of Varieties 1916 passport photos of William Ellsworth Robinson and his wife Dot Chung Ling Soo - historical archive (1908) Spirit Slate Writing and Kindred Phenomena Works by William Ellsworth Robinson at Project Gutenberg 1861 births 1918 deaths Accidental deaths in London American expatriates in England American magicians