By Scott C. Morgan for the Daily Herald..

llusionist Dan Sperry didn’t always look like shock rocker Marilyn Manson’s scary sibling.

Before Sperry amazed audiences with his creepy illusions like swallowing razor blades or tugging a strand of dental floss through his neck – a trick that notoriously freaked out judge Howie Mandel during Sperry’s run on the 2010 season of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” – the Minnesota native and former Schaumburg resident dressed as an old-school magician for numerous Chicago-area performances at elementary schools and kid’s birthday parties.

“When I was younger, I kind of went with the classic magician look with tails and playing cards, but offstage I’d be into punk music, Alfred Hitchcock and horror films like the old-school Universal Studios monster movies or those by director John Carpenter,” Sperry said. “Mid-to-late teens, I let some more of who I was offstage in real life trickle into my onstage performances.”  Read more..   http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20150308/entlife/150309342/