The Uncanny Valley - Live!

I didn't see this guy, but he sure illustrates the point

Spent an hour or two on this weekend at the world-famous Magic Castle in Hollywood, the guest of a magician's dad. We saw 4 magicians and I noticed an interesting phenomenon: normally, by default, magicians are kinda creepy.

I'm saying by default because the guy's son and the closeup magic guy were personable types with senses of humor that you could imagine having a pleasant conversation with. But the other two, who were also brilliant and skilled magicians, were just aliens man. They were impeccably dressed, intense, and inhabited a spot on the creep scale somewhere between John Malkovich and Charles Manson.

So what is it, do you suppose? Are normal guys trained to be that way because they can make their acts more "mysterious" or does magic just attract that kind of person?