Late Tuesday evening, comedian and magician John Edward Szeles aka The Amazing Johnathan, passed away after a long struggle with heart disease. His last words were spoken to his wife and manager of many years, Anastasia Synn. Now many of the performer’s well-wishers want to know more about Synn, one of the most important people in Johnathan’s life.
Synn and Szeles were married in 2014. Like Szeles, Synn was also a magician, as well as a sideshow stunt performer, and performance artist. The pair met while Synn was performing at the Harmon Theater, where Szeles performed for over six years. The couple worked together at Bally’s Casino in Las Vegas for a few years before they were wed in a ceremony at A Special Memory Chapel in Las Vegas in front of an audience made up of A-list Vegas performers, including Penn and Teller, Jeff McBride, and David Copperfield. Comedian Gallagher performed the ceremony.
As a magician, Synn specializes in a shocking brand of magic that features, among other things inserting large needles completely through her arm. Synn has performed her act on Penn and Teller’s Fool Us and has appeared alongside The Amazing Johnathan on Pax TV’s Masters of Illusion. Synn appeared on the cover of Vanish, the international magic magazine, for its September 2019 issue. In addition to her managerial duties, Synn had worked alongside her husband for several years and would often take over the show when Szeles became too fatigued to continue.
In addition to her career as a performer, Synn is also known as a biohacktivist and as an advocate for transhumanism. Synn currently has 26 magnets and microchips embedded in her body. According to her website, she uses the implants for the purposes of “magic, experimentation, and extended sensory perception.” The biohacking community claim that the magnets can endow the implantee with a sense of electromagnetic awareness while the chips can perform various functions such as activating Synn’s home computer or unlocking her doors. Synn’s testimony in front of the Nevada Senate regarding a law prohibiting RFID chip implants was instrumental in defeating the bill.
Synn took to Facebook Tuesday night after her husband became unresponsive to make a plea for privacy in her time of grief. Syn wrote, “I don’t think we thought this day would ever come because he is so strong and has beaten it so many times. Thank you for all the well wishes, but as the news spreads it’s getting overwhelming and I’m going to have to take a step back. I love you and thank you for your support.”
