Levitation is where a person appears to make an object, a person, or himself defy gravity by hovering in the air without any apparent support.
You may have seen street performers who appear to be sitting motionless a few inches from the ground or a YouTube video where this occurs or appears to occur.
Real human levitation is not possible. There is a number of clever magic tricks that can create a convincing illusion of human levitation. That said, anybody in the world can create an illusion of levitation that is, however, not real.
Is Levitation Real?
If we listen to the scientific community, we will be told that Levitation does not exist.
Furthermore, claims to have witnessed levitation result from illusion, hallucination, or a magic trick.
>> 100 Best Magic Tricks Revealed! <<
That said, many people are absolutely convinced that they have witnessed levitation take place, or their friend, sister, uncle, or random contact is certain they witnessed it.
Clearly, something is going on here – let’s investigate.
Levitation On The Street
Sometimes you will see street performers apparently floating in mid-air.
You turn a corner, and there is some guy dressed in flowing robes and apparently floating in mid-air.
Nothing is touching the ground save a walking stick or staff that he is carrying.
But the stick is positioned in a way that it appears it cannot be holding him up, as it is positioned so that he would topple over even if somehow he was strong enough to clutch onto that stick and hold himself up.
However, it is the stick that is the secret, as you can see in the video below:
It hides a metal rod attached to a flat platform at the bottom, and at the top of the stick, it is connected to another platform that supports the performer’s weight.
It is designed so that once the performer’s weight is in place on the upper platform, it will balance perfectly.
The loose robes are used to hide the upper platform.
I was also looking at a video of a guy in South Africa, floating in the middle of the field.
Normally, when this trick is performed in the street, a mat is laid on the floor (which covers the lower platform).
This guy had nothing but grass underneath him.
However, if you look closely, a square-shaped piece of turf has clearly been removed and laid back on top of the platform, which has faded to a more yellow color as it no longer is getting water.
It is a clever magic trick, but it is certainly not levitation.
There is also an interesting street performance and the trick revelation that was done by well known Masked Magician where he levitates in high height…. but as you’ll see on the video below its again just a clever trick:
Levitation by Magicians on Stage
Stage magicians have one big advantage; they control the environment of the stage.
Look on YouTube for Levitation videos, and you will see they have one main thing in common, the lighting effects are such that they are very smokey and dark, making it more difficult to see what is happening clearly.
I don’t intend to name the magician, but one act I viewed on video had a smoky stage with a black background.
When he walked on the platform, his legs disappeared, merging with the background color.
At the back of the stage behind the platform, a device raises a short platform that his (very attractive) assistant lay on.
It raided her in the air, and to “prove” that nothing was holding her up, he ran a frame from one end of her body to the other, however as it passed where the ole holding the platform would have been, he changed hands and fumbled as he did it.
He was opening the frame so the pole could pass through the frame.
That done, he lowers the girl back onto the stage.
As she gets up, she removes her skirt, revealing very high cut panties that distracts the viewers, and the skirt is left covering the platform.
So using his stunning assistant, he distracts the audience, the skirt covers the platform, and the frame is put back on the easel; all the evidence is covered up.
Stage magicians all use a platform or hidden wires to “suspend the assistant” and use lighting, distraction, and frames or hoops that open, to perform this trick.
They are all illusions, but once again, not levitation.
I found some of the best videos online that explain several ways how to make a human levitation magic tricks:
To have a complete overview of levitation tricks, the video below is revealing a secret to several ways how to make objects levitate in mid-air!
Let’s Get Serious
If someone had invented a way that people’s objects could rise off the ground without any support, think of the practical applications and the millions of dollars that could be made from such an invention.
If I had invented that kind of technology, the last thing I would think of would be to do a magic trick to perform on stage or use as a street performer to get a cupful of coins and notes.
The things we witness are illusions and specially crafted tricks designed to convince us we see levitation.
Now that personally does not upset me. I enjoy watching the ingenuity of the performers who create these illusions.
The magic is appreciating the skill of such people and the performance skills required.
Knowing how it is done matters tiny to me. The joy is seeing how it is performed.
Is It All Just Illusion?
You may have heard of Yogic Flying.
This is supposedly a manifestation of a spiritual practice. Hmmm, it sounds promising.
Perhaps this is a genuine levitation method. I decided to investigate.
I found a video which was entitled “International Yogic Flying Competition 2016”.
So, not only did they claim to have a technique for flying using Yoga, these would be the best at doing so.
Excitedly, I found the video and pressed play. I skimmed through the video a bit and eventually saw three guys sitting crossed legged.
This was it; I was going to see real levitation.
What actually occurred was the three guys bouncing along with a long mattress.
Sure it was a great feat of athletics but had absolutely nothing to do with levitation or flying.
Learn More Magic Tricks!
Learning magic tricks was never as easy as today.
There is a number of free resources that you can use.
To make things a bit easier for you, I created lists of the best websites and YouTube channels that you can learn magic from:
Final Thoughts
Search as I may, I was never able to find GENUINE levitation.
It was always some trick, illusion, or video editing.
This confirmed my view that levitation does not exist, except as an illusion created by some trick or illusion.
This said, take a look at the “magical performances” you can see on YouTube from the best illusionists.