Levitation (illusion)

A levitation illusion is one in which a magician appears to defy gravity by making an object or person float in the air.

The subject may appear to levitate unassisted, or it may be performed with the aid of another object (such as a silver ball floating around a cloth) in which case it is termed a "suspension".

[citation needed] American magician Harry Kellar performed a trick where his assistant, introduced as a Hindu princess, was brought onto the stage apparently sleeping on a couch.

Kellar supposedly developed this trick by abruptly walking onto the stage during a levitation show by John Nevil Maskelyne, seeing what he needed to know, and leaving.

[3] The Buffalo writer John Northern Hilliard wrote that the levitation was a marvel of the twentieth century and "the crowning achievement of Mr. Kellar's long and brilliant career.

[4] Magician David Copperfield has performed an illusion in several magic shows since 1992 in which he appears to fly on stage for several minutes, while surrounded by audience members.

During the trick, Copperfield flies acrobatically on the stage, performs a backflip in midair, and then has spinning hoops passed around him, supposedly to prove that he is not suspended by wires.

[8] Dutch magician Hans Klok became the custodian of the illusion after the death of Blackstone, Jr.[9] The Hummer card is a levitation trick in which a regular playing card floats, hovers, spins and flies around the body of the magician in a seemingly impossible manner.