Amazing Facts & Trivia

Magic of Fly Photography

Levitation in photography - the magic of flying

A representation of a person levitating. Most actual accounts of alleged levitation (as detailed in this article) claim that the levitator only levitated a few feet off the ground, and extremely seldom is the claim made that anyone is able to levitate as high as depicted in this picture. When someone is claimed to have been able to levitate this high, they are usually depicted as being in a standing position (see Daniel Dunglas Home below under "Levitation by Mediums") rather than in a sitting position as in this picture.

Levitation in paranormal context is the claimed rising of a human body into the air by mystical means. It is generally believed that there is, at present, no compelling evidence to suggest that paranormal levitation is a real phenomenon.^[1] The scientific and empiricist communities traditionally attribute such incidents to trickery, illusion, auto-suggestion, and unseen natural causes.

The spiritualists and religious communities tend to interpret mystical levitation as the result of supernatural action of tuning in to the Holy Spirit, spiritual energy, a deity, or sometimes from the influence of a poltergeist. Levitation is an aspect of psychokinesis. Yogic masters claim that mystical levitation can occur as a siddhi during higher levels of consciousness, such as mystical rapture, euphoria, or astral projection.

Levitation by Mediums

• Many mediums have claimed to have levitated during séances, especially in the 19th century in Britain and America. Many have been shown to be frauds, using wires and stage magic tricks.