A levitating magician featured floating beside a double decker London bus is not, in fact, levitating, much of the internet was seemingly surprised to learn.
The levitating magician clip was somehow tied in with Pepsi Max, but the real mystery is with all the totally interesting viral videos across the web, this one is making such a splash.
At its core, the levitating magician clip is a truly mundane and unimpressive bit of “magic,” the sort that involves no “hey, wait, what happened there?” one experiences when watching a truly talented trickster pull a fast one on a crowd. (Penn and Teller’s “horse” bit comes to mind here.)
An initial glance reveals the levitating magician employs clearly a cheap and one-d trick, yet we needed to hear he was indeed not actually levitating in real life.
An Aussie news outlet cracked the totally obvious mystery, declaring a very boring explanation to be at the heart of the levitating magician’s feat:
“His fingers don’t move in the clip and there are no people around when he hovers up and down the bus … In fact, at second glance the arm attached to the bus looks pretty phony.”
A science site delves into the human fascination with levitation, despite the clear lack of plausible floating in the levitating magician clip:
“Legend tells us that the ability to “float or “levitate” has been recognized throughout the ages by many cultural groups, whether it be African tribal leaders or world famous magicians, including David Blaine and Copperfield … In fact, many religious groups have incorporated levitation into their historical background. Take for example Christian and Islamic believes, where stories of levitation can be seen in the bible and other traditional texts. Other religions as well, including Buddhism and Hinduism also reference this magical act.”
In case you missed it, below is the levitating magician video in all its boring glory.