# How does Blaine levitate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 1, 2003, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-blaine-levitate/145994 "2003-01-01T04:25:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-blaine-levitate/145994/1 "2003-01-01T04:25:15Z")
I’m sure you’ve all seen the David Blaine street magic specials where he appears to levitate. Anyone know how the trick is done? ---
**Author:** ![Lezaza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Lezaza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lezaza)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-blaine-levitate/145994/2 "2003-01-01T04:30:05Z")
yep. But the question is, do you want to know? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-blaine-levitate/145994/3 "2003-01-01T04:32:51Z")
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=115853&highlight=blaine](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=115853&highlight=blaine) ---
**Author:** ![mrs\_bales](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@mrs\_bales](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrs_bales)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-blaine-levitate/145994/4 "2003-01-01T04:33:10Z")
Very unimpressing. Camera tricks, audience participation, and a harness. Fox aired, Street Magicians’s Secrets Revealed. I’ll never watch anything like that again. I like thinking it was magic. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-blaine-levitate/145994/5 "2003-01-01T04:59:23Z")
Forklift. ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-blaine-levitate/145994/6 "2003-01-01T06:32:41Z")
I don’t know if this is the same thing, but I was watching Lambchop’s Play-Along (Shari Lewis) and she did what looks the same as Blaine’s trick: She merely stood on the ball of one foot while picking her other foot up a few inches, being sure to stay in front of the viewer looking down at her feet. The illusion was that she rose up a few inches. They could be different. ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-blaine-levitate/145994/7 "2003-01-01T06:37:52Z")
Yep, Joe’s got it. ---
**Author:** ![TyrC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de0a6/32.png) [@TyrC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TyrC)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-blaine-levitate/145994/8 "2003-01-01T21:22:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Neurotik \* > \*\*I’m sure you’ve all seen the David Blaine street magic specials where he appears to levitate. Anyone know how the trick is done? \*\* ``` The standing up on one foot explanation is the accepted explanation. It has been proven that to make it more dramatic they faked the footage after the special was shot by lifting Blaine up on a wire set up so you'd think he was doing this during the actual filming. The result was Blaine looking like he was in near flight. Most magicians are dull to me. Penn and Teller are cool and The Amzing Jonathan is funny. ``` TyrC!