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The Rise And Fall Of The Indian Rope Trick
Journal of Parapsychology, The, Sept, 1999 by Peter Lamont, Richard Wiseman
The authors would like to thank Eddie Dawes and Marcello Truzzi for their comments on this article. We are also indebted to them and the following individuals for supplying valuable information related to the article: Douglas Cameron, Mrs. Amy Dawes, Peter Lane, Bob Loomis, B Premenand, and Alan Wesencraft.
ABSTRACT: In a classic version of the Indian rope trick, the performer first causes a rope to rise into the air. His boy assistant then climbs up the rope and disappears. The performer then climbs the rope after the boy and also vanishes. Moments later, dismembered parts of the boy's body fall to the ground. The performer then descends the rope and places these parts into a basket. Finally, the boy jumps from the basket, fully restored to life. This legendary trick has generated more than a hundred years of debate among scientists, psychical researchers, journalists, magicians, and the public. This paper is an attempt to present a comprehensive account of and solution to the legend. The rope trick came to be seen as an Eastern phenomenon of some antiquity, and histories of the trick have claimed that it was famous in the West in the mid-nineteenth century. However, this does not appear to be the case, and the legend of the trick seems to have really begun as the result of a hoax article carried by an American newspaper in 1890. The legend gained momentum with the appearance of reports from individuals claiming to have seen the trick, and of photographs and film that allegedly showed the trick being performed. Magicians, for the most part, claimed that the trick was impossible and attempted to debunk the evidence, but with limited success. A number of theories emerged in an attempt to explain how the trick might be explained. Some, including a few magicians, claimed that it was a conjuring trick and described possible (though extremely impractical) methods. Others claimed that the trick was the result of mass hallucination, or was a genuine paranormal phenomenon. The paper considers the evidence for the trick and concludes that the photographic and filmic evidence is unreliable, and that the eyewitness accounts are probably the result of exaggeration over time. It is argued that the most likely explanation for eyewitness accounts is that witnesses exaggerated a performance of two classic Indian tricks--pole-balanc ing and the basket trick. Finally, the paper considers why the legend of the trick achieved worldwide popularity, noting the social and cultural context in which it arose. The trick can be seen as a Western construction about the East, which would have attracted attention both as an example of the growing image of the "mystic East," and as an apparent challenge to the Western scientific worldview. The rise of the legend, and the emergence of what would seem to be unnecessary paranormal and skeptical explanations for the trick, need to be seen within this historical context.
COPYRIGHT 1999 Parapsychology Press
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning
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