WRC-TV
Updated: 7:26 a.m. ET Oct 23, 2007

WASHINGTON - People snapped pictures and stared as a man "levitated" in front of the White House on Monday.


Dutch magician Wouter Bijdendijk, also known as Ramana, said he couldn't say much about his magic trick.
"This is an art," he said. "And in India, they see it also as a science. I hope I make people wonder."

A crowd gathered to watch the magician's spectacle. Some took pictures, other videotaped and at least one man checked around Bijdendijk for props.

"I just wanted to show that reality is not all that you think that it is," Bijdendijk said.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21427202

interesting.
I wish I could have been there to see for myself, if there were tricks involved.

I would be impressed if nothing was touching the ground....Or if i had seen it with my own eyes....

The picture is not very descriptive (to the point suggesting complicity on the part of the photographer), and there is no video, but there does appear to be a prop: the walking cane. One could venture the hypothesis, with the limited information available, that the walking cane is some kind of support on which he sits.

Thought of that.
But with nothing to support him on his opposite side, what keeps him from falling?

It does not appear to be over the pavement that he is performing the trick. I hope that is enough of a clue as to what I am driving at.

Or bars or a plate that branch out from the bottom of the stick.

I looked at the 5th frame.
Looks from that advantage that he is over the pavement.

I agree with FEN.
If the cane was not touching him it would be more impressive.
That rug underneath him, one could say hides a flat metal base, that attatches to another heavy duty metal support rod that runs through the center of the cane, which in turn is attatched to a support of some kind underneath him.
The problem I have with that is it would have to be some state of the art material to support him and not flex and give him away.
I don't see any steels doing that or titanium for that matter.

Steel should be easily able to hold his weight like that without flexing.

Say what??
And be slim enough not to show?

What kind of steel are we talking about?
I work in a machine shop and we do not have any steels that could do that without noticable flex.

Well,where are the others photos taken? probably is a hoax.
If i were present at this place i will push the guy enough to see if is true:laugh:

There is really no way of telling with certainty, without having been there.
Personally, if I were there, I would have removed his cane and used it to test for supports.
PREDATOR could be right.
It may have been used to support him in some way.

It may have all been cooperatively staged, crowd in an it as well.

Well, either he is levitating, the photos are faked, or he is somehow supported.

Having seen the slideshow, which I did not notice before, it does appear that he is over the pavement. His setup indicates that it is pre-arranged and not an impromptu stunt. Probably he had an entourage who set up some sort of a curtain around him when he got into position and when he got out of position as well. Otherwise, why are there no pictures of that? I think it is likely a frame in his trousers on which he sits that connects to the 'cane' which is driven into a hole in the rug and then into a predrilled hole in the pavement. Later, I shall make an estimate of the required material properties in order to do what some of us claim the 'cane' must do. Keep in mind that the amount of bend is dependent upon how far into the ground the rod is anchored.

I don't think it would be legal (or wise) to drill a hole into gov. pavement like that.
There's a steel plate under the rug.

If someone can truly levitate - what's the point of having a stick at all?

If the stick is NECESSARY then they are not levitating.

Ben

This guy was on the news on, Thursday I believe. People actually sat under him and kids walked under him, but whats with the sick?

He heals them

Ben

HIS TRICK he's trained his muscles and body to balance on the pole/stick, which takes years to master.
He makes it look like the poles there as like some wise old elder geezer dude when realy thats his whole prop.

:laugh:
Did you see closely the position of that stick?
You can not simply balance on a stick that way.
It would be as astounding as levitation.

I stated earlier that no ordinary metal could support him.
I retract that.
Vanadium steel of the right thickness, preflexed could support him that way.

The only place his cloths seems to hang down is right at the front, as if it is hanging over the edge of something. As far as steel not being strong enough, i disagree, he is a light looking bloke, if his seat flexed down then you would only need to weld it on an angle upwards so that the bend flexed to a roughly horizontal position.

And if i am not mistaken his pole appears to be bamboo which is hollow and perfect for concealing a steel rod. Also is that a grill or grate of some nature the pole is sitting in on the footpath. It looks like something of that type so if it is, no hole was drilled.
As far as supporting the weight goes, you only have to look at the numerous wall mounted TV stands in different places, they are often only made of 16 gauge steel with a small support underneath them, yet sometimes hold TV's that are 50 +kg
My TV hangs from the wall on a slim bracket and it is a 50" plasma weighing 70+kg A terrific trick to look at not not so mysterious technically i think.

And hey Soul Drifter, comon, i work with steel from time to time too, not so hard to do that, i googled shelf brackets and found this first hit...
http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/page.asp...at=3,50659&ap=1
Section Band D states that it will hold a 300 pound load at the tip, 600 pound distributed evenly. It would not be so hard to make a device like this.