Levitating magician Dynamo: Sorry everyone, it was only an illusion

Levitation also subject to lame, crowd-sourced investigation

Extremely sorry to disappoint all the kids out there who aspire to perform magic for professional employment upon reaching adulthood, but the recent levitation stunt by Dynamo, the magician who appeared to levitate alongside a double-decker bus in London earlier this week, was in fact, not really levitating.

This is what we call, an illusion by Dynamo, hence the reason that people in this entertainment profession are often called “illusionists.”

Not “allusionists,” get your vowels right.

Anyway, people who had much more time on their hands than I do participated in and/or coordinated a crowdsourced investigation on Australia’s news.com.au Facebook page to analyze the stunt, which was sponsored by Pepsi Max. This is what the digital snooping revealed: Dynamo’s “arm” was actually a steel prosthetic fastened to the top of the bus. A harness was used to lift Dynamo into position, and his hand was hidden from view by being tucked inside.

Furthermore, a video of the stunt was dissected as well for tell-tale details.

“His fingers don’t move in the clip and there are no people around when he hovers up and down the bus,” the work stated. “In fact, at second glance the arm attached to the bus looks pretty phony.”

Um, ya think?

And of course, Dynamo’s not the first entertainer to do such things. Johan Lorbeer, a German illusionist and street performer has been hanging off structures in many types of interesting locations, including the sides of buildings since 2002.

A photo of one of Lorbeer’s fake arms was displayed to back this up, but like magicians do, Dynamo refuses to tell his “secret.”

But it’s still astounding how with all millions of potential viral videos on the web, this one ends up making the big splash despite its lameness. But hey, if Nik Wallenda can get so much attention by walking on a wire, then there’s all kinds of room for more bus-hangers, hand-walkers, hot air balloonists, or monkey dog-riders.

In fact, just adding the “-ist” suffix to your title can draw attention. Try that as well. At any rate, this droll attempt for attention in our obessively, ADHD culture will certainly help Dynamo make a wider name for himself for about three minutes.