DigitEye India Fact Checkers
A video is going viral on WhatsApp. The viral video shows a man floating in the air allegedly without any harness or support. The claims that are going viral with the video state that the man was able to float in the air because of yoga. One of the claim reads,
यह लड़का तमिलनाडु का रहने वाला है। इसने योग विद्या के बल पर आसमान में उड़कर दिखाया। यह देखकर वैज्ञानिक भी हैरान हैं। श्रीरामचरित मानस और पवनपुत्र श्री हनुमान जी को काल्पनिक बताने वालों के लिये खुली चुनौती|
(Translation: This boy is from Tamil Nadu. He flew in the sky with the power of Yoga. Even scientists are surprised to see this. Open challenge to those who call Shri Ramcharitra Manas and Pawanputra Shri Hanuman ji imaginary.)
Digiteye India received a request to fact-check this viral video on WhatsApp.
FACT CHECK
The Digiteye India team looked at the video closely to look out for any form of harness, cranes, or support that was used to keep the man floating in the air for long. At the 2:12 mark, we saw a watermark on the bottom left-hand side of the video which read – Magician Vignesh Prabhu. The watermark came up on the video multiple times after that. We used this clue and conducted a keyword search on Google.
One of the results led us to Vignesh Prabhu’s website. The website revealed that Vignesh Prabhu is an international magician and mentalist from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. There was also a mention of the levitating magic that one can see in the video. “Recently in Prozone Mall, Coimbatore, he had his close-up magic show. A person asked him to make his laptop float in mid-air. But Magician Vignesh Prabhu made Indian history in magic by flying(levitating) in thin air at an altitude of 160 feet above the ground level making the audience go awestruck,” read the website.
We checked Vignesh Prabhu’s YouTube to look for the levitating video and found that it was uploaded on August 8, 2018. Titled, “FLYING MAN OF INDIA at 160 FEET | Magician Vignesh prabhu | Exclusive flying magic | Jai hind,” the description of the video revealed that no camera tricks, no visual effects, nor ropes were used for this trick.
To understand the science behind this trick, we looked further on Google. One of the results led us to this Tamil video where Vignesh Prabhu revealed the trick behind it in an exclusive interview with Behindwoods Air.
The levitating trick is one of the oldest tricks that has been used by magicians throughout the world. We found a YouTube video where a magician explains how this popular trick is performed. The magician revealed that these tricks are often performed in broad daylight with the help of thin air-craft cables. These thin cables become invisible in daylight because they can reflect sunlight. Magicians, then, use VFX and editing software to remove traces of these cables that might have been visible. These tricks are science and visual illusions.
The claim is, thus, false.
CLAIM: A boy in Tamil Nadu floated in the air because of the power that he received from yoga.
CONCLUSION: The boy in the video is magician Vignesh Prabhu. He did not float in the air because of yoga. This levitation trick is a classic magic trick and magicians across the world perform it in broad daylight with the use of thin cables that become invisible as they reflect sunlight.
RATING: ?? – Misinterpretation
