[escepticos] Fw: Odd Debunking

["planetario" <planetario@...>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Siano" <bsiano en bellatlantic.net>
To: <wizards-star-list en ssr.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2001 5:44 PM
Subject: Odd Debunking


> Last line of the story throws it all out of whack, but...
>
> http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=66579
>
> Secret of the Indian rope trick is finally revealed: it's a hoax
> By David Brown
> 14 April 2001
> The secret of the Indian rope-trick, which has intrigued generations of
> scientists and magicians, has been uncovered by a Scottish academic
> after a five-year investigation.
>
> Peter Lamont, a former president of the Magic Circle in Edinburgh and
> now a researcher at the city's university, revealed the truth at
> Edinburgh's International Science Festival last night.
>
> He has discovered that the trick has never been performed and was
> invented by an American newspaper as part of a circulation drive 111
> years ago.
>
> The Chicago Tribune caused a storm when it printed a report from India
> of a boy climbing an unsupported rope and disappearing at the top. The
> paper claimed he was followed by a man armed with a sword who also
> disappeared before parts of the boy's body fell from the sky and landed
> in a basket at the base of the rope. The man reappeared and emptied out
> the basket, revealing the boy to be in perfect health.
>
> Versions of the story spread worldwide, but little notice was taken of a
> short note published by the Chicago Tribune four months after the
> original story that admitted the article was a publicity stunt. It
> assumed readers would realise it was a hoax because the story was
> bylined "Fred S. Ellmore".
>
> Mr Lamont discovered the truth after a painstaking search that revealed
> the bizarre theories of others who claim to have "solved" the trick. "It
> is a legend which the West constructed," said Mr Lamont, 37, who is now
> planning to write a book on its history.
>
> One Viceroy of India is said to have offered a £10,000 reward to the
> person who would reveal the secret so he could impress the visiting
> Prince of Wales. And one expert claims it involved twin boys, one of
> whom would actually be murdered.
>
> It is thought the hoax may have been inspired by the Indian street act
> of balancing a boy on a pole. "I suppose I have destroyed some people's
> beliefs," said Mr Lamont, of Edinburgh University's Koestler
> Parapsychology Unit.
>
>
> --
> Brian Siano
> email: bsiano en bellatlantic.net
> Domain: http://www.briansiano.com
>
>