Criss Angel Magic Secrets

Levitation is a big part of Criss Angel's repertoire. He has fascinated crowds all over the globe by floating off the ground, seemingly without any supporting device, special equipment or wires. On his television show Mindfreak he once floated off the ground about two feet and gently landed on a cement ledge to the amazement of spectators on a busy street.

So how is this done? How does Criss Angel levitate himself? It's actually easier than you think. In a recent video Criss Angel shows some of his friends how this is done.

This form of levitation involves standing in front of an prop, like a metal box, chair, or stair case with your back to the audience. In this demonstration Criss stands approximately one foot from the prop, in this case a metal box.

He places his feet together (his shoes are magnetized). He stands so he is in the center of the spectators. Now while talking to his audience he uses misdirection with his right hand while his left hand opens a panel on his pants that allows his right leg to come out.

This is the gimmick, the right shoe is attached to the pants so when his leg is out of the shoe, the shoe will hang.

The critical point is removing the right leg from the slit in the pants. Criss again misdirects. The importance being he doesn't want spectators concentrating on his legs. This is the most difficult part of the trick, actually getting the leg out and firmly planted on the box. Engaging the spectators with speech and hand movements allows Criss the split second needed to accomplish this.

Just before he rises from the ground Criss arches his back looking up, extends his arms outwards and takes deep breaths. This wraps the spectators in anticipation and allows Criss the time to balance himself.

He floats up. His arms outstreached, his eyes gazing upwards. His legs remain straight, heels together, floating two feet off the ground. "How does it look?", Criss asks the three or four friends that have gathered. "Looks good.", someone answers.

Criss explains that from this point he can float to the top of the box or float back down. If he floats to the top his foot is placed on top of the right shoe. The exposed leg is then slipped back into the pants and shoe.

Criss would then end the act by turning to his spectators, observing their expressions and saying something like, "Do you believe?"

Well do you?