Mystery of Indian rope trick unravelled

Can you keep a secret? You know that centuries-old trick where an Indian fakir coaxes a rope from a basket and a small boy clambers to the top? It's a pole.

This earthly explanation of the famous illusion is just one of the myths of magic debunked by magician-turned-academic Peter Lamont at the Edinburgh International Science Festival last night.

In a talk on the magic of India, Dr Lamont, a former president of the Magic Circle in Edinburgh, unravelled some of the secrets of the east. But only up to a point. Anxious not to blow the cover or incur the wrath of his fellow magicians, Dr Lamont offered a scientific explanation for feats that appear to challenge modern science - without giving away the exact mechanics of the tricks themselves.

The rope trick, he said, was one of the simplest to explain. "The rope trick itself never used a rope. The legend is that the rope goes up and a boy shins up it and disappears at the top. What seems to be the case is that first-hand accounts of this were exaggerated over time from what was a pole-balancing trick. Then there were hoax photos and the myth was perpetuated."

Dr Lamont also cast a sceptical eye over levitation, sword swallowing and body piercing, and demonstrated by stabbing a spike through his own tongue. "You can fake that or you can do it for real," he said. "I'm a magician so you can guess what I do."

He said there was an enduring fascination with India among westerners. "Interest in the paranormal and supernatural has been around for a long time. In the mundane world we have, and especially the less spiritual world, we hanker after something that tells us there is a bit more to life. We have an interest in something that gives some sense of spirituality. Every second traveller I have met in India is on a quest for spirituality. They don't go to Shepherd's Bush to find it. They go to India."

Meanwhile, plans to allow the public to walk on hot coals as part of Dr Lamont's festival project have been scuppered by insurance firms.

The organisers had hoped to allow visitors to today's event to try walking on red hot coals themselves to show that there is nothing mystical or supernatural about the activity. But the spectacle being held at West Princes Street Gardens is to go ahead purely as a demonstration event after insurance companies got cold feet and refused to offer cover.