Even in Huddersfield, the laws of physics cannot be suspended.
But for unsuspecting passers-by on New Street, for one tantalising moment it seemed as if they might be as two street performers carried out what looked to be a variation of the Indian Rope Trick.
One bearded Asian man sat for several hours above his colleague with the only visible means of support a wooden pole.
Even when a local drunk got a little bit too close and sliced his hand between the air separating the two men the illusion held firm.
The pair had been in the area yesterday and returned today to tantalise passers-by.
The trick drew a crowd of hundreds of people throughout this afternoon with one stunned observer Nick Chadwick, an unemployed, 44-year-old gardener, from Marsden saying: “It’s amazing, it’s certainly caught my eye. I don’t normally stop for these kind of things.
“It’s certainly the first time I have seen something like this in Huddersfield.
“I can’t see any strings. I think it’s very clever however it’s done. Strange but very impressive.”
Mahmood Hussain, a taxi driver from Fartown, added: “It’s amazing. I’ve not seen anything like this before.
“There must be some supernatural powers at work!”
Former Northern Ireland footballer Bobby Campbell, ex-steward at Lindley WMC, stopped to watch and said: “It’s good, very good.
“But I know how it’s done - with wires and a harness.”
And indeed, that is almost precisely how it is done.
The laws of physics are not to be denied. The illusion is sustained through the strategic placement of steel rods and plates.
Of course, to create the impression of magic forces at work the rug is vital to covering up evidence of how the stunt works. But at least for one sunny afternoon hordes of folk were just able to gawp and wonder.
