page_title: Aerial suspension
section_title: Robert-Houdin
hierarchical_section_title: Aerial suspension / Early performers / Robert-Houdin
caption_attribution_description: Lithograph or engraving of the ethereal suspension illusion as performed by Robert-Houdin. Illustration from William Manning, Two odd volumes on magic and automata: recollections of Robert-Houdin, automata old and new (The Sette of Odd Volumes, early 1890s) page 25.
context_page_description: The aerial suspension, ethereal suspension or broomstick illusion is an illusion in which the performer appears to be suspended in mid-air for some minutes, with either inadequate support or no apparent support of his or her weight. This trick was first recorded in India in the early 19th century.
context_section_description: In Robert Houdin's version, known as ethereal suspension, he appeared to administer ether to an assistant who was then shown to balance horizontally in the air with an apparently inadequate support at the shoulder only. Robert-Houdin asserted that he was the first to perform this type of illusion in 1849, but this was later discredited by Harry Houdini.
caption: Robert-Houdin's ethereal suspension
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