Light as a Feather, stiff as a board is a levitation game played by kids and teenagers during sleepovers and parties, or whenever they want to try and scare themselves silly.
The game needs five people. The person who is to be levitated lies on the ground, legs together and arms at his or her sides. The four remaining people take up positions around the body.
One person at the head, a person at the feet, and a person on the left and right side. The four people place their index and middle fingers under the body and begin chanting “light as a feather, stiff as a board.”
The chanting is meant to put everyone in a trance-like state and eventually they can supposedly lift the body off the ground with no effort.
Some people categorize this game as a form of the occult and attempt to link it to Black Magic. However, the game of “light as a feather” was first recorded in the 17th century. A Royal Navy administrator wrote about the game in his diary.
According to this entry, the game was played in France, and he had witnessed four little girls place fingers under a little boy and chant.
The English version of the chant is:
“Here is a dead body, stiff as a stick, cold as marble, light as a spirit, lift yourself, in the name of Jesus Christ.”
The witness to the game claimed that the girls were able to lift the boy over their heads.
Did the girls really levitate the boy over their heads or was the demonstration staged?
Master Magician, Harry Houdini, had his doubts about levitation. In an article published in 1922, he wrote:
“I am certain that levitation is a fraud. The great Keller, by means of mechanical apparatus, invented a levitation act which could not be explained by experts. The difference between professional theatrical mystifiers and professional money-seeking mediums is that we of the stage admit our trickery, while the false mediums say, ‘This is caused by spirits.’”
