Levitation, From Antiquity to Joseph of Cupertino and Beyond: An Examination of the Evidence

"According to an ancient, uninterrupted, and almost certainly general tradition, the human body is able, with certain persons, at certain moments, to be raised from the ground, to remain suspended in mid-air without any visible prop, and sometimes move about in it, without the traceable action of any physical force. The phenomenon is now called levitation." So begins Olivier Leroy's singular and fascinating study of the subject, with a special focus on saints from the Christian tradition. The 2023 book by Yale historian Carlos Eire, They Flew: A History of the Impossible, has once again brought these extraordinary phenomena to the attention of contemporary readers. But, according to Eire, this volume by Olivier Leroy, first published in 1928, remains the only one to provide a thorough examination of the traditions, the facts, and the theories; as he says, "the first and only comprehensive history of the subject of levitation," and "still unsurpassed, nearly a century later." Among the