The Indian rope trick is a very contentious trick in magical history. Some have referred to it as "the world's greatest illusion," while others have said that reports of the trick have been greatly exaggerated and that it has never actually been performed as described in some accounts.

There are multiple versions of the trick that have been reported since the ninth century. In the most basic version, a rope placed in a basket levitates into the sky, stiff as a pole. A boy assistant climbs the rope into the open sky, then climbs down and the rope falls limply to the ground. Some versions report that the boy climbs to the top of the rope and disappears, only to reappear on the ground somewhere. And in the most elaborate version, the boy climbs the rope and disappears, the magician follows him up the rope with a sword and also disappears, they argue, and then the boy's severed body parts (!) fall from the sky, the magician reappears from the ether (!!), and then the boy reappears on the ground, no longer chopped up (!!!).

It is generally agreed that no one has ever actually performed the latter two versions. The first, simplest version is done by placing the basket over an underground chamber from which an assistant slides a rigid metal rod into the hollow rope, removing it after the boy climbs down. The severed limbs version is almost definitely (hopefully) a hoax.

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