Now you see it, now you don’t

John Filmer, who works at Blackpool’s SEA LIFE Centre, was very confused on Monday afternoon when he looked out of his office window only to discover that Blackpool Tower had completely vanished. Not sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him he grabbed his phone and took a pictures of the phenomenon, before it miraculously reappeared a few minutes later.

He then contacted the organisers of the town’s forthcoming Showzam festival of circus and magic, visitBlackpool, and asked if it he had just witnessed a rehearsal of a David Copperfield-style illusion, similar to when the Statue of Liberty was made to vanish. However Showzam’s bosses had to admit that it was not part of a magic trick, but merely a cloud of dense mist that temporarily eclipsed the famous landmark.

John, who works in marketing at SEA LIFE, said of the experience: “Every time I glance out of the window at work I can see the tower but on Monday afternoon I looked up and it had simply disappeared. I know sometimes the top gets obscured by low cloud and mist, but I’ve never seen it vanish completely. After I’d taken the pictures I sent them to visitBlackpool and asked had it been part of a rehearsal for Showzam in a few weeks or just a freak weather condition.”

Claire Turner from Showzam said: “We’ve got some amazing and magical events and spectacles lined up for this year’s festival but sadly we are not planning to make the tower disappear. However John’s pictures have got us thinking about the possibility of staging such an illusion at a future Showzam, so we are grateful that he got in touch.”