A flying Man named Joseph

    The Levitation of St. Joseph of Copertino or St. Copetrtino (1603-1663) is a well-documented case about the free flying of a human being without aids.
    St. Joseph of Copertino sometimes hovered only a few centimeters above the ground, but also flew high into the air. This happened partly in front of large crowds all over Italy. The process of his canonization included a detailed examination. In this case, many written records, including 150 eyewitness accounts, were evaluated with detailed information about St. Copertino's levitations.
    They stood up to scrutiny. The records spanned 35 years and contained witnesses at the highest levels of society, including cardinals, a pope and even inquisitors.
    At that time, the Church had no motives to promote an alleged miracle worker. Over the years, St. Copertino experienced as much mistrust as openness from the Church. He was sent from one city to another, and he received threats to refrain from levitating because wherever he was, a large group of followers immediately formed around him.
    The Church could have easily labeled St. Copertino a heretic and judged his levitations a symptom of demonic obsession. He actually had to face a trial. But the inquisitor had not been able to recognize any secret motives. Copertino was completely humble and ashamed of his abilities.
    His Levtationen happened not deliberately, but in a state of ecstasy. At certain moments St. Copertino seemed to be so touched that he entered another state of consciousness and began to float. He forgot everything around him, although his behavior caused a sensation.
    Scientist Dr. Michael Grosso has written a book on this particular historical case of levitation, "The Man Who Could Fly: St. Joseph of Copertino and the Mystery of Levitation.
    Already in 1753 Angelo Pastroviechi wrote the book "Short epitome of the life and the virtues and wonders of the blessed Joseph of Copertino"
    Many personalities had great interest in witnessing this miracle themselves. Among others, Princess Mary of Savoy and King John II Casimir of Poland confirmed their observations under oath. (Wikipedia)

It is certainly generally known that such levitations are often reported and handed down phenomena in Buddhism/Hinduism. But they also exist - allegedly - in all areas of the world:
 More recently, Daniel Dunglas Home (1833-1886) from Currie near Edinburgh, Scotland, also caused a sensation. He regularly showed his inexplicable tricks to a large audience. Well-known personalities and skeptics have observed this, including Napoleon III, Prince Metternich, the British Queen, Mark Twain, Thackeray, John Ruskin, Rosetti and Edward Buyler-Loyton. None of the attempts to prove fraud succeeded.
    William Crookes, President of the Royal Society and very interested in parapsychology, wrote in what was then the most important scientific journal, the "Quarterly Journal of Science", about the inner conflict between his irrefutable knowledge and what he experienced with his eyes and hands. In his most spectacular performance, Home in London is said to have flown from one window on the third floor and through another into the same house again. (Wikipedia)

Well, how shall we evaluate this phenomenon levitation? Personally I have no doubt about the phenomenon itself, but I find an evaluation difficult ... is it divine, demonic or an extended human ability in the state of ecstasy or trance? Or does it perhaps depend on the external context? Is it sometimes divine, sometimes demonic and sometimes an extended human ability?
There is the legend of Simon, the magician, who allegedly flew a bird in a miracle competition (in front of an audience). His alleged bad luck was that Peter said a prayer and suddenly he fell to the ground like a stone.