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Wrote Planter Plunkett: "The accompanying pictures tell the story of what happened, and I need only mention what steps we took to see that there were no illusions. . . . We . . . photographed every position of the performer and from every angle. . . . I held a long stick, and from outside the circle passed the end of it over and under and around Subbayah's body. . . . I can vouch for the fact that he had no support whatsoever except for resting one hand lightly on top of the cloth-covered stick. He remained horizontal in the air for about four minutes. The tent was then put back. . . . Pat and I could see, through the thin wall of the tent, Subbayah still suspended in the air. After about a minute he appeared to sway, and then very slowly began to descend, still in a horizontal position. He took about five minutes to move from the top of the stick to the ground, a distance of about three feet. Evidently we were not meant to see this part of the performance, or it would all have been done in the open. The performer ... is under a trance or stupor, and becomes stiff as if in a state of rigor mortis. When Subbayah was back on the ground his assistants carried him over to us and asked if we would try to bend his limbs. Even with the assistance of three coolies we were unable to do so. After Subbayah had been massaged for five minutes and had cold water poured over his head and down his throat he returned to normal."
Scientists would deny that Subbayah's feat violates any physical or biological principle. Fakirs can induce cataleptic rigidity in a limb or in the whole body; fakirs are often unbelievably strong. When the tent walls close behind him, all that Subbayah conceivably has to do is to induce rigor, leaving one arm free to inch his body little by little up the stick. If the stick is off the vertical and slants away from his log-like body he can hang easily from its top, provided his centre of gravity is directly above the point where the stick enters the ground.