Rope Trick

I'm not reading The Rise of the Indian Rope Trick, but I'm guessing it doesn't include "The Jiaxing Rope Trick" 嘉興繩技, a story from the Tang dynasty, stating that during the Kaiyuan 開元 period (713-741), during a performance of skillful feats by prisoners, one of them escaped from jail by climbing a rope straight up into the sky. Here are two articles, with a Qing picture that they purport illustrates it. The writer of the former article claims his Indian friend told him it happens in India, and it's a case of mass hypnosis.