Fire Eating - Dont Bother

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TARIL ARILY Y EXPOSING HIMSELF OR HERSELF TO SUCH DANGER; AND (5) IN UTILIZING THIS BOOK, PURCHASER/USER HAS ASSUMED THE RISK THEREOF AND KNOWS, UNDERSTANDS, UNDERST ANDS, APPRECIATES APPRECIATES AND CONSENTS TO THE EXPOSURE OF SUCH DANGER. FURTHERMORE, THE PURCHASER/USER HAS DETERMINED THAT THAT HE OR SHE SHALL VOLUNTARIL VOLUNTARILY Y ENCOUNTER SUCH DANGER AND THAT THAT SUCH RISK IS MADE ON THE BASIS OF A FREE AND INTELLIGENT CHOICE. USAGE LICENSE AGREEMENT

“The Professional’s Guide to Fire Eating” Agreement Welcome to “The Professional’s Professional’s Guide to Fire Eating. Eating.”” “The Professional’s Professional’s Guide to Fire Eating” is a textbook designed to be a teaching aid for qualied individuals to teach the skill of re-eating to students and apprentices. The practice of re-eating is an inherently dangerous activity about which there is much much confusion and erroneous information. information. “The Professional’s Professional’ s Guide to Fire Eating” is a singular resource designed to offer opinions regarding re-eating techniques as well as provide opinions regarding re safety safety,, torch making, performances, and several other topics related to the practice of re-eating. The following are terms and conditions for ownership and use of the book “The Professional’s Guide to Fire Eating” and the “The Professional’s Guide to Fire Eating Illustrative Video” (if applicable), collectively referred to as “The Professional’ Professional’s s Guide to Fire Eating”: 1. The Purchaser/User acknowledges that he or she has read and fully understands the DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE RISK provided provided hereinabove. 2.

BOOK DESCRIPTION

This book contains a series of testimonials, opinions, and explanations of the methods of re-eating used by Brian Br ushwood, a professional performer, performer, who has practiced these methods since 1994. Each re-eater has his or her own opinions regarding safety, safety, effectiveness,, and other factors associated with re-eating, and therefore it is up to the effectiveness qualied teacher who uses “The Professional’s Guide to Fire Eating” as a teaching aid to accept full responsibility for the instruction given. THE AUTHOR (BRIAN BRUSHWOOD) AND PUBLISHER (BIZARRE MAGIC, INC.) MAKE NO CLAIM REGARDING THE ACCURACY OR EFFECTIVENESS OF ANY INFORMATION INFORMATION PRESENTED IN THIS BOOK. 3.

USE OF INFORMATION

The information contained i n “The Professional’s Guide to Fire Eating” is for informational and anecdotal purposes only only.. The practices of re-eating and related effects have existed for hundreds of years, and have historically been taught one-on-one by qualied performers to apprentices. The Author (Brian Brushwood) and Publisher (Bizarre Magic Inc.) believe that while re-eating cannot ever be considered “safe,” “safe,” the practice of personal instruction in a controlled environment (with sufcient safety precautions) is the only way ANYONE should attempt to learn re-eating. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD ANY OF THE ACTIVITIES ACTIVITIES DESCRIBED IN “THE PROFESSIONAL’S GUIDE TO TO FIRE EATING” EA TING” BE ATTEMPTED WITHOUT COMPETENT SUPERVISION SU PERVISION BY A QUALIFIED INSTRUCTOR. 4.

PROTECTION OF INFORMATION

YOU EXPRESSLY ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES (Continued on next page)

TARIL ARILY Y EXPOSING HIMSELF OR HERSELF TO SUCH DANGER; AND (5) IN UTILIZING THIS BOOK, PURCHASER/USER HAS ASSUMED THE RISK THEREOF AND KNOWS, UNDERSTANDS, UNDERST ANDS, APPRECIATES APPRECIATES AND CONSENTS TO THE EXPOSURE OF SUCH DANGER. FURTHERMORE, THE PURCHASER/USER HAS DETERMINED THAT THAT HE OR SHE SHALL VOLUNTARIL VOLUNTARILY Y ENCOUNTER SUCH DANGER AND THAT THAT SUCH RISK IS MADE ON THE BASIS OF A FREE AND INTELLIGENT CHOICE. USAGE LICENSE AGREEMENT

“The Professional’s Guide to Fire Eating” Agreement Welcome to “The Professional’s Professional’s Guide to Fire Eating. Eating.”” “The Professional’s Professional’s Guide to Fire Eating” is a textbook designed to be a teaching aid for qualied individuals to teach the skill of re-eating to students and apprentices. The practice of re-eating is an inherently dangerous activity about which there is much much confusion and erroneous information. information. “The Professional’s Professional’ s Guide to Fire Eating” is a singular resource designed to offer opinions regarding re-eating techniques as well as provide opinions regarding re safety safety,, torch making, performances, and several other topics related to the practice of re-eating. The following are terms and conditions for ownership and use of the book “The Professional’s Guide to Fire Eating” and the “The Professional’s Guide to Fire Eating Illustrative Video” (if applicable), collectively referred to as “The Professional’ Professional’s s Guide to Fire Eating”: 1. The Purchaser/User acknowledges that he or she has read and fully understands the DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE RISK provided provided hereinabove. 2.

BOOK DESCRIPTION

This book contains a series of testimonials, opinions, and explanations of the methods of re-eating used by Brian Br ushwood, a professional performer, performer, who has practiced these methods since 1994. Each re-eater has his or her own opinions regarding safety, safety, effectiveness,, and other factors associated with re-eating, and therefore it is up to the effectiveness qualied teacher who uses “The Professional’s Guide to Fire Eating” as a teaching aid to accept full responsibility for the instruction given. THE AUTHOR (BRIAN BRUSHWOOD) AND PUBLISHER (BIZARRE MAGIC, INC.) MAKE NO CLAIM REGARDING THE ACCURACY OR EFFECTIVENESS OF ANY INFORMATION INFORMATION PRESENTED IN THIS BOOK. 3.

USE OF INFORMATION

The information contained i n “The Professional’s Guide to Fire Eating” is for informational and anecdotal purposes only only.. The practices of re-eating and related effects have existed for hundreds of years, and have historically been taught one-on-one by qualied performers to apprentices. The Author (Brian Brushwood) and Publisher (Bizarre Magic Inc.) believe that while re-eating cannot ever be considered “safe,” “safe,” the practice of personal instruction in a controlled environment (with sufcient safety precautions) is the only way ANYONE should attempt to learn re-eating. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD ANY OF THE ACTIVITIES ACTIVITIES DESCRIBED IN “THE PROFESSIONAL’S GUIDE TO TO FIRE EATING” EA TING” BE ATTEMPTED WITHOUT COMPETENT SUPERVISION SU PERVISION BY A QUALIFIED INSTRUCTOR. 4.

PROTECTION OF INFORMATION

YOU EXPRESSLY ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES (Continued on next page)

SHOULD “THE PROFESSIONAL PROFESSIONAL’S ’S GUIDE TO FIRE EA EATING” TING” BE SOLD OR OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO TO ANY CHILD UNDER 13 UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, CIRCUMSTANCES, OR ANY CHILD BETWEEN THE AGES AGES OF 14 AND 18 WITHOUT PARENT PARENTAL AL CONSENT AND PROFESSIONAL SUPERVISION. 5.

LIMITA LIMIT ATION OF LIABILI LIABILITY TY

YOU ACKNOWLEDGE ACKNOWLEDG E THAT THAT YOU YOU HAVE H AVE READ AND UNDER UNDERST STAND AND THE ACCOMPANY ACCOMPANY-ING DISCLAIMER AND ASSUMPTION ASSU MPTION OF THE RISK AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY SAME. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CERTAIN DAMAGES; IN SUCH STATES THE AUTHOR’S (BRIAN BRUSHWOOD) AND PUBLISHER’S (BIZARRE MAGIC, INC.) INC.) LIABILITY IS LIMITED TO TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, LAW, BUT MAY UTILIZE ANY AND ALL DEFENSES, AFFIRMATIVE MA TIVE OR OTHERWISE, AVAILABLE AVAILABLE IN SUCH JURISDICTION(S). 6.

INDEMNIFICATION

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold har mless the author (Brian Brushwood) and the publisher (Bizarre Magic, Inc.), i ts parents, subsidiaries, afliated companies, ofcers, employees, licensees, shareholders and distributors from all losses, liabilities, claims, demands, damages or expenses, including reasonable attorney’s fees, fees, (i) arising arisi ng from breach of this agreement by use of, or in connection wi th, the transmission of any Content contained in “The Professional’s Guide to Fire Eating”, or (ii) arisi ng from damages to a third party as a result of attempting any of the activities described or implied in “The Professional’s Professional’ s Guide to Fire Eating. Eating.”” 7.

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Unless otherwise provided by law, jurisdiction for any suit brought hereunder shall be in the Federal Courts in Travis County, Texas. You may not use, copy, modify, sublicense, rent, sell, assign or transfer the license granted pursuant to this Agreement. The paragraph headings contained in this Agreement are for the purposes of convenience only and are not intended i ntended to dene or limit the contents of said paragraphs, and have no legal or contractual contractual signicance. If you do not agree with this license, please return “The Professional’s Guide to Fire Eating” to the vendor from which you purchased it for a refund.

BREAKING THE SHRINKWRAP ON THIS BOOK OR VIDEO OR USAGE US AGE OF “THE PROFESSIONAL PROFES SIONAL’S ’S GUIDE GU IDE TO TO FIRE FI RE EATING” EA TING” E-BOOK E- BOOK OR VIDEO INDICA INDICATES TES THAT THAT YOU YOU HA HAVE VE READ AND UNDERSTAND THIS DOCUMENT AS WELL AS THE ACCOMPANYING DISCLAIMER AND ASSUMPTION OF THE RISK R ISK LANGUA LANGUAGE, GE, AND AGREE TO THE TERMS HEREOF.

The Professional’s Guide to

FIRE

EATING Brian Brushwood © 2002 Bizarre Magic, Inc.

Copyright 2002 Bizarre Magic, Inc. No part of this book may be reproduced by any photographic, mechanical, or electronic process, or in the form of audio recording, nor may it be transmitted, stored in a retrieval system, or otherwise copied for public or private use, without written permission from the authors. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN 0-9713646-0-5 First Printing, 2002

Acknowledg Ackno wledgement ements s This book never would have been written, were it not for the help of several people. My sincerest thanks go to everyone who participated in the development of this volume. Here they are (in alphabetical alphabetical order):

Kevin Baum Viki & Al Brushwood Joel Bush Cody Fisher C.J. Johnson Dale K Johnny Neill Nerissa Oden Brian Poindexter Adam Sear Jef Sewell Liz Sims Joe Vitale

This book is dedicated to Bonnie Brushwood

contents Introduction About the Author Introduction Why This Book? How to Read This Book

1 3 4 6 7

Tools of the Trade, Burns and First Aid

9

Fire Types and Extinguishers Understanding Fuels and Fire Fuel Containers Ignition Building Your Torches Understanding Your Risks Burn Info and First Aid Practice Locations

11 14 19 20 21 28 30 34

Cigarette & Match Tricks Match on Tongue Cigar on Tongue Flame Suck Jack-O-Lantern Match Light on Teeth

Eating Fire and Other Feats Get Comfy with Fire Fire on Palm Fire Snuff with Hand Pants on Fire Fire-Floor Transfer Flame Pass on Fingers Basic Fire Eating Torch Hold in Teeth

37 39 40 42 43 44

45 47 50 52 53 55 56 58 61

Eating Fiery Embers Fire Toss Snuff Fire Toss Transfer Fire Spit Transfer Fire Tongue Transfer Multi-Flame Swallow Vapor Tricks & the Volcano The Fire Blast

Torch Spins and Flourishes Single Turn Grip Spin Palm Spin Fake Spin Roll Over 4 Fingers Walk-Down & Up Vernon Torch Spin Thumb Spin

Tips For the Working Fire Eater Venues & Authorities Lighting Your Performance Photography and Fire Eating Recognizing Alarms

63 65 67 69 70 71 74 78

83 85 87 88 89 90 92 94 96

97 99 101 102 104

Houdini’s Miracle Mongers and Their Methods 107 Chapters 1-7

OSHA Material Safety Data Sheets Coleman’s Camping Fuel Kerosene Charcoal Lighter Fluid Zippo Lighter Fluid Alcohol, 95% Alcohol, 70%

109

141 143 149 157 160 165 168

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The Professional’s Guide to Fire Eating

Introduction

about the author Who is this guy?

Brian Brushwood began eating re and performing bizarre magic effects at the age of 18 in Austin, Texas. Magic quickly proved itself a great way to make extra money in college, and he soon crafted a show lled with mind reading, sleight-of-hand, sideshow stunts, escapes, and traditional magic effects. After years of performing at nightclubs around Austin, Brian managed to get the green light to perform a magic show for his honors senior thesis at the University of Texas at Austin. Upon graduation, Brian began performing his show throughout Texas at high schools, clubs, and private functions. Brian now tours the United States, performing his unique brand of bizarre magic at colleges and clubs from coast to coast. Brian has appeared on national TV shows including, “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “The Roseanne Show,” “The Debra Duncan Show,” and “Talk Soup.” In his home state of Texas, Brian was awarded “Best Comedy Magic” and “Best Club Magic.” Brian is also the author of Cheats, Cons, Swindles, and Tricks: 57 ways to scam a free drink , and co-author of Pack the House! The Ultimate, EverGrowing Guide to Increasing Attendance at YOUR Campus Events. You can learn more about Brian, see clips from his show, check his touring schedule, and look into hosting his show by visiting his web site at http://www.shwood.com.

3


Introduction

Introduction A heads-up on the material you’re learning

So, you wanna know how to eat re? Well, I won’t lie. It’s dangerous. Could kill you. A re eater takes ames that are over 2200 degrees Fahrenheit and puts them in his mouth. He swallows chemicals that clearly state on their containers that they are harmful or fatal if swallowed , chemicals that are “known to the state of California to cause cancer.” Not to mention the fact that one accidental chemical spill in the right circumstances could burn down a re eater’s house, disgure his face, hurt or kill his loved ones, bankrupt him, and send him on a permanent path of nancial ruin. Still interested? Good. Fire eating is fascinating. The concept of resistance to re is as old as history itself. Even the ancient Greek tragedy Medea makes reference to holding a bar of red-hot iron in order to prove innocence or sincerity. Understanding how people eat re and perform seemingly impossible acts of heat and re resistance can give you a better understanding (and respect) of re and it’s dangers. This book is designed to be the most complete guide to re eating written to date. It goes far beyond the simple mechanics of how to extinguish a ame with one’s mouth. It covers the history of re eating, proper torch making, safety precautions, selecting performance locations, and understanding res, alarms, and extinguishers. It covers tips for the working re eater, including dealing with nervous authority gures, making re photographs look great, torch spins and ourishes, the toxicity of re eating chemicals, and more. But let me be clear: there’s only one way to safely learn to eat re, and that’s through personal instruction by a trained professional. This book is denitely not a substitute for this personal instruction. This doesn’t mean that I’ve held anything back from you, the reader. I’ve done my best to make the information in this volume as factually accurate as possible. I’ve written explanations of each effect as carefully as I can, to make sure that you can understand exactly what happens. I’ve done factual research on the science of res and combustion. I’ve interviewed re marshals, scientists, other re eaters, and reghters. The end result 4


Introduction

is (hopefully) the most complete textbook on the art of re eating available to date. Before you consider actually using the information in this book, remember that there are several textbooks available that explain in exact, precise, and accurate detail how to y an airplane. However, only a complete idiot would read such a book and assume he is now qualied to y a plane. Likewise, you should not assume that simply because you’ve read this book, you’re ready to eat re. If, after reading this book, you feel condent that you have what it takes to eat re and are truly interested in learning the craft, then seek out a professional re eater and look into personal instruction. Do not simply decide that you’ll learn by trial and error at home. You’re smarter than that (aren’t you?). Fire eating is a lot like smoking cigarettes: it is an activity that, even (or especially) when performed correctly, can harm or kill you. Do not think for one minute that re eating is ever completely “safe.” Through preparation, practice, and education, the activity of eating re can be made “safer,” but never quite “safe.” There’s always a chance of injury or death when performing something so dangerous. Remember, too, that there are two times in a re eater’s career that are the most dangerous: when he’s rst learning the craft (because he’s so inexperienced), and when he’s been doing it for years and years (and forgets to take proper safety precautions). In the meantime, enjoy this book. It’s an interesting read, lled with humor, useful information, trivia, science, and unique insights to a dangerous and wild art.

Brian Brushwood Bizarre Magician http://www.shwood.com

5


Introduction

Why this book? I’m glad you asked...

Why did I write such a book? Largely because when I rst decided to learn how to eat re, I scoured around, searching for a book that dared to teach me about this dangerous and exciting art. I checked out Houdini’s Miracle Mongers and Their Methods. I grabbed 20 page booklets that purported to teach everything you needed to know about re eating. I searched for videotapes. In the end, I noticed two things: rst, that there were very few resources available on re eating, and second, that m ost of the information available was out of date and/or patently false. Even Houdini suggested in one book that the method for eating a aming sword was simply to rst swallow an asbestos sheath! Eventually, I discovered a videotape called “Magic of the Sideshow” by sideshow specialist Todd Robbins (available as part of the Stevens Magic Library). The video contained 60 minutes of sideshow demonstrations and stories, followed by a short 10 minutes of explanation of re eating. Fortunately, that’s all it took to get me started. By carefully following Todd’s advice and (more importantly) learning from working professionals, I slowly, bit by bit, built a competent understanding of re eating. I burned my face, I started accidental res, I sizzled my lips, and nearly caused a few major accidents before I truly understood what I was doing. It was only after three years of careful experimentation that I truly became a graduate of the re eating school of hard knocks. With any luck, the information in this book will teach you this valuable information in much less time, and with much less danger.

6


Introduction

how to read this book (In case you’ve never read a book before.)

Subjective rating of the difculty in learning this effect*

Title of book Subjective rating of how impressive this feat is*

Name of effect or title of section

Name of chapter Subjective estimated chance of injury performing this feat*

Description of effect being taught

Safety Tip.

Description of method to perform this feat

These tips place an emphasis on reducing your risk of danger and burns. Each safety tip usually applies to all re effects, making it important to read through the entire book and note each safety tip before beginning even the rst effect.

Illustrative gure

Numeric label of illustrative gure

Page number *On a scale of 1 to 10

Performance Tip. These tips place an emphasis

on getting the best quality of performance from a specic effect. Each performance tip usually applies only to the effect where it is found. 7

Before you begin eating re, you’ll need all the appropriate equipment. More importantly, you’ll need to understand what you’re getting into, and what to do if something goes wrong. This mustread chapter will tell you all about...

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fire types and extinguishers Know your allies

You’re playing with re here (literally), so it’s imperative that you know about re extinguishers and the types of res they cover. You should never, ever eat re without a re extinguisher close at hand. The 10-20 seconds it takes to retrieve a poorly-placed extinguisher can mean the difference between an easily stopped re and an uncontrollable blaze. This is very serious stuff. There are four classes of re: A, B, C, and D. Type A res are those involving ordinary combustible materials such as wood, cloth, and paper. Type B res are those involving ammable liquids, including gasoline, alcohol, and grease. Type C res involve live electrical equipment (so-called “electrical res”). Finally, Type D res involve combustible metals including magnesium, potassium, and sodium. Each type of re uses a different type of extinguisher (gure 1). Portable re extinguishers are rated and classied by standards determined by the National Fire Protection Association. The NFPA is a nonprot organization based in Quincy, Massachusetts. Every re extinguisher is rated by a re type and strength, represented by a letter and a number. For example, a 10-B extinguisher can put out a ammable liquid re ve times larger than a 2-B extinguisher. You can nd the classication for your extinguisher near the UL label (gures 2, 3). Fire extinguishers are often appropriate for one, two, or three types of re. No one extinguisher is good for all four types.

1

2

3

11



Since you’re going to be using ammable liquids, your extinguisher must be a type B, hopefully with type A capability, too (since it is possible that your aming liquids can ignite some of the more conventional combustibles in the room). There are three types of type B re extinguishers. All three operate by choking oxygen out from the re and slowing the release of ammable vapors, though each uses a different type of agent. To protect yourself, you can choose carbon dioxide, dry chemical, or foam. All three are very effective on these types of re, with major differences involving level of mess and cost. CO2 re extinguishers use cold compressed carbon dioxide, which covers the ames, cools them, and chokes out oxygen. There is no residue, and the only lasting effect is a brief cool breeze. Dry chemical extinguishers blast high pressure nitrogen, mixed with sodium or potassium bicarbonate (sodium bicarbonate is baking soda). There are also “multipurpose” extinguishers that use an ammonium phosphate base. These tend to be more effective on all three types of res. Finally, foam extinguishers are very effective, and very, very messy. They blast a messy, lmy foam all over the re, keeping oxygen out. If you’re at home practicing, it’s preferable to have a dry chemical extinguisher on hand. After all, if your fuel catches re, you can put it out in a jiffy, and it’s only you that’ll complain about the baking soda mess left behind. However, if you’re performing for an audience, it’s very important that you spend the extra money to also keep a CO 2 re extinguisher on hand. In the off chance that something terrible happens during the show and an extinguisher is needed, using a dry chemical extinguisher will put out the re, but will also effectively end the show. Dry chemicals (even baking soda) are throat and lung irritants, mild though they may be. Your audience will be lost and confused, choking and coughing inside a giant, slow dissipating cloud of (ob)noxious dry chemicals. You may have saved their lives, but your performance is over. They’ll want to get out of the theater immediately and you’ll feel like a heel. On the other hand, if you have a CO 2 extinguisher on hand, you could (theoretically!) pour your fuel can on the ground, light it aame and 4 put it out with the CO2, and the audience would experience nothing more than a refreshing wash of cool air. You could immediately move on to the next routine in your repertoire, and leave the

12



audience none the wiser. I’ve found moderate-sized CO 2 extinguishers for about one hundred dollars. It’s not much when you consider the insurance you get. Also (from the it’s-so-obvious-you-shouldn’t-have-to-be-told department), it’s not enough to just have a re extinguisher. It’s very important that you make sure it’s fully charged (gure 4).

Safety tip: A STORY: Early in my magic career, I worked at Island Lake Sports and Arts Center, a camp in the Pocano Mountains with a fantastic magic program. Each session the kids do a great magic show for the whole camp, and this particular session involved a youngster who would be performing a “burned dollar bill” routine. The kid would borrow a bill, set it on re, and make it appear from his shoe. To burn the bill, he was to set the bill into small pan lled with a little lighter uid, then drop a match in the mix and let the stuff burn up. Unfortunately, being ignorant of both the correct amount of uid to use, and not knowing how quickly the stuff burned, we poured uid about 1 centimeter deep in the burn pan. Later, during the performance, the kid lit the uid and bill. As expected, it burned… and burned… and burned. Perhaps a centimeter deep was too much uid. Waiting for the eternally-burning re to die would take too long, so we sent another student out on stage to put out the re. “Use this book,” we said, assuming he would understand that he should place the book over the burning pan, and snuff out the re. No such luck. The heroic but confused student thought his job was to beat out the re. Of course, he hit the pan once with the book, tipping it over and sending 8  oz. of burning lighter uid across the stage. Younger kids started to scream, older kids started to cheer, and my bosses wondered aloud just what massive subterfuge this obvious misdirection was covering. Luckily, we did have the foresight to have a dry chemical re extinguisher on hand. Immediately, another student put out the ames and the danger was quelled. However, the auditorium completely lled with a smoky, caustic haze that left people coughing the entire show. Although we managed to keep the show hobbling along, all momentum was lost. If we had just kept a CO2 extinguisher nearby, the audience would never have really even known that something had gone so very, very wrong.

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understanding fuels & fire Wow, this stuff is dangerous.

Understanding Flame: Before we get started using re, it’s important to remember your basic re education from thi rd grade. In order to have any of the res mentioned in the previous section, you must rst have the three primary components of the “re triangle,” ( gure 1). These elements are, of course: heat, fuel, and oxygen. When (and only when) all three elements are present in sufcient quantity, it is possible to create combustion. There are several forms combustion takes, but the one we know best is the ame. A ame is essentially a layer of hot gas surrounding a tapered column of cooler, unburned gas. Therefore, the ame resembles a hollow cone. Simple ames are usually relatively diffuse (that is, spread out) because sufcient air to burn all the fuel does not reach it immediately, and as a result the fuel (in vapor or gas form) travels upwards and spreads outwards, thereby combining with oxygen (hence the term oxidation), before being completely burned. There’s a difference between ames in our gas grill and the ones from our candles. Flames from gas grills or Bunsen burners are premixed with air or oxygen, while candles and torches burn from liquid or solid fuels and produce so-called “diffuse ames.” In a Bunsen burner, air ows up the middle of the unit, where it premixes with the gas before reaching the ame. The ame produced from the mix has 3 areas: the innermost area, lled with cold, unburned gas; the middle area, where the fuel and air react; and the outer area, where carbon monoxide and other compounds (produced by incomplete combustion) react

t a e H

Oxygen

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with the air. These premixed ames are usually laminar (smooth owing). In a candle or other diffusion ame, the fuel doesn’t premix with air and must, instead, diffuse itself into the surrounding atmosphere for oxidation. In candles, the fuel is wax. Wax is melted to liquid by the ame, drawn up the wick by capillary action, and vaporized at the tip of the wick. Surrounding air is drawn in at the base of the ame, where it combines with the vaporous wax and forms a ame. Diffusion ames often are very bright due to the presence of soot particles, which shine brightly in the heat of the ame. Different ames burn at different speeds. Scientists rate ames by the speed at which the ame front advances into the cold, unburned gas. This is called the burning velocity. Burning velocity depends on a lot of things, including pressure, fuel, oxidation, temperature, and inlet conditions. The fastest burning gas is hydrogen, with a maximum burn velocity of 270 cm/sec in regular air (as in the Hindenburg disaster); some special hydrogen-oxygen mixtures can burn up to 1200 cm/sec (as used in some rockets). The fuels you will be using for re eating burn at about 50 cm/sec, and produce ames at temperatures of approximately 2200 degrees Fahrenheit (1200 degrees Centigrade).

Understanding Fuels: When learning to eat re, it’s critical to understand what fuels to use. What kind of fuel you use will directly determine what effects you can perform, how comfortable the ames feel, 15



how quickly you’ll poison your liver, and the taste that’s left in your mouth. Many re eaters use different fuels for different effects, and listed below are the most popular options:

Coleman’s Camping Fuel: This is the fuel of choice for 90% of re eating effects, used by virtually every professional re eater (gure 3). This is the fuel you’ll want to purchase if you’re serious about learning to eat re. Coleman’s camping fuel is made of 100% naphtha petroleum distillate, also called “white gas.” Though other brands besides Coleman’s are ne, it is very important to be certain that you’re purchasing camping fuel, not gasoline. Naphtha is usually found as an intermediate product between gasoline and benzine, and according to the Encyclopedia Americana, naphtha is: Safety tip: When dealing with any hydrocarbon fuel, remember that the worst thing you can do is inhale the vapors. Doing this not only robs your brain of oxygen, but also places your lungs at extreme risk of cancer and chemical pneumonia. Luckily for re eaters, inhaling vapors should not be too big a problem, since re eating relies on exhaling, not inhaling (as you’ll nd out later). Over the course of a performance, it is certain that small amounts of fuel will be ingested. This ingestion can cause damage to your liver and thereby increase your chance of liver disease.

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any of various colorless, volatile, ammable, liquid hydrocarbon mixtures obtained by the distillation of carbonaceous substance. Petroleum naphtha, coal tar naphtha, shale naphtha, and wood naphtha (methyl alcohol) are the products obtained from the fractional distillation of petroleum, coal tar, shale, and wood, respectively. Most commonly, naphthas are derived from petroleum. They are used as a solvent for rubber, a degreasing agent for skins and metals, a dry cleaning agent, and a thinner for paints and varnishes. The word naphtha originally applied to a volatile kind of petroleum issuing from the ground in Persia (Iran).

Coleman’s is the fuel of choice largely because the fuel burns bright, yellow, and tall. It burns cool and fast, and has a boiling range of 30-100 degrees Centigrade (85-212 degrees Fahrenheit), meaning it mixes with the air and becomes volatile very easily, especially compared to kerosene. Best of all, in performance, its vapors can be trapped, held, and re-ignited with relative ease (as you’ll learn later on). Before using this or any other fuel, make sure to read the appropriate OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) Material Safety Data

3



Sheet included in the back of the book. There are serious health risks associated with ingestion of any petroleum distillate. Any effect involving putting a burning torch in ones mouth usually uses Coleman’s camping fuel, though there do exist some alternatives (discussed later).

Kerosene: This is the fuel (gure 4) commonly used in the ubiquitous “re blast” effect. On a torch, kerosene burns with a smaller ame than camping fuel, making it less impressive, but also less intimidating. It, too, is a petroleum distillate, and therefore unhealthy to ingest (see attached MSDS at the end of this book). Some re eaters suggest that it’s best to start with kerosene-soaked torches when rst learning re eating, as they are less threatening. Personally, I use kerosene only for the “re blast” effect. The Encyclopedia Americana explains that kerosene is:

4

a rened petroleum product widely used as a fuel. In commercial use it is spelled kerosene, in the oil industry it’s spelled kerosine. Also called lamp oil or coal oil, it is colorless and has a characteristic odor and taste. Kerosine is obtained mainly by the fractional distillation of petroleum. In this process, crude oil, which is a complex mix of hydrocarbons, is heated, and the rst liquid, or fraction, to boil off is gasoline. The next liquid to boil off is kerosine. Kerosine then is rened Safety tip: to remove impurities such as sulfur compounds and Before using any fuel mencertain hydrocarbons, called aromatic hydrocarbons. tioned in this book, make Because the aromatics cause kerosine to smoke, kerocertain to read the matchsine that is used for lighting and heating must have a ing Material Safety Data low aromatic hydrocarbon content. Sheet (MSDS) in the back of this book. These Kerosine is used widely in aviation as a fuel for jet engines. It is being increasingly used in heating sheets detail safety stoves. For safety, kerosine for heating must have procedures for handling a minimum ash point (temperature at which it rst each material, as well gives off a ash of ame) of 120 degrees Fahrenheit as detailed information (49 degrees Centigrade). regarding chemical properties and health risks For more information on Kerosene, make sure to associated with each subread the beginning of the “Fire blast” section in stance

this book.

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Other fuels: In a pinch, it is possible to use other fuels, including Zippo-style lighter uid (gure 5) and charcoal lighter uid (gure 6). For torch effects, when camping fuel is not available, Zippo lighter uid will make a suitable stand-in. While the ash point of camping fuel is zero degrees Fahrenheit, Zippo lighter uid has a ash point of 39 degrees Fahrenheit. Therefore, torches soaked in Zippo will burn with ames a little bit lower, and a little bit darker than those from camping fuel. However, they also burn very cool and with less smoke than white gas. A suitable replacement for effects that use kerosene is charcoal lighter uid. Kerosene has a ash point of 115 degrees Fahrenheit, and charcoal lighter uid has a ash point of 101 degrees Fahrenheit. This means that charcoal lighter uid is slightly more combustible than kerosene. Of course, this means you should be more careful when using charcoal lighter uid, especially when performing the re blast. Information on both Zippo lighter uid and charcoal lighter uid is available in the (you guessed it!) MSDS section of this book. For effects like the re blast, many bartenders will use Everclear or some other high-alcohol content liquor (probably because they’re right there in front of them). I don’t recommend this, as these alcohols burn much more like camping fuel than kerosene (alcohol ash points usually range from 50-80 degrees Fahrenheit). More importantly, alcohol has a numbing effect on your lips and tongue, making it more difcult to control them, and also reducing your ability to sense residual burning fuel on your face. You can check for yourself these and other details by examining the MSDS for alcohol 75% and alcohol 95% in the back of this book.

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fuel containers Or, “How Not to Burn Down Your House”

Now that you’ve purchased fuel, it’s time to think about your fuel container. As sensible as it may seem, do not use an empty glass mayonnaise jar, or any other glass container. Why not? First of all, jars have wide, large mouths, releasing more vapors into the surrounding air, thereby increasing the chance that a random spark will ignite the fuel. If that does happen, the chances are even greater that the glass will shatter, making your fuel container quite literally an exploding “Molotov cocktail.” Obviously, this is a very bad, bad thing. Likewise, don’t buy a plastic squirt bottle and ll it with fuel. Most likely, the fuel will melt the plastic and leak out. If it doesn’t melt the plastic, the odds are pretty good that high pressure vapors inside will break the seal at the mouth of the container. So what should you do? Glad you asked. Simply spend the 6 bucks to get a fuel container specically designed for holding camping fuel (gure 1)! This baby is solid metal and is designed to hold combustible liquid fuels. It has a screw-on cap that will keep your fuel inside, even at relatively high pressures. You can nd Safety tip: them at most camping supply You can reduce the and sporting good stores. chances of your fuel conWhen practicing, make sure to seal the cap on tainer tipping over by covthe fuel bottle after each time you soak a torch. ering the bottom of the This will do more to eliminate the chances of an bottle with velcro, and accidental ignition of your fuel than just about sticking a matching set of anything else. Also, when you’re eating re, be velcro on your table. very aware of where you put your fuel bottle in relation to your ignition source.

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ignition How ya gonna light that torch?

So you have a torch, fuel (in a container), and an extinguisher. Before you can start doing anything, you’ll also need ignition. The safest way to ignite your torches is to use a barbecue lighter (gure 1) as needed. The benet here is that the ame is only present when you want to ignite the torch, eliminating the threat of random combustion. The extended barrel of this unit keeps your hand safely away 1 from the torch when the vapors ignite, and the nger trigger makes it easy to start. When learning, the fact that you can summon ame at any moment, without running down your ignitor’s fuel source is a valuable tool when you’re practicing over an extended period. On the other hand, once you have you act down, you may be performing for only 5 minutes at a time (on stage). Once you’re at this level of competence, it may be worthwhile to use a candle. Several times during your routine, you may have both hands full and need to ignite a torch. Having a set candle makes it easy, and keeps your act looking smooth. If you do use a candle, make sure to use a regular candle with a small ame (gure 2), as it acts as a good indicator of current wind drafts and other problematic conditions. If it’s too windy to keep your candle lit, it’s too windy to eat re. Period. Don’t even try it any other way. When using a candle, also make sure you keep it a few feet away from your fuel container, to prevent a surprise explosion. Also, just as you did with your fuel container, make sure your candle is fastened down, so it won’t fall over and ignite the bottle. 20

2



Building your torches Arts, crafts, and giant balls of ame

In order to eat re, the most important tool you’ll need is a torch. There’s about a million different ways to make them, including buying them pre-constructed from juggling shops. We’ll explain a few ways to construct them here. Keep in mind that no one torch is inherently better than another. Depending on the style of performance you’ll do, the conditions under which you’ll operate, and the budget you’ll have available, you’ll nd the appropriate type of torch for you.

Simple Coathanger Torch: The rst torch we’ll learn about is a simple one. It’s the rst torch I ever learned to make, and it suited my needs ne while learning to eat re. It’s a simple temporary torch made out of a coathanger and cotton. For this torch, you will need a pair of coathangers, some needlenose pliers (with wire cutters) a roll of cotton (or cotton balls), and 100% cotton thread (gure 1). Start by clipping off the “hanger” part, leaving only the straightish wire (gure 2). Using your pliers, twist the tip of the hanger in a crook, leaving the base slightly splayed out (gure 3) to provide more texture and to keep the wick from being able to slide off onto your face (ouch). Once you have the tip bent into shape, decide how long you’ll want your torch 2 to be. You want it long enough to keep the ame from licking your hands as you eat the re, but not so long you have a hard time maneuvering the torch directly into your mouth. I nd that about 8 to 10 inches is right for me. Now, using your pliers, twist the coathanger to form a handle.

1

3

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4 5 Do this by rst creating 2-3 loops about the size of your hand grip (gure 4), then twist the wire around the other side (gure 5). At this point, you’re ready to start working on the wick. There are as many different ways to make the wick of your torch as there are re eaters. For our most basic torch, we’ll use the following: use a roll of cotton from a craft store (or use cotton balls), and insert it through the crook of your torch (gure 6). Begin to wind the cotton around until you’ve reached your desired thickness (about a centimeter and a half is good). Trim off the cotton and use 100% cotton thread to wind around the torch (gure 7). Since this cotton thread is holding the torch together, I make sure to tie several knots in it as I wind. I do this because if the torch is ignited for over a minute, the thread will begin to burn and break. If the thread is secured only at the ends, then once the thread burns through, it will all come unraveled. If the thread becomes unraveled, there’s very little holding your cotton together, leaving you with an unruly mess of cotton soaked with ammable liquid, hovering right above your head. This is bad. So, after every 3 wraps or so, tie a small double knot in the thread. These are “safety links” of a sort, to keep your torch in one piece. You now have your rst functional torch (gure 8). Congratulations! 22

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Safety tip: Remember that your wick acts as a sponge. Therefore, how much fuel gets soaked into your torch will have a lot to do with how tightly your wick is wrapped. Just as a tightly squeezed sponge can’t soak up water, a tightly wrapped torch won’t soak up much fuel. In the beginning, this can be a very good thing. After all, the last thing you want is dripping ames in your face as you try to master the fundamentals. Later on, you’ll need more fuel in order to get proper vapors for more advanced techniques. In the beginning, however, it’s probably best for you to wrap your torch fairly tight. Another thing to remember is that when you actually begin eating re, it will be the fuel that burns, not the torch. Amazingly, as your fuel burns, it will evaporate and actually provide a type of cooling effect on the cotton wick. It is only after the fuel burns down that the heat of the ames on the torch will begin to ignite the cotton of your wick. You’ll know this is happening when you spot red glows on your wick. If you get this, you will need to extinguish the ames, extinguish the red coals, and re-soak your torches immediately.

If you’re just interested in getting on to your rst re eating experience, you can move on to the next section (after you’ve read each safety tip, of course). Once you master the fundamentals of re eating, however, you will want a better torch. That’s when you should come back and read the rest of this chapter. There are several options and nuances you’ll want to pay attention to when doing this. Over the next few pages, we’ll show you a few different ways to build your torch. Remember that no one torch-making method is necessarily better than the other, and you should do what appeals to you. Thus, these torches appear in no particular order.

BBQ Skewer Torch: For these torches, you’ll need two barbecue skewers, spatulas, or forks, a 100% cotton t-shirt, big pliers, hammers, or other metalworking tools, and 100% cotton thread (gure 9). For these torches, I started off with barbecue grill spatulas. The wiry tines were easy to break apart, so only a handle with a long metal pole remained. I then used the pliers to place a bend at the tip of the metal pole. Since the pole is thicker than the coathanger wire, I made a loop out of it, rather than a crook shape (gure 10). Do this for each

9

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10

torch.

12 11

Great! You’ve now got the basics of your torch ready. For your wick, make sure your t-shirt is 100% cotton. Remember that you must use cotton because cotton will burn, while polyester and manmade bers will melt. When you tilt your head back and get ready to swallow ame, the last thing you need is a big goopy mess of boiling hot synthetics falling onto your delicate and valuable face. If your t-shirt is 100% cotton, you’re in business. Cut off a strip of the shirt (gure 11). Your strip should be about 1.5 feet in length, and about 1 inch wide. Begin threading the t-shirt wick through the loop you made (gure 12), and then wind it around the outside (gure 13). Make sure to distribute the wick as evenly as you can. Again, your goal is to end up with a cylinder about about an 1.5 inches long and about .75 inches thick. When you get near the thickness you want, 14 use scissors to trim the strip so it slowly tapers down to a length of thick thread. (gure 14) Complete this wrapping by threading the t-shirt around the bottom and actually using the end of it to tie off the bottom of the 15 wick (gure 15). After making sure that your t-shirt knots are secure, use the cotton thread to tie off the bottom (gure 16 16). Just as with the 24

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coat hanger torches, remember to tie several “safety knots” as you go along. Your torches are now complete (gure 17)!

Threaded Metal Rods: At the hardware store, instead of buying a barbecue skewer, nd yourself a length of threaded metal rod (gure 18). These make excellent torch-making supplies, as the threads have the perfect texture to keep your wick from falling off, so you won’t need to fashion any kind of loop or hook on your torch. Use a hacksaw to cut the rod to your desired torch length, and create handles for your torches by wrapping leather strips around the base of the rod (gure 19). Use super-glue to bind the leather to the rod. You can use just about any type of wick with threaded rods. Safety tip: For t-shirts and cotton, simply follow the explaIn many old re eating nations offered for the previously explained two texts, it’s suggested that torches. The only difference is that you won’t need you use wire to bind your to thread the wick materials through anything. torches. Also, many jugYou can also use cotton ller cord, available at gling torches come with arts and crafts stores (gure 20). As always, make the wicks screwed to the sure its made of 100% cotton. Simply wrap this rod with big metal screws. cording around the rod (gure 21), making sure to cover the tip (remember how hot the rod gets!). Under NO circumstances use metal of any kind to When you get the desired thickness of wick, tie off bind your wicks. Metal the cording just as you did with the t-shirt (gure doesn’t burn, but it does 22). Again, just as with the t-shirt, make sure to get very, very hot and will use cotton thread to tie off the base of the wick burn your tongue and lips (gure 23). It’s very important to remember to if you use it. check your torches for damage more often when using this type of wick. After all, if one part of the

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21 20

cording burns all the way through, the entire wick can come untied! Another unconventional material for torch wicks is 100% cotton karate belts! The process for making wicks with belts is identical to that of using professional torch wick (available at many juggling supply shops), which we’ll illustrate here. Start by winding the wick around the rod, making sure to keep it as tight as possible (gure 24). Just as with the cording, make sure to cover the tip of the rod. Keep wrapping until you reach your desired thickness, then cut of the remaining wick (gure 25). Finally, use needle and thread to sew the wick together (gure 26). Of course, you should use thread of the same color to avoid the tacky results of this example. Sewing the wick together is probably the very best way to bind it. Since very little of the thread is exposed to the ame, the odds of it burning through and breaking are greatly reduced. 24

25 26

Many otherwise talented re eaters tend to take a rather lax attitude about making their torches, guring “why bother to make them nice when I’m just going to set them on re?” At rst blush, this makes sense. However, I’ve found that the more carefully I construct

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a torch, the longer it lasts. I’ve had cotton torches last eight months to a year before I needed to rework the wick. I recommend taking the time to make sure your torches are as carefully crafted as possible. Safety tip: If you’re worried about your torch burning Whenever using threaded (weird thing to worry about, huh?), and are lookmetal rods for your torch, ing for some ameproof material that won’t fry test that your wick is your face, you still have options. If you like secure by inging your to make your own torches, you can buy wick torch up and down as you made of a combination of space-age materials would to reset a mercury (like Kevlar) from jugthermometer. gling supply shops and Performance tip If your wick is not properly use it to make your bound, it will go sailing off torch. These wicks are Take care when making your the torch. Better that it available both in strips torches. I made my current happen in your test than and yarnlike threads. pair 7 years ago, and still while eating re! Now that you haven’t found time to remake understand the skills of them! Since you’ll probably torchmaking, you can mix and match these parts be using them a long time, to make your ideal torch. If you simply don’t want to make your own try to do the job right the rst torches, there are several manufacturers who will time. make them for you, usually to the tune of fty dollars each. Contact your local magic or juggling shop, or do a quick search on the internet to locate a vendor.

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understanding your risks The 5 best ways to hurt yourself

Fire eating is very dangerous. It can certainly kill you, but not necessarily the way you think. Yes, you risk burning your lips while eating re, and you can probably expect to get a few minor singes to your hair, ngers, and mouth when performing re eating. However, compared to the real health risks involved in re effects, these problems are insignicant. In fact, there are several ways to seriously hurt yourself both long term and short term when eating re. Here are just a few:

Poisoning: The one “for sure” in re eating is that if you eat re, you’ll get the fuel in your mouth. When you get the fuel in your mouth, you’ll be swallowing stuff that is clearly labeled “harmful or fatal if swallowed.” Depending on the type of fuel used, exposure or ingestion of any amount of the fuel can cause cancer, liver damage, kidney damage, blood poisoning, neurological problems, nervous depression, and respiratory dysfunction. For complete details on health risks associated with exposure to any fuel, consult the appropriate OSHA Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) and a doctor. You’re poisoning yourself. If you’re uncomfortable with this fact, do not eat re.

Accidental fuel ignition or spill: In the event of an accidental fuel spill and ignition, unless someone immediately puts you out, complete uncontrollable re will consume you. That’s a nasty way to die. At all times, be very, very aware of where any fuels and containers are, as well as any potential sparks or ignitors. This awareness could save your life.

Damage to teeth: Depending on the type of re effect your performing, heat from the ames can cause your teeth to expand and contract, contributing to broken teeth, lost llings, cracked sealants, and other problems. In fact, at one conference, magician Bob Sheets told me that every re eater he knows has had to get major work done on their teeth later in life. Of course, everyone I know over the age of 50 has had that done too, regardless of whether or not they ate re. At any rate, be aware and 28



careful of this problem.

Inhaling with a torch in your mouth: Hydrocarbon fuels burn at 1200 degrees Centigrade (2400 degrees Fahrenheit). At that level of heat, accidentally inhaling the ames of a torch will immediately and severely burn your lungs, vocal cords, and esophagus. There is a chance that the damage will close off your windpipe and choke you to death. Even if you live, this damage can ruin your vocal cords and leave your lungs scarred.

Inhalation of fumes from fuel: Inhalation of fumes from hydrocarbon fuels poses the greatest collective risk to your health. Inhalation of hydrocarbon fumes is the cause of chemical pneumonia, brain damage, and asphyxiation. The problems posed by inhalation are so great, and the solution so simple, there’s no excuse to leave yourself at risk: simply avoid breathing any fumes from your fuel both when practicing and performing re effects.

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Burn info and first aid A must-read section before beginning

About 2 million people suffer serious burns in the United States alone. Of those, 115,000 are hospitalized and 12,000 die (source: MSN encarta). A burn can be caused by radiant heat, caustic chemicals, or direct contact with hot solids, hot liquids, ames, electricity, or nuclear radiation. Skin can burn when exposed to heat as low as 120 degrees Fahrenheit after about 5 minutes. Let me be clear about this: if you eat re, you will eventually get burned. By following the safety precautions and instructions in this book, and by most importantly using your own common sense and knowing your own personal limits, you can minimize the risk of severe damage. However, it is a fact that sooner or later, you will get some form of (hopefully) minor burn on your hand, lips, or tongue. In the interests of being fully prepared, however, it’s important that you know exactly what to do in the event of either a minor or major burn. Found on WebMD, here is some general treatment and rst aid advice for burns: As you probably have heard, there are multiple classes of burns, including rst-, second-, and third-degree. Determining the class of the burn will dictate the appropriate treatment.

First-degree burns: These are the least serious burns, in which only the outer layer of skin (epidermis) is burned, as in a sunburn. These burns will remove hair from the affected area, but not damage the hair follicles. On these burns the skin is red, possibly swollen, and painful. Fortunately, the outer layer of skin has not been burned through. Treat rstdegree burns as minor burns, unless they cover large or sensitive areas of the face, hands, feet, groin, or major joints.

Second-degree burns: Second-degree burns are those in which the rst layer of skin (the epidermis) has been burned through, and the second layer (the dermis) has also become burned, as in a burn form scalding water. These burns remove all hair in the area and damage all but the deepest hair follicles. In these burns, the affected skin becomes intensely 30



reddened and splotchy, and blisters develop. These burns are marked with severe swelling and pain. If the burn is smaller than 2-3 inches in diameter, treat it as a minor burn. If it’s larger, or if it’s on a sensitive part of the body (hands, face, groin, feet, buttocks, or major joints), get medical help immediately.

Third-degree burns: These are the most serious burns. They are painless (due to the complete destruction of nerve endings in the affected area), and affect all layers of the skin. It is possible that underlying fat, muscle, and bone could be affected as well. These burns may appear blackened and charred, or dry and white. Respiratory problems, carbon monoxide poisoning, and other accompanying problems may occur due to smoke inhalation during the burn. After determining the type and intensity of the burn, excercise one of the following two treatments. It’s important to recognize what kind of burn has been made, as an appropriate treatment for one burn will cause severe damage to another.

Treatment for minor burns Remember that “minor burns” include 1st degree burns and 2nd degree burns smaller than 2-3 inches. When treating minor burns, follow these steps: Cool the burn by running the affected area under cold · tap water for 15 minutes. If you can’t t the affected body part under the faucet, immerse it in cold water or cover it with a cold compress. A clean, cold, wet towel will help to reduce pain. Do not use ice , as it can cause frostbite, and do not break any blisters that may have formed. · After the burn has been completely cooled, you can use a moisturizing aloe vera lotion to reduce drying and increase comfort. Cover the burn with a bandage. Use a sterile gauze · bandage to gently cover the affected area, being careful not to put pressure on the burn. Do not use uffy cotton, as this may irritate the skin. This gauze bandage will keep air off the burn, increasing your comfort. Take an OTC (over-the-counter) pain medication, includ·

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ing ibuprofen, naproxen, aspirin, or acetaminophen. These will not only reduce the pain, but can also reduce swelling and inammation. After following these steps, minor burns will usually heal in 1 or 2 weeks without additional treatment. When they do heal, there may be a pigment change in the affected area (in other words, the healed area may be a different color than the surrounding skin). If this pigmentation difference occurs, avoid tanning the area, to reduce accentuating the difference. While healing, observe the burn closely for signs of infection, including increased pain, redness, fever, swelling, or oozing. If an infection develops, get medical help immediately, as an infection will cause further damage and poor healing.

Treatment for major burns Whenever dealing with a major burn (a 2nd degree burn larger than 3 inches in diameter or 3rd degree burn) dial 911 or call EMS (Emergency Medical Service) immediately. Until help arrives, do the following: · If the victim is on re, put him or her out immediately, using a re extinguisher (which you should have on hand), dousing him with water, or smothering the ames with a large non-synthetic material rug or blanket. (Remember that synthetics will melt in the heat, further hurting the victim.) Don’t remove burnt clothing. Removing burnt clothing · can accidentally tear off skin that might otherwise be saved. Do be sure the victim is no longer in contact with hot or smoldering materials, or still exposed to smoke or heat. · Make sure the burn victim is breathing. If not, clear the victim’s airways and begin CPR. · Cover the area of the burn with a cool, damp, and sterile bandage or clean cloth. Do not apply any ointments, and avoid breaking any blisters. If ngers or toes have been burned, separate them with · dry, sterile, non-adhesive dressings. Elevate the affected area, and keep it free from pressure · or friction. Protect the victim from shock by laying him at, elevat· ing his feet about 12 inches and covering him with a coat or

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blanket. Do not do this if it makes the victim uncomfortable or if there is a suspected head, neck, back, or leg injury. Continue to check on the victim’s vital signs (such as · breathing, pulse, and blood pressure) until help arrives. When dealing with major burns: · DO NOT allow the victim’s airway to close, especially if there is an airway burn. This means you should not rest the victim’s head on a pillow. · DO NOT touch or break blistered and dead skin. · DO NOT give the victim any substance by mouth in the event of a major burn. · DO NOT submerge the burn in cold water, or use a cold compress on a major burn. · DO NOT contaminate the burn (and thereby increase the risk of infection) by coughing or breathing on the burn. Burned skin permits infection, which is the most common cause of death for extensively burned persons. · DO NOT apply any household remedies to a major burn, including butter, ointments, ice, adhesive bandages, cream oils, or uffy cotton dressings.

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practice locations Hint: not your family dining room

Before you start learning or practicing re feats, think about your location. The ideal setting for re eating is in a large, high-ceilinged area, well ventilated and without any noticeable breeze. If you’re practicing indoors (i.e. your house or garage), be absolutely certain your area has a 10-ft. radius free of anything that can catch re. Better yet, keep your act out in the garage. If you have access to a large theater, warehouse, or gymnasium setting: great. If you must perform outdoors, make sure you are in an area with at least two perpendicular windbreaks (large walls that can block incoming drafts) and some kind of overhang. In most breezes, these windbreaks will keep you relatively free of unpredictable wind changes.

Safety tip: A STORY: Be very, very concerned about your location when re eating. In 1996, I was working a street festival in Austin, Texas. I had picked a pretty good outdoor location to do my re eating, and was working the street when a local news crew approached me and asked if I would perform in a TV news spot. “Sure,” I said. We relocated near a large bank, and the wind seemed suitably calm. I performed a couple of test maneuvers, and everything seemed to check out. In fact, all through the live spot, everything seemed just ne. Afterwards, the news crew asked if I could perform a few moves to be used in their evening broadcast later that night. “No problem,” I said. However, I was in the middle of holding a burning torch in my teeth, with my ar ms spread wide in a gesture of applause, when a giant gust of wind seemingly came from nowhere. Because I was covered on each side (both my right and left) by walls, the air was forced straight down, blowing the torch’s heat and ame right into my face. Because my arms were so far off to each side, I couldn’t bring them up to my face quickly enough, so I turned to face straight down and spat out the burning torch like a mouthful of milk gone bad. Of course, in the midst of all this craziness, my lips were pretty badly burned, and it took two weeks for my lip blisters to scab over and heal. It was a very painful lesson in wind attentiveness.

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Be sure to check your ame for distortion Performance tip or waves due to breezes you can’t feel on your skin (see the “get comfy with re” section). A If, in the course of practicing, good rule of thumb is to light a candle and watch you set off a home-use smoke it for 5 minutes. If the ame goes out, it’s too alarm, simply walk directly windy for you to eat re. underneath it, take in a deep Don’t practice over carpet. During your breath, and blow directly into practice, you’re sure to ick fuel down on to the the unit. The clear air from ground, and it will stain and/or melt your carpet (depending on whether or not the fuel is aming). your lungs will blow the Again, the ideal setting is a large open smoke right out of the detecgarage with concrete oors, no wind, no smoke tor, temporarily hushing it detectors, and no nearby ammables. up! When you’re getting ready to practice, have a few items around: a bucket of water (to douse aming objects), a re extinguisher (along with a buddy to use it), a bowl of ice (to cool down overheated torches and body parts), and a blanket or large towel to wrap burning persons or body parts.

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If you have the tools and understand what you’re getting into, it’s time to start getting comfortable with re tricks. In this section, you’ll have the chance to learn effects that you can do today, without waiting. These are some cool match tricks you can do to impress your friends when you’re in an impromptu situation. Unless otherwise stated, each effect in this chapter works best with 1 a small book of cardboard matches (gure 1), not wooden kitchen matches. Once you get a reputation for eating re, you’ll be surprised to see when and where people ask you to perform!

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Oxygen


Match and Cigarette Tricks

match on tongue impressiveness: 4

difculty: 3

How it looks: You put out a burning match on your tongue, complete with dramatic “sizzle.”

How it’s done: Light a match and stick

danger: 3

Safety tip: After lighting the match, don’t take too long working up the courage to perform this effect. As the match burns, its physical integrity is weakening. The more burned the match is, the greater the likelihood that it will fall apart on your tongue, allowing individual pieces to heat and burn your esh!

out your tongue. I don’t mean make fun of the match; I mean stick it out and down, like you’re at the doctor’s ofce (gure 1). If at all possible, make sure to leave your saliva all gooey and caked around your tongue. With your head 1 tilted slightly back (to avoid the heat of the match), wipe the burning match across the moistened esh of at least one inch of your tongue (gures 2 and 3). As the match moves down the length of your tongue, Performance tip there’s not enough time for the heat of the match The key to this effect is perto burn any one part, 2 forming all the moves in one and all the while your uid, careful motion. While saliva will extinguish the your motions may be brisk ame. Do not simply and metered at rst (for set the match onto your fear of getting burned), as tongue. If you do, you’ll you become more comfortearn yourself a painful reminder of what not to able with the effect, you’ll be do! able to perform it incredibly 3

smoothly and slowly! 39



cigar on tongue impressiveness: 6

difculty: 4

danger: 5

How it looks: After taking a few puffs on a lit cigar or cigarette, you extinguish the glowing embers on your tongue, leaving your palette charred and blackened.

How it’s done: Before you begin, tap out any hanging ash on the cigar or cigarette (gure 1). Even when not burning, this extra ash stays very hot and can burn your tongue. Now, Safety tip: just as in the match-on-tongue effect, stick out your Do not stick the cigar on tongue, wide and at your tongue and grind it (gure 2). There’s out, as you would in an no need to tilt your ashtray. Doing so will head back, as there severely burn your tongue. is no ame (and rising heat) to worry about. Now begin gently tapping the cigar all over your tongue, trying to spread the ash (and heat) as far over your tongue as possible (gure 3). The best rule of thumb here is to make sure you don’t tap the

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Safety tip: Due in part to the amazing amount of blood pumped through them, your lips and tongue heal faster than just about any external part of your body. This is useful knowledge, which you’ll probably soon be able to experience rsthand!

same spot twice. By the time you nish, you’ll have a black tongue (covered with cigar ash, not charred esh) and the tip of the cigar will be cold and damp (gure 4). This feat is based on the same principle as putting out a match on your tongue (spreading the Performance tip heat around your tongue to keep any one part from burning) with the added bonus that you Although you will not grind get a mouthful of nasty-tasting ash. As for the out the cigar on your tongue, taste: accept it. You’re suffering a minor taste people will probably rememdiscomfort for your craft. Be proud; you’re a true ber seeing that way. It’s this artist now.

malleability of memory that makes magic tricks seem so good years after people have seen them.

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flame suck impressiveness: 2

difculty: 7

danger: 8

How it looks: As you ignite a butane disposable lighter in front of your mouth, the ame bends and enters your mouth.

How it’s done: Let me be blunt: you shouldn’t do this one. This effect appears in this book because at some point you’ll see some drunken fool doing this (or that assassin movie with Chow Yun Fat), and you’ll want to know how he did it. Allow this page to satisfy your intellectual curiosity, but don’t feel that you need to learn this Safety tip: one. The damage to your lungs Inhaling hydrocarbons (in is not worth the performance of this case, butane) is just this relatively lame effect. about the worst possible To perform this effect, set thing you can do for your lighter to about a 2-inch your health (see the ame and hold it about an inch included Material Safety in front of your lips (gure 1). Data Sheets for details). Stop the ame, purse your lips in an O shape, In the opinion of the and suck inwards (gure 2). author, this effect is far Just as you start to inhale (do too lame for you to bother so quickly), ignite the ame. learning. Stick to the You will feel great heat entermatch stuff. It looks ing your lungs, and with good cooler, and it won’t kill reason. You’re inhaling re, and you. butane burns H-O-T. However, believe it or not, your biggest I personally know no proshort-term concern here is for fessional re eaters that your lips and tongue. It’s a perform this feat. tight O you’re making, and your lips can get singed very easily. The best way to protect your lips (as we’ll reiterate later) is to keep them well moistened with saliva. When learning this one, it’s best to practice in front of a mirror, so you can tell exactly where the ame is going. 42

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Jack-o- lantern impressiveness: 7

difculty: 5

danger: 5

How it looks: After lighting a match, you place it inside your mouth, where it is left to burn, illuminating your mouth from the inside! This effect can last up to 10-15 seconds.

Performance tip

How it’s done: Strike a match and hold it

This effect is best performed

by the very bottom with your ngertips (gure 1). in a dark room, because the Empty your lungs of air and open your mouth wide light from the match will (gure 2). In one, direct motion, place the match actually shine through your into your mouth and close teeth! your teeth around the base of the match, right above your ngertips (gure 3). Make sure to retreat your tongue back and low in your mouth, to protect it. In a long, continuous, controlled, careful manner, draw in a slow breath (gure 4). You will actually feel the 1 heat and smoke traveling into your lungs. And yes, your face will look kind of dorky in that shape, too. You’re performing a bit of an illusion here, because while your audience will think they see the match simply sitting in your mouth, the ame (and heat) is actually being sucked back into your lungs. Yes, that’s right. You must be very, very careful doing 2 this (the surgeon general has determined that quitting smoking now greatly reduces risks to your health!). As long as you can draw in that breath, you won’t burn the top of your mouth. However, when you feel yourself running out of lung capacity, be prepared to remove that match! Otherwise you’ll 3 feel a serious sizzle on the roof of your mouth. 43

4



match light on teeth impressiveness: 4

difculty: 3

danger: 1

How it looks: If you’ve ever used strike-anywhere kitchen matches, you know that they easily start on any rough surface. In this simple ourish, you can actually use your teeth to ignite the match!

How it’s done: This entire effect is based on how dry you can temporarily keep your teeth and match head. For this effect, you will need a strike-anywhere kitchen match (gure 1). Start by using a napkin or your shirt to thoroughly dry off your incisors (gure 2). Once they are totally dry, do not close your mouth (and thereby undo your work!). Instead, bring the match up to your mouth, and place the very tip of the match head (the part with the white ignitor) at the very bottom of your incisors, in the groove between your two front teeth (gure 3). Make sure your thumb covers the entire match head, and begin to exert pressure against your teeth with the match, then >snap!< the matchstick outward. When done right, it will immediately ignite (gure 4) 2 When learning, if the matchstick doesn’t light, toss it for a new one. It’s very rare that a match will light on the second try, since it’s either had part of its ignitor broken off, or has been made slightly wet by your mouth.

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You’ve gotten a small taste for re, and it’s now time to learn the real deal. As you progress through this chapter, remember to read all the way through all the safety tips in advance, as many of them apply to all re effects. Grab your instructor, be safe, and begin learning...

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Oxygen


Eating Fire and Other Feats

get comfy with fire impressiveness: 2

difculty: 2

danger: 2

Before you start eating re, you need to get comfortable with it. Start by soaking your torch in the fuel for 2-3 seconds (gure 1). Remove the torch from the fuel bottle (remember to put the cap back on), and give the torch two good shakes to remove excess fuel. This is a very important step, as otherwise dripping aming fuel will land on your face, lips, eyes, and skin. Now, light the torch and watch the ame. If you’re in the right place for re eating (well ventilated, high ceilinged, and without breezes of any kind), the ame should go straight up (gure 2). Take a moment to notice whether your ame veers to the side. Notice if its consistent or not. These are conditions you’ll have to adjust to when performing. If your torch dances side to side (gure 3), isolate the source of the breeze and eliminate it before attempting any re related feat. There’s too much danger already involved in eating re to add the challenge of unpredictable wind patterns. Now, while holding the torch in your right hand horizontally, hold your left hand palm up and completely at well beneath the

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burning wick. Now, slowly bring your left hand all the way up under the burning torch until only one half to one inch separates your hand from the base of the ame (gure 4). Notice that you feel virtually no heat, even when you’re under an inch from the ame. Why is that? The answer is simple: heat rises. Believe it or not, this is the fundamental principle of re eating. Burn it into your mind (pardon the pun): HEAT RISES…HEAT RISES… it’s that simple. You can experiment further here by running the torch back and forth over your outstretched Performance tip arm (gure When you burn your arm 5). At this hairs, it smells bad. They’ll point you grow back, but you can minishouldn’t necessarily be touching your arm, but rather getting a feel for how close you can get to mize the burnage by twisting the torch without feeling undue heat. your arm palm up and run-

ning it up and down the length of the forearm. Before you start touching the re: When you start the experiments on the following pages, take these precautions to ensure that you don’t get burned (at least not “too badly”). First, grab a bowl of ice. You’ll use the ice throughout the process of learning to eat re. The reason is simple: 90 percent of the times I’ve been burned have been not from the heat of the ame, but rather from the heat of the metal rod in the torch. Over the course of just 15 seconds, the metal in your torch can be come so hot as to sizzle your skin or lips the moment it comes into contact with it. Keeping the ice on hand allows you to learn without fear of this problem. Before every one of the effects you’re about learn, “ice down” the rod of your torch (gure 6). Make sure the rod is cool to the touch

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before beginning any effect, especially when learning or practicing. This sounds like a blindingly simple thing to do, but believe me when I tell you that doing the above will save you 90 percent of the burns you would otherwise get while learning. Do not underestimate the importance of this step. Plus, even if you disregard this as a safety measure, it’s just cool to see hot metal melt through ice. Beyond cooling down your torch’s rod, this ice will allow you to cool off your lips and tongue in-between effects. Especially when performing some of the more advanced effects, repeated heat in your mouth can have a cumulative effect, making your lips more sensitive Safety tip: to heat and easier to burn. Make sure to suck on an Don’t ever attempt any re ice cube when you’re taking a break.

6

stunt while drinking.

Don’t ever eat re while drunk. This should be obvious.

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Fire on Palm impressiveness: 5

difculty: 4

danger: 6

How it looks: You set the burning wick of a torch on your open palm, and when the torch is removed, ame continues to burn on your hand for several seconds!

How it’s done: Hold out your left hand,

Safety tip: When pressing the wick to your palm, be careful not to allow too much fuel onto your hand. Too much fuel can become difcult to extinguish, possibly severely burning your hand. Always make sure to shake excess fuel out of your torch before performing this effect, and pay careful attention to how much fuel you squeeze onto your palm.

palm up, wide open and at (gure 1). Now, bring the torch down on the center of your palm, press down for  of one second (gure 2), and pull the torch away (gure 3). This motion should happen in a completely smooth and controlled manner. If you do it right, you should feel no heat during contact with the torch, and the fuel pressed onto your palm should actually burn on your hand for a couple of seconds before 1 burning off (this, you will feel). When rst learning this one, you should burn down your torch (see safety tip), leaving very little fuel on it. As a result, the burning fuel left on your hand will be minimal. As your condence and experience grows, you’ll 2 nd you’re able to use more fuel, achieving a more impres-

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Safety tip: Each time you start a new effect, allow the torch to “burn down” a little before your rst attempt. When you rst light a fresh-dipped torch, there’s an awful lot of uid in there-that’s why the ame is so high. To make these ames less intimidating, light your torch and let it burn for about 10 seconds, then put the ame out. Now, allow the rod of the torch to cool (or ice it down), and re-light it. Notice that now the ame is only  as tall, and 1/80th as intimidating (see gure below). This diminished ame size will help keep you more condent during your learning phase for each effect.

ame on freshsoaked torch

sive effect. If the re in your palm begins to burn your hand before evaporating (which should happen after about two seconds), you can extinguish the ame by closing your hand into a st and cutting off oxygen to the re (gure 4). Both the heat and ame should immediately disappear. If you’re nervous about doing this feat the rst time, ice down the palm of your hand rst. Not only will this cool your hand down (and thereby Safety tip: increase the amount of heat required to Don’t forget to practice burn you), but it the motions several times will also deaden your with an unlit torch before nerves, in case you attempting any of these do hold it there too effects with re. long. If you do this, be even more aware of how long you allow the re to burn. When learning this effect, keep a bowl of water nearby. In the event there’s too much fuel on your palm, you can stick your hand in the water.

ame on burneddown torch

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Fire Snuff With Hand impressiveness: 6

difculty: 4

danger: 6

How it looks: As a torch burns, you wrap your ngers around the ames, snufng them out without pain.

How it’s done: Just as in the “re on palm” effect, hold out your left hand, palm up, ngers outstretched (gure 1). Again, just as in the previous effect, place the burning wick of the torch onto your palm. However, unlike the last effect, you will now steadily wrap your ngers around the wick (starting 1 with your pinky and moving upwards), snufng out the oxygen to the ame (gures 2, 3, 4). When your hand completely covers the head of the torch, Safety tip: both the ame and heat should When performing this immediately disappear (gure 5). effect, remember that any Make sure you shake out all still-burning ame will reexcess fuel before performing ignite the torch when this effect, to prevent yourself you remove your hand. from squeezing burning fuel out Therefore, it’s important onto your skin! Remember also to make sure the ame that it’s the fuel that burns on is all the way out before your torches, not the torch itself. removing your hand from Although the metal rod of your the wick. torch will eventually heat up, the wick itself will be cool to your touch.

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pants on fire impressiveness: 7

difculty: 3

danger: 5

How it looks: You wipe a burning torch onto your pants, setting them ablaze in a line of re up to one foot long! Amazingly, you make all the ames disappear with a wipe of your hand.

How it’s done: For this effect, you must be

Performance tip wearing denim jeans. Begin by freshly dipping a torch in fuel, making sure to shake out all excess When learning and performfuel, and light the torch. ing this feat, use denim jeans The effect of this feat is quite similar to the that you don’t care about. re on palm feat. However, in this case, simply Over the course of just a few press the wick of the torch against your lifted right performances, they will get pants leg (gure 1), right on on your upper thigh, and “wipe” the torch for 6-12 inches down the sooty and stained. (but the denim of your thigh in a consistent, smooth motion re’ll look so cool). (gure 2). As you wipe the re on your leg, a trail of burning fuel will be left behind. You may immediately feel the denim of your jeans warming against your thigh. To extinguish the fuel, place your left

Safety tip: Never perform any re effect without a buddy nearby, equipped with a re extinguisher in hand, fully prepared to put out any accidental res. In the event of a mishap, every second is of critical importance, and the few seconds saved by your buddy could mean the difference between a minor scare and permanent disguring scars! This is doubly true when learning re eating. Just as no professional SCUBA diver would dive without a buddy, you shouldn’t eat re without one. Not only will your buddy be an invaluable safety precaution (able to put you out in seconds after spilling fuel on yourself), but your buddy will help you get a new perspective on what you’re doing and how it looks, allowing both of you to learn quicker.

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hand at against your leg above the top of the ame-trail. Now wipe your at, outstretched hand in an controlled motion over the ame. (gure 3). As your hand passes over the ames, it will extinguish them, and you won’t even feel the heat (gure 4)! It sounds amazing, but that’s exactly how it works. Just condently follow the motions and you’ll have it under control.

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Fire-floor transfer impressiveness: 8

difculty: 2

danger: 2

You ou use the oor to create a 4-foot 4-foot long arc of re, How it looks: Y which ignites an unlit torch.

How it’s done: Hold two torches, one in each hand. One torch should be lit, the other unlit (gure 1). Kneel down and wipe the unlit torch across the concrete oor,, leaving a trail of fuel behind (gure oor 2). When you nish the arc, keep the unlit torch on the oor, oor, touching the arc. Then set the burning torch on the tip of the arc you just created (gure 3). The arc should blaze up with re as all the fuel combusts, carrying ames and igniting the unlit torch (gure 4). This is an absolutely beautiful effect, and so very very,, very easy to do. Enjoy!*

1

* ”Enjoy” is a registered trademark of the Coca-Cola Company.

2

Safety tip: This effect can damage wooden oors, and will destroy carpet. Make sure you’re practicing on concrete.

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flame pass on fingers impressiveness: 6

difculty: 6

danger: 7

You ou use your hand as a matchstick to pass ames from How it looks: Y a burning torch to an unburning torch.

How it’s done: Start by making sure both torches have been freshly dipped, and excess excess fuel shaken out. In your left hand, hold both torches so that there’s about a 70-degree 70-degree angle between them (gure 1). The torch on the left should be burning, the torch on the right should not. Hold them out in front of you, far enough that your right hand can maneuver around both of them comfortably. comfortably. Reach forward forward with your Safety tip: right hand and squeeze the wick of the nonburning torch between your thumb and index When learning this effect, and middle ngers, (gure 2) pressing just hard it is critical that you enough to coat your ngertips with a small learn to put just the right amount of fuel (Careful! (Careful! Don’t let too much amount of fuel onto your fuel on there!). Next, repeat repeat the motion ngers. It is very easy to get too much fuel on your on the burning torch (gure 3). When you hand, making it difcult remove your nto extinguish the ames. gers, you should Make sure you keep a see the coated bucket of water nearby nger pads carry when learning: if you nd you have too much fuel (and re) on your hand, immediately put your hand in the water.

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a ame for just a 4 couple of seconds (gure 4). Immediately move your hand to the unburned torch and touch the wick. If the ame ame is still still burning by the time your hand gets there, this ame will immediately ignite the second torch (gure 5). The entire process process to this point should take less than one second. Depending on the amount of fuel remaining on your hand, you can shake out the ames, or snuff them out in a bucket of water.

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basic fire eating impressiveness: 8

difculty: 7

danger: 8

How it looks: You place a burning torch all the way into your mouth, then close your lips and extinguish the ame.

How it’s done: Okay, you’ve danced around the issue long enough. You’ve played with it, you’ve touched it, you’ve even had a taste of it. Now it’s time to get down to brass tacks: you’re going to eat re. First things rst: you need to get the right picture of what you’re going to do in your mind. You’re not going to eat the re. You’re going to put out

Safety tip: This is a pretty good time to let you know about the greatest danger in re eating. When you were playing with matches, you did some stuff that involved inhaling heat and ame. PURGE YOURSELF OF ALL SUCH THOUGHTS WHEN PERFORMING FIRE EATING. The WORST THING you can possibly do to yourself is inhale while eating re. When you inhale, an extreme amount of heat and ame is drawn into your lungs, possibly burning your trachea and choking you to death. Maybe you’ll get off luckily and end up with damaged vocal chords, but I’m sure you don’t even want that. If you start to run out of air while your torch is in your mouth, get that torch out ASAP. It’s not at all worth risking your LIFE to keep the effect looking good. It’s important to have excellent breath control while eating re. I recommend doing a few breathing exercises before starting any round of re eating. This will calm you down as well as get your lungs in the habit of working more effectively. One exercise you can try is to breathe in very slowly for 10 counts, hold your breath for 30 counts, then exhale slowly for 20 counts. Practice this each time, before attempting re eating. Remember that there are two very dangerous times for any re eater: rst, when he’s not sure what he’s doing and prone to make mistakes, and second, when he’s sure he’s got it down and prone to make lazy, stupid mistakes.

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the ame using your mouth. In fact, it’s much more akin to what you did with putting the re out in your hand that to anything else you might picture. Throughout the process you’re about to experience, remember two things: re goes up, and exhale. That’s it! As long as you follow Safety tip: those maxims, you’ll be ne. As we’ve mentioned Here’s what you before, it’s very important do: hold the torch that you ice down the above your head, metal rod of your torch take a wide stance going into this routine, with your feet (so because at one point you may clasp your lips shut you won’t lose your around the metal rod on balance), and tilt your torch. If it’s not your head back cooled down, it will de(gure 1). ALL the nitely burn your lips. way back (gure 2). Make sure your face (specically your mouth) points up towards the ceiling. As long as your posture is correct, 1 almost all the heat of the torch should go directly away from your face and mouth, making your job much less painful. Before the torch gets near your face, take in a deep breath and slowly begin to exhale in a steady, controlled stream (your exhalPerformance tip ing breath should last from 15-20 sec When you’re learning this onds). Then stick effect, you don’t need to out your tongue extinguish the ame on your and lower the burnrst attempt. It’s ne to ing wick of the torch into your initially get comfortable with mouth (gure 3), the idea and sensations of using your tongue the ames in your mouth. to help draw it all You can practice just the the way in. Think rst part of this effect a few of your tongue as times before attempting to a “landing pad” for close your mouth around the the wick. torch. To completely 2 59



extinguish the ame, there are two possible methods: one is to simply close your lips all the way around the metal rod of your torch (gure 4). When eating your rst ame, Most beginners use this it probably won’t look too method in practice, and pretty. That’s ne. Fire it works, as long as the eating is not a TRICK, metal rod of the torch wherein you learn the secret, is still cool. When you then perform awlessly. Fire make a complete seal, the ame will immedieating is a skill, like juggling, ately disappear (gure wherein you must rst learn 5). It’s important to be the mechanics, (the method, complete here: just as if you will), THEN spend any seeping ame would years training and practicing reignite the torch in your to make your craft look good hand, the same is true and impressive. in your mouth. Be absolutely certain the ame is out before you open your mouth. The other extinguishing technique (used by virtually all working professionals) requires you to close your lips almost completely around the rod, then extinguish the ame in a nal gust of puffed air (this method is explained in greater detail later). This method is used in actual performances almost exclusively, because on stage, there’s no opportunity to ice down your torch, and even the slightest contact with the heated rod will burn your lips. Assuming you correctly followed the above steps, you did it! You have suc4 cessfully eaten re! How does it feel? Well, get ready for bigger and better experiences, because you’ve only learned the most basic technique to a re eating routine!

Performance tip

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3

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torch hold in teeth impressiveness: 8

difculty: 8

danger: 8

How it looks: You hold the business end of a burning torch between your teeth!

How it’s done: Tilt your head back and

Safety tip: Since this effect is a

adopt a stance identical to the one used in the basic little more complicated re eating (gure 1). Take a deep breath in, open than others, don’t try it your mouth, and begin to lower the burning torch right off the bat using into your mouth, just as you did in re. Instead, practice re eating (gure 2). However, rather the moves several times than lower the ames all the way with unlit torches. Have your buddy watch and give into your mouth, you will stop when you pointers. This is the wick is  way past your teeth an effective familiarization (gure 3). Just as in re eating, make and visualization exercise, absolutely certain that you are slowly which will allow you to exhaling over the course of this entire perform each new effect effect. Now, clasp your teeth on the much more condently wick (the center of the wick of the and safely. torch should be pinched by your incisors). When your teeth have a solid 1 grip on the torch (gure 4), you can remove your hand, allow-

Performance tip Breath control is important as you learn to work with re, not only from a safety standpoint, but from a performance one as well. When you rst start learning, you’ll probably notice that you’re letting a lot of breath out, thereby keeping your ames small and windy-looking. This is ne when you rst start learning, but as you progress and begin to perform for crowds, you’ll want to make your ames more impressive. This will happen as you learn your personal limits of tolerance. Eventually, after careful practice, you will know exactly how little you can exhale, and still safely swallow the re. As you learn this, your re will stay brighter, taller, and much more impressive. 61



Safety tip:

2

3

When learning this effect, DO NOT pull your hands all the way away from the torch (thereby losing control of it should something go wrong), but rather let go and let your hand hover about 6 inches away from the torch (gure 5). If anything goes wrong (or it gets too hot), you can grab that torch immediately.

4

ing your teeth to hold the re (gure 5). This effect can be pretty dangerous, and it’s important that you pay careful attention to how close to your personal limits you get. As you perform this feat, your teeth will get hot very quickly. Be aware that it is possible for your teeth to get hot enough for the enamel to crack. Obviously, that’s a situation nobody wants to endure, so at all times pay attention to your situation, and remove the torch long before your teeth start to hurt.

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5



eating fiery embers impressiveness: 7

difculty: 5

danger: 4

How it looks: After intently looking at your burning torch, you reach in and tear out a piece of aming ember. Without a pause, you toss the coal into your mouth and chew it up.

How it’s done: This one’s a bit of a trick. The effect is pretty clean looking: it really looks like you’re tearing off and eating chunks of re! However, in actuality, you’ll be eating a ery cotton ball. Get some cotton balls (make sure they’re made of 100% cotton, as any synthetic bers will literally melt in your mouth--yikes!) and stick them in your back pocket. Over the course of your re routine, reach into your pocket and “palm” the cotton (gure 1 - notice that for illustrative purposes, the torch is unlit). There’s nothing difcult about this, you’re just holding the cotton pinched between your middle and 3 ring ngers, while allowing your hand to dangle loosely by your side. Give an intent look at the torch and bring you hand up to the wick, with the cotton facing toward you (gure 2) then, pinch the cotton toward the wick, and pivot your hand as you move away, revealing the cotton as you do so (gures 3 and 4). This motion should appear like a plucking or ripping motion to the audience. As you do this motion, reveal the cotton so it seemed to have been plucked from the torch. In performance, 4 the cotton will ignite, and it will seem like you’ve torn out a bit of ame to toss in your mouth. Now,

1

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5

just toss the aming cotton into your mouth (gure 5) and close it (gure 6). Since the cotton ball ignites quickly and 6 burns slowly, closing your mouth will snuff out the ame long before it gets hot enough to do any damage. If you don’t think you can convincingly pull off the magic moves, you can perform this effect simply as is: just pull out a cotton ball, light it, and toss it in your mouth. That’s still something the audience doesn’t see everyday!

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Fire toss snuff impressiveness: 8

difculty: 9

danger: 1

How it looks: You hold a burning torch in your hand, toss the torch upwards, and the ame simply disappears! No re swallowing, no blowing it out, no wind of any kind. It simply looks like you pressed some kind of magical button and turned the ame off! Though “turning a ame off” may not sound incredibly cool, this is one of the most fun and visually unique effects in re eating.

How it’s done: This is a cool maneuver that’s tough to get the hang of, but looks absolutely great. Before you perform this feat, use an unlit torch (sound familiar?) to practice moving the torch vertically straight up and down, using your wrist as a pivot point to keep the motion straight (gure 1). If you don’t use wrist action, you’ll nd that the Performance tip torch is actually swinging in an arc with your shoulder as the focal point (gure The key to this effect is to 2). have plenty of ame on your Once you’re sure you’ve got a torch. If you’ve been using straight up and down motion, you’re ready. Light the torch. your torch for 30 seconds or Wait a couple of seconds for the so, odds are that the fuel has ame to settle. Notice the condiburned off enough that you’ll tion of the ame--it should be a have a hard time doing this perfectly vertical column of ame effect. Re-soak your torches (gure 3). If you have any kind before each time you try this of breeze, and the ame is not effect, especially when learntraveling straight up, you may ing. Once you get the hang have difculty with this effect. If the ame is straight, you’re good of it, you’ll be able to do it to go. with weaker ames, but until To “toss out” the ame, raise then, keep it simple. the torch upwards (about one

1

2

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3

4

5

foot) at a rate equal to the speed at which the ame is rising (gure 4) then “snap” the torch down, using the wrist motion you practiced earlier (gure 5). When executed correctly, the ame will simply disapPerformance tip pear, having snuffed itself out! As I mentioned, this is The success of this effect depends equally upon not an easy effect. It’s a bit timing and mechanics. The best way to execute more of a juggling skill (which this move is to imagine that you’re raising the means it takes more practice), torch with the intention of keeping the wick in but it looks great and allows the center of the ames, so that it burns up all you to perform several other, it’s oxygen. Then imagine you’re snapping your cooler feats.

wrist and arm directly downward to “escape” the oxygen poor/heat rich area you just formed. If you snap it straight downward, the ame should completely disappear.

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Fire toss transfer impressiveness: 9

difculty: 9

danger: 1

How it looks: Flame leaps from a burning torch, leaving it unlit, and lands on an unlit torch, setting it ablaze.

How it’s done: To perform the effect, hold the unlit torch at about eye level, parallel to the ground (gure 1). Hold the burning torch about 15 inches below the unlit one (low enough that the ame doesn’t prematurely

1

2

3

Performance tip If you’ve gotten the hang of the toss out, this one should be a complete snap! The mechanics are simple. Just remember that what you’re actually doing is the ame toss-out (as before), except this time, you’re adding a second, unlit torch, hovering above the burning one. 67



4

light the torch) (again, gure 1). Now, simply execute the toss out (gures 2 and 3). During the course of tossing the re out, the very tip of the ame will lick the unlit torch, igniting it. Meanwhile, the rst lit torch will snuff itself out. The two effects should be simultaneous, and will look great! This is the effect that will convince your audience that you’re a true master of ame. For a frame-by-frame of what the effect should look like, see gure 4.

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Fire SPIT TRANSFER impressiveness: 8

difculty: 7

danger: 7

How it looks: This effect is thematically very similar to the last one you learned. Again, the ame will jump from one torch to another, but this time, the effect is not that you’re tossing the ame, but rather “spitting” it onto the unlit torch.

Performance tip

How it’s done: Just as the last effect relied

Since this effect relies on a

on your ability to perform the toss-out move, this gust of air to propel the re one requires that you be comfortable with the basic up and out of your mouth re-eating move. Hold a burning torch in one hand, (and onto the other torch), and an unlit one in the other. Take the basic reyou’ll need to exhale as little eating stance, with your head tilted back (gure 1). Go through the motions of performing the basic as possible while entering the re-eating move on the burning torch, up to the torch into your mouth. This point when the burning torch enters your mouth is a good time to start work(gure 2). At the same time, bring the unlit torch ing on this skill, as upcoming down towards your face (gure 3), hover it above effects will depend upon it. your lips and then, blow a strong gust of air while pursing your lips slightly. You should make a bit of a “hhhuft!” sound and the ame should shoot outward as it extinguishes. At that same moment, the second torch will ignite (gure 4), and the effect will perfectly simulate the ame jumping from one torch to another!

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4

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Fire tongue transfer impressiveness: 8

difculty: 5

How it looks: You use a burning torch to set your tongue on re, then use your aming tongue to ignite an unlit torch.

How it’s done: As you’re probably guring

danger: 8

Safety tip: To perform this effect safely, you’ll need to change your grip. Let go of the handle of your torch, and instead grab the shaft of the torch, about  way up to the wick (gure 2). Do this because as you press the torch down onto your tongue, a lower grip gives you less precise control over where the wick goes, and could cause the torch to slip off your tongue and beat your neck or chest with re.

out, the methodology is very similar to the nger transfer effect explained earlier. For this one, make sure your torch is freshly dipped in fuel and ignite it. Now tilt your head back about 40 degrees from the oor, and stick out your tongue wide and at, so it’s parallel to the oor (gure 1). Holding a torch in each 1 hand, bring the wick of the burning torch down onto your tongue and press rmly for about  of a second (gure 2). When you remove the torch and move it to the side, you’ll nd the fuel deposits left on your tongue will burn for 1-4 seconds (gure 3). Immediately touch the unlit torch to the ame on 2 your tongue, causing it to ignite (gure 4). Due to the difculty and danger of this effect, make absolutely certain to practice all the moves in advance with unlit torches, until you’re completely comfortable with them. 4 3

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multi-flame swallow impressiveness: 9

difculty: 7

danger: 9

How it looks: You eat a monstrous amount of ame, coming from two torches at once.

Performance tip How it’s done: Eating two torches at

If you’ve just performed the once is actually about as hard as eating one. tongue transfer and are going What takes some thought is making it look more difcult. into eating two torches at To practice this effect, hold both torches in once, make sure that you one hand, side by side (gure 1). Practice putting “regrip” the torches at the these into your mouth as you would if they were handles. You don’t want your on re. Pay close attention to whether you can hands so close to the ame comfortably put both torches in your mouth while that you burn them when you on re. If you feel okay with them, set them eat the re. both aame (gure 2). Notice that the amount of ame is greater, than one torch, but not very much. In other words, twice the torches does not seem to equal twice the ame. Now continue to practice with two burning torches. At this point, you’re doing all the exact same moves as when you ate a single torch (gure 3). And, although there’s a little more ame, the effect is virtually the same. Now the question is, how do you make it look impressive?

1

2

3

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This time, hold each torch in a separate hand, above your head and parallel to the ground (gure 4). Notice that the torch ames are burning all along the length of the wick. By holding the torches this way, you’re getting a ame 3-4 times as large as you’ll actually be eating. Take a deep breath, and begin to lower the torches towards your mouth (keeping them in the same parallel-to-the-ground position) When the ames get about 2 inches away from your mouth, begin to arc the the handles of the torches up into the air, using the burning wicks as pivot points (gure 5). When you complete this maneuver, just as the torches are entering your mouth, they should be in the exact side-by-side position that you’ve been practicing (gure 6). At this point, it’s familiar territory, and you just eat the two torches at once.

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5

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Performance tip Until this point, in all your practicing, you’ve been icing down the metal parts of the torch to keep your lips from burning on them when extinguishing the ames. You should still do this, but notice that with two torches in your mouth, it’s no longer possible to completely close your lips in an airtight seal around the torch. Now’s a good time to start using this more advanced extinguishing technique: perform all steps for re eating as you have, until your lips close around the torch. Instead of creating a watertight, retight seal, close your lips almost to that point, but then blow a very, very small, quick gust of air out toward the ame (similar to the one used when spitting re from one torch to another). This should be enough to put the ame out, and the effect appears identical to the audience. The biggest benet is that it doesn’t not require you to actually touch your lips to the metal. This is important because in performance, you will not be able to ice down your torches between each effect, and although the temperature will be ne for the rst few routines, by the end of a 4 minute routine, those torches are HOT. Practice this method, and make it your primary extinguishing technique for all torches (single or double) from now on.

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vapor tricks & the volcano impressiveness: 9

difculty: 8

danger: 8

How it looks: After putting a torch in your mouth and removing it, re continues to spew in a column of ame for 2-6 seconds from your mouth.

How it’s done: This class of effects is

Performance tip

probably the most difcult to explain, but the most Remember that you’re not rewarding to perform. What you’re trying to do is actually drawing re into insert the torch into your mouth, hold it there as your mouth lls with vapors, then remove the torch, your mouth, but ammable allowing the remaining vapors to burn out of your vapors. Therefore, if you mouth. Sounds tricky? It is. simply release the vapors into Putting the torch into your mouth shouldn’t the air, you’ll get nothing but be a problem by now. Hopefully you’ve practiced odd-colored smoke. You goal and mastered the basic re eating moves listed here is to create a column before. What’s different about this time, is that of re burning from your you’re not going to actively exhale as you put the mouth, not smoke, so here’s torch into your mouth. Let me be clear: you won’t exhale, but won’t inhale either! Instead, you’ll what you do. After you have insert the torch in your mouth, drawn in the vapors to your purse your lips around the Safety tip: mouth, begin slowly releasing top of the wick, and begin This effect easily burns them even before the torch to expand your cheeks, your lips. To minimize is 2 inches away from your thereby lling your mouth the chance of burn (espemouth. The end result will with vapors, but not drawcially when you’re learnbe that you will use the ing ame into your lungs. ing), suck on an ice cube torch to ignite your column Another difference will before starting, making be that you will not stick sure to cool both the of ammable gas. This gas out your tongue to guide inside of your mouth, and will continue to burn as long your lips. The ice will the torch in. Instead, as you release fuel in a steady cool your skin, and the retreat your tongue to the stream. water will cool as it evapback of your mouth, form orates while you perform an O with your lips, and the trick. put the torch in. Even if you don’t actively expand your cheeks, your mouth will ll with vapors. 74



1

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3

To the outside observer watching you perform this feat, they will see the torch burning as it goes into your mouth (gure 1), and they will be able to tell exactly when you start drawing the vapors into your mouth. The height of the ame will drop sharply as the vapors are drawn into your mouth (gure 2). When you remove the torch, you will switch your mental focus from withholding vapors to releasing the vapors in a steady ignited stream (gure 3).

Performance tip The process of capturing the vapors in your mouth is best described by pretending you’re 15 (you should have to pretend, since nobody 15 years old should be reading this book). You don’t smoke, you don’t want to smoke, and you hate smoke. However, your friend has just passed you a cigarette and you want to look cool without inhaling the deadly chemicals and smoke (see the parallels to re eating?). So without inhaling, you use your cheeks to suck in the smoke only to your mouth, then slowly release the smoke out your mouth. THAT’s what you’re doing in this effect. People who smoke will recognize this action as being like the rst part of “French inhaling.”

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Okay, so you’ve performed your rst vapor effect. Is that it? Heck no! This is a utility move that you can add to other effects that look great:

The Human Candle: See how long you can keep that ame going on your lips [hint: the smaller the ame, the longer you can hold it (gure a)].

a

The Volcano: Let your vapors out in one large gust--looks very intimidating (gure b)!

Vapor Transfer: Hold two torches--one lit, and one unlit. Draw in the vapors from one torch, and then release the aming gas onto the other torch (gure c). It’s a very impressive way to light your 2nd, 3rd, and 4th torches.

Lighting a Cigarette: If you’re working with a partner, or if someone from your audience wants to participate, invite them to join you on stage with a cigarette. Perform the human candle, hold the ame as long as you can, and allow them to use the ame from your mouth to light the cigarette (gure d)!

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c

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i

Keep in mind that you do not have to immediately expel the vapors from your mouth. You can draw in a mouthful of vapors (gure i), wait (gures ii, iii), then blow them out on a separate ame (gures iv, v). One example of this may be to blow vapors over a candle, at an unlit torch. Or better yet, instead of a candle, use your ngers, as you did in the nger transfer, to create you own ngervapor-transposition of ame!

ii

iii

iv

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the fire blast impressiveness: 9 difculty: 9 danger: 10

How it looks: You spit a giant ball of ame from your mouth. How it’s done: This is the effect you see on television all the time. It’s big, it’s visual, and it takes 3 seconds to do. Now you get to learn the secrets of it. The principle of this feat is to take a large quantity of ammable liquid in your mouth, and spit it out in a large, dispersed cloud toward a ame. The ame ignites one part of the cloud, a chain reaction starts, and the entire cloud explodes. The re is very bright, very hot, and can be felt by the audience up to 20 feet away. It’s also really, really dangerous. I mean, beyond the problem of catching stuff on re, the mere fact that you’re putting highly toxic hydrocarbons in your mouth is a bad, bad, idea. Don’t believe me? Check out this excerpt from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Public Health Service Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry: Drinking small amounts of kerosene may cause vomiting, diarrhea, coughing, stomach swelling and cramps, drowsiness, restlessness, painful breathing, irritability, and unconsciousness. Drinking large amounts of kerosene may cause convulsions, coma, or death. Skin contact with kerosene for short periods may cause i tchy, red, sore, or peeling skin.

“But Brian! Why would we use kerosene instead of Everclear or some other pure grain alcohol? I saw this one guy at a bar use that stuff!” Simple. Consider this: if you poured a glass of kerosene and lit a match, it is possible to put that match into the fuel, and have the match be snuffed out without igniting the fuel. This is because the ash point of kerosene or charcoal lighter uid is about 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and the match is unable to heat the fuel before it is snuffed out. In other words the ash point (the temperature at which the fuel will ignite) is high enough that without extra oxygen, the fuel will not ignite. However, if this kerosene is spread out in the air, where it will mix with the oxygen and begin to evaporate and form a highly volatile vapor, the kerosene will burst into a giant ame. 78



The re blast is a tricky story, because it can be done with certain alcohols, especially those over 100 proof. And at rst, the alcohols may seem like a safer alternative to using caustic and toxic chemicals (by the way, alcohol isn’t much of a trade-up). However, what you may gain in a decrease of liver damage will be lost in an increase of danger. High-proof alcohols have a very low ashpoint and will ignite very quickly. The re burns very hot and you could easily set your own face on re. That’s bad. Everclear is 190 proof, making it 95 percent pure alcohol (proof=2x, where x is % alc/vol).

Safety tip: Story: A friend of mine was about to walk out on stage to perform a magic act for a convention. He was going to start off his set by walking on stage with a mouthful of Everclear and let loose a giant reball to grab everyone’s attention. As he was being introduced, he took a big swig of Everclear. Cheeks bulging, he waited for his introduction to nish and his music to start. He waited and waited as a minor technical problem kept him backstage, waiting to walk on. Although he didn’t know it, the alcohol was causing his lips to numb, and while he waited, a small stream of the ammable liquid drooled down his chin. When he was nally introduced, he walked on stage and two things went wrong: rst, because the Everclear had numbed his lips, he was unable to purse his lips correctly to get the correct blast of fuel. Therefore, rather than a ne mist of upwards oating fuel, a chunky glop of liquor spittle went ying out of his mouth. Fuel landed down on his arm, which caught re. Secondly, the line of liquor-drool on his face combusted, leaving his face and arm burning on stage. Luckily, his face has recovered, but he still has noticeable scars on his arm. The moral of this story is simple: DON’T USE HIGHPROOF ALCOHOLS LIKE EVERCLEAR! Kerosene would not have burned him anywhere nearly as badly as the Everclear did.

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Here’s how you practice for the re blast. Go outside and practice with water, using the following technique: sip your mouth about  full of water, tilt your head up, and open your lips ever so slightly. With all the strength of your lungs, exhale forcefully outward and upward. If you’ve blown hard enough and pursed your lips the right way, you should have created a big cloud of ne mist (gure 1). More likely, on your rst try you’ve ended up with a sloppy mess of chunks of spittle and water (gure 2). Keep practicing this until you’ve got it all the way down. You should get a perfect mist 100 percent of the time, the ner the better. Once you’ve hit this point you’re 1 ready to try with kerosene. Start off with a small amount of kerosene, like a tablespoon or two. Hold an ignited torch out in front of you (make sure you’re using a torch and not a lighter, since the heat of the blast will fry your arm, and denitely relieve you of arm hairs). Hold the torch out at full arms length, with the ame slightly above your head (gure 3). Take a huge deep breath in (through your nose obviously, which reminds me to remind you that hydrocarbons are much more destructive to your lungs than your belly--so don’t breathe the junk - see the MSDS data sheets for details), and let out a forceful, ne-misted blast (gure 4), and immediately Safety tip: wipe your face clean with a cloth (gure 5). In whatever hand is not Did it work? Perfect. As you practice this feat, holding a torch you should you may be able to build up to a larger and larger keep a rag handy. As you blast. Alternately, as you become more comfortspit the kerosene, it will able, you may take a mouthful of kerosene and often drip onto you chin. spread your fuel over 3 blasts or so. Help keep your face from Now that you can do it, where will you perform burning by cleaning your it? Here’s the tricky part. Most theaters panic skin whenever fuel gets on at the thought of giant blasts of re in their audiit (gure 5). 80

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torium. Every place is going to be different. The re blast will travel over 15 feet upward, so be sure your ceiling is sufciently high. If you do nd yourself attempting this feat outside, be absolutely aware of wind conditions, including the fact that a single gust of wind at an unexpected moment can blow the blast back into your face, lighting your entire head on re. I personally do not recommend doing the re blast outdoors.

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So what happens when it goes wrong? Anyone who works with the re blast can tell you some terrible stories of the feat going wrong. Whether the problem came from use of a highvolatility fuel (like alcohol or a mix with camping fuel), doing the blast too close to a wall, or simply catching an unlucky breeze, the effect is always horrifying (gure 6).

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This photograph was taken just hours after this performer experienced a re-blast blowback. The damage to his face, hair, lips, and skin was both immediate and severe (check out the blisters in the close-up). Fortunately for this individual, his face has since healed with only minor scarring, but the experience cost him income, time, and endless worry. Always keep this image in mind when considering re safety at your performances.

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Fire effects look great, and can look even better with some fancy torch spins and ourishes. In this chapter you’ll learn just a few of the possible moves you can use to add extra air to your routines. These effects may take several weeks of practice to get down, but are well worth the time investment. Happy practicing!

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Torch Spins and Flourishes

Single turn impressiveness: 3

difculty: 3

danger: 3

How it looks: The torch performs a complete revolution around your index nger.

How it’s done: This is the easiest, shortest, and least impressive spin. Where better to begin? Mastering this simple move will get you more comfortable with the way your torch spins.

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Find the center of gravity on your torch (the point at which it balances), and set it on your index nger, balancing it (gure 1). With the torch on your index, bring your remaining ngers (middle, ring, and pinky) up and above the torch (gure 2). Use these ngers to give a good push downward and start the torch

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Performance tip When learning these spins, make a special torch, about 3 inches longer than you normally use. This extra length will slow down and exaggerate the motions of the torch, making it easier for you to get a feel for what’s supposed to happen. In the example torch shown, the center of gravity has been marked in black.

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spinning around the index (gure 3). The torch will spin around the index, ultimately reaching the same 3 ngers that started it moving (gure 4), at this point, move these ngers to the side, “dodging” the torch, and allowing it to continue to swing around the index (gure 5). Finally, when the torch completes its revolution, stop it’s motion by pinching down with your thumb (gure 6).

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Safety tip: Never practice any spins with a lit torch. Only after you are 100% skilled in a move should you attempt it with the torch ignited.

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Grip spin impressiveness: 4

difculty: 4

danger: 2

How it looks: You can spin the torch in circles nonstop, without regripping.

How it’s done: This effect is also very, very easy, but a good way to get you functional in your wrist motions. Pinch the center of the torch between the side of your thumb and the side of your index nger (gure 1). Without changing your grip of the torch, begin by rotating your wrist inward, spinning the torch counterclockwise (right handed) (gure 2). You can keep the torch spinning counterclockwise nonstop by rotating your wrist in circles, similar to an over-exaggerated motion of using a straw to stir your drink. At all times, one side of the torch will stay above your wrist, and the other will stay below (gure 3).

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palm spin impressiveness: 5

difculty: 7

danger: 7

How it looks: The torch pivots around a point in the center of your palm, as though it’s attached there.

How it’s done: Grip the center of the torch with your ngers wrapped

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around the rod, your thumb ush with it, and your wrist cocked downward (gure 1). Flick your wrist upward, and simultaneously open your hand at and wide, at approximately a 45 degree angle to the oor (gure 2). As you do this, the torch should begin spinning on your palm (gure 3). The amount of rotation possible in this state depends on your skill. To begin with, clasp your hand shut as soon as the torch does a 180 degree turn. As your skill grows, you will be able to wait until the torch has done a complete 360 to close your hand (gure 4).

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fake spin impressiveness: 6

difculty: 5

danger: 3

How it looks: This one is very similar to the grip spin, except that the plane of rotation is vertical, not horizontal.

How it’s done: Grip the center of the torch in between your index and middle ngers, between the 1st and 2nd knuckles (gure 1). Keeping your grip, begin to rotate your wrist, causing the torch to spin in a virtually identical fashion to the grip spin. Just as in the grip spin, one end of the torch will always be to the left of your hand, and the other will be to the right. (gure 2). In this case, your wrist will begin to make a back-and-forth motion, as though you’re imitating a shy in the sea (remember kindergarten?). As your speed increases, so will the uniformity of motion.

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roll over 4 fingers impressiveness: 5

difculty: 6

danger: 7

How it looks: Just like it sounds. How it’s done: Grab the torch with all 4 ngers (in a st), with your hand about 2 inches to the right of the center of the torch (gure 1). Rotate your wrist to the right, and release your ngers, allowing the Safety tip: momentum of the Remember that if you’re torch to send it going to do any torch rolling over your spins, you must keep your ngers (gure 2). fuel far away, and sealed. As the torch rolls, If you mess up and send rotate your wrist the torch ying, you don’t toward the left, want it to become a 1 both to facilitate deadly projectile. the torch’s motion, and to prepare yourself to catch it on the other side (gure 3). Make sure to close your ngers as soon as the torch nishes its rotation, as it will otherwise fall to the oor (gure 4). 2

Once you’ve nished the rst rotation, you can follow these simple steps to return to your orig-

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inal grip. Don’t reposition your hand to start the second move, but rather keep it right where the rst roll-over ended up (gure 5).

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Flick your wrist upward, and release the torch right as your wrist reaches its maximum upward rotation. The torch should continue its motion and roll over your ngers (gure 6).

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When the torch completes its rotation, grab it in the original grip you used in the beginning (gure 7)

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walk-down and up impressiveness: 7

difculty: 6

danger: 5

How it looks: This is the advanced big brother of the single turn. This time, the torch performs several rotations as it walks down to your ring nger and back.

How it’s done: Place the center of the torch in the 3rd crook of your index nger, similar to your grip in the single rotation. This time, instead of using ngers 3, 4, and 5 to start the torch rotating, we’re going to use your thumb, and you’ll keep your other ngers curled back out of the way (gure 1).

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Push your thumb down to start the torch rotating towards you (gure 2), and immediately pinch the torch between your index and middle nger 2 (gure 3). As the torch continues to rotate, release your index, allow the torch to rotate around your middle nger, and pinch the torch between your middle and ring ngers (gure 4). This move should happen smoothly, as a “hand-off” of the torch from one grip to the other.

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At this point, the torch will continue to rotate the rest of the way around the middle nger, at which point, your index will grip the torch (gure 5), and your ring nger will release it (gure 6). 6 5

Now, the torch will complete its rotation around the back of your index nger, during which you will release your middle nger (gure 7). Finally, it will return to its original position when you will pinch off its motion with your thumb (gure 8).

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vernon torch spin impressiveness: 8

difculty: 5

danger: 5

How it looks: Okay, so legendary magician Dai Vernon probably didn’t create this wand spin for use with torches. But it looks absolutely fantastic! This motion is very similar to the grip spin, except the torch tends to move twice as fast, and the aming end of the torch spends time both above and below the wrist, adding variety. 1

How it’s done: Grip the torch as you would hold a pencil, with the center of gravity pinched between the 2nd and 3rd knuckles of your index and middle nger (gure 1). During the entire spin (no matter how many times you repeat it), the center of the torch will remain pinched in this spot.

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Begin by cocking your wrist back to your right (gure 2), then begin swinging your wrist to the left (gure 3). As the torch spins counterclockwise, turn your wrist so your ngers point toward the ground, still holding the torch (gure 4).

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The torch will continue to rotate, and as it does, twist your wrist counterclockwise, facing your palm to your right and behind you (gure 5). 5

As soon as the torch aligns with the direction your palm is facing, turn your wrist upwards (gure 6). The torch should continue to rotate above your wrist (gure 7). 6

Finally, the torch’s momentum will carry it between your index nger and thumb-returning it to your original pencil grip (gure 8). As you get this spin down, you’ll be able to repeat it nonstop.

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Performance tip When you get this effect down, the wick will travel a complete circle above your wrist, then a complete circle below, and continue to alternate back and forth. 8

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thumb spin impressiveness: 6

difculty: 3

danger: 4

How it looks: You may have seen your high school friends doing this one with a pen during class. It’s much easier (and much more impressive) to do with your torch. The idea’s simple: the torch rotates all the way around your thumb, as though attached to it.

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How it’s done: Place the center of gravity of the torch in the crook between your index and middle ngers (gure 1). Keeping the center in this crook, extend your thumb upwards and use your index and middle nger to begin swinging the torch counterclockwise toward your thumb (gure 2). When the torch hits your thumb, if you have enough momentum, it will continue to swing around your thumb (gure 3), eventually returning to its original position, at which point you will pinch the torch between your index and thumb, stopping the motion (gure 4).

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Once you’re a skilled re eater and are ready to start performing shows, you’ll nd the information in this chapter invaluable. These tips are the result of seven years of re eating experience, performing in every conceivable situation. This chapter won’t give you any more moves or effects, but will arm you with the information to make every one of your performances safer, legal, and more amazing.

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Tips for the Working Fire Eater

venues and authorities Getting what you want without a ght

Every place you go, you’ll have to deal with nervous authority gures. Each environment will have their own hangups about any act that uses re. Some may complain that “this is a brand new venue, so you shouldn’t do any re effects.” Others will explain that “since this venue is so old, it is very important that you not do re stuff.” In the end, you’ve got to acknowledge their fears, and deal with them appropriately.

Dealing with authorities: If you want to be allowed to perform at a given venue ever again, it’s very important that you be very up front and direct with the management regarding your use of re. Begin by calling ahead to the venue and asking to speak to the “safety ofcer” or “person in charge of building safety.” When you get a hold of this person, remember to sound professional, capable, and safe. Here’s what I usually say: “Hi! My name is Brian Brushwood, and I’m a professional magician. I’m scheduled to perform at your theater on August 17th, and wanted to discuss some safety issues with you regarding my act. My full show has material like mind reading, escapes, and sideshow feats, and there’s one optional section where I eat some re. I do have a re performance permit with the city, and I always make sure to have a re extinguisher in my assistant’s hands during the performance, but since I know many acts will say they’ll do one thing and then do another, I’d like to meet with you about an hour before the show and actually show you what I’m planning to do in the show. Since you’re the safety guy in charge, if you have a problem with it, then we’ll just switch out that act for a replacement. But 9 times out of 10, every safety ofcial who’s seen the act has felt very safe about performing it.” When it comes time to demonstrate your act, above all else, be clear 99



that you respect the safety ofcial’s authority. His job is to make sure the building stays safe, and your job is to absolutely convince him that nothing will go wrong. The best way to impress this upon the ofcial is by demonstrating your knowledge and experience. If the safety ofcial is hesitant, you can often push him into comfortably supporting your act by offering to hire a re marshal to attend the event. This is usually something you’ll have to work out a few days in advance, but a re marshal will often attend your event (and disable smoke alarms during it) for anywhere from $50 - $150. Again, if the re marshal attends, you also need to make him comfortable with your act, as he, too, has the power to shut your show down. Keep in mind that it’s entirely possible that the safety ofcial or manager will simply, atly forbid re performances. In a last ditch effort, you can plainly ask “what can we do that would make you comfortable with this performance?” It could be that his answer is “nothing.” If this happens, make sure you do have a backup act. It’s not worth ruining a professional relationship to “sneak in” a little re eating. Even to this day, after 7 years of experience performing nationwide, I am sometimes simply forbidden to perform my re act.

Certications: When it comes to ofcial policies regarding performance of re acts, each city is different. In Texas, performances involving a single open ame do not constitute pyrotechnic performances, and therefore do not require a pyrotechnic license. However, on a cityby-city level, re departments of larger cities may require “re performance” permits (gure 1), while smaller cities may simply ban such performances altogether. Make sure to call the re department in the city where you’ll be performing to nd out what certications and permits are available. Even if there’s no permit dedicated specically to re performances, you can get several levels of re safety certications, which will make safety ofcials and venue managers feel much better about having you perform on their stage.

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lighting your performance Make your re as intimidating as possible

Wherever you perform, you can make your re more intimidating and impressive by taking more responsibility for your lighting.

Outdoors: During bright daylight hours, I’d encourage you not to even bother with re eating. The bright sun makes your ames almost invisible, but no less hot! Effects like the re blast will show up during the daytime, and quite nicely at twilight. However, plain re eating simply won’t cut it. On the other hand, being outdoors at night makes your re eating look great! As always, be aware of safety issues and wind, but the ambient articial light often gives just enough glow to let the audience see you, without interfering with the brightness of your ames. Whenever performing outdoors, make sure your performance is set against a dark wall or background. The contrast will make your ames more visible, especially during twilight and daylight hours.

Theaters: In most theaters you’ll have excellent lighting controls. During your re act, set the lights to a blue wash (only blue light on the stage). The blues will allow you to be visible, while keeping the ames impressive. If colored gels are not available, bring the white lights down to about 10%-15% of full brightness. Optionally, you can have a spotlight on you, especially if it has a blue gel on it.

Other venues: In cases where you do not have adequate lighting controls (for example, ballrooms, banquet halls, clubs, private garages, etc.), turn off all the lights and use a second light source (a candle, glowsticks, a small lamp, etc.) to provide ambient light.

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photography and fire eating Getting the most for your promo materials

When it comes to producing promotional materials that advertise your ability to eat re, nothing speaks louder than a great picture. Your re-related promotional photo can be exciting, amazing, beautiful, powerful, intimate, humorous, subtle, or unique. The one thing it can’t be is lame. Do not simply use a photograph of yourself taken during a performance. Nothing’s worse than a publicity photo of some guy in the middle of his show, photographed from 30 feet away during the daytime, with what looks like a microscopic ame. This may be easy, but it looks terrible. Instead, schedule time in a dedicated studio (or if you’re on a budget, set up your own in your garage), and focus on getting great studio-quality photographs. When taking photographs, remember that you don’t need to be performing an effect that’s actually in your show, but rather convey the idea of what’s in your show. I know one re eater whose promo photo shows him with his mouth wide open, looking like he’s about to eat a gigantic juggling torch--one that’s way too big for him to eat in reality. That’s ne. The photo is more impressive that way, and it does accurately convey the idea of what he does in the show: eat a whole lot of re. Another idea may be to photograph yourself holding a soup bowl lled with ames in one hand, and in the other, a spoon lled with ames. The subtext of the photo is plain: “Just like you eat soup, I eat re.” Although you may not do this in your act, an accurate story is told. When it comes to the mechanics of re photography, I won’t lie: taking good photographs of re effects is complicated. This is due largely to the fact that the primary light source during the photography is a ame that constantly changes in light intensity, shape, and color. Plan for this by setting up each shot and taking 3-5 times as many photographs as you’ll think you’ll need. I say this because in my experience, only 1 out of every 5 re photographs is actually usable (and usually, it’s the one where I’m making a goofy face). The rest will be unusable due to issues of contrast, hue, brightness, or focus. While photographing gures for this book, we took over 1,500 photographs, many unusable.

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When photographing re for a promotional photo, do not use a ash. Instead, use professional lighting (if available) to provide just a little bit of ambient light, and rely on the ame to provide the rest. Because you’re working in low light conditions, it’s absolutely crucial that you use a tripod. Failing to do so will ensure that all your photos are blurry. If you’re a photography professional, or working with an advanced camera, remember that it’s a good bet to take a light reading (of the ambient light without the torch) and set your f-stop 2 settings faster than what’s indicated. Once the torch enters the picture, the f-stop will be set correctly. Film comes in a variety of brands, speeds, exposures and prices. The lower the speed (25,64,100 asa) the better the colors and the sharper the picture. Low speed lm is ideal for daytime use. The higher the speed (200,400,1000 asa) the more sensitive the lm is to light, making it ideal for nighttime use. Talk to a photography professional to nd out what lm will work best for the composition you desire. Lastly, when setting up your shots, remember to keep your re against a dark background, to maximize the visibility of your ames. Also, remember to keep your re two feet or more away from the actual background. Any closer, and the reected light from the torch will change the overall lighting conditions of the shot.

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recognizing alarms Avoiding loud and wet show interruptions

Even if you have the consent of the venue’s safety ofcial to perform re eating, nobody wants the show shut down by loud alarms or (worse yet) a sprinkler system. Let’s start with a major misconception, fueled by Hollywood movies: if and when a sprinkler head (gure 1) is set off, contrary to popular belief, not every sprinkler on the oor goes off. In fact not even one other sprinkler in the room will go off, unless it is separately triggered by it’s own ambient heat. This is because each sprinkler head is basically a plugged hose. When the heat of the surrounding air reaches a preset temperature (usually 135 to 175 degrees Fahrenheit), the plug breaks, melts, or snaps (depending on the type of sprinkler head), and water ows out of that particular sprinkler head. There is nothing that can happen on one head that will immediately trigger the others. As shown in gure 2, there are a lot of types of sprinkler heads. Just as there are many types of sprinklers, there are many types of trigger mechanisms. The good news is that you really don’t have to worry about

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any of them. Remember that sprinklers are heat activated. Not only that, but although most sprinklers will trigger at 135-175 degrees, usually the surrounding air is much hotter than that, due to thermal lag (the extra time it takes for the heat in the air to reach the sprinkler trigger). In other words, it is very unlikely that re eating can generate enough heat to set off a sprinkler (unless you’re performing directly beneath one). However, it is completely possible to set of a sprinkler when performing the re blast. Of much greater concern to you should be smoke alarms. Don’t go looking around your venue for a residential smoke detector (gure 3), unless you’re in a house. Most commercial venues use detectors similar to those pictured in gure 4. Remember that unlike sprinkler systems, activated alarms will sound throughout the room, oor, and building. Remember that your safest bet is to check with the manager or safety ofcer before performing, and nd out if your performance will set off the alarm. Remember that it’d be much better to 3 accidentally set off a smoke alarm an hour before the show than during it! Since each venue is different, you can never be sure of what tolerances smoke alarms will have. You can, however, make some educated guesses. For example, in a smoky bar or club, look around. You’ll see smoke machines, hundreds of lit cigarettes, candles, ashpots, incense, and a hundred other smoke-producing items. In this environment, it’s probably a safe bet that the smoke from re eating will not trigger the alarm. However, in this setting make sure to note that these are crowded places, lled with (often) drunk patrons. Be more aware than usual of your safety precautions, and make sure the crowd is a long way away from you. Be absolutely certain to talk to the manager before performing a re act, as many city venues will need a re marshal to be present at your performance. If you’re performing in a house or residential area, make sure to remove the batteries from the smoke detector only for the duration of the performance. These units are very sensitive and can be very distracting

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during a performance. When performing in hotel ballrooms, you absolutely must clear everything with the management. Many hotels have systems designed to use infrared cameras to search for open ames. It’s far better to check ahead than to risk setting one such system off.

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When writing this book, I wanted very much to include a comprehensive background history on both re eating and the greatest gures involved with it. After much research and labor, I came to the disheartening decision that the best I could hope to do is to rewrite Houdini’s famous exposé of re-resisters, Miracle Mongers and Their Methods . Rather than rewrite that famous history, I have instead decided to include the rst seven chapters of Houdini’s book, which focuses on the history and performers of re resistance acts. Keep in mind that although Houdini’s grasp of re eating history is sound, his interpretations of the methods used in these effects are risky (to say the least). Learn the history taught, laugh at the methods suggested, and enjoy...

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Excerpts from Miracle Mongers and Their Methods

MIRACLE MONGERS AND THEIR METHODS A COMPLETE EXPOSÉ OF THE MODUSOPERANDI OF FIRE EATERS, HEAT RESISTERS, POISON EATERS, VENOMOUS REPTILE DEFIERS, SWORD SWALLOWERS, HUMAN OSTRICHES, STRONG MEN, ETC.

BY HOUDINI

AUTHOR OF “THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT HOUDIN,” ETC. AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED TO MY LIFE’S HELPMATE, WHO STARVED AND STARRED WITH ME DURING THE YEARS WE SPENT AMONG “MIRACLE MONGERS” My Wife

PREFACE “All wonder,” said Samuel Johnson, “is the effect of novelty on ignorance.” Yet we are so created that without something to wonder at we should nd life scarcely worth living. That fact does not make ignorance bliss, or make it “folly to be wise.” For the wisest man never gets beyond the reach of novelty, nor can ever make it his boast that there is nothing he is ignorant of; on the contrary, the wiser he becomes the more clearly he sees how much there is of which he remains in ignorance. The more he knows, the more he will nd to wonder at. My professional life has been a constant record of disillusion, and many things that seem wonderful to most men are the every-day commonplaces of my business. But I have never been without some seeming marvel to pique my curiosity and challenge my investigation. In this book I have set down some of the stories of strange folk and unusual performers that I have gathered in many years of such research. Much has been written about the feats of miraclemongers, and not a little in the way of explaining them. Chaucer was by no means the rst to turn shrewd eyes upon wonder- workers and show the clay feet of these popular idols. And since his time innumerable marvels, held to be supernatural, have been exposed for the tricks they were. Yet to-day, if a mystier lack the ingenuity to invent a new and startling stunt, he can safely fall back upon a trick that has been the favorite of press agents the world over in all ages.

He can imitate the Hindoo fakir who, having thrown a rope high into the air, has a boy climb it until he is lost to view. He can even have the feat photographed. The camera will click; nothing will appear on the developed lm; and this, the performer will glibly explain, “proves” that the whole company of onlookers was hypnotized! And he can be certain of a very protable following to defend and advertise him. So I do not feel that I need to apologize for adding another volume to the shelves of works dealing with the marvels of the miraclemongers. My business has given me an intimate knowledge of stage illusions, together with many years of experience among show people of all types. My familiarity with the former, and what I have learned of the psychology of the latter, has placed me at a certain advantage in uncovering the natural explanation of feats that to the ignorant have seemed supernatural. And even if my readers are too well informed to be interested in my descriptions of the methods of the various performers who have seemed to me worthy of attention in these pages, I hope they will nd some amusement in following the fortunes and misfortunes of all manner of strange folk who once bewildered the wise men of their day. If I have accomplished that much, I shall feel amply repaid for my labor. HOUDINI.

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER

FIRE WORSHIP.--FIRE EATING AND HEAT RESISTANCE.--IN THE MIDDLE AGES.--AMONG THE NAVAJO INDIANS.--FIRE-WALKERS OF JAPAN.-THE FIERY ORDEAL OF FIJI.

I. Fire worship.--Fire eating and heat resistance.--The Middle Ages.--Among the Navajo Indians.--Fire- walkers of Japan.-The Fiery Ordeal of Fiji II. Watton’s Ship-swabber from the Indies.-Richardson, 1667.--De Heiterkeit, 1713.--Robert Powell, 1718-1780.-Dufour, 1783.--Quackensalber, 1794 III. The nineteenth century.--A “Wonderful Phenomenon.”-“The Incombustible Spaniard, Senor Lionetto,” 1803.--Josephine Girardelli, 1814.--John Brooks, 1817.--W. C. Houghton, 1832.--J. A. B. Chylinski, 1841.--Chamouni, the Russian Salamander, 1869.--Professor Rel Maeub, 1876. Rivelli (died 1900) IV.--The Master--Chabert, 1792-1859 V. Fire-eating magicians. Ching Ling Foo and Chung Ling Soo.--Fire-eaters employed by magicians: The Man-Salamander, 1816.-Mr. Carlton, Professor of Chemistry, 1818.--Miss Cassillis, aged nine, 1820. The African Wonder, 1843.--Ling Look and Yamadeva die in China during Kellar’s world tour, 1877.--Ling Look’s double, 1879.-- Electrical effects, The Salambos.--Bueno Core.--Del Kano.--Barnello.--Edwin Forrest as a heat-resister --The Elder Sothern as a re-eater.--The Twilight of the Art VI. The Arcana of the re-eaters: The formula of Albertus Magnus.--Of Hocus Pocus.--Richardson’s method.-Philopyraphagus Ashburniensis.--To breathe forth sparks, smoke and ames.--To spout natural gas.--Professor Sementini’s discoveries.-- To bite off red-hot iron.--To cook in a burning cage. --Chabert’s oven.--To eat coals of re.--To drink burning oil.--To chew molten lead.--To chew burning brimstone.--To wreathe the face in ames. --To ignite paper with the breath.--To drink boiling liquor and eat aming wax VII. The spheroidal condition of liquids.--Why the hand may be dipped in molten metals.--Principles of heat resistance put to practical uses: Aldini, 1829.--In early reghting.--Temperatures the body can endure 110

Fire has always been and, seemingly, will always remain, the most terrible of the elements. To the early tribes it must also have been the most mysterious; for, while earth and air and water were always in evidence, re came and went in a manner which must have been quite unaccountable to them. Thus it naturally followed that the custom of deifying all things which the primitive mind was unable to grasp, led in direct line to the re- worship of later days. That re could be produced through friction nally came into the knowledge of man, but the early methods entailed much labor. Consequently our ease-loving forebears cast about for a method to “keep the home res burning” and hit upon the plan of appointing a person in each community who should at all times carry a burning brand. This arrangement had many faults, however, and after a while it was superseded by the expedient of a re kept continually burning in a building erected for the purpose. The Greeks worshiped at an altar of this kind which they called the Altar of Hestia and which the Romans called the Altar of Vesta. The sacred re itself was known as Vesta, and its burning was considered a proof of the presence of the goddess. The Persians had such a building in each town and village; and the Egyptians, such a re in every temple; while the Mexicans, Natches, Peruvians and Mayas kept their “national res” burning upon great pyramids. Eventually the keeping of such res became a sacred rite, and the “Eternal Lamps” kept burning in synagogues and in Byzantine and Catholic churches may be a survival of these customs. There is a theory that all architecture, public and private, sacred and profane, began with the erection of sheds to protect the sacred re. This naturally led men to build for their own protection as well, and thus the family hearth had its genesis. Another theory holds that the keepers of the sacred res were the rst public servants, and that from this small beginning sprang the intricate public service of the present.



The worship of the re itself had been a legacy from the earliest tribes; but it remained for the Rosicrucians and the re philosophers of the Sixteenth Century under the lead of Paracelsus to establish a concrete religious belief on that basis, nding in the Scriptures what seemed to them ample proof that re was the symbol of the actual presence of God, as in all cases where He is said to have visited this earth. He came either in a ame of re, or surrounded with glory, which they conceived to mean the same thing. For example: when God appeared on Mount Sinai (Exod. xix, 18) “The Lord descended upon it in re.” Moses, repeating this history, said: “The Lord spake unto you out of the midst of re” (Deut. iv, 12). Again, when the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses out of the aming bush, “the bush burned with re and the bush was not consumed” (Exod. iii, 3). Fire from the Lord consumed the burnt offering of Aaron (Lev. ix, 24), the sacrice of Gideon (Judg. vi, 21), the burnt offering of David (1 Chron. xxxi, 26), and that at the dedication of King Solomon’s temple (Chron. vii, 1). And when Elijah made his sacrice to prove that Baal was not God, “the re of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust and the water that was in the trench.” (1 Kings, xviii, 38.) Since sacrice had from the earliest days been considered as food offered to the gods, it was quite logical to argue that when re from Heaven fell upon the offering, God himself was present and consumed His own. Thus the Paracelsists and other re believers sought, and as they believed found, high authority for continuing a part of the re worship of the early tribes. The Theosophists, according to Hargrave Jennings in “The Rosicrucians,” called the soul a re taken from the eternal ocean of light, and in common with other FirePhilosophers believed that all knowable things, both of the soul and the body, were evolved out of re and nally resolvable into it; and that re was the last and only-to-be-known God. In passing I might call attention to the fact that the Devil is supposed to dwell in the same element. Some of the secrets of heat resistance as practiced by the dime-museum and sideshow performers of our time, secrets grouped under the general title of “Fire-eating,” must have been known in very early times. To quote from Cham-

bers’ “Book of Days”: “In ancient history we nd several examples of people who possessed the art of touching re without being burned. The Priestesses of Diana, at Castabala, in Cappadocia, commanded public veneration by walking over red-hot iron. The Herpi, a people of Etruria, walked among glowing embers at an annual festival held on Mount Soracte, and thus proved their sacred character, receiving certain privileges, among others, exemption from military service, from the Roman Senate. One of the most astounding stories of antiquity is related in the `Zenda- Vesta,’ to the effect that Zoroaster, to confute his calumniators, allowed uid lead to be poured over his body, without receiving any injury.” To me the “astounding” part of this story is not in the feat itself, for that is extremely easy to accomplish, but in the fact that the secret was known at such an early date, which the best authorities place at 500 to 1000 B.C. It is said that the earliest recorded instance, in our era, of ordeal by re was in the fourth century. Simplicius, Bishop of Autun, who had been married before his promotion, continued to live with his wife, and in order to demonstrate the Platonic purity of their intercourse placed burning coals upon their esh without injury. That the clergy of the Middle Ages, who caused accused persons to walk blindfold among red-hot plowshares, or hold heated irons in their hands, were in possession of the secret of the trick, is shown by the fact that after trial by ordeal had been abolished the secret of their methods was published by Albert, Count of Bollstadt, usually called Albertus Magnus but sometimes Albertus Teutonicus, a man distinguished by the range of his inquiries and his efforts for the spread of knowledge. These secrets will be fully explained in the section of this history devoted to the Arcana of the Fire-Eaters (Chapter Six). I take the following from the New York Clipper Annual of 1885: The famous re dance of the Navajo Indians, often described as though it involved some sort of genuine necromancy, is explained by a matter-of-fact spectator. It is true, he says, that the naked worshipers cavort round a big bonre, with blazing faggots in their hands, and dash the ames over their own and their fellows’ bodies, all in a most picturesque and maniacal fashion; but their skins are

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rst so thickly coated with a clay paint that they cannot easily be burned.

An illustrated article entitled Rites of the Firewalking Fanatics of Japan, by W. C. Jameson Reid, in the Chicago Sunday Inter- Ocean of September 27th, 1903, reveals so splendid an example of the gullibility of the wellinformed when the most ordinary trick is cleverly presented and surrounded with the atmosphere of the occult, that I am impelled to place before my readers a few illuminating excerpts from Mr. Reid’s narrative. This man would, in all probability, scorn to spend a dime to witness the performance of a re-eater in a circus sideshow; but after traveling half round the world he pays a dollar and spends an hour’s time watching the fanatical incantations of the solemn little Japanese priests for the sake of seeing the “Hi-Wattarai”-which is merely the stunt of walking over hot coals --and he then writes it down as the “eighth wonder of the world,” while if he had taken the trouble to give the matter even the most supercial investigation, he could have discovered that the secret of the trick had been made public centuries before. Mr. Reid is authority for the statement that the Shintoist priests’ re-walking rites have “long been one of the puzzling mysteries of the scientic world,” and adds “If you ever are in Tokio, and can nd a few minutes to spare, by all means do not neglect witnessing at least one performance of `Hi-Wattarai’ (re walking, and that is really what takes place), for, if you are of that incredulous nature which laughs with scorn at so-called Eastern mysticism, you will come away, as has many a visitor before you, with an impression sufcient to last through an ordinary lifetime.” Further on he says “If you do not come away convinced that you have been witness of a spectacle which makes you disbelieve the evidence of your own eyes and your most matter- of-fact judgment, then you are a man of stone.” All of which proves nothing more than that Mr. Reid was inclined to make positive statements about subjects in which he knew little or nothing. He tells us further that formerly this rite was performed only in the spring and fall, when, beside the gratuities of the foreigners, the native worshipers brought “gifts of wine, large trays of sh, fruit, rice cakes, loaves, vegetables, 112

and candies.” Evidently the combination of box-ofce receipts with donation parties proved extremely tempting to the thrifty priests, for they now give what might be termed a “continuous performance.” Those who have read the foregoing pages will apply a liberal sprinkling of salt to the solemn assurance of Mr. Reid, advanced on the authority of Jinrikisha boys, that “for days beforehand the priests connected with the temple devote themselves to fasting and prayer to prepare for the ordeal. . . . The performance itself usually takes place in the late afternoon during twilight in the temple court, the preceding three hours being spent by the priests in nal outbursts of prayer before the unveiled altar in the inner sanctuary of the little matted temple, and during these invocations no visitors are allowed to enter the sacred precincts.” Mr. Reid’s description of the re walking itself may not be out of place; it will show that the Japs had nothing new to offer aside from the ritualistic ceremonials with which they camouaged the hocus-pocus of the performance, which is merely a survival of the ordeal by re of earlier religions. “Shortly before 5 o’clock the priests led from before the altar into some interior apartments, where they were to change their beautiful robes for the coarser dress worn during the re walking. In the meantime coolies had been set to work in the courtyard to ignite the great bed of charcoal, which had already been laid. The dimensions of this bed were about twelve feet by four, and, perhaps, a foot deep. On the top was a quantity of straw and kindling wood, which was lighted, and soon burst into a roaring blaze. The charcoal became more and more thoroughly ignited until the whole mass glowed in the uncertain gloom, like some gigantic and demoniacal eye of a modern Prometheus. As soon as the mass of charcoal was thoroughly ignited from top to bottom, a small gong in the temple gave notice that the wonderful spectacle of `Hi-Wattarai’ was about to begin. “Soon two of the priests came out, said prayers of almost interminable length at a tiny shrine in the corner of the enclosure, and turned their attention to the re. Taking long poles and fans from the coolies, they poked and encouraged the blaze till it could plainly be seen that the coal was ignited throughout. The whole bed was a glowing mass, and the heat which rose from it was so intense that we found



it uncomfortable to sit fteen feet away from it without screening our faces with fans. Then they began to pound it down more solidly along the middle; as far as possible inequalities in its surface were beaten down, and the coals which protruded were brushed aside.” There follows a long and detailed description of further ceremonies, the receiving of gifts, etc., which need not be repeated here. Now for the trick itself. “One of the priests held a pile of white powder on a small wooden stand. This was said to be salt--which in Japan is credited with great cleansing properties--but as far as could be ascertained by supercial examination it was a mixture of alum and salt. He stood at one end of the re-bed and poised the wooden tray over his head, and then sprinkled a handful of it on the ground before the glowing bed of coals. At the same time another priest who stood by him chanted a weird recitative of invocation and struck sparks from int and steel which he held in his hands. This same process was repeated by both the priests at the other end, at the two sides, and at the corners. “Ten minutes, more or less, was spent in various movements and incantations about the bed of coals. At the end of that time two small pieces of wet matting were brought out and placed at either end and a quantity of the white mixture was placed upon them. At a signal from the head priest, who acted as master of ceremonies during the curious succeeding function, the ascetics who were to perform the rst exhibition of re-walking gathered at one end of the bed of coals, which by this time was a erce and glowing furnace. “Having raised both his hands and prostrated himself to render thanks to the god who had taken out the ‘soul’ of the re, the priest about to undergo the ordeal stood upon the wet matting, wiped his feet lightly in the white mixture, and while we held our breaths, and our eyes almost leaped from their sockets in awe-struck astonishment, he walked over the glowing mass as unconcernedly as if treading on a carpet in a drawing-room, his feet coming in contact with the white hot coals at every step. He did not hurry or take long steps, but sauntered along with almost incredible sang-froid, and before he reached the opposite side he turned around and sauntered as carelessly back to the mat from which he had started.”

The story goes on to tell how the performance was repeated by the other priests, and then by many of the native audience; but none of the Europeans tried it, although invited to do so. Mr. Reid’s closing statement is that “no solution of the mystery can be gleaned, even from high scientic authorities who have witnessed and closely studied the physical features of these remarkable Shinto re-walking rites.” Many who are confronted with something that they cannot explain take refuge in the claim that it puzzles the scientists too. As a matter of fact, at the time Mr. Reid wrote, such scientists as had given the subject serious study were pretty well posted on the methods involved. An article under the title The Fiery Ordeal of Fiji, by Maurice Delcasse, appeared in the Wide World Magazine for May, 1898. From Mr. Delcasse’s account it appears that the Fijian ordeal is practically the same as that of the Japanese, as described by Mr. Reid, except that there is very little ceremony surrounding it. The people of Fiji until a comparatively recent date were cannibals; but their islands are now British possessions, most of the natives are Christians, and most of their ancient customs have become obsolete, from which I deduce that the re-walking rites described in this article must have been performed by natives who had retained their old religious beliefs. The ordeal takes place on the Island of Benga, which is near Suva, the capital of Fiji, and which, Mr. Delcasse says, “was the supposed residence of some of the old gods of Fiji, and was, therefore, considered a sacred land.” Instead of walking on the live coals, as the Japanese priests do, the Fijians walk on stones that have been brought to a white heat in a great re of logs. The familiar claim is made that the performance puzzles scientists, and that no satisfactory solution has yet been discovered. We are about to see that for two or three hundred years the same claims have been made by a long line of more or less clever public performers in Europe and America.

CHAPTER TWO WATTON’S SHIP-SWABBER “FROM THE INDIES.”-RICHARDSON, 1667--DE HEITERKEIT, 1713.--ROBERT POWELL, 1718-1780.--DUFOUR, 113


1783.--QUACKENSALBER, 1794.


record of his subsequent movements. About 1713 a re-eater named De Heiterkeit, a The earliest mention I have found of a public renative of Annivi, in Savoy, ourished for a time in London. eater in England is in the correspondence of Sir Henry He performed ve times a day at the Duke of Marlborough’s Watton, under date of June 3rd, 1633. He speaks of an Head, in Fleet Street, the prices being half-a-crown, eighteen Englishman “like some swabber of a ship, come from the pence and one shilling. Indies, where he has learned to eat re as According to London Tit-Bits, “De familiarly as ever I saw any eat cakes, even Heiterkeit had the honor of exhibiting whole glowing brands, which he will crush before Louis XIV., the Emperor of Austria, with his teeth and swallow.” This was the King of Sicily and the Doge of Venice, shown in London for two pence. and his name having reached the InquiThe rst to attract the attention sition, that holy ofce proposed experiof the upper classes, however, was one menting on him to nd out whether he Richardson, who appeared in France in was reproof externally as well as interthe year 1667 and enjoyed a vogue sufnally. He was preserved from this unwelcient to justify the record of his promise in come ordeal, however, by the interference the Journal des Savants. Later on he came of the Duchess Royal, Regent of Savoy.” to London, and John Evelyn, in his diary, His programme did not differ matementions him under date of October 8th, rially from that of his predecessor, Rich1672, as follows: ardson, who had antedated him by nearly fty years. I took leave of my Lady Sunderland, who By far the most famous of the early John Evelyn was going to Paris to my Lord, now Ambassador re- eaters was Robert Powell, whose public career there. She made me stay dinner at Leicester House, extended over a period of nearly sixty years, and who was and afterwards sent for Richardson, the famous re-eater. He devoured brimstone on glowing coals before us, chewpatronized by the English peerage. It was mainly through ing and swallowing them; he melted a beere-glass and eate the instrumentality of Sir Hans Sloane that, in 1751, the it quite up; then taking a live coale on his tongue he put Royal Society presented Powell a purse of gold and a large on it a raw oyster; the coal was blown on with bellows silver medal. till it amed and sparkled in his mouthe, and so remained until the oyster gaped and was quite boil’d. Lounger’s Commonplace Book says of Powell: “Such is his passion for this terrible element, that if he Then he melted pitch and wax with sulphur, which he were to come hungry into your kitchen, while a sirloin was drank down as it amed: I saw it aming in his mouthe a roasting, he would eat up the re and leave the beef. It is good while; he also took up a thick piece of iron, such as laundresses use to put in their smoothing- boxes, when it somewhat surprising that the friends of REAL MERIT have was ery hot, held it between his teeth, then in his not yet promoted him, living as we do in an age favorable hand, and threw it about like a stone; but this I observ’d to men of genius. Obliged to wander from place to place, he cared not to hold very long. Then he stoode on a instead of indulging himself in private with his favorite dish, small pot, and, bending his body, tooke a glowing iron with his mouthe from betweene his feete, without touchhe is under the uncomfortable necessity of eating in public, ing the pot or ground with his hands, with divers other and helping himself from the kitchen re of some paltry aleprodigious feats. house in the country.” His advertisements show that he was before the The secret methods employed by Richardson were public from 1718 to 1780. One of his later advertisements disclosed by his servant, and this publicity seems to have runs as follows: brought his career to a sudden close; at least I have found no 114



SUM SOLUS Please observe that there are two different performances the same evening, which will be performed by the famous MR. POWELL, FIRE-EATER, FROM LONDON: who has had the honor to exhibit, with universal applause, the most surprising performances that were ever attempted by mankind, before His Royal Highness William, late Duke of Cumberland, at Windsor Lodge, May 7th, 1752; before His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester, at Gloucester House, January 30th, 1769; before His Royal Highness the present Duke of Cumberland, at Windsor Lodge, September 25th, 1769; before Sir Hans Sloane and several of the Royal Society, March 4th, 1751, who made Mr. Powell a compliment of a purse of gold, and a ne large silver medal, which the curious may view by applying to him; and before most of the Nobility and Quality in the Kingdom.

and there is scarce a possibility ever will; so that those who neglect this opportunity of seeing the wonders performed by this artist, will lose the sight of the most amazing exhibition ever done by man. The doors to be opened by six and he sups precisely at seven o’clock, without any notice given by sound of trumpet. If gentry do not choose to come at seven o’clock, no performance. Prices of admission to ladies and gentlemen, one shilling. Back Seats for Children and Servants, six pence. Ladies and children may have a private performance any hour of the day, by giving previous notice. N. B.--He displaces teeth or stumps so easily as to scarce be felt. He sells a chemical liquid which discharges inammation, scalds, and burns, in a short time, and is necessary to be kept in all families.

He intends to sup on the following articles: 1. He eats red-hot coals out of the re as natural as bread. 2. He His stay in this place will be but licks with his naked tongue redshort, not exceeding above two hot tobacco pipes, aming with or three nights. brimstone. 3. He takes a large bunch of deal matches, lights Good re to keep the gentry them altogether; and holds warm. them in his mouth till the ame is extinguished. 4. He This shows how little takes a red-hot heater out of advance had been made in the the re, licks it with his naked tongue several times, and carries art in a century. Richardson it around the room between had presented practically the his teeth. 5. He lls his same programme a hundred years mouth with red-hot charcoal, before. Perhaps the exposure of and broils a slice of beef or ROBERT POWELL, the Fire eater, Drawn from the Life mutton upon his tongue, and any Richardson’s method by his servant while he was exhibiting at Guildford in the Year 1780. person may blow the re with He exhibited in publick from the year 1718 to the above put an end to re-eating as a form a pair of bellows at the same mentioned Year, as may be collected from his Advertiseof amusement for a long time, or time. 6. He takes a quantity ments during that Period. until the exposure had been forgotof resin, pitch, bees’-wax, sealingwax, brimstone, alum, and lead, melts them all together ten by the public. Powell himself, though not proof against over a chang-dish of coals, and eats the same combustibles exposure, seems to have been proof against its effects, for he with a spoon, as if it were a porringer of broth (which he kept on the even tenor of his way for sixty years, and at the calls his dish of soup), to the great and agreeable surprise end of his life was still exhibiting. of the spectators; with various other extraordinary performances never attempted by any other person of this age, Whatever the reason, the eighteenth century re-

115



eaters, like too many magicians of the present day, day, kept to the stereotyped programmes programmes of their predecessors. A very few did, however, step out of the beaten track and, by adding new tricks and giving a new dress to old ones, succeeded in securing a following that was nancially satisfactory. satisfactory. In this class a Frenchman by the name of Dufour deserves special mention, from the fact that he was the rst to introduce comedy into an act of this this nature. He made his bow in Paris in 1783, and is said to have created quite a sensation by his unusual performance. I am indebted to Martin’s Naturliche Magie, 1792, for fo r a very complete description of the work of this artist. Dufour made use of a portable building, which was specially adapted to his purposes, and his table was spread as if for a banquet, except that the edibles were such as his performance demanded. He employed a trumpeter and a tambour player to furnish music for his repast--as well as to attract public attention. In addition to re-eating, Dufour gave exhibitions of his ability to consume immense quantities of solid food, and he displayed an appetite for live animals, reptiles, and insects that probably proved highly entertaining to the not overrened taste taste of the audiences of his day. day. He even advertised a banquet of which the public was invited to partake at a small fee per plate, but since the menu consisted of the delicacies just described, his audiences declined to join him at table. His usual bill-of-fare was as follows: Soup--boiling tar torches, glowing coals and small, round, super-heated stones. The roast, when Dufour was really hungry, consisted of twenty pounds of beef or a whole calf. His hearth was either the at of his hand or his tongue. The butter in which the roast was served was melted brimstone or burning wax. When the roast was cooked cooked to suit him he ate coals and roast together together.. As a dessert he would swallow the knives and forks, glasses, and the earthenware dishes.

He kept his audience in good humor by presenting all this in a spirit of crude comedy and, to increase the comedy element, he introduced a number of trained cats. Although the thieving proclivities of cats are well known, Dufour’ss pets showed no desire Dufour’ des ire to share his repast, and he had 116

them trained to obey his commands during mealtime. At the close of the meal he would become violently angry with one of them, seize the unlucky offender, tear it limb from limb and eat the carcass. One of his musicians would then beg him to produce the cat, dead or alive. In order to do this he would go to a nearby horse-trough and drink it dry; would eat a number of pounds of soap, or other nauseating substance, clowning it in a manner to provoke amusement instead of disgust; and, further to mask the disagreeable features--and also, no doubt, to conceal the trick--would take the cloth from the table and cover his face; whereupon he would bring forth the swallowed cat, or one that looked like it, which would howl piteously and seem to struggle wildly while being disgorged. When freed, the poor cat would rush away among the spectators. Dufour gave his best performances in the evening, as he could then show his hocus-pocus to best advantage. At these times he appeared with a halo of re about his head. His last appearance in Paris was most remarkable. The dinner began with a soup of asps in simmering oil. On each side was a dish of vegetables, one containing thistles and burdocks, and the other fuming acid. Other side dishes, of turtles, rats, bats and moles, were garnished with live coals. For the sh course he ate a dish of snakes in boiling tar and pitch. His roast was a screech owl in in a sauce of glowing brimstone. The salad proved to be spider webs webs full of small explosive squibs, a plate of buttery wings and manna worms, a dish of toads surrounded with ies, crickets, grasshoppers, church beetles, spiders, and caterpillars. He washed all this down with aming brandy, brandy, and for dessert desser t ate the four large candles standing on the table, both of the hanging side lamps with their contents, and nally the large center lamp, oil, wick and all. This leaving the room in darkness, Dufour’ss face shone out in a mask of living ames. Dufour’  ames. A dog had come in with a farmer, who was probably a confederate, and now now began to bark. bark. Since Dufour could not quiet him, he seized him, bit off his head and swallowed it, throwing the body aside. Then ensued a comic scene between Dufour and the farmer, the latter demanding that his dog be brought to life, which threw the audience into paroxysms of laughter. laughter. Then suddenly candles reappeared reappeared and seemed to light themselves. Dufour made a series of hocus-pocus passes over the dog’s dog’s body; then the head sud-



denly appeared in its proper place, and the dog, with a joyous yelp, ran to his master. Notwithstanding the fact that Dufour must have been by all odds the best performer of his time, I do not nd reference to him in any other authority. authority. But something of his originality appeared in the work of a much humbler practitioner, contemporary or very nearly contemporary with him. Wee have seen that Richardson, Powell, W Powell, Dufour, and generally the better class of re- eaters were able to secure select audiences and even to attract the attention of scientists in England and and on the Continent. Continent. But many of their effects had been employed by mountebanks and street fakirs since the earliest days of the art, and this has continued until comparatively recent times. In Naturliche Magie, in 1794, Vol. VI, page 111, I nd an account of one Quackensalber, who gave a new twist to the re-eating industry by making a “High Pitch” at the fairs and on street corners and exhibiting feats of reresistance, washing his hands and face in melted tar, pitch and brimstone, in order to attract a crowd. He then strove to sell them a compound--composed of sh glue, alum and brandy--which he claimed would cure burns in two or three hours. He demonstrated that this mixture was used by him in his heat resistance: and then, doubtless, dou btless, some “capper” started the ball rolling, and Herr Quackensalber Qu ackensalber (his name indicates a seller of salves) reaped a good harvest. I have no doubt but that even to-day a clever performer with this “High Pitch” could do a thriving business in that overgrown country village, New York. York. At any rate there is the so-called, “King of Bees,” a gentleman from Pennsylvania, Pennsylv ania, who exhibits himself in a cage of netting lled with bees, and then sells the admiring throng a specic for bee-stings and the wounds of angry wasps. Unfortunately the only time I ever saw his majesty, majesty, some of his bee actors must have forgotten their lines, for he was thoroughly stung.

CHAPTER THREE THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.--A “WONDERFUL PHENOMENON.”--“THE INCOMBUSTIBLE SPANIARD, SENOR LIONETTO,” 1803.--JOSEPHINE GIRARDELLI, 1814.--JOHN BROOKS, 1817.--W. 1817.--W. C.

HOUGHTON, 1832.--J. A. B. CHYLINSKI, 1841.--CHAMOUNI, THE RUSSIAN SALAMANDER, 1869.--PROFESSOR REL MAEUB, 1876.--RIVALLI (died 1900). In the nineteenth century by far the most distinguished heat-resister was Chabert, who deserves and shall have a chapter to himself. He commenced exhibiting exhibiting about 1818, but even earlier in the century certain obscurer performers had anticipated some of his best effects. Among my clippings, for instance, I nd the following. I regret that that I cannot give the date, but it is evident from the long form of the letters that it was quite early. early. This is the rst mention I have found of the hot-oven effect afterwards made famous by Chabert. WONDERFUL PHENOMENON A correspondent in France France writes as follows: “Paris has, for some days, rung with relations of the wonderful exploits of a Spaniard in that city, who is endowed with qualities by which he resists the action of very high degrees of heat, as well as the inuence of strong chemical reagents. Many histories of the trials trials to which he has been submitted before a Commission of the Institute and Medical School, have appeared in the public papers; but the public waits with impatience for the report to be made in the name of the Commission by Professor Pinel. The subject of these trials is a young man, a native of Toledo, in Spain, 23 years of age, and free of any apparent ap parent peculiarities which can announce anything remarkable in the organization of his skin; after examination, one would be rather disposed to conclude a peculiar softness than that any hardness or thickness of the cuticle existed, either naturally or from mechanical mechanical causes. Nor was there there any circumstance to indicate indicate that the person had been previously rubbed with any matter capable of resisting the operation of the agents with which he was brought in contact. This man bathed for the space of ve minutes, and without any injury to his sensibility or the surface of the skin, his legs in oil, heated at 97 degrees of Reaumur (250 degrees of Fahrenheit) and with the same oil, at the same degree of heat, he washed his face and superior extremities. He held, for the same space of time, time, and with as little inconvenience, his legs in a solution of muriate of soda, heated to 102 of the same scale, (261 1/2 degrees Fahr.) Fahr .) He stood on and rubbed the soles of his feet with

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a bar of hot iron heated to a white heat; in this state he held the iron in his hands and rubbed r ubbed the surface of his tongue. He gargled his mouth with concentrated sulphuric and nitric acids, without the smallest injury or discoloration; the nitric acid changed the cuticle to a yellow color; with the acids in this state he rubbed his hands and arms. All these experiments were continued long enough to prove their inefciency inefciency to produce any impression. impression. It is said, on unquestionable authority, that he remained a considerable time in an oven heated to 65 degrees or 70 degrees, (178-189 degrees Fahr.) and from which he was with difculty induced to retire, so comfortable did he feel at that high temperature. It may be proper to remark, that this man seems totally uninuenced by any motive to mislead, and, it is said, he has refused attering offers from some religious sectaries of turning to emolument his singular qualities; yet on the whole it seems to be the opinion of most philosophical men, that this person must possess some matter which counteracts the operation of these agents. To suppose that nature has organized him differently,, would be unphiently losophic: by habit he might have blunted his sensibilities against those impressions that create pain under ordinary circumstances; but how to explain the power by which he resists the action of those agents which are known to have the strongest afnity for animal matter matter,, is a circumstance difcult to comprehend. It has not failed, however, however, to excite the wonder of the ignorant and the inquiry of the learned

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at Paris.”

This “Wonderful Phenomenon” may have been “the incombustible Spaniard, Senor Lionetto,” whom the London Mirror mentions as performing perf orming in Paris in 1803 “where he attracted the particular partic ular attention of Dr. Sementeni, Professor of Chemistry, and other scientic gentlemen of that city.. It appears that a considerable vapor and smell rose city from parts of his body when the re and heated substances were applied, and in this he seems to differ from the person now in this country c ountry.” .” The person here referred to was M. Chabert. Dr. Sementeni became so interested in the subject that he made a series of experiments upon himself, and these were nally crowned with success. His experiments will receive further attention in the chapter “The Arcana of the Fire-Eaters.” A veritable sensation was created in England in the year 1814 by Senora Josephine Girardelli, who was heralded as having “just arrived from the Continent, where she had the honor of appearing before most of the crowned heads of Europe.” She was rst spoken of as German, German, but afterwards proved to be of Italian birth. Entering a eld of endeavor which had heretofore been exclusively occupied by the sterner sex, this lady displayed a taste for hot meals that would seem to recommend



her as a matrimonial venture. Like all the earlier exploiters rary, John Brooks, of whom I have no other record than of the devouring element, she was proclaimed as “The the following letter, which appears in the autobiography Great Phenomena of Nature”--why of the famous author-actor-manager, the plural form was used does not Thomas Dibdin, of the Theaters appear-- and, doubtless, her femiRoyal, Covent Garden, Drury Lane, nine instincts led her to impart a Haymarket and others. This one daintiness to her performance which communication, however, absolves must have appealed to the better of any obligation to dig up proofs of class of audience in that day. John Brooks’ versatility: he admits it The portrait that adorned himself. her rst English handbill, which To Mr. T. Dibdin, Esq. Pripetor of I produce from the Picture Magathe Royal Circus. zine, was engraved by Page and published by Smeeton, St. Martins Lane, May 1st, 1817. London. It is said to be a faithful Sir: representation of her stage costume and setting. I have taken the Liberty of Riting Richardson, of those few lines to ask you the favour if a Greeable for me to Come to Bartholomew Fair fame, who was your House, as i Can do a great responsible for the introduction many different things i Can Sing a of many novelties, rst presented good Song and i Can Eat Boiling Girardelli to an English audience at hot Lead and Rub my naked arms With a Red hot Poker and Stand Portsmouth, where her success was MADAME GIRARDELLI on a Red hot sheet of iron, and do Diferent so pronounced that a London appearance “The Celebrated Fireproof Female” other things.--Sir i hope you Will Excuse me was arranged for the same year; and at Mr. in Riting I do not Want any thing for my Laston’s rooms, 23 New Bond Street, her performance Performing for i have Got a Business that will Sirport me I only want to pass a Way 2 or 3 Hours in the Evening. attracted the most fashionable metropolitan audiences for a Sir i hope you Will Send me an Answer Weather Agreeple considerable time. Following this engagement she appeared or not. at Richardson’s Theater, at Bartholomew Fair, and afterwards toured England in the company of Signor Germondi, who I am your Humble Servant, exhibited a troupe of wonderful trained dogs. One of the J. B. canine actors was billed as the “Russian Moscow Fire Dog, an animal unknown in this country, (and never exhibited before) Direct to me No. 4 fox and Knot Court King Street who now delights in that element, having been trained for Smitheld. the last six months at very great expense and fatigue.” JOHN BROOKS. Whether Girardelli accumulated sufcient wealth to retire or became discouraged by the exposure of her methods We shall let this versatile John Brooks close the precannot now be determined, but after she had occupied a Chabert record and turn our attention to the re-eaters of prominent position in the public eye and the public prints Chabert’s day. Imitation may be the sincerest attery, but in for a few seasons she dropped out of sight, and I have been most cases the victim of the imitation, it is safe to say, will unable to nd where or how she passed the later years of gladly dispense with that form of adulation. When Chabert her life. rst came to America and gave fresh impetus to the reI am even more at a loss concerning her contempo119



eating art by the introduction of new and startling material, he was beset by many imitators, or-- as they probably styled themselves--rivals, who immediately proceeded, so far as in them lay, to out-Chabert Chabert. One of the most prominent of these was a man named W. C. Houghton, who claimed to have challenged Chabert at various times. In a newspaper advertisement in Philadelphia, where he was scheduled to give a benet performance on Saturday evening, February 4th, 1832, he practically promised to expose the method of poison eating. Like that of all exposers, however, his vogue was of short duration, and very little can be found about this super-Chabert except his advertisements. The following will serve as a sample of them: ARCH STREET THEATRE BENEFIT OF THE AMERICAN FIRE KING A CARD.--W. C. Houghton, has the honor to announce to the ladies and gentlemen of Philadelphia, that his BENEFIT will take place at the ARCH STREET THEATRE, on Saturday evening next, 4th February, when will be presented a variety of entertainments aided by the whole strength of the company. Mr. H. in addition to his former experiments will exhibit several ery feats, pronounced by Mons. Chabert an IMPOSSIBILITY. He will give a COMPLETE explanation by illustrations of the PRINCIPLES of the EUROPEAN and the AMERICAN CHESS PLAYERS. He will also (unless prevented by indisposition) swallow a sufcient quantity of phosphorus, (presented by either chemist or druggist of this city) to destroy THE LIFE OF ANY INDIVIDUAL. Should he not feel disposed to take the poison, he will satisfactorily explain to the audience the manner it may be taken without injury.

In our next chapter we shall see how it went with others who challenged Chabert. A Polish athlete, J. A. B. Chylinski by name, toured Great Britain and Ireland in 1841, and presented a more than 120

usually diversied entertainment. Being gifted by nature with exceptional bodily strength, and trained in gymnastics, he was enabled to present a mixed programme, combining his athletics with feats of strength, re-eating, poison-swallowing, and re-resistance. In The Book of Wonderful Characters, published in 1869 by John Camden Hotten, London, I nd an account of Chamouni, the Russian Salamander: “He was insensible, for a given time, to the effects of heat. He was remarkable for the simplicity and singleness of his character, as well as for that idiosyncrasy in his constitution, which enabled him for so many years, not merely to brave the effects of re, but to take a delight in an element where other men nd destruction. He was above all artice, and would often entreat his visitors to melt their own lead, or boil their own mercury, that they might be perfectly satised of the gratication he derived from drinking these preparations. He would also present his tongue in the most obliging manner to all who wished, to pour melted lead upon it and stamp an impression of their seals.” A re-proof billed as Professor Rel Maeub, was on the programme at the opening of the New National Theater, in Philadelphia, Pa., in the spring of 1876. If I am not mistaken the date was April 25th. He called himself “The Great Inferno Fire-King,” and his novelty consisted in having a strip of wet carpeting running parallel to the hot iron plates on which he walked barefoot, and stepping on it occasionally and back onto the hot iron, when a loud hissing and a cloud of steam bore ample proof of the high temperature of the metal. One of the more recent reproofs was Eugene Rivalli, whose act included, besides the usual effects, a cage of re in which he stood completely surrounded by ames. Rivalli, whose right name was John Watkins, died in 1900, in England. He had appeared in Great Britain and Ireland as well as on the Continent during the later years of the 19th



century. The cage of re has been used by a number of Rivalli’s followers also, and the reader will nd a full explanation of the methods employed for it in the chapter devoted to the Arcana of the Fire-eaters, to which we shall come when we have recorded the work of the master Chabert, the history of some of the heat-resisters featured on magicians’ programmes, particularly in our own day, and the interest taken in this art by performers whose chief distinction was won in other elds, as notably Edwin Forrest and the elder Sothern.

CHAPTER FOUR THE MASTER--CHABERT, 1792-1859. Ivan Ivanitz Chabert, the only Really Incombustible Phenomenon, as he was billed abroad, or J. Xavier Chabert, A.M., M.D., etc., as he was afterwards known in this country, was probably the most notable, and certainly the most interesting, character in the history of re-eating, re-resistance, and poison eating. He was the last prominent gure in the long line of this type of artists to appeal to the better classes and to attract the attention of scientists, who for a considerable period treated his achievements more or less seriously. Henry Evanion gave me a valuable collection of Chabert clippings, hand-bills, etc., and related many interesting incidents in connection with this man of wonders. It seems quite impossible for me to write of any historical character in Magic or its allied arts without recalling my dear old friend Evanion, who introduced me to a throng of fascinating characters, with each of whom he seemed almost as familiar as if they had been daily companions. Subsequently I discovered an old engraving of Chabert, published in London in 1829, and later still another which bore the change of name, as well as the titles enumerated above. The latter was published in New York, September, 1836, and bore the inscription: “One of the most celebrated Chemists, Philosophers, and Physicians of the present day.” These discoveries, together with a clue from Evanion, led to further investigations, which resulted in the interesting discovery that this one-time Bartholomew Fair entertainer spent the last years of his life in New York

City. He resided here for twenty-seven years and lies buried in the beautiful Cypress Hills Cemetery, quite forgotten by the man on the street. Nearby is the grave of good old Signor Blitz, and not far away is the plot that holds all that is mortal of my beloved parents. When I nally break away from earthly chains and restraints, I hope to be placed beside them. During my search for data regarding Chabert I looked in the telephone book for a possible descendant. By accident I picked up the Suburban instead of the Metropolitan edition, and there I found a Victor E. Chabert living at Allenhurst, N. J. I immediately got into communication with him and found that he was a grandson of the Fire King, but he could give me no more information than I already possessed, which I now spread before my readers. M. Chabert was a son of Joseph and Therese Julienne Chabert. He was born on May 10th, 1792, at Avignon, France. Chabert was a soldier in the Napoleonic wars, was exiled to Siberia and escaped to England. His grandson has a bronze Napoleon medal which was presented to Chabert, presumably for valor on the eld of battle. Napoleon was exiled in 1815 and again three years later. Chabert rst attracted public notice in Paris, at which time his demonstrations of heat-resistance were sufciently astonishing to merit the attention of no less a body than the National Institute. To the more familiar feats of his predecessors he added startling novelties in the art of heat-resistance, the most spectacular being that of entering a large iron cabinet, which resembled a common baker’s oven, heated to the usual temperature of such ovens. He carried in his hand a leg of mutton and remained until the meat was thoroughly cooked. Another thriller involved standing in a aming tar-barrel until it was entirely consumed around him. In 1828, Chabert gave a series of performances at the Argyle Rooms in London, and created a veritable sensation. A correspondent in the London Mirror has this to say of Chabert’s work at that time: “Of M. Chabert’s wonderful power of withstanding the operation of the ery element, it is in the recollection of the writer of witnessing, some few years back, this same individual (in connection with the noless re-proof Signora Girardelli) exhibiting `extraordinary proofs of his supernatural power of resisting the most intense 121



heat of every kind.’ Since which an IMPROVEMENT of a more formidable nature has to our astonished fancy been just demonstrated. In the newspapers of the past week it is reported that he, in the rst instance, refreshed himself with a hearty meal of phosphorus, which was, at his own request, supplied to him very liberally by several of his visitors, who were previously unacquainted with him. He washed down (they say) this infernal fare with solutions of arsenic and oxalic acid; thus throwing into the background the long-established fame of Mithridates. He next swallowed with great gout, several spoonfuls of boiling oil; and, as a dessert to this delicate repast, helped himself with his naked hands to a considerable quantity of molten lead. The experiment, however, of entering into a hot oven, together with a quantity of meat, sufcient, when cooked, to regale those of his friends who were specially invited to witness his performance, was the chef-d’oeuvre of the day. Having ordered three fagots of wood, which is the quantity generally used by bakers, to be thrown into the oven, and they being set on re, twelve more fagots of the same size were subsequently added to them, which being all consumed by three o’clock, M. Chabert entered the oven with a dish of raw meat, and when it was sufciently done he handed it out, took in another, and remained therein until the second quantity was 122

also well cooked; he then came out of the oven, and sat down, continues the report, to partake, with a respectable assembly of friends, of those viands he had so closely attended during the culinary process. Publicly, on a subsequent day, and in an oven 6 feet by 7, and at a heat of about 220, he remained till a steak was properly done, and again returned to his ery den and continued for a period of thirty minutes, in complete triumph over the power of an element so much dreaded by humankind, and so destructive to animal nature. It has been properly observed, that there are preparations which so indurate the cuticle, as to render it insensible to the heat of either boiling oil or melted lead; and the fatal qualities of certain poisons may be destroyed, if the medium through which they are imbibed, as we suppose to be the case here, is a strong alkali. Many experiments, as to the extent to which the human frame could bear heat, without the destruction of the vital powers, have been tried from time to time; but so far as recollection serves, Monsieur Chabert’s re- resisting qualities are greater than those professed by individuals who, before him, have undergone this species of ordeal.” It was announced some time ago, in one of the French journals, that experiments had been tried with a female, whose re-standing qualities had excited great aston-



ishment. She, it appears, was placed in a heated oven, into which live dogs, cats, and rabbits were conveyed. The poor animals died in a state of convulsion almost immediately, while the Fire- queen bore the heat without complaining. In that instance, however, the heat of the oven was not so great as that which M. Chabert encountered. Much of the power to resist greater degrees of heat than can other men may be a natural gift, much the result of chemical applications, and much from having the parts indurated by long practice; probably all three are combined in this phenomenon, with some portion of artice. In Timbs’ Curiosities of London, published in 1867, I nd the following: At the Argyle Rooms, London, in 1829, Mons. Chabert, the Fire-King, exhibited his powers of resisting poisons, and withstanding extreme heat. He swallowed forty grains of phosphorus, sipped oil at 333 degrees with impunity, and rubbed a red-hot re-shovel over his tongue, hair, and face, unharmed. On September 23d, on a challenge of L50, Chabert repeated these feats and won the wager; he next swallowed a piece of burning torch; and then, dressed in coarse woolen, entered an oven heated to 380 degrees, sang a song, and cooked two dishes of beef steaks. Still, the performances were suspected, and in fact, proved to be a chemical juggle.

Another challenge in the same year is recorded under the heading, “Sights of London,” as follows: We were tempted on Wednesday to the Argyle Rooms by the challenge of a person of the uncommon name of J. Smith to M. Chabert, our old friend the Fire King, whom this individual dared to invite to a trial of powers in swallowing poison and being baked! The audacity of such a step quite amazed us; and expecting to see in the competitor at least a Vulcan, the God of all Smiths, was hastened to the scene of strife. Alas, our disappointment was complete! Smith had not even the courage of a blacksmith for standing re, and yielded a stake of L50, as was stated, without a contest, to M. Chabert, on the latter coming out of his oven with his own two steaks perfectly cooked. On this occasion Chabert took 20 grains of phosphorus, swallowed oil heated to nearly 100 degrees above boiling water, took molten lead out of a

ladle with his ngers and cooled it on his tongue; and, besides performing other remarkable feats, remained ve minutes in the oven at a temperature of between 300 and 400 degrees by the thermometer. There was about 150 persons present, many of them medical men; and being convinced that these things were fairly done, without trickery, much astonishment was expressed.

The following detailed account of the latter challenge appeared in the Chronicle, London, September, 1829. THE FIRE KING AND HIS CHALLENGER.--An advertisement appeared lately in one of the papers, in which a Mr. J. Smith after insinuating that M. Chabert practised some juggle when he appeared to enter an oven heated to ve hundred degrees, and to swallow twenty grains of phosphorus, challenged him to perform the exploits which he professed to be performing daily. In consequence M. Chabert publicly accepted Mr. J. Smith’s challenge for L50, requesting him to provide the poison himself. A day was xed upon which the challenge was to be determined, and at two o’clock on that day, a number of gentlemen assembled in the Argyle-rooms, where the exhibition was to take place. At a little before three the re-king made his appearance near his oven, and as some impatience had been exhibited, owing to the non-arrival of Mr. J. Smith, he offered to amuse the company with a few triing experiments. He made a shovel red-hot and rubbed it over his tongue, a trick for which no credit, he said, was due, as the moisture of the tongue was sufcient to prevent any injury arising from it. He next rubbed it over his hair and face, declaring that anybody might perform the same feat by rst washing themselves in a mixture of spirits of sulphur and alum, which, by cauterising the epidermis, hardened the skin to resist the re. He put his hand into some melted lead, took a small portion of it out, placed it in his mouth, and then gave it in a solid state to some of the company. This performance, according to his account, was also very easy; for he seized only a very small particle, which, by a tight compression between the forenger and the thumb, became cool before it reached the mouth. At this time Mr. Smith made his appearance, and M. Chabert forthwith prepared himself for mightier undertakings. A cruse of oil was brought forward and poured into a saucepan, which was previously turned upside down, to show that there was no water in it. The alleged reason for this step was, that the vulgar conjurors, who profess to drink boiling oil, place the oil in water, and drink it when the water boils, at which time the oil is not warmer than an ordinary cup of tea. He intended to drink the oil when any person might see it bubbling in the saucepan, and when the thermometer

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would prove that it was heated to three hundred and sixty degrees. The saucepan was accordingly placed on the re, and as it was acquiring the requisite heat, the re-king challenged any man living to drink a spoonful of the oil at the same temperature as that at which he was going to drink it. In a few minutes afterwards, he sipped off a spoonful with greatest apparent ease, although the spoon, from contact with the boiling uid, had become too hot for ordinary ngers to handle. “And now, Monsieur Smith,” said the re-king, “now for your challenge. Have you prepared yourself with phosphorus, or will you take some of mine, which is laid on that table?” Mr. Smith, walked up to the table, and pulling a vial bottle out of his pocket, offered it to the poison- swallower. Fire-king--“I ask you, on your honor as a gentleman, is this genuine unmixed poison?” Mr. Smith--“It is, upon my honor.” Fire-king--“Is there any medical gentleman here who will examine it?” A person in the room requested that Dr. Gordon Smith, one of the medical professors in the London University, would examine the vial, and decide whether it contained genuine phosphorus. The professor went to the table, on which the formidable collection of poisons --such as red and white arsenic, hydrocyanic acid, morphine and phosphorus-- was placed, and, examining the vial, declared, that, to the best of his judgment, it was genuine phosphorus. M. Chabert asked Mr. Smith, how many grains he wished to commence his rst draught with. Mr. Smith--“Twenty grains will do as a commencement.” A medical gentleman then came forward and cut off two parcels of phosphorus, containing twenty grains each. He was placing them in the water, when the re- king requested that his phosphorus might be cut into small pieces, as he did not wish the pieces to stop on their way to his stomach. The poisons were now prepared. A wineglass contained the portion set aside for the re-king--a tumbler the portion reserved for Mr. Smith. The Fire-king--“I suppose, gentlemen, I must begin, and to convince you that I do not juggle, I will rst take off my coat, and then I will trouble you, doctor (speaking to Dr. Gordon Smith), to tie my hands together behind me. After he had been bandaged in this manner, he planted

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himself on one knee in the middle of the room, and requested some gentleman to place the phosphorus on his tongue and pour the water down his throat. This was accordingly done, and the water and phosphorus were swallowed together. He then opened his mouth and requested the company to look whether any portion of the phosphorus remained in his mouth. Several gentlemen examined his mouth, and declared that there was no phosphorus perceptible either upon or under his tongue. He was then by his own desire unbandaged. The re-king forthwith turned to Mr. Smith and offered him the other glass of phosphorus. Mr. Smith started back in innite alarm--`Not for worlds, Sir, not for worlds; I beg to decline it.’ The Fire-king--“Then wherefore did you send me a challenge? You pledged your honor to drink it, if I did; I have done it; and if you are a gentleman, you must drink it too.” Mr. Smith--“No, no, I must be excused: I am quite satised without it.” Here several voices exclaimed that the bet was lost. Some said there must be a confederacy between the challenger and the challenged, and others asked whether any money had been deposited? The re- king called a Mr. White forward, who deposed that he held the stakes, which had been regularly placed in his hands, by both parties, before twelve o’clock that morning. The re-king here turned round with great exultation to the company, and pulling a bottle out of his pocket, exclaimed, “I did never see this gentleman before this morning, and I did not know but that he might be bold enough to venture to take this quantity of poison. I was determined not to let him lose his life by his foolish wager, and therefore I did bring an antidote in my pocket, which would have prevented him from suffering any harm.” Mr. Smith said his object was answered by seeing twenty grains of genuine phosphorus swallowed. He had conceived it impossible, as three grains were quite sufcient to destroy life. The re-king then withdrew into another room for the professed purpose of putting on his usual dress for entering the oven, but in all probability for the purpose of getting the phosphorus out of his stomach. After an absence of twenty minutes, he returned, dressed in a coarse woolen coat, to enter the heated oven. Before he entered it, a medical gentleman ascertained that his pulse was vibrating ninety-eight times a minute. He remained in the oven ve minutes, during which time he sung Le Vaillant Troubadour, and superintended the cooking of two dishes of beef steaks. At the end of



that time he came out, perspiring profusely, and with a pulse making one hundred and sixty-eight vibrations in a minute. The thermometer, when brought out of the oven, stood at three hundred and eighty degrees; within the oven he said it was above six hundred.

Although he was suspected of trickery by many, was often challenged, and had an army of rivals and imitators, all available records show that Chabert was beyond a doubt the greatest re and poison resister that ever appeared in London. Seeking new laurels, he came to America in 1832, and although he was successful in New York, his subsequent tour of the States was nancially disastrous. He evidently saved enough from the wreck, however, to start in business, and the declining years of his eventful life were passed in the comparative obscurity of a little drug store in Grand Street. As his biographer I regret to be obliged to chronicle the fact that he made and sold an alleged specic for the White Plague, thus enabling his detractors to couple with his name the word Quack. The following article, which appeared in the New York Herald of September 1st, 1859, three days after Chabert’s death, gives further details of his activities in this country:

We published among the obituary notices in yesterday’s Herald the death of Dr. Julian Xavier Chabert, the “Fire King,” aged 67 years, of pulmonary consumption. Dr. C. was a native of France, and came to this country in 1832, and was rst introduced to the public at the lecture room of the old Clinton Hall, in Nassau Street, where he gave exhibitions by entering a hot oven of his own construction, and while there gave evidence of his salamander qualities by cooking beef steaks, to the surprise and astonishment of his audiences. It was a question to many whether the Doctor’s oven was red-hot or not, as he never allowed any person to approach him during the exhibition or take part in the proceedings. He made a tour of the United States in giving these exhibitions, which resulted in nancial bankruptcy. At the breaking out of the cholera in 1832 he turned Doctor, and appended M.D., to his name, and suddenly his newspaper advertisements claimed for him the title of the celebrated Fire King, the curer of consumption, the maker of Chinese Lotion, etc. While the Doctor was at the height of his popularity, some wag perpetrated the following joke in a newspaper paragraph: “During some experiments he was making in chemistry last week, an explosion took place which entirely bewildered his faculties and left him in a condi-

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tion bordering on the grave. He was blown into a thousand atoms. It took place on Wednesday of last week and some accounts state that it grew out of an experiment with phosphoric ether, others that it was by a too liberal indulgence in Prussic acid, an article which, from its resemblance to the peach, he was remarkably fond of having about him.” The Doctor was extensively accused of quackery, and on one occasion when the Herald touched on the same sub ject, it brought him to our ofce and he exhibited diplomas, certicates and medical honors without number. The Doctor was remarkable for his prolic display of jewelry and medals of honor, and by his extensive display of beard. He found a rival in this city in the person of another French “chemist,” who gave the Doctor considerable opposition and consequently much trouble. The Doctor was famous, also, for his four-horse turnouts in Broadway, alternating, when he saw proper, to a change to the “tandem” style. He married an Irish lady whom he at rst supposed to be immensely rich, but after the nuptials it was discovered that she merely had a life interest in a large estate in common with several others. The Doctor, it appears, was formerly a soldier in the French Army, and quite recently he received from thence a medal of the order of St. Helena, an account of which appeared in the Herald. Prior to his death he was engaged in writing his biography (in French) and had it nearly ready for publication.

Here follows a supposedly humorous speech in broken English, quoted from the London Lancet, in which the Doctor is satirized. Continuing, the articles says: “The Doctor was what was termed a `fast liver,’ and at the time of his death he kept a drug store in Grand Street, and had very little of this world’s goods. He leaves three children to mourn his loss, one of them an educated physician, residing in Hoboken, N. J. Dr. C. has `gone to that bourne whence no traveller returns,’ and we fervently trust and hope that the disembodied spirits of the tens of thousands whom he has treated in this sphere will treat him with the same science with which he treated them while in this wicked world.”

CHAPTER FIVE 126

FIRE-EATING MAGICIANS: CHING LING FOO AND CHUNG LING SOO.--FIRE-EATERS EMPLOYED BY MAGICIANS: THE MAN- SALAMANDER, 1816; MR. CARLTON, PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY, 1818; MISS CASSILLIS, AGED NINE, 1820; THE AFRICAN WONDER, 1843; LING LOOK AND YAMADEVA DIE IN CHINA DURING KELLAR’S WORLD TOUR, 1872; LING LOOK’S DOUBLE, 1879.--ELECTRICAL EFFECTS, THE SALAMBOS.--BUENO CORE.--DEL KANO.--BARNELLO.--EDWIN FORREST AS A HEATREGISTER.--THE ELDER SOTHERN AS A FIREEATER.--THE TWILIGHT OF THE ART. Many of our most noted magicians have considered it not beneath their dignity to introduce re-eating into their programmes, either in their own work or by the employment of a “Fire Artist.” Although seldom presenting it in his recent performances, Ching Ling Foo is a re-eater of the highest type, rening the effect with the same subtle artistry that marks all the work of this super-magician. Of Foo’s thousand imitators the only positively successful one was William E. Robinson, whose tragic death while in the performance of the bullet-catching trick is the latest addition to the long list of casualties chargeable to that ill-omened juggle. He carried the imitation even as far as the name, calling himself Chung Ling Soo. Robinson was very successful in the classic trick of apparently eating large quantities of cotton and blowing smoke and sparks from the mouth. His teeth were nally quite destroyed by the continued performance of this trick, the method of which may be found in Chapter Six. The employment of re-eaters by magicians began a century ago; for in 1816 the magician Sieur Boaz, K. C., featured a performer who was billed as the “Man-Salamander.” The fact that Boaz gave him a place on his programme is proof that this man was clever, but the effects there listed show nothing original. In 1818 a Mr. Carlton, Professor of Chemistry, toured England in company with Rae, the Bartholomew Fair magician. As will be seen by the handbill reproduced here, Carlton promised to explain the “Deceptive Part” of the performance, “when there is a sufcient company.” In 1820 a Mr. Cassillis toured England with a juvenile company, one of the features of which was Miss Cassillis,



aged nine years, whose act was a complete reproduction of the programme of Boaz, concluding her performance with the “Chinese Fire Trick.” A Negro, Carlo Alberto, appeared in a benet performance given by Herr Julian, who styled himself the “Wizard of the South,” in London, on November 28th, 1843. Alberto was billed as the “Great African Wonder, the Fire King” and it was promised that he would “go through part of his wonderful performance as given by him in the principal theaters in America, in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, etc.” A later number on the same bill reads: “The African Wonder, Carlo Alberto, will sing several new and popular Negro melodies.” Collectors of minstrel data please take notice! In more recent times there have been a number of Negro reeaters, but none seems to have risen to noticeable prominence. Ling Look, one of the best of contemporary re performers, was with Dean Harry Kellar when the latter made his famous trip around the world in 1877. Look combined re-eating and sword-swallowing in a rather startling manner. His best effect was the swallowing of a red-hot sword.[1] Another thriller consisted in fastening a long sword to the stock of a musket; when he had swallowed about half the length of the blade, he discharged the gun and the recoil drove the sword suddenly

down his throat to the very hilt. Although Look always appeared in a Chinese make-up, Dean Kellar told me that he thought his right name was Dave Gueter, and that he was born in Buda Pesth. I never saw Ling Look’s work, but I know that some of the sword swallowers have made use of a sheath which was swallowed before the performance, and the swords were simply pushed into it. A sheath of this kind lined with asbestos might easily have served as a protection against the red-hot blade.

Yamadeva, a brother of Ling Look, was also with the Kellar Company, doing cabinet manifestations and rope escapes. Both brothers died in China during this engagement, and a strange incident occurred in connection with their deaths. Just before they were to sail from Shanghai on the P. & O. steamer Khiva for Hong Kong, Yamadeva and Kellar visited the bowling alley of The Hermitage, a pleasure resort on the Bubbling Well Road. They were watching a husky sea captain, who was using a huge ball and making a “double spare” at every roll, when Yamadeva suddenly remarked, “I can handle one as heavy as that big loafer can.” Suiting the action to the word, he seized one of the largest balls and drove it down the alley with all his might; but he had misjudged his own strength, and he paid for the foolhardy 127



act with his life, for he had no sooner Ling, in Hong Kong, he broke down and delivered the ball than he grasped his confessed that he was a younger brother side and moaned with pain. He had of the original Ling Look. hardly sufcient strength to get back to Kellar later informed me that the the ship, where he went immediately resemblance was so strong that had he to bed and died shortly afterward. An not seen the original Ling Look conexamination showed that he had rupsigned to the earth, he himself would tured an artery. have been duped into believing that this Kellar and Ling Look had much was the man who had been with him in difculty in persuading the captain to Hong Kong. take the body to Hong Kong, but he The Salambos were among the rst nally consented. On the way down to use electrical effects in a re act, the Yang Tse Kiang River, Look was combining these with the natural gas greatly depressed; but all at once he and “human volcano” stunts of their became strangely excited, and said that predecessors, so that they were able to his brother was not dead, for he had just present an extremely spectacular perforheard the peculiar whistle with which mance without having recourse to such they had always called each other. The unpleasant features as had marred the whistle was several times repeated, and effect of earlier re acts. Bueno Core, was heard by all on board. Finally the too, deserves honorable mention for the HARRY KELLAR captain, convinced that something was cleanness and snap of his act; and Del wrong, had the lid removed from the cofn, but the body of Kano should also be named among the cleverer performers. Yamadeva gave no indication of life, and all save Ling Look One of the best known of the modern re- eaters decided that they must have been mistaken. was Barnello, who was a good business man as well, and kept Poor Ling Look, however, sobbingly said to Kellar, “I steadily employed at a better salary than the rank and le of shall never leave Hong Kong alive. My brother has called me his contemporaries. He did a thriving business in the sale to join him.” This prediction was fullled, for shortly after of the various concoctions used in his art, and published and their arrival in Hong Kong he underwent an operation for a sold a most complete book of formulas and general instrucliver trouble, and died under the knife. The brothers were tions for those interested in the craft. He had, indeed, many buried in Happy Valley, Hong Kong, in the year 1877. irons in the re, and he kept them all hot. All this was related to me at the Marlborough- BlenIt will perhaps surprise the present generation to heim, Atlantic City, in June, 1908, by Kellar himself, and learn that the well-known circus man Jacob Showles was once portions of it were repeated in 1917 when Dean Kellar sat by a re-eater, and that Del Fugo, well-known in his day as me at the Society of American Magicians’ dinner. a dancer in the music halls, began as a re-resister, and did In 1879 there appeared in England a performer who his dance on hot iron plates. But the reader has two keener claimed to be the original Ling Look. He wore his make-up surprises in store for him before I close the long history of both on and off the stage, and copied, so far as he could, the heat- resisters. The rst concerns our great American traLing’s style of work. His fame reached this country and gedian Edwin Forrest (1806-1872) who, according to James the New York Clipper published, in its Letter Columns, an Rees (Colley Cibber), once essayed a re-resisting act. Forrest article stating that Ling Look was not dead, but was alive and was always fond of athletics and at one time made an engageworking in England. His imitator had the nerve to stick to ment with the manager of a circus to appear as a tumbler his story even when confronted by Kellar, but when the latter and rider. The engagement was not fullled, however, as his assured him that he had personally attended the burial of friend Sol Smith induced him to break it and return to the 128



legitimate stage. Smith afterwards admitted to Cibber that if Forrest had remained with the circus he would have become one of the most daring riders and vaulters that ever appeared in the ring. His adventure in re-resistance was on the occasion of the benet to “Charley Young,” on which eventful night, as the last of his acrobatic feats, he made a ying leap through a barrel of red re, singeing his hair and eyebrows terribly. This particular leap through re was the big sensation of those days, and Forrest evidently had a hankering to show his friends that he could accomplish it--and he did. The second concerns an equally popular actor, a comedian this time, the elder Sothern (1826-1881). On March 20, 1878, a writer in the Chicago Inter-Ocean communicated to that paper the following curiously descriptive article: Is Mr. Sothern a medium? This is the question that fteen puzzled investigators are asking themselves this morning, after witnessing a number of astounding manifestations at a private seance given by Mr. Sothern last night. It lacked a few minutes of 12 when a number of Mr. Sothern’s friends, who had been given to understand that something remarkable was to be performed, assembled in the former’s room at the Sherman House and took seats around a marble-top table, which was placed in the center of the apartment. On the table were a number of glasses, two very large bottles, and ve lemons. A sprightly young gentleman attempted to crack a joke about spirits being conned in bottles, but the company frowned him down, and for once Mr. Sothern had a sober audience to begin with. There was a good deal of curiosity regarding the object of the gathering, but no one was able to explain. Each gentleman testied to the fact Mr. Sothern’s agent had waited upon him, and solicited his presence at a little exhibition to be given by the actor, NOT of a comical nature. Mr. Sothern himself soon after appeared, and, after shaking hands with the party, thus addressed them: “Gentlemen, I have invited you here this evening to witness a few manifestations, demonstrations, tests, or whatever you choose to call them, which I have accidentally discovered that I am able to perform.

“I am a re-eater, as it were. (Applause). “I used to DREAD the re, having been scorched once when an innocent child. (A laugh.) Mr. Sothern (severely)--“I HOPE there will be no levity here, and I wish to say now that demonstrations of any kind are liable to upset me, while demonstrations of a particular kind may upset the audience.” Silence and decorum being restored, Mr. Sothern thus continued: “Thirteen weeks ago, while walking up Greenwich Street, in New York, I stepped into a store to buy a cigar. To show you there is no trick about it, here are cigars out of the same box from which I selected the one I that day lighted.” (Here Mr. Sothern passed around a box of tolerable cigars.) “Well, I stepped to the little hanging gas-jet to light it, and, having done so, stood contemplatively holding the gas-jet and the cigar in either hand, thinking what a saving it would be to smoke a pipe, when, in my absentmindedness, I dropped the cigar and put the gas-jet into my mouth. Strange as it may appear, I felt no pain, and stood there holding the thing in my mouth and pufng till the man in charge yelled out to me that I was swallowing his gas. Then I looked up, and, sure enough, there I was pulling away at the slender ame that came from the glass tube. “I dropped it instantly, and felt of my mouth, but noticed no inconvenience or unpleasant sensation whatever. “ `What do you mean by it?’ said the proprietor. “As I didn’t know what I meant by it I couldn’t answer, so I picked up my cigar and went home. Once there I tried the experiment again, and in doing so I found that not only my mouth, but my hands and face, indeed, all of my body, was proof against re. I called on a physician, and he examined me, and reported nothing wrong with my esh, which appeared to be in normal condition. I said nothing about it publicly, but the fact greatly surprised me, and I have invited you here to-night to witness a few experiments.” Saying this, Mr. Sothern, who had lit a cigar while p ausing in his speech, turned the re end into his mouth and sat down, smoking unconcernedly. “I suppose you wish to give us the re- test,” remarked

129



one of the company. Mr. Sothern nodded. There was probably never a gathering more dumbfounded than that present in the room. A few questions were asked, and then ve gentlemen were appointed to examine Mr. Sothern’s hands, etc., before he began his experiments. Having thoroughly washed the parts that he proposed to subject to the ames, Mr. Sothern began by burning his arm, and passing it through the gas-jet very slowly, twice stopping the motion and holding it still in the ames. He then picked up a poker with a sort of hook on the end, and proceeded to sh a small coil of wire from the grate. The wire came out fairly white with the heat. Mr. Sothern took the coil in his hands and cooly proceeded to wrap it round his left leg to the knee. Having done so, he stood on the table in the center of the circle and requested the committee to examine the wrappings and the leg and report if both were there. The committee did so and reported in the afrmative. While this was going on, there was a smile, almost seraphic in its beauty, on Mr. Sothern’s face. After this an enormous hot iron, in the shape of a horseshoe, was placed on Mr. Sothern’s body, where it cooled, without leaving a sign of a burn. As a nal test, a tailor’s goose was put on the coals, and, after being thoroughly heated, was placed on Mr. Sothern’s chair. The latter lighted a fresh cigar, and then coolly took a seat on the goose without the least seeming inconvenience. During the last experiment Mr. Sothern sang in an excellent tone and voice, “I’m Sitting on the Stile, Mary.” The question now is, were the fteen auditors of Mr. Sothern fooled and deceived, or was this a genuine manifestation of extraordinary power? Sothern is such an inveterate joker that he may have put the thing upon the boys for his own amusement; but if so, it was one of the nicest tricks ever witnessed by yours truly, ONE OF THE COMMITTEE. P. S.--What is equally marvellous to me is that the re didn’t burn his clothes where it touched them, any more than his esh. P. C. (There is nothing new in this. Mr. Sothern has long been known as one of the most expert jugglers in the profes-

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sion. Some years ago he gained the soubriquet of the “Fire King!” He frequently amuses his friends by eating re, though he long ago ceased to give public exhibitions. Probably the success of the experiments last night were largely owing to the lemons present. There is a good deal of trickery in those same lemons.--Editor Inter-Ocean.)

which suggests that the editor of the Inter- Ocean was either pretty well acquainted with the comedian’s addiction to spoong, or else less susceptible to superstition than certain scientists of our generation. The great day of the Fire-eater--or, should I say, the day of the great Fire-eater--has passed. No longer does fashion ock to his doors, nor science study his wonders, and he must now seek a following in the gaping loiterers of the circus side-show, the pumpkin- and-prize-pig country fair, or the tawdry booth at Coney Island. The credulous, wonder- loving scientist, however, still abides with us and, while his serious-minded brothers are wringing from Nature her jealously guarded secrets, the knowledge of which benets all mankind, he gravely follows that perennial Will-of-thewisp, spiritism, and lays the attering unction to his soul that he is investigating “psychic phenomena,” when in reality he is merely gazing with unseeing eyes on the imsy juggling of pseudo-mediums.

CHAPTER SIX THE ARCANA OF THE FIRE-EATERS: THE FORMULA OF ALBERTUS MAGNUS.--OF HOCUS POCUS.--RICHARDSON’S METHOD.--PHILOPYRAPHAGUS ASHBURNIENSIS.--TO BREATHE FORTH SPARKS, SMOKE, AND FLAMES.--TO SPOUT NATURAL GAS.--PROFESSOR SEMENTINI’S DISCOVERIES.--TO BITE OFF RED-HOT IRON.--TO COOK IN A BURNING CAGE.--CHABERT’S OVEN. TO EAT COALS OF FIRE.--TO DRINK BURNING OIL.--TO CHEW MOLTEN LEAD.--TO CHEW BURNING BRIMSTONE.--TO WREATHE THE FACE IN FLAMES.--TO IGNITE PAPER WITH THE BREATH.-TO DRINK BOILING LIQUOR AND EAT FLAMING WAX. The yellow thread of exposure seems to be inextri-



cably woven into all fabrics whose strength is secrecy, and experience proves that it is much easier to become reproof than to become exposure proof. It is still an open question, however, as to what extent exposure really injures a performer. Exposure of the secrets of the re-eaters, for instance, dates back almost to the beginning of the art itself. The priests were exposed, Richardson was exposed, Powell was exposed and so on down the line; but the business continued to prosper, the really clever performers drew quite fashionable audiences for a long time, and it was probably the demand for a higher form of entertainment, resulting from a renement of the public taste, rather than the result of the many exposures, that nally relegated the Fire- eaters to the haunts of the proletariat. How the early priests came into possession of these secrets does not appear, and if there were ever any records of this kind the Church would hardly allow them to become public. That they used practically the same system which has been adopted by all their followers is amply proved by the fact that after trial by ordeal had been abolished Albertus Magnus, in his work De Mirabilibus Mundi, at the end of his book De Secretis Mulierum, Amstelod, 1702, made public the underlying principles of heat-resistance; namely, the use of certain compounds which render the exposed parts to a more or less extent impervious to heat. Many different formulas have been discovered which accomplish the purpose, but the principle remains unchanged. The formula set down by Albertus Magnus was probably the rst ever made public: the following translation of it is from the London Mirror: Take juice of marshmallow, and white of egg, ea-bane seeds, and lime; powder them and mix juice of radish with the white of egg; mix all thoroughly and with this composition annoint your body or hand and allow it to dry and afterwards annoint it again, and after this you may boldly take up hot iron without hurt.

“Such a paste,” says the correspondent to the Mirror, “would indeed be very visible.” Another early formula is given in the 1763 edition of Hocus Pocus. Examination of the different editions of this book in my library discloses the fact that there are no re formulas in the second edition, 1635, which is the earliest I

have (rst editions are very rare and there is only one record of a sale of that edition at auction). From the fact that this formula was published during the time that Powell was appearing in England I gather that that circumstance may account for its addition to the book. It does not appear in the German or Dutch editions. The following is an exact copy: HOW TO WALK ON A HOT IRON BAR WITHOUT ANY DANGER OF SCALDING OR BURNING. Take half an ounce of samphire, dissolve it in two ounces of aquaevitae, add to it one ounce of quicksilver, one ounce of liquid storax, which is the droppings of Myrrh and hinders the camphire from ring; take also two ounces of hematitus, a red stone to be had at the druggist’s, and when you buy it let them beat it to powder in their great mortar, for it is so very hard that it cannot be done in a small one; put this to the afore-mentioned composition, and when you intend to walk on the bar you must annoint your feet well therewith, and you may walk over without danger: by this you may wash your hands in boiling lead.

This was the secret modus operandi made use of by Richardson, the rst notably successful re artist to appear in Europe, and it was disclosed by his servant.[2] Such disloyalty in trusted servants is one of the most disheartening things that can happen to a public performer. But it must not be thought that I say this out of personal experience: for in the many years that I have been before the public my secret methods have been steadily shielded by the strict integrity of my assistants, most of whom have been with me for years. Only one man ever betrayed my condence, and that only in a minor matter. But then, so far as I know, I am the only performer who ever pledged his assistants to secrecy, honor and allegiance under a notarial oath. Hone’s Table Book, London, 1827, page 315, gives Richardson’s method as follows: It consisted only in rubbing the hands and thoroughly washing the mouth, lips, tongue, teeth and other parts which were to touch the re, with pure spirits of sulphur. This burns and cauterizes the epidermis or upper skin, till it becomes as hard and thick as leather, and each time the experiment is tried it becomes still easier. But if, after it has been very often repeated the upper skin should grow

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so callous and hard as to become troublesome, washing the parts affected with very warm water, or hot wine, will bring away all the shrivelled or parched epidermis. The esh, however, will continue tender and unt for such business till it has been frequently rubbed over with the same spirit. This preparation may be rendered much stronger and more efcacious by mixing equal quantities of spirit of sulphur, sal ammoniac, essence of rosemary and juice of onions. The bad effects which frequently swallowing redhot coals, melted sealing wax, rosin, brimstone and other calcined and inammable matter, might have had upon his stomach were prevented by drinking plentifully of warm water and oil, as soon as he left the company, till he had vomited it all up again. This anecdote was communicated to the author of the Journal des Savants by Mr. Panthot, Doctor of Physics and Member of the College at Lyons. It appeared at the time Powell was showing his re-eating stunts in London, and the correspondent naively added: Whether Mr. Powell will take it kindly of me thus to have published his secret I cannot tell; but as he now begins to drop into years, has no children that I know of and may die suddenly, or without making a will, I think it a great pity so genteel an occupation should become one of the artes perditae, as possibly it may, if proper care is not taken, and therefore hope, after this information, some true-hearted ENGLISHMAN will take it up again, for the honor of his country, when he reads in the newspapers, “Yesterday, died, much lamented, the famous Mr. Powell. He was the best, if not the only, re-eater in the world, and it is greatly to be feared that his art is dead with him.”

After a couple of columns more in a similar strain, the correspondent signs himself Philopyraphagus Ashburniensis. In his History of Inventions, Vol. III, page 272, 1817 edition, Beckmann thus describes the process: The deception of breathing out ames, which at present excites, in a particular manner, the astonishment of the ignorant, is very ancient. When the slaves in Sicily, about a century and a half before our era, made a formidable insurrection, and avenged themselves in a cruel manner, for the severities which they had suffered, there was amongst them a Syrian named Eunus--a man of great craft and courage; who having passed through many scenes of life, had become acquainted with a variety of arts. He pretended to have immediate communication

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with the gods; was the oracle and leader of his fellowslaves; and, as is usual on such occasions conrmed his divine mission by miracles. When heated by enthusiasm and desirous of inspiring his followers with courage, he breathed ames or sparks among them from his mouth while he was addressing them. We are told by historians that for this purpose he pierced a nut shell at both ends, and, having lled it with some burning substance, put it into his mouth and breathed through it. This deception, at present, is performed much better. The juggler rolls together some ax or hemp, so as to form a ball about the size of a walnut; sets it on re; and suffers it to burn until it is nearly consumed; he then rolls round it, while burning, some more ax; and by these means the re may be retained in it for a long time. When he wishes to exhibit he slips the ball unperceived into his mouth, and breathes through it; which again revives the re, so that a number of weak sparks proceed from it; and the performer sustains no hurt, provided he inspire the air not through the mouth, but the nostrils. By this art the Rabbi Bar-Cocheba, in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian, made the credulous Jews believe that he was the hoped-for Messiah; and two centuries after, the Emperor Constantius was thrown into great terror when Valentinian informed him that he had seen one of the body-guards breathing out re and ames in the evening.

Since Beckmann wrote, the method of producing smoke and sparks from the mouth has been still further improved. The re can now be produced in various ways. One way is by the use of a piece of thick cotton string which has been soaked in a solution of nitre and then thoroughly dried. This string, when once lighted, burns very slowly and a piece one inch long is sufcient for the purpose. Some performers prefer a small piece of punk, as it requires no preparation. Still others use tinder made by burning linen rags, as our forefathers used to do. This will not ame, but merely smoulders until the breath blows it into a glow. The tinder is made by charring linen rags, that is, burning them to a crisp, but stopping the combustion before they are reduced to ashes. Flames from the lips may be produced by holding in the mouth a sponge saturated with the purest gasoline. When the breath is exhaled sharply it can be lighted from a torch or a candle. Closing the lips rmly will extinguish the ame. A wad of oakum will give better results than the sponge. Natural gas is produced as simply. A T-shaped gas



pipe has three or four gas tips on the cross-piece. The long end is placed in the mouth, which already holds concealed a sponge, or preferably a ball of oakum, saturated with pure gasoline. Blowing through the pipe will force the gas through the tips, where it can be ignited with a match. It will burn as long as the breath lasts. In a London periodical, The Terric Record, appears a reprint from the Mercure de France, giving an account of experiments in Naples which led to the discovery of the means by which jugglers have appeared to be incombustible. They rst gradually habituate the skin, the mouth, throat and stomach to great degrees of heat, then they rub the skin with hard soap. The tongue is also covered with hard soap and over that a layer of powdered sugar. By this means an investigating professor was enabled to reproduce the wonders which had puzzled many scientists. The investigating professor in all probability, was Professor Sementini, who experimented with Lionetto. I nd an account of Sementini’s discoveries in an old newspaper clipping, the name and date of which have unfortunately been lost: Sementini’s efforts, after performing several experiments upon himself, were nally crowned with success. He found that by friction with sulphuric acid deluted with water, the skin might be made insensible to the action of the heat of red- hot iron; a solution of alum, evaporated till it became spongy, appeared to be more effectual in these frictions. After having rubbed the parts which were thus rendered in some degree insensible, with hard soap, he discovered, on the application of hot iron, that their insensibility was increased. He then determined on again rubbing the parts with soap, and after that found that the hot iron not only occasioned no pain but that it actually did not burn the hair. Being thus far satised, the Professor applied hard soap to his tongue until it became insensible to the heat of the iron; and having placed an ointment composed of soap mixed with a solution of alum upon it, burning oil did not burn it; while the oil remained on the tongue a slight hissing was heard, similar to that of hot iron when thrust into water; the oil soon cooled and might then be swallowed without danger. Several scientic men have since repeated the experiments of Professor Sementini, but we would not recommend any except professionals to try the experiments.

Liquid storax is now used to anoint the tongue when redhot irons are to be placed in the mouth. It is claimed that with this alone a red-hot poker can be licked until it is cold. Another formula is given by Grifn, as follows: 1 bar ivory soap, cut ne, 1 pound of brown sugar, 2 ounces liquid storax (not the gum). Dissolve in hot water and add a wine-glassful of carbolic acid. This is rubbed on all parts liable to come in contact with the hot articles. After anointing the mouth with this solution rinse with strong vinegar.

No performer should attempt to bite off red- hot iron unless he has a good set of teeth. A piece of hoop iron may be prepared by bending it back and forth at a point about one inch from the end, until the fragment is nearly broken off, or by cutting nearly through it with a cold chisel. When the iron has been heated red-hot, the prepared end is taken between the teeth, a couple of bends will complete the break. The piece which drops from the teeth into a dish of water will make a puff of steam and a hissing sound, which will demonstrate that it is still very hot. The mystery of the burning cage, in which the Fire King remains while a steak is thoroughly cooked, is explained by Barnello as follows: Have a large iron cage constructed about 4 x 6 feet, the bottom made of heavy sheet iron. The cage should stand on iron legs or horses. Wrap each of the bars of the cage with cotton batting saturated with oil. Now take a raw beefsteak in your hand and enter the cage, which is now set on re. Remain in the cage until the re has burned out, then issue from the cage with the steak burned to a crisp. Explanation: On entering the cage the performer places the steak on a large iron hook which is fastened in one of the upper corners. The dress worn is of asbestos cloth with a hood that completely covers the head and neck. There is a small hole over the mouth through which he breathes. As soon as the re starts the smoke and ames completely hide the performer from the spectators, and he immediately lies down on the bottom of the cage, placing the mouth over one of the small air holes in the oor of the same. Heat always goes up and will soon cook the steak.

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I deduce from the above that the performer arises and recovers the steak when the re slackens but while there is still sufcient ame and smoke to mask his action. It is obvious that the above explanation covers the baker’s oven mystery as well. In the case of the oven, however, the inmate is concealed from start to nish, and this gives him much greater latitude for his actions. M. Chabert made the oven the big feature of his programme and succeeded in puzzling many of the best informed scientists of his day. Eating coals of re has always been one of the sensational feats of the Fire Kings, as it is quite generally known that charcoal burns with an extremely intense heat. This fervent lunch, however, like many of the feasts of the Fire Kings, is produced by trick methods. Mixed with the charcoal in the brazier are a few coals of soft white pine, which when burnt look exactly like charcoal. These will not burn the mouth as charcoal will. They should be picked up with a fork which will penetrate the pine coals, but not the charcoal, the latter being brittle. Another method of eating burning coals employs small balls of burned cotton in a dish of burning alcohol. When lifted on the fork these have the appearance of charcoal, but are harmless if the mouth be immediately closed, so that the ame is extinguished. In all feats of re-eating it should be noted that the head is thrown well back, so that the ame may pass out of the open mouth instead of up into the roof, as it would if the head were held naturally. To drink burning oil set re to a small quantity of kerosene in a ladle. Into this dip an iron spoon and bring it up to all appearance, lled with burning oil, though in reality the spoon is merely wet with the oil. It is carried blazing to the mouth, where it is tipped, as if to pour the oil into the mouth, just as a puff of breath blows out all the ame. The process is continued until all the oil in the ladle has been consumed; then the ladle is turned bottom up, in order to show that all the oil has been drunk. A method of drinking what seems to be molten lead is given in the Chambers’ Book of Days, 1863, Vol. II, page 278: The performer taking an iron spoon, holds it up to the spectators, to show that it is empty; then, dipping it into

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a pot containing melted lead, he again shows it to the spectators full of the molten metal; then, after putting the spoon in his mouth, he once more shows it to be empty; and after compressing his lips, with a look expressive of pain, he, in a few moments, ejects from his mouth a piece of lead impressed with the exact form of his teeth. Ask a spectator what he saw, and he will say that the performer took a spoonful of molten lead, placed it in his mouth, and soon afterwards showed it in a solid state, bearing the exact form and impression of his teeth. If deception be insinuated, the spectator will say. “No! Having the evidence of my senses, I cannot be deceived; if it had been a matter of opinion I might, but seeing, you know, is believing.” Now the piece of lead, cast from a plaster mould of the performer’s teeth, has probably ofciated in a thousand previous performances, and is placed in the mouth between the gum and the cheek, just before the trick commences. The spoon is made with a hollow handle containing quicksilver, which, by a simple motion, can be let run into the bowl, or back again into the handle at will. The spoon is rst shown with the quicksilver concealed in the handle, the bowl is then dipped just within the rim of the pot containing the molten lead, but not into the lead itself, and, at the same instant the quicksilver is allowed to run into the bowl. The spoon is then shown with the quicksilver (which the audience takes to be the melted lead) in the bowl, and when placed in the mouth, the quicksilver is again allowed to run into the handle. The performer, in fact, takes a spoonful of nothing, and soon after exhibits the lead bearing the impression of the teeth. Molten lead, for re-eating purposes, is made as follows: Bismuth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 oz. Lead. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 oz. Block tin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 oz. Melt these together. When the metal has cooled, a piece the size of a silver quarter can be melted and taken into the mouth and held there until it hardens. This alloy will melt in boiling water. Robert-Houdin calls it Arcet’s metal, but I cannot nd the name elsewhere. The eating of burning brimstone is an entirely fake performance. A number of small pieces of brimstone are shown, and then wrapped in cotton which has been saturated with a half-and-half mixture of kerosene and gasoline, the surplus oil having been squeezed out so there shall be NO DRIP. When these are lighted they may be held in the palm of any hand which has been anointed with one of



the re mixtures described in this chapter. Then throw back the head, place the burning ball in the mouth, and a freshly extinguished candle can be lighted from the ame. Close the lips rmly, which will extinguish the ame, then chew and pretend to swallow the brimstone, which can afterwards be removed under cover of a handkerchief. Observe that the brimstone has not been burned at all, and that the cotton protects the teeth. To add to the effect, a small piece of brimstone may be dropped into the furnace, a very small piece will sufce to convince all that it is the genuine article that is being eaten. To cause the face to appear in a mass of ame make use of the following: mix together thoroughly petroleum, lard, mutton tallow and quick lime. Distill this over a charcoal re, and the liquid which results can be burned on the face without harm. [3] Barnello’s Red Demon. To set paper on re by blowing upon it, small pieces of wet phosphorus are taken into the mouth, and a sheet of tissue paper is held about a foot from the lips. While the paper is being blown upon the phosphorus is ejected on it, although this passes unnoticed by the spectators, and as soon as the continued blowing has dried the phosphorus it will ignite the paper. Drinking boiling liquor is accomplished by using a cup with a false bottom, under which the liquor is retained. A solution of spermaceti in sulphuric ether tinged with alkanet root, which solidies at 50 degrees F., and melts and boils with the heat of the hand, is described in Beckmann’s History of Inventions, Vol. II., page 121. Dennison’s No. 2 sealing wax may be melted in the ame of a candle and, while still blazing, dropped upon the tongue without causing a burn, as the moisture of the tongue instantly cools it. Care must be used, however, that none touches the hands or lips. It can be chewed, and apparently swallowed, but removed in the handkerchief while wiping the lips.

This is veried by the following, which I clip from the London Globe of August 11th, 1880: Accident to a Fire-Eater. A correspondent telegraphs: A terrible scene was witnessed in the market place, Leighton Buzzard, yesterday. A travelling Negro re eater was performing on a stand, licking red-hot iron, bending heated pokers with his naked foot, burning tow in his mouth, and the like. At last he lled his mouth with benzolene, saying that he would burn it as he allowed it to escape. He had no sooner applied a lighted match to his lips than the whole mouthful of spirit took re and before it was consumed the man was burned in a frightful manner, the blazing spirit running all over his face, neck and chest as he dashed from his stand and raced about like a madman among the assembled crowd, tearing his clothing from him and howling in most intense agony. A portion of the spirit was swallowed and the inside of his mouth was also terribly burnt. He was taken into a chemist’s shop and oils were administered and applied, but afterwards in agonizing frenzy he escaped in a state almost of nudity from a lodging house and was captured by the police and taken to the work- house inrmary, where he remains in a dreadful condition.

REMEMBER! Always have a large blanket at hand to smother ames in burning clothing-- also a bucket of water and a quantity of sand. A siphon of carbonic water is an excellent re extinguisher. The gas of gasoline is heavier than air, so a container should never be held ABOVE a ame. Keep kerosene and gasoline containers well corked and at a distance from re. Never inhale breath while performing with re. FLAME DRAWN INTO THE LUNGS IS FATAL TO LIFE. So much for the entertaining side of the art. There are, however, some further scientic principles so interesting that I reserve them for another chapter.

The above is the method practiced by all the Fire-Eaters, and absolutely no preparation is necessary except that the tongue must be well moistened with saliva.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Barnello once said, “A person wishing to become a FireEater must make up his or her mind to suffer a little at rst from burns, as there is no one who works at the business but that gets burns either from carelessness or from accident.”

THE SPHEROIDAL CONDITION OF LIQUIDS.--WHY THE HAND MAY BE DIPPED IN MOLTEN METALS.--PRINCIPLES OF HEAT-RESISTANCE PUT TO PRACTICAL USES: ALDINI, 1829.--IN EARLY FIRE-FIGHTING. TEMPERATURES THE BODY CAN ENDURE. 135



The spheroidal condition of liquids was discovered by Leidenfrost, but M. Boutigny was the rst to give this singular subject careful investigation. From time out of mind the test of letting a drop of water fall on the face of a hot at-iron has been employed to discover whether it may safely be used. Everybody knows that if it is not too hot the water will spread over the surface and evaporate; but if it is too hot, the water will glance off without wetting the iron, and if this drop be allowed to fall on the hand it will be found that it is still cool. The fact is that the water never touches the hot iron at all, provided the heat is sufciently intense, but assumes a slightly elliptical shape and is supported by a cushion of vapor. If, instead of a at-iron, we use a concave metal disk about the size and shape of a watch crystal, some very interesting results may be obtained. If the temperature of the disk is at, or slightly above, the boiling point, water dropped on it from a medicine dropper will boil; but if the disk is heated to 340 degrees F., the drop practically retains its roundness--becoming only slightly oblate--and does not boil. In fact the temperature never rises above 206 degrees F., since the vapor is so rapidly evaporated from the surface of the drop that it forms the cushion just mentioned. By a careful manipulation of the dropper, the disk may be lled with water which, notwithstanding the intense heat, never reaches the boiling point. On the other hand, if boiling water be dropped on the superheated disk its temperature will immediately be REDUCED to six degrees below the boiling point; thus the hot metal really cools the water. By taking advantage of the fact that different liquids assume a spheroidal form at widely different temperatures, one may obtain some startling results. For example, liquid sulphurous acid is so volatile as to have a temperature of only 13 degrees F. when in that state, or 19 degrees below the freezing point of water, so that if a little water be dropped into the acid, it will immediately freeze and the pellet of ice may be dropped into the hand from the still red-hot disk. Even mercury can be frozen in this way by a combination of chemicals. Through the action of this principle it is possible to dip the hand for a short time into melted lead, or even into melted copper, the moisture of the skin supplying a vapor which prevents direct contact with the molten metal; 136

no more than an endurable degree of heat reaches the hand while the moisture lasts, although the temperature of the fusing copper is 1996 degrees. The natural moisture of the hand is usually sufcient for this result, but it is better to wipe the hand with a damp towel. In David A. Wells’ Things not Generally Known, New York, 1857, I nd a translation of an article by M. Boutigny in The Comptes Rendus, in which he notes that “the portion of the hands which are not immersed in the fused metal, but are exposed to the action of the heat radiated from its surface, experience a painful sensation of heat.” He adds that when the hand was dampened with ether “there was no sensation of heat, but, on the contrary, an agreeable feeling of coolness.” Beckmann, in his History of Inventions, Vol. II., page 122, says: In the month of September, 1765, when I visited the copper works at Awested, one of the workmen, for a little drink money, took some of the melted copper in his hand, and after showing it to us, threw it against the wall. He then squeezed the ngers of his horny hand close together, put it for a few minutes under his armpit, to make it sweat, as he said; and, taking it again out, drew it over a ladle lled with melted copper, some of which he skimmed off, and moved his hand backwards and forwards, very quickly, by way of ostentation. While I was viewing this performance, I remarked a smell like that of singed horn or leather, though his hand was not burnt. The workmen at the Swedish melting- house showed the same thing to some travellers in the seventeenth century; for Regnard saw it in 1681, at the copper- works in Lapland.

My friend Quincy Kilby, of Brookline, Mass., saw the same stunt performed by workmen at the Meridan Brittania Company’s plant. They told him that if the hand had been wet it would have been badly scalded. Thus far our interest in heat-resistance has uncovered secrets of no very great practical value, however entertaining the uses to which we have seen them put. But not all the investigation of these principles has been dictated by considerations of curiosity and entertainment. As long ago as 1829, for instance, an English newspaper printed the fol-



lowing: Proof against Fire--On Tuesday week an experiment was made in presence of a Committee of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, by M. Aldini, for the purpose of showing that he can secure the body against the action of ames so as to enable remen to carry on their operations with safety. His experiment is stated to have given satisfaction. The pompiers were clothed in asbestos, over which was a network of iron. Some of them, it was stated, who wore double gloves of amianthus, held a red-hot bar during four minutes.

Sir David Brewster, in his Letters on Natural Magic, page 305, gives a more detailed account of Aldini, from which the natural deduction is that the Chevalier was a showman with an intellect fully up to the demands of his art. Sir David says: In our own times the art of defending the hands and face, and indeed the whole body, from the action of heated iron and intense re, has been applied to the nobler purpose of saving human life, and rescuing property from the ames. The revival and the improvement of this art we owe to the benevolence and the ingenuity of the Chevalier Aldini of Milan, who has travelled through all Europe to present this valuable gift to his species. Sir H. Davy had long ago shown that a safety lamp for illuminating mines, containing inammable air, might be constructed of wire-gauze, alone, which prevented the ame within, however large or intense, from setting re to the inammable air without. This valuable property, which has been long in practical use, he ascribed to the conducting and radiating power of the wire-gauze, which carried off the heat of the ame, and deprived it of its power. The Chevalier Aldini conceived the idea of applying the same material, in combination with other badly conducting substances, as a protection against re. The incombustible pieces of dress which he uses for the body, arms, and legs, are formed out of strong cloth, which has been steeped in a solution of alum, while those for the head, hands, and feet, are made of cloth of asbestos or amianthus. The head dress is a large cap which envelops the whole head down to the neck, having suitable perforations for the eyes, nose, and mouth. The stockings and cap are single, but the gloves are made of double amianthus cloth, to enable the reman to take into his hand burning or red-hot bodies. The piece of ancient asbestos cloth preserved in the Vatican was formed, we believe, by mixing the asbestos with other brous substances; but M. Aldini has executed a piece of nearly the same size, 9 feet 5 inches long, and 5 feet 3 inches wide, which is much stronger than the ancient

piece, and possesses superior qualities, in consequence of having been woven without the introduction of any foreign substance. In this manufacture the bers are prevented from breaking by action of steam, the cloth is made loose in its fabric, and the threads are about the ftieth of an inch in diameter. The metallic dress which is superadded to these means of defence consists of ve principal pieces, viz., a casque or cap, with a mask large enough to leave a proper space between it and the asbestos cap; a cuirass with its brassets; a piece of armour for the trunk and thighs; a pair of boots of double wire-gauze; and an oval shield 5 feet long by 2 1/2 feet wide, made by stretching the wire-gauze over a slender frame of iron. All these pieces are made of iron wire-gauze, having the interval between its threads the twenty-fth part of an inch. In order to prove the efcacy of this apparatus, and inspire the remen with condence in its protection, he showed them that a nger rst enveloped in asbestos, and then in a double case of wire- gauze, might be held a long time in the ame of a spirit-lamp or candle before the heat became inconvenient. A reman having his hand within a double asbestos glove, and its palm protected by a piece of asbestos cloth, seized with impunity a large piece of red hot iron, carried it deliberately to the distance of 150 feet, inamed straw with it, and brought it back again to the furnace. On other occasions the reman handled blazing wood and burning substances, and walked during ve minutes upon an iron grating placed over aming fagots. In order to show how the head, eyes, and lungs are protected, the reman put on the asbestos and wire-gauze cap, and the cuirass, and held the shield before his breast. A re of shavings was then lighted, and kept burning in a large raised chang- dish; the reman plunged his head into the middle of the ames with his face to the fuel, and in that position went several times round the chang-dish for a period longer than a minute. In a subsequent trial, at Paris, a reman placed his head in the middle of a large brazier lled with aming hay and wood, and resisted the action of the re during ve or six minutes and even ten minutes. In the experiments which were made at Paris in the presence of a committee of the Academy of Sciences, two parallel rows of straw and brushwood supported by iron wires, were formed at the distance of 3 feet from each other, and extended 30 feet in length. When this combustible mass was set on re, it was necessary to stand at a distance of 8 or 10 yards to avoid the heat. The ames from both the rows seemed to ll up the whole space

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between them, and rose to the height of 9 or 10 feet. At this moment six remen, clothed in the incombustible dresses, and marching at a slow pace behind each other, repeatedly passed through the whole length between the two rows of ame, which were constantly fed with additional combustibles. One of the remen carried on his back a child eight years old, in a wicker-basket covered with metallic gauze, and the child had no other dress than a cap made of amianthine cloth. In February, 1829, a still more striking experiment was made in the yard of the barracks of St. Gervais. Two towers were erected two stories high, and were surrounded with heaps of inamed materials consisting of fagots and straw. The remen braved the danger with impunity. In opposition to the advice of M. Aldini, one of them, with the basket and child, rushed into a narrow place, where the ames were raging 8 yards high. The violence of the re was so great that he could not be seen, while a thick black smoke spread around, throwing out a heat which was unsupportable by spectators. The reman remained so long invisible that serious doubts were entertained of his safety. He at length, however, issued from the ery gulf uninjured, and proud of having succeeded in braving so great a danger. It is a remarkable result of these experiments, that the remen are able to breathe without difculty in the middle of the ames. This effect is owing not only to the heat being intercepted by the wire- gauze as it passes to the lungs, in consequence of which its temperature becomes supportable, but also to the singular power which the body possesses of resisting great heats, and of breathing air of high temperatures. A series of curious experiments were made on this subject by M. Tillet, in France, and by Dr. Fordyce and Sir Charles Blagden, in England. Sir Joseph Banks, Dr. Solander, and Sir Charles Blagden entered a room in which the air had a temperature of 198 degrees Fahr., and remained ten minutes; but as the thermometer sunk very rapidly, they resolved to enter the room singly. Dr. Solander went in alone and found the heat 210 degrees, and Sir Joseph entered when the heat was 211 degrees. Though exposed to such an elevated temperature, their bodies preserved their natural degree of heat. Whenever they breathed upon a thermometer it sunk several degrees; every expiration, particularly if strongly made, gave a pleasant impression of coolness to their nostrils, and their cold breath cooled their ngers whenever it reached them. On touching his side, Sir Charles Blagden found it cold like a corpse, and yet the heat of his body under his tongue was 98 degrees. Hence they concluded that the human body possesses the power of destroying a certain

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degree of heat when communicated with a certain degree of quickness. This power, however, varies greatly in different media. The same person who experienced no inconvenience from air heated to 211 degrees, could just bear rectied spirits of wine at 130 degrees, cooling oil at 129 degrees, cooling water at 123 degrees, and cooling quicksilver at 118 degrees. A familiar instance of this occurred in the heated room. All the pieces of metal there, even their watch-chains, felt so hot that they could scarcely bear to touch them for a moment, while the air from which the metal had derived all its heat was only unpleasant. M. Duhamel and Tillet observed, at Rochefoucault in France, that the girls who were accustomed to attend ovens in a bakehouse, were capable of enduring for ten minutes a temperature of 270 degrees. The same gentleman who performed the experiments above described ventured to expose themselves to still higher temperatures. Sir Charles Blagden went into a room where the heat was 1 degree or 2 degrees above 260 degrees, and remained eight minutes in this situation, frequently walking about to all the different parts of the room, but standing still most of the time in the coolest spot, where the heat was above 240 degrees. The air, though very hot, gave no pain, and Sir Charles and all the other gentlemen were of opinion that they could support a much greater heat. During seven minutes Sir C. Blagden’s breathing continued perfectly good, but after that time he felt an oppression in his lungs, with a sense of anxiety, which induced him to leave the room. His pulse was then 144, double its ordinary quickness. In order to prove that there was no mistake respecting the degree of heat indicated by the thermometer, and that the air which they breathed was capable of producing all the well- known effects of such a heat on inanimate matter, they placed some eggs and a beef- steak upon a tin frame near the thermometer, but more distant from the furnace than from the wall of the room. In the space of twenty minutes the eggs were roasted quite hard, and in fortyseven minutes the steak was not only dressed, but almost dry. Another beef-steak, similarly placed, was rather overdone in thirty-three minutes. In the evening, when the heat was still more elevated, a third beef-steak was laid in the same place, and as they had noticed that the effect of the hot air was greatly increased by putting it in motion, they blew upon the steak with a pair of bellows, and thus hastened the dressing of it to such a degree, that the greatest portion of it was found to be pretty well done in thirteen minutes. Our distinguished countryman, Sir F. Chantrey, has very recently exposed himself to a temperature still higher than any which we have mentioned. The furnace which he employs for drying his moulds is about 14 feet long, 12



feet high, and 12 feet broad. When it is raised to its highest temperature, with the doors closed, the thermometer stands at 350 degrees, and the iron oor is red hot. The workmen often enter it at a temperature of 340 degrees, walking over the iron oor with wooden clogs, which are of course charred on the surface. On one occasion Sir F. Chantrey, accompanied by ve or six of his friends, entered the furnace, and, after remaining two minutes, they brought out a thermometer which stood at 320 degrees. Some of the party experienced sharp pains in the tips of their ears, and in the septum of the nose, while others felt a pain in their eyes.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Only the rst seven chapters of Houdini’s Miracle Mongers and Their Methods are featured in this volume, as they focus primarily on re eaters and re resistance. The remainder of the book goes on to discuss sword swallowers, stone-eaters, snake-handlers, strong men, fakirs, and other varieties of sideshow stunts. The complete text of the book can be viewed at: http://www.shwood.com/houdini

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OSHA (the Occupational Safety & Health Administration) requires Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) on a variety of chemicals and substances that people may encounter in the workplace. These sheets detail chemical compositions, properties, health hazards, rst aid procedures, and proper handling procedures. In this section, you’ll nd MSDS for 6 potential fuels used in re effects. While you should obviously study the health and rst aid sections of each document, also take the time to read up on the various chemical properties of each fuel, especially the fuel’s ash point. “Flash point” refers to the temperature a fuel must reach before it can ignite. This is an excellent indication of the volatility of any fuel, and allows you to compare one fuel to another. Remember that not all these 6 fuels are safe to use in all re effects. Many different effects call for different fuels. Some fuels are listed here strictly for comparative analysis, especially for chemical properties like ash point and exposure hazards.

t a e H

F u e l

Oxygen


OSHA Material Safety Data Sheets

Coleman’s Camping Fuel page 1 of 6

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Kerosene page 1 of 8

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Charcoal Lighter Fluid page 1 of 3

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Zippo Lighter Fluid page 1 of 5

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Alcohol, 95% page 1 of 3

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Fire Eating - Dont Bother

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