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{{Short description|Pakistani mystic and magician (1905–1981)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Use Pakistani English|date=July 2018}}
{{Use Pakistani English|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
| name = Kuda Bux
| name = Kuda Bux
| image = Kuda Bux magician.png
| other_names = Professor K.B. Duke
| image = Kuda Bux magician.png
⚫
| occupation = [[Magic (illusion)|Magician]]
| caption = Kuda Bux walking on hot coals in 1935
⚫
| birth_date = {{birth date|1905|2|17|df=y}}
⚫
| occupation = [[Magic (illusion)|Magician]]
⚫
| death_date = {{death date and age|1981|2|5|1905|2|17|df=y}}
⚫
| birth_date = {{birth date|1905|10|15|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Akhnoor]], Jammu and Kashmir
⚫
| death_date = {{death date and age|1981|2|5|1905|2|17|df=y}}
| death_place = California, US
| nationality = Pakistani
| known_for =
}}
}}


'''Kuda Bux''' (17 February 1905 &ndash; 5 February 1981), born '''Khudah Bukhsh''', was a Pakistani [[mysticism|mystic]], [[Magic (illusion)|magician]] and [[Firewalking|firewalker]].<ref>[http://www.themagicdetective.com/2012/06/man-with-x-ray-eyes-kuda-bux.html "The Man With X-Ray Eyes-Kuda Bux"]. Retrieved 30 April 2016.</ref><ref name="Solomon2017"/><ref name="Syman2010"/>
'''Kuda Bux''' (15 October 1905 – 5 February 1981, born '''Khudah Bukhsh''') was a [[Magic (illusion)|magician]] and [[Firewalking|firewalker]] beginning during Crown Rule.

==Biography==
Khudah Bukhsh was born in [[Akhnur]], [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Kashmir]] in 1905, to an ethnic [[Kashmiris|Kashmiri]] family.<ref name="Revai2008">{{cite book|author=Cheri Revai|title=Haunted New York City: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Big Apple|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=COzZIpunWikC&pg=PA56|date=14 January 2008|publisher=Stackpole Books|isbn=978-0-8117-4073-9|pages=56–}}</ref> His father worked as a railway ticket inspector. Bukhsh later became a [[Pakistan]]i citizen.<ref>{{cite book|title=Cosmopolitan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aM1ZAAAAYAAJ|year=1959|publisher=Schlicht & Field}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The World Almanac Book Of The Strange|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ygqooiB0NCAC|year=1977}}</ref> When he was thirteen, he left home to learn magic from a performer named Professor Moor.

After a few months, he joined a theater group as a magician. Three years later, Kuda went to [[Haridwar|Hardwar]] to study with a [[yogi]]. He pretended to be religious to be accepted as a disciple. The yogi taught Kuda to train his subconscious mind, which is how he claimed to be able to perform all of his feats.<ref name="Dahl">Dahl, Roald. "The Amazing Eyes of Kuda Bux", ''[[Argosy_(magazine)|Argosy]]''. Volume 335, Issue 1. July 1, 1952. 94.</ref>

In the mid-1930s, he arrived in the United States where he worked steadily as a magician.<ref name="Revai2008"/> He was also known as DareDevil or The Man Who Can See Without His Eyes. In the 1950s, he had a short-lived TV show called ''Kuda Bux, Hindu Mystic''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Carnegie |first=Dean |date=2012-06-22 |title=The Man With X-Ray Eyes-Kuda Bux |url=https://www.themagicdetective.com/2012/06/man-with-x-ray-eyes-kuda-bux.html |access-date=2024-01-08 |website=The Magic Detective}}</ref>

He eventually lost his eyesight to [[glaucoma]].<ref name="randi" /> Early in her career, [[Joan Rivers]] traveled to [[Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré]] with Kuda to perform as his assistant. They did the [[Indian basket trick]], and Kuda [[Sawing_a_woman_in_half|sawed her in half]]. After Rivers started telling jokes during the illusions, Kuda fired her.<ref name="Rivers">Rivers, Joan. ''[https://archive.org/details/entertalking00rive/page/166/mode/1up Enter Talking]''. [[Dell_Publishing|Delacorte Press]], 1986. 166–9.</ref> The [[Magic Castle]] gave him a Performing Fellowship in 1970.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hall of Fame, The Academy of Magical Arts |url=https://www.magiccastle.com/hall_of_fame/ |access-date=2024-01-08 |website=The Magic Castle}}</ref> In his old age, he was a nightly regular at the Castle where he would play cards with magicians [[Dai Vernon]] and Hy Berg.<ref name="Booth">[[John_Booth_(magician)|Booth, John Nicholls]]. ''[https://archive.org/details/psychicparadoxes0000boot/page/50/mode/1up Psychic Paradoxes]''. Prometheus Books, 1986. 45–50.</ref> He died in 1981 in his sleep, aged 75.<ref name="Booth"/>

==Career==
Kuda Bux was a skilled magician with a seven-decade career. His first job was attracting audiences for Professor Moor by performing the [[Chinese_linking_rings|linking rings]].<ref name="Dahl"/> Bux was a deft [[Card_manipulation|card magician]] and was described as "a genius with silks".<ref name="Rivers"/><ref>Saltman, David. "[https://www.nytimes.com/1977/02/06/archives/where-how-to-put-a-little-magic-in-your-trip.html Where and How to Put a Little Magic In Your Trip]", ''New York Times''. February 6, 1977.</ref> He generated publicity for his performances by seeking the scrutiny of scientists.


==Performances==
===Blindfolds===
===Blindfolds===
In one of his best known performances he would cover his eyes with soft dough balls, blindfold himself, swath his entire head in strips of cloth, and yet still be able to see.<ref name="randi">{{Cite book |last=Randi |first=James |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/26162991 |title=Conjuring |date=1992 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=0-312-08634-2 |location=New York |oclc=26162991|author-link=James Randi}}</ref>{{rp|217}}
In one of his best known performances he would cover his eyes with soft dough balls, blindfold himself, swath his entire head in strips of cloth, and yet still be able to see.<ref name="randi">{{Cite book |last=Randi |first=James |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/26162991 |title=Conjuring |date=1992 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=0-312-08634-2 |location=New York |page=216–8 |oclc=26162991|author-link=James Randi}}</ref><ref>"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jn1Uku-zkg&ab_channel=BritishPath%C3%A9 The Man With the X Ray Eyes!]", [[Pathé News|British Pathé]]. [https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/67899/ September 12, 1938].</ref> While blindfolded he would read the dates on coins which were held in a spectator's hand, read the fine print of a magazine, thread a needle while covered in a [[wine barrel]], duplicate words he had never seen written, shoot a can on children's heads with a [[pellet gun]] and many other tricks.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.roalddahlfans.com/dahls-work/short-stories/the-wonderful-story-of-henry-sugar/|title="The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar"|date=30 November 2015|website=Roald Dahl Fans}}</ref> Bux once cycled with his eyes covered along Broadway in New York City.<ref name="randi" />


Over the years, Bux gave differing accounts about how the trick worked. He told researcher Harry Price that he used his nostrils to see.<ref>Price, Harry. "Walking Through Fire." ''The Listener'', vol. 14, no. 349, 18 Sept. 1935. pp. 225–8. The Listener Historical Archive, 1929-1991.
Bux was the star of a 1950 TV series titled ''Kuda Bux, Hindu Mystic'', and his apparent ability to see while blindfolded with dough balls strongly influenced British author [[Roald Dahl]] in his short story "[[The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar]]", about a man who was taught to develop the same powers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.roalddahlfans.com/dahls-work/essays-and-articles/the-amazing-eyes-of-kuda-bux/|title=The Amazing Eyes of Kuda Bux|work=Roald Dahl Fans|accessdate=19 October 2017|date=2017}}</ref> Observers noted that without a blindfold Bux required reading glasses to read fine print. While blindfolded he would read the dates on coins which were held in a spectator's hand, read the fine print of a magazine, thread a needle while covered in a [[wine barrel]], duplicate words he had never seen written, shoot a can on children's heads with a [[pellet gun]] and many other tricks, such as those with a blindfold.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.roalddahlfans.com/dahls-work/short-stories/the-wonderful-story-of-henry-sugar/|title=“The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar”|date=30 November 2015|website=Roald Dahl Fans}}</ref> Bux once cycled along Broadway in New York City while blindfolded.<ref name="randi" />{{rp|217}}
:Reprinted in ''[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.221797/page/n346/mode/1up Confessions of a Ghost-Hunter]''. Putnam, 1936. 318.</ref> He once said any piece of exposed skin was all he needed to perform the trick and read ''[[Life_of_Samuel_Johnson|The Life of Samuel Johnson]]'' from behind a door with his hand.<ref name="Dahl"/> Fellow magician [[John_Booth_(magician)|John Booth]] wrote that Bux was a dedicated showman who made a point of using [[reading glasses]] when he was not onstage. Booth befriended his colleague when he was a regular at the Magic Castle.<ref name="Booth"/>

[[Roald Dahl]] wrote a non-fiction story about Bux's blindfold routine for ''[[Argosy_(magazine)|Argosy]]'' in 1952. Twenty-five years later, he changed Bux's name to Imhrat Khan and kept the bulk of his ''Argosy'' report intact as the framed story in "[[The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.roalddahlfans.com/dahls-work/essays-and-articles/the-amazing-eyes-of-kuda-bux/|title=The Amazing Eyes of Kuda Bux|work=Roald Dahl Fans|accessdate=19 October 2017|date=2017}}</ref>


===Firewalking===
===Firewalking===
⚫
In 1935, Bux walked over hot coals in front of an audience of scientists from the [[University of London Council for Psychical Research]] and news reporters.<ref>[[J. Gordon Melton|Melton, J. Gordon]]. (2013). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink. p. 111. {{ISBN|1-57859-209-7}}</ref> On September 9, he made a test walk across a 25x3x1-foot trench. Bux felt the trench was too shallow and narrow. Eight days later, the trench was twice as wide but 3 inches shallower. Bux's feet were checked before and after the [[firewalking]] demonstration to verify that no protective chemicals, topical creams or herbs were used. It was a very windy day and the surface temperature of the fire was over {{convert|800|F|abbr=off}}.<ref>Price, Harry. "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/25345512 Fire-Walking Experiments: Report On Kuda Bux's Demonstration]", ''The [[The_BMJ|British Medical Journal]]'', Vol. 2, No. 3899 (Sep. 28, 1935), p. 586.
According to [[Robert Ripley]], Bux performed a trick in [[NBC Radio City Studios]] in [[Manhattan]] on 2 August 1938. According to this account, a {{convert|3|ft|m|adj=mid|-deep|spell=in}} hole was dug in the Radio City parking lot and wooden logs and bags of [[charcoal]] were set on fire in it. Bux allegedly walked back and forth through the pit—twice. Ripley said, "Kuda Bux's feet were not even warm." There is newsreel footage of this event in the TV biography ''The Incredible Life and Times of Robert Ripley: Believe It or Not!'' (TBS 1993).{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}
:Reprinted in ''[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.221797/page/n413/mode/1up Confessions...]'', 375.</ref> The September 17th stunt was photographed and filmed.<ref>"Radio News-Reel." ''[[The_Listener_(magazine)|The Listener]]'', vol. 14, no. 350, 25 Sept. 1935, pp. 521+. The Listener Historical Archive, 1929-1991.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-11-20 |title=Fire walker walks on burning wood and charcoal (1935) - British Pathé |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04mxpexaVYI&ab_channel=BritishPath%C3%A9 |access-date=2024-01-08 |website=YouTube}}</ref> ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' reported that Bux wept when he was asked to repeat the walk a third time and refused to do it.<ref>"[https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,749141-1,00.html Science: Feet to Fire]", ''Time''. September 30, 1935.</ref>


Bux repeated his firewalk at [[NBC Radio City Studios]] in [[Manhattan]] on 2 August 1938. A {{convert|3|ft|m|adj=mid|-deep|spell=in}} hole was dug in the Radio City parking lot. Wooden logs and bags of [[charcoal]] were set on fire in it. Bux took four steps across the pit before exiting halfway across. After Bux walked through the coals, a cameraman who had missed some of the stunt asked for a retake. Bux obliged by repeating the firewalk. Again, his feet were checked before and after the firewalking demonstration. [[Robert Ripley]] said, "Kuda Bux's feet were not even warm." There is newsreel footage of this event in the TV biography ''The Incredible Life and Times of Robert Ripley: Believe It or Not!''.<ref>Portnow Richard et al. directors. ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aThtfL-yzH0&ab_channel=HistoryBiography The Incredible Life and Times of Robert Ripley: Believe It or Not]''. Turner Home Entertainment 1994.</ref> It was the last time Bux would perform the stunt.<ref name="JSTOR">Miller, Caitlyn Renee. "[https://daily.jstor.org/kuda-bux-fire-walking-for-fame-and-fortune/ Kuda Bux: Fire-walking for Fame and Fortune]". JSTOR Daily. September 28, 2022.</ref>
⚫
In 1935 Bux demonstrated firewalking in front of an audience of scientists from the [[University of London Council for Psychical Research]] and news reporters.<ref>[[J. Gordon Melton|Melton, J. Gordon]]. (2013). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink. p. 111. {{ISBN|1-57859-209-7}}</ref> He walked across a {{convert|12|ft|adj=on|spell=in}} pit of burning hot coals unscathed.{{Citation needed|date=June 2018}} Bux's feet were checked before and after the firewalking demonstration to verify that no protective chemicals, topical creams or herbs were used. It was a very windy day and the surface temperature of the fire was read at {{convert|806|F|abbr=off}} The body of the fire was measured at {{convert|2552|F|abbr=off}}, which is hot enough to melt steel. After Bux walked through the coals, a cameraman who had messed up some photographs of the event asked for a retake. Bux obliged by repeating the firewalk. Again, his feet were checked before and after the firewalking demonstration.{{Citation needed|date=June 2018}}


Bux's firewalking ability amazed western audiences in the 1930s. [[Harry Price]] suggested that the feat was performed by specific placement of the feet. However, the mentalist [[Joseph Dunninger]] gave a more logical explanation. He pointed out that charcoal cooled down rapidly and by walking quickly on it, one could avoid being burned.<ref>Samuel, Lawrence R. (2011). ''Supernatural America: A Cultural History''. ABC-CLIO. p. 49. {{ISBN|978-0-313-39899-5}}</ref>
[[Harry Price]] suggested that the feat was performed by specific placement of the feet.<ref>Samuel, Lawrence R. (2011). ''Supernatural America: A Cultural History''. ABC-CLIO. p. 49. {{ISBN|978-0-313-39899-5}}</ref> Just days after Bux's 1935 walk, [[Joseph Dunninger]] gave a more logical explanation to his Universal Council for Psychic Research. He pointed out that charcoal cools rapidly, and it also has a protective layer of ash. By walking quickly on it, one could avoid being burned. Dunniger reminded his audience that firewalking is an old Japanese trick known as "hai-wattari" (火渡).<ref>"[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1935/09/19/93488233.html?pageNumber=27 Firewalker Trick Bared by Expert]", ''[[New York Times]]''. September 19, 1935.</ref>

==Personal life==
Khudah Bukhsh ised to wank all day to aktar khan and said bradar was a balu born in [[Akhnur]], [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Kashmir]] in 1905 ,to an ethnic [[Kashmiris|Kashmiri]] family.<ref name="Long2013">{{cite book|author=Mac Freedom Long|title=The Secret Science Behind Miracles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0FrrAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT24|date=1 March 2013|publisher=Start Publishing LLC|isbn=978-1-62558-182-2|pages=24–}}</ref><ref name="Revai2008">{{cite book|author=Cheri Revai|title=Haunted New York City: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Big Apple|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=COzZIpunWikC&pg=PA56|date=14 January 2008|publisher=Stackpole Books|isbn=978-0-8117-4073-9|pages=56–}}</ref> His father worked as a railway ticket inspector. Bukhsh later became a [[Pakistan]]i citizen.<ref name="Solomon2017">{{cite book|author=Tom Solomon|title=Roald Dahl's Marvellous Medicine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vfEwDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT90|date=1 March 2017|publisher=Liverpool University Press|isbn=978-1-78138-867-9|pages=90–}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Cosmopolitan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aM1ZAAAAYAAJ|year=1959|publisher=Schlicht & Field}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The World Almanac Book Of The Strange|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ygqooiB0NCAC|year=1977}}</ref><ref name="Syman2010">{{cite book|author=Stefanie Syman|title=The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America|url=https://archive.org/details/subtlebodystoryo0000syma|url-access=registration|date=22 June 2010|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|isbn=978-1-4299-3307-0|pages=[https://archive.org/details/subtlebodystoryo0000syma/page/140 140]–}}</ref> In the mid-1930s, he arrived in the United States where he pursued his practice of magic.<ref name="Revai2008"/> When he was thirteen, he set out to learn magic from Professor Moor, a famous magician at the time. He eventually met Banerjee in [[Haridwar|Hardwar]], a [[yogi]] who taught him fire walking and seeing without his eyes. In his later life, he lost his eyesight to [[glaucoma]].<ref name="randi" />{{rp|218}} He was also known as DareDevil or The Man Who Can See Without His Eyes. He died in 1981 in his sleep, aged 75.<ref>{{IMDb name|id=0125499|name=Kuda Bux}}</ref>


==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [https://rdcu.be/dvvuO Demonstration of Firewalking]. ''[[Nature_(journal)|Nature]]'' 136, 468 (1935).


==External links==
==External links==
*{{IMDb name|0125499}}
*[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416383/ ''Kuda Bux, Hindu Mystic'' at IMDB]
*[http://archives.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/dispatcher.aspx?action=search&database=ChoiceArchive&search=priref=110005506 Archives on Kuda Bux in the Harry Price papers]
*[https://archives.libraries.london.ac.uk/Details/archive/110005506 Archives on Kuda Bux in the Harry Price papers]
*{{YouTube|qfBXWfNdXy4|Clip of blindfold performance}}, from an episode of [[You Asked for It]]


{{DEFAULTSORT:Bux, Kuda}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bux, Kuda}}
[[Category:1905 births]]
[[Category:1905 births]]
[[Category:1981 deaths]]
[[Category:1981 deaths]]
[[Category:Muslim mystics]]
[[Category:Hindu mystics]]
[[Category:Pakistani expatriates in the United States]]
[[Category:Indian expatriates in the United States]]
[[Category:Pakistani magicians]]
[[Category:Indian magicians]]
[[Category:Pakistani people of Kashmiri descent]]
[[Category:People from Jammu district]]
[[Category:People from Jammu district]]
[[Category:Place of death missing]]
[[Category:Place of death missing]]

Latest revision as of 20:39, 9 December 2024

Kuda Bux
Kuda Bux walking on hot coals in 1935
Born(1905-10-15)15 October 1905
Akhnoor, Jammu and Kashmir
Died5 February 1981(1981-02-05) (aged 75)
California, US
NationalityPakistani
Other namesProfessor K.B. Duke
OccupationMagician

Kuda Bux (15 October 1905 – 5 February 1981, born Khudah Bukhsh) was a magician and firewalker beginning during Crown Rule.

Biography

[edit]

Khudah Bukhsh was born in Akhnur, Kashmir in 1905, to an ethnic Kashmiri family.[1] His father worked as a railway ticket inspector. Bukhsh later became a Pakistani citizen.[2][3] When he was thirteen, he left home to learn magic from a performer named Professor Moor.

After a few months, he joined a theater group as a magician. Three years later, Kuda went to Hardwar to study with a yogi. He pretended to be religious to be accepted as a disciple. The yogi taught Kuda to train his subconscious mind, which is how he claimed to be able to perform all of his feats.[4]

In the mid-1930s, he arrived in the United States where he worked steadily as a magician.[1] He was also known as DareDevil or The Man Who Can See Without His Eyes. In the 1950s, he had a short-lived TV show called Kuda Bux, Hindu Mystic.[5]

He eventually lost his eyesight to glaucoma.[6] Early in her career, Joan Rivers traveled to Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré with Kuda to perform as his assistant. They did the Indian basket trick, and Kuda sawed her in half. After Rivers started telling jokes during the illusions, Kuda fired her.[7] The Magic Castle gave him a Performing Fellowship in 1970.[8] In his old age, he was a nightly regular at the Castle where he would play cards with magicians Dai Vernon and Hy Berg.[9] He died in 1981 in his sleep, aged 75.[9]

Career

[edit]

Kuda Bux was a skilled magician with a seven-decade career. His first job was attracting audiences for Professor Moor by performing the linking rings.[4] Bux was a deft card magician and was described as "a genius with silks".[7][10] He generated publicity for his performances by seeking the scrutiny of scientists.

Blindfolds

[edit]

In one of his best known performances he would cover his eyes with soft dough balls, blindfold himself, swath his entire head in strips of cloth, and yet still be able to see.[6][11] While blindfolded he would read the dates on coins which were held in a spectator's hand, read the fine print of a magazine, thread a needle while covered in a wine barrel, duplicate words he had never seen written, shoot a can on children's heads with a pellet gun and many other tricks.[12] Bux once cycled with his eyes covered along Broadway in New York City.[6]

Over the years, Bux gave differing accounts about how the trick worked. He told researcher Harry Price that he used his nostrils to see.[13] He once said any piece of exposed skin was all he needed to perform the trick and read The Life of Samuel Johnson from behind a door with his hand.[4] Fellow magician John Booth wrote that Bux was a dedicated showman who made a point of using reading glasses when he was not onstage. Booth befriended his colleague when he was a regular at the Magic Castle.[9]

Roald Dahl wrote a non-fiction story about Bux's blindfold routine for Argosy in 1952. Twenty-five years later, he changed Bux's name to Imhrat Khan and kept the bulk of his Argosy report intact as the framed story in "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar".[14]

Firewalking

[edit]

In 1935, Bux walked over hot coals in front of an audience of scientists from the University of London Council for Psychical Research and news reporters.[15] On September 9, he made a test walk across a 25x3x1-foot trench. Bux felt the trench was too shallow and narrow. Eight days later, the trench was twice as wide but 3 inches shallower. Bux's feet were checked before and after the firewalking demonstration to verify that no protective chemicals, topical creams or herbs were used. It was a very windy day and the surface temperature of the fire was over 800 degrees Fahrenheit (427 degrees Celsius).[16] The September 17th stunt was photographed and filmed.[17][18] Time reported that Bux wept when he was asked to repeat the walk a third time and refused to do it.[19]

Bux repeated his firewalk at NBC Radio City Studios in Manhattan on 2 August 1938. A three-foot-deep (0.91 m) hole was dug in the Radio City parking lot. Wooden logs and bags of charcoal were set on fire in it. Bux took four steps across the pit before exiting halfway across. After Bux walked through the coals, a cameraman who had missed some of the stunt asked for a retake. Bux obliged by repeating the firewalk. Again, his feet were checked before and after the firewalking demonstration. Robert Ripley said, "Kuda Bux's feet were not even warm." There is newsreel footage of this event in the TV biography The Incredible Life and Times of Robert Ripley: Believe It or Not!.[20] It was the last time Bux would perform the stunt.[21]

Harry Price suggested that the feat was performed by specific placement of the feet.[22] Just days after Bux's 1935 walk, Joseph Dunninger gave a more logical explanation to his Universal Council for Psychic Research. He pointed out that charcoal cools rapidly, and it also has a protective layer of ash. By walking quickly on it, one could avoid being burned. Dunniger reminded his audience that firewalking is an old Japanese trick known as "hai-wattari" (火渡).[23]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Cheri Revai (14 January 2008). Haunted New York City: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Big Apple. Stackpole Books. pp. 56–. ISBN 978-0-8117-4073-9.
  2. ^ Cosmopolitan. Schlicht & Field. 1959.
  3. ^ The World Almanac Book Of The Strange. 1977.
  4. ^ a b c Dahl, Roald. "The Amazing Eyes of Kuda Bux", Argosy. Volume 335, Issue 1. July 1, 1952. 94.
  5. ^ Carnegie, Dean (22 June 2012). "The Man With X-Ray Eyes-Kuda Bux". The Magic Detective. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  6. ^ a b c Randi, James (1992). Conjuring. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 216–8. ISBN 0-312-08634-2. OCLC 26162991.
  7. ^ a b Rivers, Joan. Enter Talking. Delacorte Press, 1986. 166–9.
  8. ^ "Hall of Fame, The Academy of Magical Arts". The Magic Castle. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  9. ^ a b c Booth, John Nicholls. Psychic Paradoxes. Prometheus Books, 1986. 45–50.
  10. ^ Saltman, David. "Where and How to Put a Little Magic In Your Trip", New York Times. February 6, 1977.
  11. ^ "The Man With the X Ray Eyes!", British Pathé. September 12, 1938.
  12. ^ ""The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar"". Roald Dahl Fans. 30 November 2015.
  13. ^ Price, Harry. "Walking Through Fire." The Listener, vol. 14, no. 349, 18 Sept. 1935. pp. 225–8. The Listener Historical Archive, 1929-1991.
    Reprinted in Confessions of a Ghost-Hunter. Putnam, 1936. 318.
  14. ^ "The Amazing Eyes of Kuda Bux". Roald Dahl Fans. 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  15. ^ Melton, J. Gordon. (2013). The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena. Visible Ink. p. 111. ISBN 1-57859-209-7
  16. ^ Price, Harry. "Fire-Walking Experiments: Report On Kuda Bux's Demonstration", The British Medical Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3899 (Sep. 28, 1935), p. 586.
    Reprinted in Confessions..., 375.
  17. ^ "Radio News-Reel." The Listener, vol. 14, no. 350, 25 Sept. 1935, pp. 521+. The Listener Historical Archive, 1929-1991.
  18. ^ "Fire walker walks on burning wood and charcoal (1935) - British Pathé". YouTube. 20 November 2020. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  19. ^ "Science: Feet to Fire", Time. September 30, 1935.
  20. ^ Portnow Richard et al. directors. The Incredible Life and Times of Robert Ripley: Believe It or Not. Turner Home Entertainment 1994.
  21. ^ Miller, Caitlyn Renee. "Kuda Bux: Fire-walking for Fame and Fortune". JSTOR Daily. September 28, 2022.
  22. ^ Samuel, Lawrence R. (2011). Supernatural America: A Cultural History. ABC-CLIO. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-313-39899-5
  23. ^ "Firewalker Trick Bared by Expert", New York Times. September 19, 1935.

Further reading

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