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==Biography==
==Biography==
Khudah Bukhsh was 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>{{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 set out to learn magic from Professor Moor, a famous magician at the time. He went to [[Haridwar|Hardwar]] to study with a [[yogi]]. Kuda 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>Dahl, Roald. "The Amazing Eyes of Kuda Bux", ''[[Argosy_(magazine)|Argosy]]''. Volume 335, Issue 1. July 1, 1952. 94.</ref>
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 set out to learn magic from Professor Moor, a famous magician at the time. He went to [[Haridwar|Hardwar]] to study with a [[yogi]]. Kuda 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>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 pursued his practice of magic.<ref name="Revai2008"/> He was also known as DareDevil or The Man Who Can See Without His Eyes.
In the mid-1930s, he arrived in the United States where he pursued his practice of magic.<ref name="Revai2008"/> He was also known as DareDevil or The Man Who Can See Without His Eyes.

Revision as of 03:01, 9 January 2024

Kuda Bux
Born(1905-02-17)17 February 1905
Akhnoor, Jammu and Kashmir
Died5 February 1981(1981-02-05) (aged 75)
California, USA
NationalityIndian
Other namesProfessor K.B. Duke
OccupationMagician

Kuda Bux (17 February 1905 – 5 February 1981), born Khudah Bukhsh, was a British Raj magician and firewalker.

Biography

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 set out to learn magic from Professor Moor, a famous magician at the time. He went to Hardwar to study with a yogi. Kuda 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 pursued his practice of magic.[1] He was also known as DareDevil or The Man Who Can See Without His Eyes.

In his later life, he lost his eyesight to glaucoma.[5]: 218  Joan Rivers worked as his assistant after graduating from college.[6] The Magic Castle gave him a Performing Fellowship in 1970.[7] In his old age, he was a nightly regular at the Castle where he would play cards with magicians Dai Vernon and Hy Berg.[8] He died in 1981 in his sleep, aged 75.[9] He was interred at Forest Lawn.

Career

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.[5]: 217 [10]

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.[11] 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.[12] Bux once cycled along Broadway in New York City while blindfolded.[5]: 217 

Firewalking

In 1935 Bux demonstrated firewalking in front of an audience of scientists from the University of London Council for Psychical Research and news reporters.[13] 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).[14] Kuda's second walk was photographed.[15]

According to Robert Ripley, Bux repeated the feat 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 and wooden logs and bags of charcoal were set on fire in it. Bux took 4 steps across the pit before exiting halfway across. 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, repeating the same path as before. Again, his feet were checked before and after the firewalking demonstration. 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!.[16] It was the last time Bux would perform the stunt.[6]

Harry Price suggested that the feat was performed by specific placement of the feet.[17] 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).[18]


References

  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. ^ Dahl, Roald. "The Amazing Eyes of Kuda Bux", Argosy. Volume 335, Issue 1. July 1, 1952. 94.
  5. ^ a b c Randi, James (1992). Conjuring. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-08634-2. OCLC 26162991.
  6. ^ a b Miller, Caitlyn Renee. "Kuda Bux: Fire-walking for Fame and Fortune". JSTOR Daily. September 28, 2022.
  7. ^ "Hall of Fame, The Academy of Magical Arts". The Magic Castle. Retrieved 8 January 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ Booth, John Nicholls. Psychic Paradoxes. Prometheus Books, 1986. 45–50.
  9. ^ Kuda Bux at IMDb
  10. ^ "The Man With the X Ray Eyes!", British Pathé. September 12, 1938.
  11. ^ "The Amazing Eyes of Kuda Bux". Roald Dahl Fans. 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  12. ^ ""The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar"". Roald Dahl Fans. 30 November 2015.
  13. ^ Melton, J. Gordon. (2013). The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena. Visible Ink. p. 111. ISBN 1-57859-209-7
  14. ^ Price, Harry. "Fire-Walking Experiments: Report On Kuda Bux's Demonstration", The British Medical Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3899 (Sep. 28, 1935), p. 586.
  15. ^ "Radio News-Reel." The Listener, vol. 14, no. 350, 25 Sept. 1935, pp. 521+. The Listener Historical Archive, 1929-1991,
  16. ^ Portnow Richard et al. directors. The Incredible Life and Times of Robert Ripley: Believe It or Not. Turner Home Entertainment 1994.
  17. ^ Samuel, Lawrence R. (2011). Supernatural America: A Cultural History. ABC-CLIO. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-313-39899-5
  18. ^ "Firewalker Trick Bared by Expert", New York Times. September 19, 1935.
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