Abstract
BULLETIN II of the University of London Council for Psychical Investigation consists of a report on two experimental fire-walks in which the preparation and performance were submitted to careful observation. Of the many accounts of fire-walking in different countries, this is the first to give a detailed description of the preparation of the fire, the internal and surface temperatures, and the times of contact of the skin with the embers. For the first time, therefore, an estimate of the magnitude of the performance can be made: it does not consist of wandering amongst flames with a look of exaltation, but of four rapid steps on charcoal at 430° C. with an average time of contact of half a second per step. Nevertheless, amateurs are not able to equal this, and the two who tried to imitate Kuda Bux developed blisters after only two steps. In attempting to account for the greater immunity from burning of Kuda Bux, chemical treatment need not be considered, since very careful tests were made to exclude this possibility.
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Fire-Walking. Nature 137, 649 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137649b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137649b0