Most Gruesome Manias Done with Human Flesh
Human beings are capable of extraordinary and unbelievable feats which can range from jaw-dropping to the utmost stomach-churning. Some train feverishly to be recorded in infamy and have their names immortalized in the Guinness World Records, a number come by their inimitable achievements due to medical conditions, while others merely strive to be the top in their league for their passions or for religious convictions. Let’s take a look at some of the more peculiar and gruesome feats, but be forewarned and hold on to your stomachs.
Photo BBC
Worlds Stretchiest Skin
Garry Turner holds the Guinness Record for the world’s stretchiest skin, setting the record in Los Angeles, California, US, on October 29, 1999 — a title which he holds to this day — when he stretched the skin of his stomach to a distended length of 6.25 inches (15.8 cm) on the set of Guinness World Records.
Photo AP
While it might look painful, it’s anything but forgetting.
“When I stretch my skin, it doesn’t affect me whatsoever.” says the man from Caistor, Lincolnshire, England.
“My parents realized I had unusual skin when I was about 4 or 5 years old. Children in my class would come along and pull my skin.”
But Garry’s entertaining act has some serious health ramifications — he suffers from a rare medical condition called Elhers-Danlos Syndrome — a disorder of the connective tissues affecting the skin, ligaments and internal organs which causes his skin to stretch like a human rubber band with super-elastic skin that snaps back without a wrinkle.
Collagen that strengthens the skin and determines its elasticity becomes defective, resulting in a thinning and loosening of ‘hypermobile’ skin and dislocating of the joints.
Garry’s joints dislocate, and he suffers from joint and back pain. In serious cases the disorder can cause fatal collapse or rupturing of blood vessels.
His health problems forced him to leave his construction job and take on a new career as a performer.
“I went into it at first just for a bit of fun.” said Garry, whose favorite stunt is to stretch his neck skin over his mouth to create the ‘human turtleneck.’
Garry ‘Stretch’ Turner not only holds the record for the stretchiest man in the world, he can manipulate his skin like no one else, holding another world record for pinning 153 clothespins to his face. The rules stipulate that there are certain areas of the face where pegs cannot be placed, including the lips.
Photo AP
Surprisingly, Garry feels no pain performing these tricks, but he said that attaching the pegs to his cheeks hurt the most and some said afterwards you could see he was in a lot of pain. There were marks on his skin that he said would last an hour and he had to keep rubbing his face.
Repeated stretching can lead to premature wrinkles and excess folds of skin, but this doesn’t seem to worry him. “From what I’ve been told by the doctors, I’m going to get baggier.” Garry said. “I guess I’ll become a more incredible performer, hopefully.”
I really don’t want to know what else he can do.
Furthest Eyeball Popper
Kim Goodman of Chicago, Illinois holds the Guinness World Record for her ability to pop her eyes out — called ‘globe luxation’ — to a protrusion of .47 inches (12 millimeters) beyond her eye sockets which was measured in Istanbul, Turkey, on November 2, 2007.
Photo AP
She discovered her ‘eyeball popping’ talent when she was hit on the head with a hockey mask and her eyeballs popped out.
“I was with 2 girlfriends and they just stood there frozen with their mouths open.” she recalled. “I pushed it back in, and they never said a word to me — just walked away, still with their mouths open.”
Ever since, she can do it on cue and when she yawns, even with both orbs simultaneously. “I sort of squint, pull my eyelid back and out it comes.” Kim says.
Photo Guinness
Prior to establishing the world record, Kim Goodman auditioned for David Letterman’s Stupid Human Tricks and made people scream when they saw her performance.
“As soon as I saw it, I thought: ‘That’s it, stop the presses.’” said Tricks co-ordinator Susan Hall Sheehan. “However many people there were in the room, that’s how many involuntary screams there were.”
This bug-eyed performance got her on the Late Show with David Letterman Video Special III, where she was introduced as an act “you will talk about until the day you die.”
To Letterman’s cue, “Did you hear that Michael Jackson had a baby?” she popped her eyes out. TV viewers were able to watch 2 slow-motion replays, one of them from the side.
Her performance led to a TV commercial for an eyewear company.
Kim considers her peculiar talent a gift. “At church, I always hear my pastor say everybody has a gift and I used to ask, ‘Lord, what’s mine?’” She found out about 5 years ago.
Claudio Paulo Pinto. Photo AP / Eugenio Savio
But now Claudio Paulo Pinto of Brazil has his eye on breaking the record. He’s managed to pop his eyeballs.3 inches (7 millimeters) out of their sockets — a national record according to RankBrasil, an organization modeled after the Guinness Book that lists Brazilian records.
The former driver took on a job scaring visitors in a commercial haunted house in Belo Horizonte, 210 miles north of Rio de Janeiro. Now laid off, he’s going for the world record.
Claudio Paulo Pinto. Photo AP
”I was measured by an ophthalmologist on television.” Pinto said. “I could pop my eyes out 7 millimeters. Since then, my capacities have improved over 50%.”
Do not try to do this at home. Doctors say it can strain blood vessels and nerves between the eyes and the head and feels unpleasant, though it usually doesn’t cause lasting damage.
Most Pierced Woman
Elaine Davidson of Edinburgh, Scotland, is the “Most Pierced Woman” according to the Guinness World Records when she broke the previous title in May 2000 with 462 piercings on various parts of her body, including 192 on her facial area alone.
Photo Reuters
Photo Reuters
By August 9, 2001, Elaine had a record-breaking total of 720 piercings when she was re-examined.
The Guardian reported that she had 3,920 body piercings when she performed at the Edinburgh Festival in 2005.
Claiming to never take her piercings out, the total weight of her jewelry is estimated to be about 6.6 pounds (3 kilos).
Photo Guardian
Born in Brazil in 1965, she was a nurse by trade and now runs a Brazilian restaurant Edinburgh.
Elaine fears returning to her crime-ridden home country of Brazil — which has one of the highest crime rates in the world — would attract so much attention that she could be robbed. She’s been gone from her home country for 10 years.
“The last time I went to Brazil, I had to wear a face mask because since I have a lot of jewelry [pierced to the skin], I fear being robbed or attacked.” she said.
Photo Guinness Records
The world record holder started to pierce herself after reading a book several years ago.
She considers feeling pain a motivating factor in her life and says she also walks on beds of nails, fire and bits of glass. “I like pain, I love pain.” she said.
Elaine has more piercings in her genitalia than in any other part of the body — 500 in all, externally and internally.
“It hurts in the chest as well.” she said.
She claims she does not drink or use drugs.
Suspension Body Piercings
A ’suspension’ is the act of suspending a human body from hooks put through piercings which are typically temporary and performed just prior to the actual suspension. The actual act of being suspended may take up a small portion of time compared to the time involved in preparation, though some people remain suspended for hours.
Suspension generally requires a small group who handle preparations and the process itself. Suspension should never be attempted alone due to the risk of sustaining injuries or going into shock, which is potentially life threatening.
The suspendee’s body is studied carefully to decide proper placement, number, and size of metal hooks which are pierced into the skin to lift the person off the ground. Multiple hooks are usually located around the shoulders, upper arm, and back, as well as around the knees.
Finding the proper hook placement and number involves a great deal of skill in mathematics and an acute understanding of human anatomy and physiology, as well as the durability of the individual’s skin — if the number of hooks are too few, the suspended individual’s skin will be unable to withstand the body’s weight and will rip.
The amount of weight each hook supports must be distributed evenly throughout the entire body — any imbalance risks injury. A block and tackle-like machine made for suspension is used and powerful rope that attaches to the hooks is used to slowly and carefully lift an individual 1 to 2 feet off the ground where they may remain relatively motionless for a predetermined period of time.
Suspensions are sometimes used for meditation supposedly to gain a higher level of spiritual fulfillment or awareness. To some it’s a very sacred practice. Suspension can also be used as a symbolic tool and embodies an important event in life, such as representing one’s passing from childhood to adulthood or the bond 2 people may share.
It’s also used as entertainment or performance art — acrobatics may be performed, most commonly during a ’suicide’ suspension.
Photo Sky Mitch
Hooks
The most commonly used hooks for a flesh suspension are deep-sea fish hooks — normally used for the fishing of sharks, etc — with their barbs removed. The piercing is performed with a body piercing needle followed by a modified hook, often ‘thrown’ as one unit, with the needle placed on the tip of the hook to move the needle through the skin.
Rigging
Once the hooks are in place, they’re connected with rope — usually climber’s rope — or chain to a rig that can be winched up. It’s vital that the hooks are attached to the body in such a way that the weight is evenly distributed. Many different styles of rigging can be used, and some suspension groups have custom rigs.
History
Historically, suspension rituals were performed by the now extinct Mandan tribe along the banks of the Mississippi River. The Oh-Kee-Pa type of suspension was derived from this ritual.
Modern day suspensions are closely related to the artwork of performance artists that use their own bodies as canvases. Roland Loomis was an artist who specialized in suspension and piercing performance pieces and started the Modern Primitivism movement, bringing attention to the suspension ’scene’ in the United States. Allen Falkner helped to bring suspensions to people who weren’t spiritual, as well as a plethora of different and unique suspensions types.
On January 11, 2008 Matt Zane broke the world record when he was suspended at the Pleasure Productions booth at The AVN Adult Entertainment Expo for 6 hours with only 4 hooks beating the record set in 2002 where Criss Angel was suspended in Time Square with 8 hooks for 5 hours and 40 minutes.
Criss Angel Body Suspension
Warning, content is highly graphic.
Matt Zane Suspension World Record Interview
Sources: Guinness Records, BBC, Fairfax/Reuters, Canoe, Sun-Times/AP and Wikipedia
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Well thanks a lot for making me nearly sick! lol! What’s with that woman’s eyes! how can anyone even do that? Is it something you can learn or is it you have it or you dont? Gross but would be so funny to be able to do! Great post!
Hahaha! Elman, if you think this is hard to take, you should see some of the photos for suspension piercings. I tried to use the least graphic images I could. I’m basically pretty open minded to people doing whatever blows their skirt up, but many are even difficult for me to look at
Some people have trained themselves to do eye popping, but I can’t imagine why anyone would want to do that other than for shock factor at parties
Doctors don’t recommend doing it.
What a collection of wired things people can do to them self. Mankind’s craziness in a nutshell I would say – but very readable and interesting post – thanks for sharing Deborah!
One word: “OUCH”
Craziness may be a bit of an understatement, haha! And thanks Renny
That about sums it up, Peety
Seen it!
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Suddenly I’m not worried about any loose hanging skin of mine any longer….. *giggles*
That is sooo weird, that somebody would want to do such things with their bodies!!!!
Hahaha, it kind of puts aging into a different perspective doesn’t it Lifecruiser?
It’s funny that the eye popping is the one that gets to people the most. I find the suspension piercings the most difficult to look at. Perhaps that’s because I saw some very gruesome and graphic photos which I didn’t wish to post here to give everyone nightmares
I can’t stand those popping eyes!
I think all these people are crazy, have some problems in their heads. Or they are totally normal, like, not taking drugs, drinking or something, but they just have inferiority complex, they wanna be seen, they want to prove to people they are something..
I mean, why didnt he helped some hungry children, or proposed his girlfriend there ( maybe she’s already his wife, hehe ), finished 4 universities and people would say ” OMG, HE IS AMAZING! “..
Its ok when I see belly piercing on a girl, it can be interesting and sexy, but all other sick piersing, tatoos… Its just sick and people shoud put the finger on their head and ask themselves a question…
I understand that all, but…
People are pretty as they are… The world became crazy..
It takes all kinds of people to make up this world with all sorts of interests and motivations. That’s what makes life so interesting at times
wow…..Im all for the piercings…I have seen the eye popping before, my friend taught herself how to do that, scares the shit out of me every time….O.O
and the human suspending…was…um..[[gulp]]….weird? xD I dont see what is the point of THAT piercing.
The eye popping thing is one of the hardest things I find to look at, but then, you haven’t seen some of the images that I have when searching for something to include for the suspension piercings. This was tame compared to many others, but I didn’t want to publish anything like that for fear of making someone lose their lunch
I saw gary stretch at thorpe park in 2008 for frightnights. It’s freakishly cool!!! I’ve always liked freaky things.
I can’t stand those popping eyes!
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it is hard to believe
It’s funny that the eye popping is the one that gets to people the most.
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