Quigong practitioner, don't know how he does it

[m_huber]

I'm not sure how he does this. Setting a newspaper on fire is most likely a device or chemical of some sort, but when he is shocking/burning people when their hands are on his stomach, I have no idea. The chopstick through the table seems like a familiar magic trick, except that he nicked the woman in the head. That part confuses me. I know that speculation from a video can't be conclusive, but I would like some perspective on how he did this.
Thanks!

 

[Uncayimmy]

Why do they always forget to bring a conjurer?

 

[Rasmus]

...

I just want to point out that I find the entire story utterly unbelievable.

They followed him around with a camera crew for years just hoping he'd change his mind?

And he later on agreed to have a performance filmed and then got upset when other people were shown his little publicity stunt?

Why would he suddenly agree to have the treatment of the film maker's brother recorded? And given how much he seems to mind the entire recording and publicity, why do they have footage of so many different patients?

And why would you use people to ground electricity rather than a piece of wire?

 

[jasonpatterson]

Note that, as usual, they didn't bring a magician along with the group of experts.

I'm not saying that this is how he does it, but I do know of a similar shocking effect. You can hold the end of an active tesla coil without getting shocked at all. Whenever anyone touches you anywhere on your body, both of you are shocked. I wonder what would have happened if someone had had their hands on his shoulders during the shocking events. I noticed that he tensed every time he shocked someone, which implies that he was being shocked as well but was expecting it. The inability of the people to detect the electricity on a multimeter isn't too surprising, as they will only pick up a narrow range of alternating currents and voltages (most shocking devices use voltage that is too high and have a very high frequency.) I don't know whether they will light LEDs or not; I've never tried. You can also light fires with your fingertips when you're touching a tesla coil, it's a bit painful, but a cool effect...

 

[Pushkin]

and why mix trickery with chi etc etc.

the newspaper thing is some kind of chemical exothermic reaction which indicates very strongly that he's a magician rather than a holy man.

watching suckers get fooled isn't really grounds for amazement.

 

[Uncayimmy]

The newspaper seemed to ignite from the bottom.

 

[Toke]

Ok, the technical quality is better than my telekinesis parody, but that does not make it more convincing. (or maybe I am just jealus).

The multimeter shown looks like one of the cheapest available on the streets of Hong Kong. (I bought one to fit in my shirt pocket and tell 440V 60Hz from nothing.) Which is completely irrelevant if everybody on the set is in on it.

Great points already, no magician present, and incoherent story.

 

[leafman91]

And why would you use people to ground electricity rather than a piece of wire?

As he said in the video, it isn't electricity, it's chi. One assumes chi behaves differently.
And if the person was in contact with ground (I didn't notice what the floor was in the video) then the electricity would defer to the person as ground.

Another explanation is that if the electricity comes from a human, then by physical law, there needs to be a ground to which the chi/electricity can flow, within that same person. It's a bit obvious really, other wise the chi tricks would only work when the person was in contact with bare earth, or a wire leading to ground

 

[jakesteele]

and why mix trickery with chi etc etc.

the newspaper thing is some kind of chemical exothermic reaction which indicates very strongly that he's a magician rather than a holy man.

watching suckers get fooled isn't really grounds for amazement.

Why did you automatically come to the conclusion that it is trickery? I think your mind is made up that all of this kind of thing is fake and it's just a matter of figuring out how the trick was done. You went in with an agenda to disprove as opposed to suspending judgment and bias and assessing objectively.

There are no Tesla Coils that I could see so that is a moot point unless you could find one hidden off camera. I think bring a conjurer is a good thing to do, but all they do is try to duplicate the outward appearances which some people take as proof positive.

The best way to test his ability, or lack thereof, would be to have a Phd. in physics who is unaffiliated with all parties and have him go with a reputable witness who films the scientist buying two of the exact same newspapers from the same vendor. Then give both the magician and the qi gong guy full body searches, especially the hands, and have them wear only their underpants and then let them go at it. Regardless of outcome, that would be considered a very convincing and solid protocol.

 

[leafman91]

I agree with the no magician criticism but I really was expecting the 'incoherent' storyline. Firstly, chi is a religious thing, so you would expect the chi guy to do otherwise irrational stuff like take 2 year treks through the forest 'n' stuff at random. It's just his beliefs.Second, of course the guys hung around for years looking for him. Not only were they searching for what would could potentially be a massive story, but because they had just seen 'magic' they were hardly going to walk away and pretend everything was normal. It's a psychological thing. The chi guy had given the presenter a new world to explore, and he wanted to explore it. I bet they had to fight to keep going back each year.

 

[Toke]

Why did you automatically come to the conclusion that it is trickery? I think your mind is made up that all of this kind of thing is fake and it's just a matter of figuring out how the trick was done. You went in with an agenda to disprove as opposed to suspending judgment and bias and assessing objectively.
[snip]

It could have something to do with everyone tested so far having been fakes.
It does give a bit of a bias, a justifiable one.

 

[YULE]

Why did you automatically come to the conclusion that it is trickery? I think your mind is made up that all of this kind of thing is fake and it's just a matter of figuring out how the trick was done. You went in with an agenda to disprove as opposed to suspending judgment and bias and assessing objectively.

Actually it's completely acceptable to assume trickery and try to rule out all ways of cheating first, if only due to Occam's Razor. What requires the lesser of new explanations, that this man is cheating somehow or that he possesses a mystical energy?

Although it may seem close minded, it is actually just a way of coming across the most likely explanation first.

 

[Audible Click]

Can any of our magicians tell us if all the things on the video can be explained by trickery? And yes I'm a skeptic.

 

[Rasmus]

Can any of our magicians tell us if all the things on the video can be explained by trickery? And yes I'm a skeptic.

It's a video for eff's sake. Would you wonder if what you saw on Matrix, Star Wars or Lord of the Rings could have possibly been trickery?

Yes, it could all have been trickery - regardless of whether the film team or any of the "patients" were in on it or not.

It doesn't even matter if somebody here can name a method of performing these or similar tricks under varying circumstances or not. The video is worthless, it's not more valuable as is any other claim made.

 

[Audible Click]

It's a video for eff's sake. Would you wonder if what you saw on Matrix, Star Wars or Lord of the Rings could have possibly been trickery?

Yes, it could all have been trickery - regardless of whether the film team or any of the "patients" were in on it or not.

It doesn't even matter if somebody here can name a method of performing these or similar tricks under varying circumstances or not. The video is worthless, it's not more valuable as is any other claim made.

Geeze..calm down. Of course I know that SFX in movies are not real. I was asking my question to find out if magicians perform any of those specific tricks as seen in the video ie are they common tricks that magicians use.

 

[Rasmus]

Geeze..calm down. Of course I know that SFX in movies are not real. I was asking my question to find out if magicians perform any of those specific tricks as seen in the video ie are they common tricks that magicians use.

I'm sorry, I didin't mean to attack you. I just think we're allowing ourselves to be mislead if we play the "well, then tell us how it eas done" game with the woos.

 

[Audible Click]

Well thanks for the apology..maybe my first post was sort of unclear. I wanted to see if any of the magicians on here would say something like "Oh yeah..the old chopstick through the table trick." I don't want to know how any tricks are done as I enjoy magic just the way it is: Illusion and ,from me, amazement.

 

[CelticRose]

Did anybody else notice that although the qi gong guy supposedly treated the presenter for an eye problem, the presenter was wearing any eye patch? Looks like the treatment wasn't very successful.

The first part of the video just looked like he knew acupunture and acupressure very well. If you know the right pressure points to stimulate, you can get a physical reaction. However, we only had the video team's word for the presence of an electric shock. Since they were speaking in English, I'd be willing to bet that none of the patients had any idea what they were talking about.

IMO, the fire, light bulb, and chopstick could easily be tricks, although I don't know how they're done. The chopstick could have simply been brute force through a weak point in the table.

 

[KingMerv00]

Why did you automatically come to the conclusion that it is trickery?

Because all of recorded scientific history says such things are not possible but through trickery. This conclusion is tentative of course. Should sufficient evidence be presented, I would change my tune.

I vaguely recall Randi debunking a similar "electric man". Turns out he was standing on a special electric mat while barefoot. Could be the case here.

 

[shuttlt]

Odd the way he cups the end of the rifle in his hand before the bullet is shot into it. If the the video didn't explain he was doing it by channeling mystical energy I'd swear he was cack-handedly palming it.