Human Magnet Contest Attracts Diverse Competition

While Americans are having pig-racing contests and people are walking on all fours in Turkey, on May 9th in Hanoi, Vietnam, hundreds of people gathered for a ceremony and contest on human magnetism. The ceremony was held to celebrate the twelfth year since the founding of the Vietnamese Department for the Research and Study of Energy. While the West tends to treat such human anomalies with a pragmatic sense of dismissal, the contest and feats performed were very much real: See some pictures of the event here.

The contest winner, Ta Quang Thanh, broke the Vietnamese national record for weight magnetically upheld by a human by sticking a 42kg (92lbs) stone slab to his chest.

There is a lot of speculation as to the source and validity of this particular human phenomenon. Some people look to the electrical currents flowing through the body’s nervous system as a source of such magnetism, while others see it as being purely psychic. This article over at Cabinet of Wonders details a bit of the history behind reports of human magnetism, and there is even some speculation as to the role of nuclearization/radiation in the role of what exactly it is that draws metallic objects to particular human beings. If you’re still in doubt, check out this YouTube’d report of a magnetic family.

Similar contests have occurred in the past, in countries like Bulgaria, Romania, and Thailand, and the photographs and videos coming out of these contests are enough to keep us interested and just plain weirded-out. Take, for example, this report of Aurel, The Human Magnet. Reportedly, he can stick a 50-pound TV to his chest.

Whether or not you’re a believer, it’s no stretch to remark that the world is a strange place, and humans, the strangest worlds of all. And if you’re a human magnet yourself, consider making Vietnam your destination next year.

[Image: kenh14.vn]