The Myth Behind the Paranormal Events Walking on Broken Glass - Essay Example

Walking on Broken Glass There are a lot of skeptics that dismiss evidence for paranormal phenomena (clairvoyance, telepathy, psych kinesis and precognition) without thorough scrutiny. Most of these phenomena violate important principles of science and should therefore be flawed. Approaching such events from research is difficult due to the lack of adequate physical proof from most purported phenomena. However, this is not an unreasonable position to adopt in considering scientific evidence. There are quite a number of paranormal events and ideas such as fire breathing, sword swallowing, walking on broken glass, dipping fingers on molten lead, bed of nails and breaking a concrete block and picking up a piece of orange-hot space tile. These events do not follow conventional prospects of nature. This makes the scientific approaches challenging in scrutinizing them (Willey and David, 45). It is a dramatic spectacle to see one walking on broken glass without being hurt. This is paranormal but has some explanation behind it. A street magician or performer can be seen walking on broken glass without being hurt. When you move closer, you can even see the magician’s foot pressing against the pointed edges of the glass and hear glass breaking underfoot. According to human perception, this is a dangerous act to any human’s life and health more so to street performers. Some of the performers even claim that it requires mystical intervention or ultimate concentration for one to perform such paranoiac events (Leikind, Bernard and William, 314). However, it is possible for one to fake glass walk or even increases his or her chances of completing the performance without getting hurt. Most performers use breakaway glass since it is an easy to break alternative for real glass walk. Candy glass is the most commonly used a material to demonstrate such event because of the nature of the material it is made of. The glass is made of weak material which can easily be broken when a small force is applied. However, when this glass is broken, it will still have the sharp edges but not strong enough to piece the sole of the feet. This gives us one of the reasons as to why magicians never get hurt when they step on the broken glass (Crist and Darold, 231). Nevertheless, some candy glass can become powdery and sticky during the walk. These create illusions to the observers and make them believe it is real. Some performers also protect their foot using adhesive like spirit gum which holds a flexible sole beneath your foot or toughen your feet using the available materials in the market. This adhesive protects their feet from minor injuries they might get from the candy glass. Over the counter skin hardening products is another way of ensuring that your feet is less sensitive or sturdier during performance. It is therefore clear that many magicians use broken wine bottles instead of broken bottle necks (Willey and David, 45). Another reason as to why magicians never get hurt is based on the bed of glass which is normally thick. Sand or gravel is commonly used to create the surface after which a thick layer of glass is placed on top because of their flexibility. This usually ensures that the pieces of the glasses shift against each other and move beneath their feet. This will push or move the ends away from the foot as opposed to drinking glasses that are much thinner and have sharp edges hence reducing the chances of you getting hurt (Willey and David, 45). Most glass walkers also take slow steps and repositioning their feet in case they feel sharp ends. This gives the glass more time to settle down and adds an additional measure of safety against punctures. It is also clear that the planes intricate in a glass walk are not hard as kitchens floors. The magician’s weight of the body is usually spread out all over the pieces of glass. This gives them the freedom to move over the broken glass. It is therefore clear that if you step on a silver glass, your body weight is concentrated over the sharp point. Furthermore, if someone accidentally curt him or herself, the felon is normally the movement of someone’s skin along the sharp point. On the other hand, walking on glass requires one to put their feet straight down, and then move them around on the surface (Leikind, Bernard and William, 314). In conclusion, walking on broken glass still remains to be a paranormal event to many people. However, a lot of scientific research has been carried out to explain the myth behind the paranormal events such as walking on broken glass. However, this has not been clearly explained scientifically since such events do not obey conventional prospects of nature. It is therefore evidenced from the above that walking on broken glass is not a real event. Most magicians use fake glasses like the sugar glass to perform in events because of the nature of the materials they are made of. Other performers also protect their feet using adhesives like spirit gum which hold flexible sole beneath their feet. This explains why they never get hurt even when they step on the candy glass. However, the bed on which the glass is laid is also flexible and this reduces the chances of one getting hurt. Sand and is used and the magician has to spread his or her weight all over the sharp glass edges. This will reduce the amount of weight he or she applies on the glass edges. In a nutshell, all these reasons give an answer as to why magicians walk on broken glass and never get hurt. Work Cited Willey, David G. "The Physics Behind Four Amazing Demonstrations." Skeptical Inquirer 23 (1999): 44-46. Leikind, Bernard J., and William J. McCarthy. "Firewalking." Experientia 44.4 (1988): 310-315. Crist, Darold. The Heartland Experiment: A Novel of Paranormal Suspense. iUniverse, 2012. Read More