Hi everyone,
I'm starting this new topic on the Human Blockhead as the old one was locked. As a professional who performs this on a regular basis, I felt that I had to contribute something of value to this subject.

Brief history
The human blockhead is a very old act, dating back to the Indian Fakirs apparently, and is a standard part in the Human Pincushion act.

In 1929, Melvin Burkhart made "the nail in nose" stunt a stand-alone act. He played it up, added comedy to it and it got tremendous reactions.
In early 1930s, Robert Ripley (Ripley's Believe It or Not) gave the stunt its name - "The Human Blockhead"

Melvin Burkhart continued performing the Human Blockhead for over 70 years, his last performance of it was exactly 1 month before his death (8 Nov 2001) at the age of 94.

The object inserted in the nose is not limited to nails. Some performers have used chopsticks (plastic, not wood), screwdrivers and even handheld powerdrills (the bit, not the whole Black & Decker).

Risks and Safety
Performing the Blockhead is crazy, but doing it just to impress friends and being oblivious/ignoring the health and safety risks - stupid.
I am a professional responsible for my actions and I am aware of the risks and always safety measures are a must do.

Apart from damaging sensitive membranes in your nasal cavity (pretty obvious), there are other dangers:
You cannot just use any nail for this sideshow stunt. Some types of nails are coated with zinc, for rust proofing. If you get cut from them (it does happen), the cuts are more prone to infection and swelling. Nasty.

I do not have to mention rusty nails, I believe.
I always polish and clean the nails with rubbing alcohol before and after every show.

I always have some Q-Tips (cotton buds) and some antibacterial cream when I practise. There is a tendency to get cuts if your nose is dry. I know of a few sideshow performers who use nasal spray to keep the nasal passages moist.


If you were at Triple Actz, you would have been able to catch my Human Blockhead performance live. If you weren't at Triple Actz, shame shame...Hope this has been useful to you, whether or not you wish to perform the Blockhead.

Rock on,
"Iron" Will

Great tips about the human blockhead.

At least someone from the professional side of doing this act can justify the risk of doing it.

SO for god sake, if you doing it just for fun and leisure, you be killing yourself for nothing, and i not asking you to do it for money, because the risk is not actually worth it.

For Iron Will, its a risk that he chose to take, and he did all he could to prevent the accidents from happening, but accidents will still happen from time to time!!.

So, if anyone of you decided to try the human blockhead, it will be wise to look up Iron Will for help and I pretty sure he will be more than willing to help you, because we won't want someone to see someone injuring his nose and cannot smell anymore, that is so sad. :)

Lastly, Iron Will, Do take care of yourself for your acts.

Also, not that I am encouraging you. I saw a few clips in the act regarding "dangerous" acts. Here is one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJa9lk-WFk8

Hope you like it.

Please be careful :unsure:

Will's a professional in what he does so, don't worry about Singapore's Houdini ;) However! Please don't try to do this at home if you're not a trained professional! Will makes it look very easy but that's just what experts do.

Just a safety reminder! ^_^

Ning

Found a video of the Human Blockhead on Youtube. Not suitable for the faint hearted. Don't try this at home.

Those who are doing this do take care of yourself. :rolleyes:

Hi all,

The man you see on the Youtube video is Todd Robbins...I guess you can say he is THE sideshow entertainer in the world today. You may have seen him on Mindfreak (Hummer/bed of nails) as one of the guest consultants.

He was also a close friend to the late Melvin Burkhart (see original post). Coincidentally Melvin's last performance of the Human Blockhead was at Todd's wedding.

For Singapore's answer to Todd Robbins, check out my promo video if you haven't seen it yet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au31EooN_1c

Rock On,
"Iron" Will

Well put Will...Looking forward to seeing more of you. *winks* Singapore awaits your new project... haha. I used to perform the human block head myself. Unfortunately...Now, diagNOSEd with Sinus, I start a sneezing rampage whenever i attempt this. Then again... good one there bro..

I agree with Will. I am 14 and I perform sideshow here in Hong Kong, but the thing is I learned very safely with a professional. No one should attempt this without professional training.

On another note, the human blockhead is my main 'squeamish' trick. My sideshow act is wayne houchin's THREAD or the nail in the eye, walking on broken bottles, tongue in mousetrap, human blockhead and then my finale is fire eating. I do other weird magic and mentalism throughout, but that is my sideshow routine.

To finish, I cannot stress how important it is to seek professional training and do a lot of research before you think about doing something like this. But if you do, you will be one of the (many/few?) who are bringing this act back and ressurecting the wonderful art form which is sideshow.