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CHRISTEL BURGHARDT, Expanding Hand

montyzuma

New Blood
M
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Jan 20, 2005
Messages
13
Is Mr Burghardt limited to hands ,I wonder, because if he isnt there's a wee job i wouldnt mind him trying.



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montyzuma said:
Is Mr Burghardt limited to hands ,I wonder, because if he isnt there's a wee job i wouldnt mind him trying.
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Already mentioned by me earlier, but Christel is not a he, she's a she. The name in German is always a female name.

Not that that should put you off in your quest :p
 
a temporary fix

Is he is a she , there's a good chance that it would work then, at least on a temporary basis.



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Something odd here. First she said that she will make a hand grow "for every person". Then she seems to limit this to the assistant's hand.

Could a person make their hand appear to grow by natural means? Dislocation?
 
big hand

i recall from my youth that a large cartoon mallet worked for tom and jerry before they went into the ice cream business
 
TheBoyPaj said:
Something odd here. First she said that she will make a hand grow "for every person". Then she seems to limit this to the assistant's hand.
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I think she meant for ANY person she tries the experiment on.

She seems to think that the fingers can grow so fast that you can actually watch it. If this were true, I think that lots of biologists and doctors would be very interested in finding out what induces the cells to grow that fast. Even more surprising, the effect is only temporary: she has had difficulty finding test persons because people did not believe her when she insisted that the fingers return to normal length!

The process of shrinking is even more interesting than growing, because for bones, as far as I know, this is unheard of. i wonder if this happens at the same breakneck speed that is displayed by the growing.

Since I am sure that the growing is a part of an illusion, or even more likely, a delusion, I think that the growing and shrinking will be equally fast.

If this is part of a scam - which I think not - the best approach for her would be to produce two different reference sheets, and attempt to switch them during the testing!
 
Even so, I think it would be prudent for the JREF to locate a brave subject rather than her friend, unless some sort of medical examination of the enlarged hand is built into the protocol.
 
steenkh said:
I think she meant for ANY person she tries the experiment on.

She seems to think that the fingers can grow so fast that you can actually watch it. If this were true, I think that lots of biologists and doctors would be very interested in finding out what induces the cells to grow that fast. Even more surprising, the effect is only temporary: she has had difficulty finding test persons because people did not believe her when she insisted that the fingers return to normal length!

The process of shrinking is even more interesting than growing, because for bones, as far as I know, this is unheard of. i wonder if this happens at the same breakneck speed that is displayed by the growing.

Since I am sure that the growing is a part of an illusion, or even more likely, a delusion, I think that the growing and shrinking will be equally fast.

If this is part of a scam - which I think not - the best approach for her would be to produce two different reference sheets, and attempt to switch them during the testing!
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I don't think this is a cell level thing. My belief is still that she uses a form of reflexology massage, and that the hand muscles and joints relax and stretch, therefore making the hand appear bigger.

I don't believe this would be a paranormal claim, but she has never answered the question of what she will actually do at he experiment, for this to be addressed.
 
Sounds familiar...

In a book on notable and unusual magicians of the past, I seem to recall having read about (and seeing posters and promotional materials for) a performer who was able to give the appearance of "growing" in a short time by many inches of height. He could, of course, also give the appearance of "shrinking" back to a smaller stature.

[Method deleted, as it might count as "revealing a magician's secret.']

This claim sounds much like that act, though on a smaller scale.

Does this description ring any Spirit Bells? Could some kindly scholar of magical history help to put a name to my vague recollection? As The Smothers Brothers used to say:

Tommy: I've got a mind like a steel... uh...
Dickie: ... sieve!
 
Surely there something more interesting this german lass could make grow?


Ok joke in poor taste over. You may return to your regularly scheduled posts.
 
cabby said:
I don't believe this would be a paranormal claim, but she has never answered the question of what she will actually do at he experiment, for this to be addressed.
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Ms. Burghardt specifically says:
(Maybe my explanation was not exakt enough: I can make the fingers of a person grow in length.)
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I may be wrong but I know of no way to make the fingers grow in length without involving cells and bones. The fingers can probably become longer if the joints relax and stretch, but I doubt that you can increase the length by just half a centimetre. The two centimeters that Kramer suggests (but which has not yet been accepted by Ms. Burghardt) will be truly paranormal.
 
"CHRISTEL BURGHARDT"

Be fair though, that song The Lady in Red was a classic.
 
steenkh said:
Ms. Burghardt specifically says:

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Maybe my explanation was not exakt enough: I can make the fingers of a person grow in length.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I may be wrong but I know of no way to make the fingers grow in length without involving cells and bones. The fingers can probably become longer if the joints relax and stretch, but I doubt that you can increase the length by just half a centimetre. The two centimeters that Kramer suggests (but which has not yet been accepted by Ms. Burghardt) will be truly paranormal.
Click to expand...

I don't call that specific at all, or any more exact than the previous 'explanation'.

Specific is when she says, I will take the hand of the other person, and will hold it/ massage it/ meditate over it/ whatever ... and the length of the finger will grow by 2cm (or whatever she finally agrees to).
 
I don't know how her demonstration works, but it strikes me that it might be similar to the faith healers' "one leg longer than the other" trick.

If she's simply comparing one hand to another (treated versus untreated) pressed together in a "praying" position, there's plenty of leeway in the way the pads of the palm interface. And a slight tilt of the fingers one way or the other would certainly create the illusion that one hand's fingers were shorter or longer than the other's. A compliant assistant could create this effect subtly enough to convince an uncritical observer that significant growth had taken place.

Unless Christel is actually measuring the finger length from some stable reference point, or better yet using an x-ray to eliminate fleshly illusions, I doubt there's even a phenomenon here to examine.
 
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