Medical Bag
Fortean Times|December 2017

India’s electricity eating “Living Light Bulb” and the man who swallowed a traffic cone

Medical Bag

WATTS FOR DINNER?

Naresh Kumar, 42, from Muzzafarnagar in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, claims that he is naturally insulated against high voltage electricity, and furthermore that he can draw energy directly from electricity, obviating the need for regular food to survive. One day at work he touched a live wire by mistake, but nothing happened. He decided to explore his “superpower” by grabbing even more live wires and eventually realised that he could use electricity as an alternative to traditional food.“Whenever I feel hungry and there’s no food in the house I hold naked wires and within half an hour I’m satisfied,” he said.“I eat electricity like it’s food.I can touch any electrical appliance like a television, washing machine, fridge, and an inverter with my bare hands and it doesn’t affect me.Infact it helps my energy levels.I think about 80 percent of my body is composed of electricity now.” His house is full of live wires that let him tap into his favourite energy source whenever he likes.“There are no switches, and sometimes my children and I fear we’ll get an electric shock,” his wife said.“But because he’s obsessed with touching naked wires they are left like this. He even uses his bare hands to switch different appliances on and off.”Videos of Naresh holding live wires in his hands or his mouth have been doing the rounds of social media, and he’s been dubbed “India’s Living Light Bulb”.

Denne historien er fra December 2017-utgaven av Fortean Times.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra December 2017-utgaven av Fortean Times.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA FORTEAN TIMESSe alt
Lightning Or Legendry?: The Chase Vault Moving Coffin Mystery Revisited
Fortean Times

Lightning Or Legendry?: The Chase Vault Moving Coffin Mystery Revisited

The moving coffins of Barbados have been a staple subject of books on the unexplained for over a century, and yet no one has so far provided a wholly satisfactory solution to the mystery. BENJAMIN RADFORD argues that we might have been looking in the wrong place...

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2019
The Haunted Generation
Fortean Times

The Haunted Generation

Bob Fischer Rounds Up The Latest News From The Parallel Worlds Of Popular Hauntology...

time-read
3 mins  |
November 2019
The House On The Borderland In Search Of William Hope Hodgson
Fortean Times

The House On The Borderland In Search Of William Hope Hodgson

In his new book, EDWARD PARNELL goes in search of the ‘sequestered places’ of the British Isles and explores how these haunted landscapes shaped a kaleidoscopic spectrum of literature and cinema. Here, he arrives in Cardiganshire to look for the house in which the neglected master of weird fiction William Hope Hodgson wrote one of his greatest works.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2019
Fortean Traveller: 117. The Mediæval Crime Museum, Rothenburg, Germany Fortean Traveller
Fortean Times

Fortean Traveller: 117. The Mediæval Crime Museum, Rothenburg, Germany Fortean Traveller

STEVE TOASE feels the thumbscrews tighten as he explores a grisly collection exploring the history of mediæval torture and its relationship with the law

time-read
7 mins  |
November 2019
Where Ghosts Gather
Fortean Times

Where Ghosts Gather

In 1977, Usborne published World of the Unknown: Ghosts, the children’s book that inspired a generation of junior forteans. Four decades on, following a concerted fan campaign, the book is back in print... and the perpetually haunted BOB FISCHER tracked down its pleasantly surprised writer, Christopher Maynard, to discuss its genesis and unexpected impact.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2019
A Bang On The Head
Fortean Times

A Bang On The Head

MARK GREENER explains how traumatic brain injury can change personality, creating serial killers and even vampires.

time-read
7 mins  |
November 2019
Out Of The Shadows
Fortean Times

Out Of The Shadows

In an extract from a new book celebrating the history of Boscastle’s Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, Professor Ronald Hutton introduces the photographs of Sara Hannant, which aim to bring a range of enigmatic objects from the museum’s unique collection to life.

time-read
3 mins  |
Christmas 2016
The Face In The Window - Windowpane Ghosts And Lightning Daguerreotypes
Fortean Times

The Face In The Window - Windowpane Ghosts And Lightning Daguerreotypes

One of the most fortean of lightning phenomena is the “lightning daguerreotype,” where a face or figure, often recognised as a particular deceased person, is mysteriously etched upon a windowpane. Chris Woodyard traces some of the fenestral flaps of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

time-read
10+ mins  |
Christmas 2016
Bodies On Ice
Fortean Times

Bodies On Ice

Couple who went missing 75 years ago ... found by chance in thawing Swiss glacier

time-read
2 mins  |
October 2017
happy old christmas
fortean times

happy old christmas

you thought it was all over, but due to the orthodox refusal to accept the new fangled gregorian calendar, many people – from margate to memphis – will still be celebrating christmas in january. ted harrison goes in search of some stubborn old traditions...

time-read
8 mins  |
january 2017