NOT from "The Onion". From Reuters.

Post by **Dale** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 6:40 am

Meat hook dangling craze mystifies police

Sunday, July 18, 2004 Posted: 6:54 PM EDT (2254 GMT)

MIAMI, Florida (Reuters) -- Law enforcement officials in the Florida Keys are mystified by a bizarre new pastime -- young people dangling themselves from meat hooks on a popular sandbar.

A U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman said on Sunday that the Monroe County sheriff's office and Coast Guard were called on July 12 to the sandbar off Whale Harbor in Islamorada where locals say wild behavior is becoming a tradition.

They found that five young people had erected a bamboo tripod and hung meat hooks from it. A young woman, her feet brushing the surface of the shallow water, dangled from the frame, hooks embedded firmly in her shoulders.

According to a Coast Guard video, she did not seem to mind the hooks.

GaryKelly · Post by **GaryKelly** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 6:51 am

From Reuters via ABC Australia http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/20 ... 156698.htm

"Lt Tom Brazil of the Coast Guard said a young man, who also had hooks embedded in his heavily pierced and tattooed skin, told him the group was "just enjoying the afternoon".

There were no laws against sticking meat hooks into yourself and hanging from a tripod on a sandbar, Lt Brazil added.

The Coast Guard passed the video on to federal justice authorities to decide if action ought to be taken."

Fuddy-duddies. The kids were just, like, you know, hanging around, like kids do.

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 7:36 am

Last i heard, they had to shoot them down.

Just kidding.

IDAwHOa · Post by **IDAwHOa** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 7:48 am

glauber wrote:Last i heard, they had to shoot them down. Just kidding.

Isn't it amazing what kids can get hooked on these days?

amar · Post by **amar** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 8:16 am

that's really sad.
crazy fools.

Brian Lee · Post by **Brian Lee** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 8:27 am

They didn't happen to mention if these people they found also played uilleann pipes, bodhrán or *gulp* banjo did they? I think that might explain a lot!

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 8:51 am

Either a hoax or stepchildren of Jim Rose and his Freak show, which has glorified various types of circus-like self-mutilations. He started touring the late 80s I believe and has made an impact via Ripleys, etc. With the confluence of body-piercing, Jackass etc, I guess this was inevitable. Guess they will be eating lightbulbs next. Hopefully, the craze will bypass hanging objects from male hanging organs, also a feature of the Rose sideshow. Now, that is something I avoided seeing (when Rose toured here I said "No thanks"), and I hope never to actually witness, though I was given a gleeful description of it by others.

irishduffy · Post by **irishduffy** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 9:44 am

Its called body suspension, their is starting to be a large following to.

You can see and learn about it here.

http://www.suspension.org/ Warning of graphic pictures

I WOULD NEVER DO THIS! OUCHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

MarkB · Post by **MarkB** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 10:27 am

"Just hanging wit friends" Takes on a whole new meaning...

MarkB

dubhlinn · Post by **dubhlinn** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 11:40 am

Weekenders refer to "male hanging organs",
Would that be necks or what?

Slan,
D.

Bretton · Post by **Bretton** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 11:40 am

reminds me of the movie "A Man Called Horse."

....and aftter doing a google search discovered that that's where some of this is coming from (the 'ritual' in the movie is called OkePa).

Not something I'd be particularly interested in.

-brett

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 11:48 am

In India, a group of people who call themselves rationalists travel around performing tricks like this. They hook themselves up to quite heavy loads and pull them along. Actually, they are rationalists. When village folk gawk in amazement they explain the physics behind the tricks they do. It's part of an effort to break the faith of the people in gurus who pull similar stunts and claim supernatural powers. Humans can withstand piercing in quite a lot of places if it's done knowledgably and the skin is surprisingly strong.

TonyHiggins · Post by **TonyHiggins** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 3:06 pm

A Man Called Horse is a classic. Richard Harris stars in it. Hard to find these days.

There was a discussion of this suspension thing in a movie a couple of years ago with Jennifer Lopez as a psychologist who used virtual reality to get inside peoples' minds. A psychotic serial killer suspended himself. I thought that was a cool movie for the virtual reality stuff.
Tony

TonyHiggins · Post by **TonyHiggins** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 3:32 pm

I just looked at the faq for that site. Absolutely fascinating and actually, very down to earth. No thanks, not for me. It mentioned the JLo movie title, The Cell.
Tony

caniadafallon · Post by **caniadafallon** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 5:56 am

I figure that people probably got hooked on this (ba-dum-bum) from watching Mad Mad House on SciFi, with Art the 'Modern Primitive'. Any time main stream gets a hold of things they become a fad... then they sort of fade away. You can see Art here

I can't quite imagine doing this myself, but to each his or her own!

Best,
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