(ORDO NEWS) — Fire is not to be trifled with, unbearable torment, mortal pain: this is exactly what should be avoided. But, there are people who are capable of incredible things.
Jo Girardelli would scoop molten iron into her mouth with her bare hands and just hold it there. She licked the red-hot shovels and ran them over her skin. She slowly moved burning candles under the soles of her feet and jumped on hot metal objects.
She swallowed nitric acid, spat it on the iron and watched it glow orange. She poured boiling oil into her mouth – after she had cooked scrambled eggs on it – and kept it there. She dripped hot wax on her tongue and asked the audience to stamp it with a seal.
In each case, she magically, miraculously, miraculously remained unscathed. And in each case, attempts to prove that she is a fraud, or to debunk her, were unsuccessful. People have rightfully nicknamed her the “Queen of the Fire Eaters”.
The fact is that in fact no one knew and does not know anything about Girardelli. She was born around 1780 in Italy, became famous in England by 1810, and then simply disappeared from public view.
Skeptical viewers simply assumed that Girardelli covered her skin or the inside of her mouth with some kind of fireproof cream or something.
But according to Britannica, the temperature of molten iron is 1,400-1,500 degrees Celsius (2,550-2,700 degrees Fahrenheit). If she did use molten iron, it’s hot enough to burn her nerves to zero in a few seconds.
Was there any pre-industrial material from the early 1800s that could protect against such heat? In addition, conditions such as congenital pain insensitivity (CNP) deprive people of the ability to feel pain, but they still get injured.
Perhaps Jo Girardelli was an example of a person who transcended the unknown boundaries of our physiology and the possibilities of the mind?
Frankly, this is the best explanation. Girardelli also never gave answers. She disappeared from England as quickly as she had arrived.
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