Thunderdome Party, part 3

Thunderdome 3
Originally uploaded by Uncle Mikey.

See here and here for the first two installments of the tale of Richard Garriott's Beyond Thunderdome party, held July 3rd some years ago on Lake Austin. When we last saw our hero (me), he was recovering from burnt feet (from the fire walk that was not actually open to partygoers, not that it stopped us) by soaking them in Lake Austin and watching the fireworks close overhead.

Not long after, the masochists came out to play. First a guy whose predicament I can hardly describe (I really wish there were a picture) came out with what must have been 50-100 5-foot-long steel spears imbedded in his skin, all held together in a frame over his head with the tips bouncing above him with every step of his strange dance. Blood was plentiful but less than I would have expected, and he even had a couple of apples speared at some of the tips to give them extra bounce. The girl at top left of the collage was towing a guy behind her with the large fishhooks in the skin of her back, which is apparently where you hook a person before hanging them from something, or using them to catch Orcas I guess.

Native Americans used to perform something called the Sun Dance, which was portrayed in the film "A Man Called Horse" and consists (among other activities) of sticking two large wooden pegs through the flesh of the pectoral area, whereupon the frame they are dangling from is raised by twisting the whole affair and pulls the sufferer off the ground. I watched a very weird video once of an University professor (can't remember which one) who performed this act and said he "met all the gods." He had to prepare himself by sticking a smaller peg through just the skin of his chest and, by pulling back from where it was attached, rip it from his flesh. This got his endorphins cranking to the point where the actual suspension didn't kill him. Sounds great, doesn't it?

These days they use steel fishhooks, starting with more and progressing to as few as one, which we saw at the party. Not having seen a suspension show before, I didn't know if it was common to be hung from bungie cords, but it was kind of wild to watch these guys bounce around, often banging into each other, all painted up and bloody, and looking pretty crazed. Actually, it was pretty horrifying, as you can see from my expression in the middle of the collage.

It was a thoroughly demonic scene after dark, with weird music pounding from the PA system, spooky lighting and bloody pierced people hanging in the Thunderdome and running around. But still, one of the best parties I've ever attended. Thank you Richard!