Saturday night I went to Threshold to see a hook suspension being performed by the lovely Ms. Ellie. A really nice guy at the club, Alan, had six piercings done on his back with large fish hooks – I mean, really large, these were probably 6 or 8 gauge needles and the curve in the hooks was probably about two inches across.

They used a winch with six cords hanging from a metal frame to attach to the hooks, then slowly lifted him upward standing vertically. It’s amazing how much skin can stretch. The winch went up a little bit at a time, allowing him to get used to the pressure. Eventually he was off the ground, with his feet about 12 inches off the floor and only a little trail of clear liquid from the piercings running down his back. Finally he was swinging back and forth so much that people nearby had to move back to give him space. It’s nothing I would ever want to do but I was really amazed by the whole weirdness of the spectacle and Alan’s amazing ability to do it. He was even chatting while they initially pierced him and reported that it didn’t even really hurt to be hanging from his own hooked flesh.