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Pleasure through pain
NT students pierce skin to suspend from cinder blocks, other items in order to feel "out of body experience"
"I just wanted to see if I could do it."
Colter Johnston
suspender
Katherine Ramzinski
Staff Writer
August 07, 2003
Different forms of traumatic rituals and performances have taken place for hundreds of years in primitive cultures to mark the transition between childhood and adulthood.
In many Denton venues the tradition of suspension has been resurrected and is now performed using deep-sea fishing hooks and sterilization at places including Texas Jive on west Hickory, Dusty's on the square, and the former bar known as Rick, is soon to be the Inferno, located at the corner of Avenue A and Mulberry, along with numerous backyards.
The suspended individual may be hung by rope, from a tree, from steel indoor suspension bars or from ceilings.
The hooks are sanded down and rounded at the tips, and pierced through multiple layers of skin.
Doctors believe that because of the amazing elasticity of human skin, depending on physical health, the skin's seven layers can hold up to six times a persons body weight.
Modern-day suspension utilizes various body parts, including the knees, arms, legs, chest, stomach, neck and back.
The individual can stay suspended anywhere from 30 seconds to numerous hours.
The big question among spectators is most often "why would anybody do this to themselves?"
Colter Johnston, a former NT student who suspends on a regular basis, answers with, "I just wanted to see if I could do it...