X-ray man Huda Bukhsh (7 photos + 1 video)

With the advent of the era of comics and cinema, superheroes who were able to see through people and inanimate objects ceased to be something out of the ordinary.





But in history there was a real person who claimed to be a living X-ray. The ability is controversial, but the character who possessed it is also controversial.



Jules Romain

Khuda Bukhsh is a Pakistani magician born in 1905. In the mid-1930s, he confused many with his supposed ability to see without eyes. He also walked on hot coals, allowed himself to be buried alive for three hours, and could stop his heart and pulse on command.

But it was his X-ray vision that was of particular interest to many who were studying such possibilities at the time, including the French writer Jules Romain. Renowned paranormal investigator Harry Price described Romain's beliefs in his book Confessions of a Ghost Hunter:

Since somnambulistic subjects can control themselves with amazing ease with their eyes closed or even bandaged, they “acquire an extraordinary subtlety of sensation and are able to use thousands of signs that a person in the waking state passes unnoticed.” Their hearing, touch and smell undergo hyperaesthetic changes and sometimes manage to take the place of vision.





Harry Price

Bukhsh demonstrated his talents by blindfolding himself with surgical bandages, tape, cotton wool, a mask and, in addition, covering his eye sockets with dough. His face was completely covered except for his nose. Then he began to read everything that was put in front of him. A man with X-ray vision even demonstrated his abilities by cycling through the busy streets of London while blindfolded.

In 1935, he carried out several tests for Price and other researchers at the Psychical Research Council at the University of London. Price was allowed to choose any book from the shelf and turn it to any page. “I put my finger on the paragraph,” Price wrote, “and asked him to read it aloud. He did it immediately, almost as quickly as the reader scans this page. There was not the slightest sign of hesitation. Other books were placed in front of him, some with large print, others with small print. He read them all."

His blindfold technique was the key to his abilities. Bukhsh did not allow him to simply put a bag over his head. According to Price, this was due to the fact that the fakir claimed to "see through or with the help of his nostrils." This explained why his nose was always visible during performances.



Huda Bukhsh - the man with x-ray eyes, from Confessions of a Ghost Hunter by Harry Price (1936)

It sounds a little absurd, but Romain promoted a similar idea regarding vision without eyes. As Price explained:

Romain argues that it is necessary to leave the nostrils free in order for his blindfolded or blind subjects to distinguish colors. He says that “the nasal mucosa is sensitive to light and to different colored regions of the spectrum. This function is very different from the sense of smell. The role played by the nasal mucosa leads us to the next question: is the unknown organ of extraretinal vision located in one part of the body? Localized in one or spread over many?



Joseph Danninger

Despite this, Price and his team concluded that Bukhsh was an unusual performer but did not possess X-ray vision.

Regardless of Price's conclusion, Huda continued to demonstrate his X-ray exploits to viewers. However, three years later, at a hotel demonstration with 300 people, he was offered $10,000 if he could read with a regular bag on his head. The proposal was made by Joseph Dunninger, a magician and president of the World Council for Psychical Research. Bukhsh refused, saying that his soul gives him the ability to read through obstacles only if it is done of his own free will and not for money or coercion.

The show continued and the artist, as usual, prepared blindfolds, which this time included tissues from the hotel. Then he read words on the board, from newspapers and more. The public was amazed.



Bukhsh walked on hot coals in 1935

And yet, as described in a newspaper article: “But always Khuda Bukhsh’s nose stuck out of the wrapper, and he tilted his head back in such a way that skeptics might suggest that there was a small gap in the dough on the left side of his nose through which he could read "

The reporter asked if he could read a card that he put in a napkin - exactly the same one that the fakir used when blindfolded.

“No, the napkins must be in contact with my body,” the magician replied.

He finished the demonstration and put away the bandages, dough and napkins. The curious reporter took one of the discarded napkins and pressed it to the artist's head.

“I put it to your forehead,” the journalist said. “Now there is no dough in the way, just one of the several napkins you were reading through before. Can you read the name of the bank on this blank check that I take out of my pocket?”

Bukhsh replied that he could not. The show was over.

The psychologist present at the performance, who had been under the impression until that moment, suddenly became disillusioned. “My God,” he exclaimed, “so this is just some kind of clever trick!”

However, it was a real trick. Joseph Danninger, one of the most famous mentalists in the world, explained to one newspaper how it works:

The blindfolded method of reading dates back more than three centuries, and most magicians working today have abandoned it. It is very simple and can be done by most people with some practice. Reading is done along the side of the nose. The hollow of the eyes and the bridge of the nose provide enough space to look down at the object held in the hands of the so-called mystic.



Still from the film “The Amazing Story of Henry Sugar”

However, Bukhsh’s abilities were never officially refuted. Based on the magician’s story, the film “The Amazing Story of Henry Sugar” was filmed in 2023, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. The plot is based on the story of the same name by Roald Dahl and tells about the hero’s ability to see through cards and predict the future.

The Man With The X Ray Eyes! (1938)