In 1958 while reading the Daily News one day, I noticed a small ad placed by Kuda Bux, an Indian mystic, who promoted himself as "The Man With X Ray Eyes." The ad promised a free demonstration of his X Ray vision, the following Wednesday at 7 p.m.
When Wednesday arrived I anxiously took a bus and two subway trains from my Bayside home to the scheduled meeting place in midtown Manhattan. I walked up the steps into a brownstone building where a pretty Indian lady guided me to a small room with about a dozen rows of steel folding chairs. There was a long flat table with some small cardboard boxes on it and in front of it was a large cardboard box filled with balloons. And a large portable blackboard appeared to be another prop. I took a seat near the middle of the room and waited for the show to start. Shortly after 7 p.m. the room filled with only about two-dozen people, mostly a younger crowd in their 20's and 30's. As I waited I wondered why so few people would respond to an ad placed in a major newspaper offering a free demonstration of X Ray vision.
The Indian lady who greeted me at the door began the meeting by introducing herself as Kuda Bux's wife. She made a few opening remarks as her husband sat nearby. She explained that her husband personally paid for ads in local newspapers to announce his demonstrations in extrasensory perception. He was financially self-sufficient and provided his demonstrations free to the general public in lecture halls which he rented. The purpose of these meetings was to inform people that they had a far greater potential and range of faculties than they realized. She said that her husband's primary emphasis that evening would be X Ray vision, a form of remote viewing. Following this brief introduction Kuda Bux stood up and addressed us while Mrs. Bux took a seat off to the side. Kuda Bux was dressed in a modest black suit and an opened-collar white shirt. He appeared to be in his 50's.
He was an unassuming, pleasant, soft-spoken gentleman of mild demeanor. He began his demonstration shuffling a deck of playing cards. "Before I give you the demonstration in X Ray vision which you came for," explained Kuda Bux, "I want to show you some cards tricks so that you will see the difference between tricks and reality."
The card tricks were the typical ones. People from the audience would select cards and then place the cards back into the deck. Kuda Bux would then shuffle the deck and bring the cards to the surface of the deck to the amazement of his audience. After a few of these types of entertaining maneuvers, which incorporated some skilled sleight of hand, Kuda Bux stated, "These were all tricks. Now I will show you non-tricks."
The small size of Kuda Bux’s audience created a relaxed and intimate atmosphere. There were no security guards. We had close access to Kuda Bux, and he was friendly and open with all of us.
Kuda Bux continued, "I would like two volunteers." Two young fellows, apparently college students, stood up to volunteer. I thought of volunteering, but did not. I decided that it would be more advantageous not to be involved in a specific task so I would be able to observe all aspects of the demonstration from a broader perspective.
Kuda Bux took two baseball sized quantities of freshly kneaded white flour dough from a box on a table. He kneaded each ball of dough for a brief time and then flattened it into a round inch-thick patty about six inches in diameter. As he handed each volunteer one of the patties, he said, "Hold these." He closed both eyes, leaning his head back. He instructed, "Take the dough and seal my eyes shut." The volunteers were slow to respond. "Just lay it flat over my eyes," Kuda Bux urged. The two men obliged. "Press it down all around so it is completely sealed."
I moved up taking a front row seat to within a few feet of Kuda Bux to watch this process very closely. The dough filled his entire eye sockets and extended out from his eyes which completely sealed both eyes shut. There was no doubt that his eyes were pasted shut.
Kuda Bux continued directing the volunteers, "There are two cotton wads on the table. Take those and place them over the dough." The men obliged. They were pieces of cotton about an inch thick, and about 4 inches wide by 6 inches long. They were placed vertically over the dough.
"Take the tape. There is a roll of tape on the table. Take the tape and tape the cotton in place," Kuda Bux continued. As one fellow pulled a strip of tape from the dispenser, Kuda Bux explained, "Make it about ten inches long. Just tape over the cotton onto my face."
The volunteers got the idea and while one cut ten-inch long strips of this inch-wide medicinal tape, the other fellow took the tape and criss-cross it over the cotton and onto Kuda Bux's face. It was clearly evident that the cotton wads were firmly in place over the eyes, extending from the middle of the forehead down to the lower part of his cheeks. Even if Kuda Bux could somehow peak under the dough, he would not be able to peak under the cotton and the tape as well.
As if this was not enough Kuda Bux instructed, "There are black cloth strips in the box. Take those and place them over the cotton, and tie them behind my head." As the two fellows pulled out the five cloth strips, I could see they were opaque, about three inches wide, and each about three feet long.
"Look them over," urged Kuda Bux. "Can you see through them?" The two fellows tested the cotton strips and began putting them in place. Kuda Bux guided their placement so that two cotton strips were criss-crossed to form an X over each eye. As each was held in place Kuda Bux said, "Tie it in the back. Make sure it is tight."
The criss-crossing of the cotton strips over his eyes left only the nostrils exposed and almost fully sealed off his mouth. Kuda Bux then guided the last cotton strip horizontally over both eyes while the volunteers tied that last one in place at the back of his head as well.
At this point the entire array took on the appearance of a mummified head. Two small openings remained for breathing through the nostrils and only a little space was evident over the center of the mouth. My meticulous scrutiny confirmed that Kuda Bux's eyes were out of commission. Finally, to convince the die-hard skeptic he asked the volunteers to get the small black sack from the table. This sack was made of an opaque thick cloth. "Now put this over my head," Kuda Bux instructed. "Try to see through it," he said. The two fellows put it up to the light and tried to see through it. They were satisfied that it was not a trick bag, and placed it over Kuda Bux’s head.
"Tighten the bag under my chin," instructed Kuda Bux. One of the fellows pulled the draw strings tightly to seal off Kuda Bux's entire head. Breathing was obviously difficult, and seeing with his physical eyes was impossible.
Kuda Bux astonished the audience by proving that he could still see. Mrs. Bux reached into the large cardboard box full of multicolored balloons handing one after another to her husband who correctly stated the color of each balloon. He knew this was not convincing enough. He asked, "Does anyone want to come up and select some balloons?" A girl wearing a yellow dress raised her hand in response and Bux pointed to her and said, "Yes, come right up." As she came forward he said playfully, "That is a nice yellow dress you have on." The girl selected balloon after balloon and Kuda Bux named the colors correctly each time.
Kuda Bux then took out a small sewing needle and a string of thread and proceeded to thread the needle. He then held up the thread showing the needle dangling in the middle. He reached into his inside coat pocket and pulled out his glasses. "Using my physical eyes I need to wear glasses. But, I see fine otherwise," he explained and then he slipped the glasses back into his pocket.
So far, this demonstration could have been done by trickery. A shill in the audience could have acted as Bux's eyes and communicated instructions via coded radio signals to a vibrating receiver taped to Bux's arm. The threaded needle could have been substituted by sleight of hand and the unthreaded needle and thread discarded to the inside pocket as Kuda Bux reached for the glasses. Although what Kuda Bux did could be replicated by trickery, sleight of hand and misdirection, it did not mean that Kuda Bux was using such means. I maintained skepticism and continued my evaluation.
Kuda Bux asked, "Does anyone have a book here?" A girl in the audience responded, "Yes," while holding up a textbook.
I thought to myself, could this be another possible shill? How many shills could there be in this small group?
Kuda Bux walked up to the girl and said, "Open the book to any page." Then Kuda Bux read from the book without hesitation. We all crowded around Bux to verify his readings. Nearly everyone got a chance to select a page and point to the paragraph he wanted read. Bux read every selection correctly. Certainly everyone here is not a shill, I thought. I also was sure he did not memorize the entire text book.
He again explained that to read with his physical eyes he needed to wear glasses, but his subtle faculty of vision was unimpaired.
This was getting more convincing. But, there was still some room for trickery. Someone could be reading the book and somehow transmitting the information to Kuda Bux. This was possible, but not very probable. I was not yet 100% sold.
Finally, Kuda Bux performed the coup de grace. "Would anyone like to come up and write something on the blackboard," Kuda Bux asked. One person came up and wrote, "Can you read this?" Kuda Bux smiled. "Yes," he said. He took his chalk and precisely traced over the script written on the blackboard. The next person wrote a brief sentence below the previous one, and Kuda Bux again traced perfectly over that one as well. While tracing he noticed that the letter "i" was not dotted. He dotted it saying, "You forgot to dot the "i."
Continuing playfully, Kuda Bux asked, "Can anyone write something in a foreign language?" A woman appearing to be from the Middle East stepped forward and wrote in Arabic. Kuda Bux then unhesitatingly traced exactly over each chalk mark, going from left to right, then repeating the tracing from right to left. This concluded Kuda Bux’s demonstration.
This last scenario convinced me that no one was communicating instructions to Kuda Bux. There was no way his hand was being guided to trace over the complex Arabic text, forwards and then backwards.The only other possibility was that somehow Kuda Bux may have shifted the packing which covered his eyes. I watched carefully as Kuda Bux slowly began to unravel the wrapping.
He removed the sack covering his head. The five cotton strips were still tightly in place. Facing the two volunteers who tied these in place he asked, "Will you remove these bandages?" The two fellows obliged and had to forcibly slip each one of them off because the knots were done so tightly. This exposed the medicinal tape still holding the cotton wads in place. Then they slowly peeled back the tape with the cotton wads attached and exposed the two packs of dough. The dough was still pressed tightly in place, sealing both eyes. "Peel the dough back very slowly," Kuda Bux instructed. "Notice that my eyes are still shut." The volunteers slowly peeled the dough back and I verified that Kuda Bux's eyes were certainly shut. Then, Kuda Bux took the dough patties and turned them over, showing them to the audience. "The impressions of my closed eyes are there in the dough," he said. I was convinced he was no trickster.
During the 1930's and 40's Kuda Bux gave stage performances all over the world claiming his eyeless sight was due to his skill in yoga after decades of intense practice. In 1934 he obliged a team of experts and scientists by permitting them to seal his eyes shut with dough, tinfoil, gauze and layers of woolen bandages. He astounded them by being able to read from books placed in front of him.
In 1937, he amazed onlookers in Liverpool by walking the entire length of a narrow ledge of a roof 200 feet above the ground while blindfolded as before. In 1938, in Montreal, Canada scientists also conducted experiments on Bux’s claim to X Ray vision and confirmed his ability to see while blindfolded.
In 1945, Kuda Bux skillfully rode a bicycle through congested New York’s Times Square while his eyes were taped shut. In 1950, Kuda Bux starred in his own CBS series as Kuda Bux, Hindu Mystic during which time he gave demonstrations in mind reading as well as eyeless vision. Also, he appeared on the Johnny Carson show, leaving his audience and Johnny flabbergasted with his demonstration. Two books have been written about his extraordinary feats and about the many experiments that were conducted on him by researchers.
Kuda Bux was born as Khudah Bukhsh in 1906 in Kashmir. He died February 5, 1981.
It is hard to imagine Kuda Bux needing glasses to read with his physical eyes but he did. Austin Lasik laser eye surgery was not approved until 1995, fourteen years after his death, but you have to wonder if he would have considered that procedure to correct his physical vision.
