Mythbusters!
On June 9th, 2005, Mythbusters aired the episode "Jet Pack," where they claimed to have "busted" pyramid power. In this episode, they did four experiments with pyramids. They cut a small rose in half and put one half inside a pyramid and one half outside. They did the same with another pyramid, putting one half of an apple inside, and one half outside. They also did this with milk, putting two tablespoons in an open glass container inside a pyramid, and another two tablespoons outside it. Each of these experiments were designed to test whether a pyramid could prevent or reduce the items from decaying. They also took a razor blade, scraped it against what looked like rough particle board to dull the blade, and then broke it in half. They put one half of the blade inside a pyramid, and one half outside the pyramid. This experiment was designed to test whether a pyramid could sharpen a dull razor blade. Each of these pyramids were made from what looked like about two-foot-long, wooden dowel rods, cut and glued together in the dimensions of the Great Pyramid, and were aligned to magnetic north. The samples, both inside and outside the pyramids, were raised up on 2x4 blocks to put them at one-third height, where the energy is supposed to be the most concentrated.
There was a final experiment done with a much smaller copper or bronze pyramid, where they put a disposable razor inside this pyramid and one outside it to test whether the one inside the pyramid would remain sharper during regular usage. They accomplished this by having one of the men on the show, Tory, shave one half of his face each day with the pyramid razor, and the other half of his face with the control razor. Interestingly, after the first day, Tory seemed to think that the pyramid razor was sharper, but then as the days wore on, he indicated that both blades were equally dull, and therefore this experiment contributed to “busting” pyramid power. There are a few reasons why this experiment, in my opinion, has no validity. First, I need to talk about how pyramids earned the reputation of being able to sharpen razor blades. Back in 1959, after ten years of giving scientific explanations and evidence to the examiners, Karel Drbal finally received a patent in Czechoslavia for his cardboard pyramid that could greatly extend the number of times one could shave with a disposable razor. Theoretically, one could place a new razor in any nonmetallic pyramid (like cardboard), preferably in the Giza dimensions, which supposedly strengthened the bonds of the crystalline structure on the edge of the blade, increasing its resilience. After shaving with it, it would be placed back inside the pyramid, which apparently allowed any elastic deformations that might have occurred on the edge of the blade from the shaving action to return back to its original condition. Supposedly, the pyramid energy increased the speed of the elastic resilience of the blade, requiring only about 24 hours instead of 15 to 30 days. So the two issues I have with this particular Mythbusters experiment is, one, they used a smaller metal pyramid with different dimensions than the wooden Giza pyramids they used for their other experiments. Metal pyramids supposedly act differently than nonmetallic pyramids. While nonmetallic pyramids supposedly concentrate their energy in the center, metallic ones supposedly absorb the energy within the metal frame. And then the other issue I have with this experiment is that the results were based solely upon Tory’s subjective assessment, which, being part of a team of declared skeptics, calls into question his objectivity. So for these reasons, I do not see this experiment as having any scientific validity. Entertaining? Yes. But scientific? No.
The other experiment that I did not think had any validity to it was the rose experiment. They briefly showed their hygrometer during the episode, and it was over 80° Fahrenheit with 20% humidity--optimal conditions for things to dry out very quickly. Because the rose they used in the experiment was very small, and then they cut it in half, with its very low water content, it was no surprise that both halves simply dried out without showing any signs of rotting. So while they used a nonmetallic pyramid aligned to magnetic north and in the Giza dimensions, it did not show anything of significance. In order for it to be a valid experiment, the control sample would have needed to have a high enough moisture content to naturally rot or noticeably degrade in some way that could be compared to the pyramid sample.
Which leads to the experiment with the milk. The milk experiment was a good experiment. The samples had a high enough water content and were large enough to not simply dry out. But at only two tablespoons each, it was not so large as to prevent the relatively small, two-foot pyramid from having a noticeable effect on it. After 16 days sitting in the open air, when they checked in on them, it stank to high heaven and apparently both samples had milk maggots crawling all over them. Therefore, they declared that this experiment “busted” pyramid power. Not so fast. They clearly show the control sample, which had what looked like over one hundred fat, white, juicy maggots happily crawling all over the glass container:
But at 33:26 in the episode, just a few seconds before they showed the happy maggot milk sample, they showed the pyramid milk sample:
And while there was some yellowing at the top, there was not a single, living maggot in it. There was only what looked like one brown, shriveled up, mummified maggot at the top. For the control sample outside the pyramid, there were no dead maggots, only plump white ones. There was clearly a significant difference between these two samples, something the Mythbusters team apparently missed—or conveniently glossed over. To me, this experiment did not “bust” pyramid power in any way, but instead gave it more validity.
But one successful experiment is not enough to prove anything. So what about the experiment with the apple cut in half? Again, I would say that this was a good experiment in terms of the samples having enough water content where the control sample would be likely to show some degree of rot or degradation. And indeed, it did. After 16 days, this is what the apple outside the pyramid looked like:
And after 16 days, this is what the apple inside the pyramid looked like:
Even though there was some oxidation on the surface, there appeared to be no mold or decay like in the sample outside the pyramid. Even those extreme, Mythbusters skeptics could not deny that something unexplainable was going on. As one lady on the show commented: “I’m so bummed. This oogie-boogie shi—stuff is actually working.”
OK, that’s impressive. But even these two experiments—while convincing—does not prove that pyramid power exists. In the case of the apple halves, the dauntless Mythbusters team—after recovering from their shock—eventually come up with their own explanation of what happened so they could sleep better at night. I will get to that in a moment, but first, I want to go over the final experiment they conducted, that I personally think was even more impressive than the apple experiment. And that was the experiment with the razor blade that was scuffed up on a rough surface and then broken in two, with one half of the blade put inside a pyramid, and the other outside of it. This experiment was a much better one than the subjective one done with Tory. First, they used one of their two-foot wooden pyramids instead of that tiny copper one. And second, after sitting for 16 days, they took both samples to be examined by an electron microscope at the California Academy of Sciences to see if there was any difference between the two halves of the blade. Now, it is my understanding that Drbal’s pyramid was designed to maintain the sharpness of a razor blade, not necessarily sharpen a blade that has been severely dulled like this one had. But nonetheless, it is an interesting experiment, and here is the image of the blade outside the pyramid:
And here is the image of the blade inside the pyramid:
If you compare the two images, the blade outside the pyramid appears to have much deeper grooves on it compared to the half that was inside the pyramid, and it looks like there is a discernible ridge at the top of the image for the pyramid blade; whereas, for the blade outside the pyramid, the ridge seems like a jagged mountaintop. Perhaps its just me. Perhaps I am seeing into the images what I want to see. After all, the operator of the electron microscope didn’t seem to notice anything significantly different between the two samples, and because of this, the Mythbusters team declared that this experiment “busted” pyramid power yet again. However, at the end of the show, they briefly show a comparison shot of the two halves of the blade at different magnifications. Here they are at 433x magnification:
Is it me, or does the control blade that was outside the pyramid look rougher with a lot more pits in it?And here it is at 2290x magnification:
Don’t the gashes look a lot deeper in the control blade? Am I imagining it, or does the pyramid blade look clearly and obviously smoother? But what about the technician who operated the electron microscope? He said he didn't seem to notice any difference. But is it possible that he didn't look closely enough? Also, the California Academy of Sciences is a very mainstream scientific group. So maybe he might have been concerned about what his colleagues might have thought if he seemed to indicate that the pyramid appeared to actually to be sharpening the razor blade. We can all have biases, even the so-called “experts” in the field. Look at the comparison pictures above and tell me: Do you really see no difference between the two samples?
If there really is a difference here, and I am not just imagining things, then I will say, this is even more significant than the apple experiment, as this couldn’t be attributed to some random chance where one sample has a higher bacterial load than another sample. If I what I am seeing is accurate, these images show a pyramid actually physically altering a steel blade...and that can’t be explained away.
The Mythbusters team conducted five experiments with pyramids. I believe I clearly showed how two of those experiments had no validity and did not prove anything for or against the concept that pyramid power exists. For the three other experiments that did have validity—that had the ability to support or weaken the concept of pyramid power—it seems clear to me that all three of these experiments were extremely significant and clearly gave credence to the concept of pyramid power. I hope I showed how the Mythbusters team was clearly biased in how they interpreted their experiments. With the exception of the apple experiment, they claimed that all of their other experiments “busted” pyramid power. Even though, in my opinion, they were clearly biased, I will say that they conducted fabulous experiments, with an attention to precision and detail that does them proud. But even they couldn’t deny that something inexplicable was going on with the apple experiment. So what was their response? How did they explain it so they all could sleep better at night? Well, let me tell you...
So, they had cut the apple in half with a chop saw, and they declared that the saw blade must have had a higher bacterial load on one side of the blade than the other, and that was the reason why the apple half outside the pyramid had rotted while the other half inside the pyramid did not. Hmmmm. OK. Anything is possible, right? So proper scientific protocol dictates that when you do an experiment, and it doesn’t result in what you were expecting, you try to find the confounding variable that skewed the results. Their culprit—I mean confounding variable? A dirty saw blade. Then proper protocol dictates repeating the experiment exactly the same way but removing the supposed confounding variable. In this case, repeating the exact same experiment with a new apple of the same variety and a similar size—and without moving the pyramid or changing anything else in any way—and then cutting that apple with a sterilized knife. Did they do this? No. What did they do instead? They used larger apples of a different variety (green ones instead of a red one). They used whole apples and sterilized the hell out of them with bleach and UV lights, and let them sit for four months. They also moved the pyramid to a different location. They did try to realign the pyramid again to magnetic north, but the fact is, aligning a pyramid using a compass is very tricky. Any metal even within a few feet of the compass can throw it off. If there was any metal in the table, or any metal on the person aligning it, it will give a different reading. The Great Pyramid is aligned to true north to within 1/15th of a degree. That indicates to me that if a pyramid is off its ideal alignment by even one or two degrees, it can totally throw off the energy. If you compare the orientation of the pyramids in the first experiment with this later experiment, it is clearly obvious that they are aligned differently in comparison to the walls. So either the pyramid was moved to a completely different building, had a completely different orientation, or both.
Original apple experiment:
And the later whole apple experiment in a different location. Compare the pyramids' different orientations to the walls:
And even if the pyramid was somehow aligned exactly the same, using whole apples instead of cut apples changes the whole nature of the experiment. The skin of an apple is its barrier of protection against the environment. By cutting the apple in half, you are exposing the interior to mold and bacteria...which is what you want to do to see if a pyramid can protect it better than without. There is also the understanding that a pyramid has a dehydrating affect on things inside it—which can help to preserve it. The skin of an uncut apple acts as a vapor barrier, preventing it from drying out as quickly. There were so many things wrong about this follow-up experiment. You want to set it up so that the control sample will show signs of rot or degradation to see whether the pyramid sample can prevent that from happening. Even though the experiment lasted four months, because they sterilized the hell out of the apples, there was really no opportunity for them to degrade. Interestingly, though, they included a third whole apple in this experiment set inside a cubed frame, also made of dowels, and the apple in there did rot. But because neither the apple in the pyramid nor the apple outside the pyramid showed any significant signs of decay, they proclaimed to all of the world that pyramid power was busted!
On the contrary, Mythbusters, you did no such thing. Of the three experiments that actually had scientific validity, the milk, the cut-apple, and the electron-microscope experiments, they all had extremely significant results. And the fact that you are all skeptics, gave more credence than any pyramidologist could have done, because when skeptics do an experiment whose results goes against their beliefs, you know that they didn’t fake it. In my opinion, you showed to the world more than any other set of known experiments involving pyramids, that pyramid power is indeed a very possible and likely reality. So, thank you. You have given me renewed confidence that there truly is some unknown and wondrous energy associated with pyramids. And I hope that those who are reading this have, too.
And so, after analyzing all of your experiments involving pyramids, I have only one thing left to say,
"MythBusters...you're busted!"
