The Human Floor

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FREAKS IN TRAINING

For a little longer, Coney Island remains the home of the odd and the exceptional By Cat Cutillo

Peter Tino, also known as “The Human Floor,” broke his own record last month by getting 2,213 pounds of people to stand on him at one time. When he ran out of body mass, Tino demanded someone stand on his face. No problem. He’s also held as many as 23 females at once.

“No matter how much pain they think it is, most guys are gonna say, ‘Hey, I wouldn’t mind being that guy—look at all those hot girls on him,” says Tino, who prefers to be stood on by women.

He’s had women standing on him in everything from stilettos down to their bare feet. One lady, weighing in at over 400 pounds, stood on his face covering both his nose and mouth with her feet.

“I would have to say I was kind of light-headed after that,” admits Tino.

Tino was participating in the Sideshow Tryouts at Coney Island last month where people came from all over to flaunt their freakiness. Many were also trying to set world records. Among the entertainers were a knife thrower, a balloon blower, a whip-cracker, a jail breaker, an ultimate escaper and one man doing step aerobics with a 40-pound backpack.

“‘Freak’ is no longer a word to be ashamed of. We have neon signs that say freak. It is a badge of honor. It means you’re unique,” explains “The Mayor of Coney Island,” Dick Zigun. Zigun founded Coney Island USA 27 years ago. He’s responsible for the Mermaid Parade, Circus Sideshow and the Coney Island Museum. As the city’s changed, Zigun has watched the freak scene change along with it.

“Now every teenage suburban kid in America has a pierced tongue and a tattoo. At one point it was radical fringe, and now it’s mainstream. In some ways, our pierced tongues and bad tattoos have become our means of conformity,” says Zigun.

Still, some freakiness just can’t be bought. Chuy the Aztec Wolf Man, star of the Mexican Circus, is the latest and greatest freak on the Coney Island circuit. He has hair growing naturally all over his face.

“Chuy is walking the high wire here. He is much better paid than most Mexicans in New York City,” says Zigun. For those lacking Chuy’s God-given freakiness, Coney Island does offer courses to become a freak at the Sideshow School. Some of the graduates have even joined the Coney Island team.

“It’s for anyone who wants to learn to put nails up their nose or eat fire,” explains David Gratt, the managing director at Coney Island USA.

But most of those who came to the tryouts last month had long since perfected their routine. Dr. Reverend David Throwdini, who hosted the tryouts, has been throwing knives at women in his spare time for over 25 years. He holds the world record for the fastest knife thrower. He is also an ordained minister. However, occasionally, he does have a off day.

“I’ve never impaled a girl, but there’s been some scraping incidents,” admits Throwdini who suffered two puncture wounds to his own hand during the

tryouts.For The Human Floor, pain is just part of the territory. He has survived bruising and bleeding. He almost lost an eye one time when a woman wearing high-heeled pumps slipped. But that was back when he first started. He’s long since grown accustomed to the feeling of stilettos nailing into his skin.

“After a while,” he said, “It’s almost like acupuncture.”

http://asap.ap.org/data/interactives/_entertainment/sideshow / Photo by David Gordon Pete Tino, a.k.a. "The Human Floor," lies on a bed of nails while his assistant "Machete" leaps off a chair onto his chest during Sunday's Sideshow Ball at the second annual Greater Boston Burlesque Expo. http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/
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