Melvin Burkhart, 'The Human Blockhead', 94

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Saturday November 10 8:26 PM ET 

Obituaries in the News

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Magician Melvin Burkhart, known in the heyday of
carnivals as ``The Human Blockhead'' for his ability to hammer a spike
into his head through a cavity behind his nostril, died Thursday. He
was 94. 

Burkhart could make both sides of his face do different things, and he
could squeeze into enough shapes to be known as ``The Anatomical
Wonder.'' 

``He was 60 years in the sideshows, and he's the last of them,'' said
friend and magician Bill Dahlquist. ``It's the end of the era, it
really is. It's sad.'' 

Burkhart recently was in New York to trade stories with friends and to
perform at a wedding. When he returned home, he checked into a
hospital, and shortly afterward suffered a stroke. He had time for
private goodbyes before his heart gave out. 

``He taught me how to be a rich man,'' said his son, Dennis Burkhart, a
biochemical engineer. ``He said a rich man is someone who can make one
person smile everyday. If I can be half the man my father has been, I
will be a great man.'' 

The elder Burkhart and his wife, Joyce, with whom he had three
children, were to celebrate their 52nd anniversary this month. 

``He did what everybody else always talked about doing,'' said
daughter-in-law Jane Burkhart. 

``He ran away and joined the circus.'' 


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