Here’s something amazing to fans of the novella Hanger Stout, Awake. I never imagined that “hanging contests” would ever be a thing, but apparently, an athlete/YouTube personality has been offering random people cash to see how long they can hang freely from a bar.
I’m sure Jack Matthews would have enjoyed this video — if only as research. For those unfamiliar with Hanger Stout Awake, the novella is about a teenage boy with a talent for free hanging who competes in hanging contests with other teenagers. In the book, I think the record for hanging is 5-6 minutes — while in this video it’s only 2 minutes. One insight is that more relaxed people seem better able to manage the task than others. In the book the hanging act is portrayed as a kind of spiritual feat, and that’s reflected in the video as well.
