While rain pours on the streets of downtown Bellingham, lightning strikes inside the crowded auditorium at the SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention. Tana Granack, presenter of the MegaZapper Electrical Show, walks onto his stage and declares to the crowd, “If you have some kind of electronic device keeping you alive, you’re in the wrong place.”
Dozens of eyes begin to widen, people glance across the room trying to identify who in the crowd might fit the profile. When no one jumps up from their seat and runs through the exit door, it is assumed everyone is living and breathing on their own. Seconds later, the crowd breaks the awkward pause with a collective and uncontrollable laugh. Granack has caught the crowd’s attention.
As the laughter dies down and the crowd’s gaze focuses back to the stage, Granack says, “I once had a full front row get up and leave.” Granack pauses, “It was the senior center.”
The laughter picks up again, just before the lights dim and the sounds of lightning vibrate through the auditorium’s sound system. The show is beginning.
The MegaZapper Electrical Show takes place every Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. and costs $15 upon entry. For an additional $10, the 18-and-older crowd can enter the Cage of Doom. If participants make it out alive, they receive a free sticker: “I survived the Cage of Doom.”
The show is family-friendly. Guests ages 5 and older are welcome and can expect to be in the presence of 4.6 million volts of loose electricity. Lightning rods, light bulbs, static machines and Tesla coils are the heart of the show. It’s a three-in-one package: science, comedy and education.
An electrifying kiss
Jennifer Horwitz decided to see the show with her husband and 10-year-old niece, hoping it would secure her “cool aunt” title and be a memorable experience for everyone.
Horwitz and her husband volunteer to go on stage for a couples-only act. The two rise from their chairs and walk slowly to the stage, making nervous eyes at each other and blushing as the stage lights focus in on them.
Horwitz places her right hand on the Van De Graaff generator, keeping the other by her side.
Granack says, “You will be OK if you just keep your hand on the machine.”
“What if I don’t?” Horwitz says as she looks him dead in the eye.
“We will find out,” Granack says.
The crowd is laughing. Horwitz gives a slight eye roll.
After Granack provides the couple with instructions, he flips the switch to the generator, and Horwitz’s hair rises, reaching for the ceiling. She stands there a few seconds with a wide smile on her face, eyeing strands of hair floating upward out of the corner of her eye. Her husband stands a few feet away and begins waving a lightning rod around her head, bringing Horwitz’s hair back to her shoulders.
Granack brings the couple close together. The two lean in, the spotlight perfectly focused on their faces, and right in front of the crowd, they kiss. This is the “discharge a spark with a kiss” experiment, which prompts smiles, smirks and a few concealed laughs from the crowd.
Horwitz says her favorite part of “discharge a spark with a kiss” was when her husband waved the rod around her head, causing what she described as a “wave-like feeling” to run down her body. Additionally, she did succeed in making her niece laugh. But the kiss was never mentioned.
“We try to offer a really family-friendly experience where we have the scholarship, we have the science but we also try to be really exciting and engaging for younger people, for older people (and) for families,” said Charlie Bryan, director of operations at SPARK museum.
SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention is a non-profit establishment, officially open since 2001, but has been an unofficial collection since 1985. While the museum embodies a small town attraction, it is home to some of the most famous and rare artifacts, including those from Benjamin Franklin and Isaac Newton.
The museum has held the title of best indoor attraction in Bellingham and is ranked No. 7 on Yelp and TripAdvisor, according to Bryan.
The selfie of doom
Jen Griffin, who traveled to Bellingham from Vancouver, B.C., has a habit of visiting museums and libraries everywhere she goes. Griffin stumbled upon SPARK Museum online and was pleasantly surprised by the wide variety of interactive activities, notable artifacts and original displays.
Though not as surprised as she is to win a raffle, granting her access to the Cage of Doom.
At the beginning of every show, attendees 18 and older receive a raffle ticket for the Cage of Doom. As the show begins, a little girl from the audience walks onto the stage, shakes the bucket and quietly announces the winner of the raffle. The crowd looks down at their tickets, double and triple checking their numbers as Griffin’s hand shoots straight up.
She says, “I won,” in a slightly excited, but mostly terrified voice.
As scary as it sounds, the Cage of Doom is probably scarier.
“The MegaZapper is one of the largest Tesla coils in the country, and the Cage of Doom is a Faraday cage,” Bryan says. “The coil swarms the cage with about 2 million volts of electricity while the visitors are shielded from the electromagnetic field by the cage.”
The Faraday cage blocks external electromagnetic fields using different metal materials.
Griffin is up to bat for the closing act of the show.
The room goes dark. The buzzing, zip-zapping, vibrating sounds of electricity move through the auditorium. Griffin is in the cage.
“Clear! Clear!” Granack shouts to Bryan.
A countdown of five begins, and as one approaches, bodies tense up.
“Will the Canadian survive the Cage of Doom?” someone whispers in the back.
Granack shouts, “One!” and a neon purple lightning bolt strikes the Cage of Doom.
Griffin stands in the cage with an appalled look on her face, five fingers pressed to the top, like she's pleading to be let out. The other five are wrapped around her phone as she takes a selfie.
“It was super loud, but I didn’t (feel anything different) and I think my heart was racing because it was kind of nerve-wracking,” Griffin says. “But yeah, (it felt) surprisingly normal.”
The audience dismisses, and a group circles around Griffin, asking if it hurt, if it was real, would she do it again?
Sparking curiosity
Once the conversations quiet down, people make their rounds through the museum, taking photos, pressing buttons that say, “Do not touch” and asking question after question.
Granack hopes that if attendees take away one thing from their experience at SPARK Museum, it is appreciating how to think like a scientist.
The SPARK Museum is raising money to renovate its second floor into a “state-of-the-art” interactive science center, according to Bryan. While the museum has its remarkable MegaZapper Electrical show and interactive displays, the hope is to be even more of an experience. Donations can be made via the SPARK Museum website.
“We’re always trying to improve the museum, adding new things on display and new interactives,” says Bryan.
Madrona Raney (she/her), is a reporter for campus life. She is a senior at WWU studying News/Editorial Journalism. She did her first year at Point Loma Nazarene University and was a reporter for them on The Point. During her free time, she enjoys traveling, being outside, making coffee, snowboarding, boating and spending time with friends and family. You can reach her at madronaraney.thefront@gmail.com.
