Magnet Boy of Croatia: gadgets stick to his chest (big photo gallery)

Young Ivan Stoiljkovic poses for pictures with a Samsung Galaxy Tab stuck to his chest in front of his home near Koprivnica, about 62 miles (100km) north of Croatia's capital city, Zagreb, on May 12, 2011. Ivan, 6, is purported to posess an extraordinary and seemingly magical talent: the ability to attract metallic objects -- from spoons to heavy frying pans -- to his body. He is said to be able to carry up to 25 kg of metal stuck to his torso. Ivan's family also claims that his hands can emit heat and his mysterious ability has also given him healing powers. "Medical checkups so far have reaped inconclusive results," reports Reuters. More images follow, in which Ivan "attracts" cutlery, cookware, an iron, and other metallic objects. In the image below, his grandfather tosses coins at his chest. Surely this isn't a hoax! (all photos: Reuters)

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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Edd

It’s gravity.
That kid probably produces his own gravity. He is really overweight.
Jason Rizos

I want to see him sticking to the side of a moving bus.
Ambiguity

I don’t care if it’s a freaking trick. Take your shameless debunking somewhere else: those photos are definitely Pulitzer material!
franko

his pose in that first shot is great. MAGNETIC LIKE A BOSS!
Antinous / Moderator

Holy crap. Look at the other boy in the top image.
- Teller
  
  That is pure Larson – The two brothers.
- Mark Dow
  
  The other boy is studying to be Anti-Magnetic Man of Croatia.
- Tau’ma
  
  I love this kid for being as fat as I am and that other kid is so skinny. http://youtu.be/SzJY96m3lkg
Derek C. F. Pegritz

We Croats are sticky people.
Anonymous

I think the coins were already stuck there, grandpa’s just tossing him food so he’ll stay leaning back
Anonymous

Caption to top photo: “When Reuters pays for our story, we’ll have enough for me to eat too, huh ma?”
BikerRay

He’d make a great fridge magnet.
Anonymous

https://www.facebook.com/pages/We-are-all-Magneto-BoyGirl/185352891517709?ref=ts
Anonymous

i’d love the boy to be the boss in some creepy computer game, something between myst and a shooter. he’d rob all of your weapons that are metal, even the crowbar.

.~.
Ipo

Yeah, it’s amazing, even talcum sticks to him.
YarbroughFair

I don’t care about chubby, look how skinny the young boy in the back is! Now I know who’s stealing who’s food!
- blueelm
  
  I was thinking a similar thing: “Why aren’t they feeding the other kid!?”
  
  lol
  - Philboyd Studge
    
    I think the other kid is in training to be a lightening rod. I would totally watch their live-action superhero TV show.
Anonymous

Does anyone else suspect that this is a bizarre viral marketing effort by Samsung?
- Amira
  
  seeing as Boing Boing added a hyperlink.. it looks like some kind of conspiracy
warreno

In other news, fat sweaty little bastard takes bath. Film at 11.
CarmenNiemeyer

People in the World don’t eat so much.
squashee

Just look at him – it’s gravitational pull.
Ugly Canuck

Some people are sticky, some people are slippery….and here’s a song about the latter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-elMHXXJg6c
Anonymous

Croatian scientists and skeptics make very popular Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/We-are-all-Magneto-BoyGirl/185352891517709
in Croatia about that and call all to demonstrate this trick:
“…Join us in the movement to stop the irresponsible media and flood of pseudo scientific bullshit!
Here is a photo album from fans who demonstrate this trick:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.185725551480443.62221.185352891517709
pringleflicker

I don’t wish to be mean, but the first pic did immediately put me in mind of Teletubbies.
studio2f

Coefficient of Friction
Mr152

It’s an old story. There’s always a media attention seeking father behind it. Have you all forgotten balloon-boy already?!
Anonymous

I see alot of ppl here suspecting some kind of marketing project like guerrila or viral marketing.
Im from Croatia, this kid is genuine, he had alot media attention and alot of sceptics made fee test by own.
Here is some of tv news about him, rest you can find byself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tQbS2T71Uw&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Hosidax

I LOVE my Galaxy Tab!

What..?

Oh.

I thought this article was about the Galaxy Tab…
Philboyd Studge

“Medical checkups so far have reaped inconclusive results,”

Some medical system in Croatia. I see a conclusive need for a bra, and a future coronary angioplasty.
tamgoddess

My first thought was that he ate a big magnet or ten. Seriously, he’s clearly eating all the other boy’s food. What’s left?
ill lich

It’s obviously a hoax– he’s not magnetic at all, he’s using telekinesis.
jimkirk

No, no, no. This is a result of Chernobyl. Radio-caesium was concentrated in potatos, and if you eat enough potatos, stuff like this is sure to happen.
travtastic

You guys are coming up with some pretty sticky debunkings here. I’m going to have to go with velcro tape.
Soliloquy

Aw, I think he’s a cute little kid. Very photogenic. Look at those soulful eyes and how he works the camera.
ecobore

Due to his obesity he has developed his own gravitational field!
Anonymous

Forget the kid, that’s the coolest trike ever.
Twist of Lime

Gee, I wonder what happens to his magnet power when he’s suspended in the air with his belly facing down.
Anonymous

wow, best comments to an article in a while

go team snark!

my first thought was wondering if there is enough metal in the tablet for magnetism anyway
bcsizemo

What about that last picture….I’ve never seen non-stick on steel. (At least in probably a decade or more.)

Magnetic Aluminum…interesting.
Unmutual

I know it’s been pointed out already, but the stuff is just sticking to him because

1. These are all flat objects
2. The coefficient from his filthy skin, and the angle of his huge gut, keep things from sliding down off of him.

And yeah most of these things are non-magnetic metals. But I bet if you took a few bucky balls, which are ACTUAL MAGNETS, they would roll right off him because they are very little and spherical.
Flashman

It was either sell the story of his miracle powers to Reuters, or tie a rope around his ankles and lower him into the wishing well.
Ambiguity

Samsung really need to buy the rights to that first one….
lectio

Never mind the magnetic kid…where can I find me a grown-up version of that pink bicycle??
- IronEdithKidd
  
  This is the best I could find quickly. It’s probably as close as you’ll get without going all Maker. Or there’s this. The last option is the old-lady version that’s been around since the birth of the bicycle.
Matthew_H

As an actual Croatian resident I’ve come to grudgingly accept that the world’s mental image of my country will forever be something between Borat’s Hometown, the Ethnic Village in an 80s action movie, and articles like this one. It sort of sucks.

I suppose it’s my patriotic duty to do a quick unicorn chaser: here’s my country a bit more as I see it.

(Not that the article and the pictures aren’t fun in an ironic way, mind you – I just find that a tasteful counterpoint never hurts. Also it grates when an international media outlet points out to you that you live next door to stupid people.)
- blueelm
  
  Dude, I live in Texas. You’ve got nothing to worry about! At least the place you live isn’t hellbent on destroying… everything.
spool32

Antinous’s first comment wins this thread.
- querent
  
  “Antinous’s first comment wins this thread.”
  
  Agreed. His second one was pretty good too. Sometimes I think they should just hand all commenting responsibilities to him. We’ll just sit and watch.
beaker

Thanks to Xeni for posting this. The images stick in your mind. The comments are awesome too. Fucking magnets.
theawesomerobot

This is beyond obvious as far as the fakery goes – I mean, just look at all the photos – everything sticking to him is at an angle that would just prove at the most, that his skin is resistant to slipping. Having that gut helps too.
Vincent

Haters gonna hate, Magno-boy. Don’t let the doubters bring you down.
Victor Drath

B. And S. Or maybe his tummy has it’s own gravitational field, who knows?
Anonymous

Funny, my nose can do the same thing with a spoon
voiceinthedistance

Magneto boy gets all the potatoes, while his poor brother goes hungry.
PMcGorrill

Of course he’s not magnetic. Why does that even need to be established. He’s made of meat just like anyone else. Non-magnetic meat.
What I hope everyone is appreciating is that thanks to the diligent shenanigans of some very silly people we now have stunning photographs of a fat boy with various domestic objects stuck to his torso. Let’s all be very grateful this exists.
Anonymous

Clearly this kid is beating up his brother and stealing his lunches
sirkowski

He’s a gravity well.
Philboyd Studge

kee-rection: Lightning
Philboyd Studge

Suet Ball Boy, and the Rickets Lad…fighting crime!
atomelectron

Nice Guerilla Marketing Samsung.
Twist of Lime

Gee, I wonder what happens to his magnet power when he’s suspended in the air with his belly facing down.
Jorpho

No, no, no. This is an old trick. It is trivial to find material debunking it. James Randi links to an article from seven years ago!
http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1311-talcum-powder-cures-magnetism.html
http://www.randi.org/jr/082704gluton.html#7
- arikol
  
  As first posts go, this one was pretty brutal and definitive.
- dculberson
  
  Oh, no! This time it’s different!
  
  Seriously, nearly every kid in the world has done the “spoon on the nose” trick. This is the same exact thing – just on a bigger and stickier person. I hope nobody actually falls for it.
- Anonymous
  
  I watched a TV program a while ago, and there was a man in Asia who claimed the same powers. Their analysis showed that these people just have extraordinarily smooth skin, causing a vacuum to form between them and smooth surfaces, like that of metallic objects. That’s probably why dusting talcum powder on them makes them “unmagnetic”–I guess it disrupts the vacuum.
chas

magneto
cory

I’m glad James Randi already took a look at this. I thought I would be the only one to notice he has his shirt off in every picture.

Note to the gullible: clothing does not block real magnetic fields.
NegativeK

I love it when the first comment of anything is a complete and total debunking of a given claim.
- Anonymous
  
  This is often the case when the claim is obvious garbage :)
Anonymous

Mama, I lean back with skillet on chest, now I can have cookie?
Anonymous

He’s not magnetic. He’s just STICKY. Give him one good shower with soap and water and his career is OVER.
billster

It’s not magnetism; it’s gravitational pull.
- i_r_beej
  
  That’s no moon…
Antinous / Moderator

Fucking Croatians, How do they work?
- lux_aurumque
  
  I know it’s pedantic, but I can’t help it — the former FRY has the best plurals!
  Croatian=language
  Croats=people
  
  For more awesome plurals, see also: Serbs, Slovenes, (and my personal favorite) Bosniaks/Bosniacs.
  
  If Bosnia=Bosniak, why can’t California=Californiacs?
- Amira
  
  they don’t… their kids do
Ugly Canuck

Behold the mighty power of sweat!
jacob_ewing

And all this time I thought I couldn’t do that spoon on the nose trick because my nose was greasy. Turns out I’ve just been keeping it too clean.
Swizzlebat

You should see him stick to a vinyl chair in the Summer!
Heh. Heh-heh.
Okay, it’s actually kind of depressing that this 6-year old kid is a) being exploited by the adults in his life for (presumably) fame and profit, and b) seriously obese. I mean, jeez, look at the kid in the background in the top photo! Nothing’s going to stick to that kid!
Jason Rizos

One could argue that all matter has at least some degree of a magnetic field.

Xeni, you should post stuff like this all the time. I hear there is a guy who can pull coins out of children’s ears in Latvia.
Anonymous

That six-year-old kid looks like he could out-drink me
Teller

His magnetism appears to be for second helpings.
Antinous / Moderator

His posture and facial expressions suggest that he’s being groomed for a career as a strip club bouncer.
- Anonymous
  
  Didn’t want to get into fat joke territory, but his expression makes him a good candidate for a live action Eric Cartman.
Tyro

Sweaty kid is sweaty.

Or, to put it another way, if a light dusting of talcum powder removes his “magnetism” (and he attracts non-magnetic materials), can we stop calling this magnetism? Please.
Pantograph

Have we ruled out gravity as an explanation in this case?
- Tau’ma
  
  oops there goes gravity http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp99IGfHIkA&feature=player_popout#t=46s
social_maladroit

Wow. This kid could practically stand in for the bus in this video demonstrating the Graffiti Research Lab’s LED Throwies.
- social_maladroit
  
  Oops, try this one instead. That other one’s too old.
  - Tau’ma
    
    Far out. I got real high once back in the day and walked outta SF into south SF, I walked south on Third street actually I think and I… I could actually read the graffiti… It was a revelation. Thank you for the sweeet link hookups! Graffiti Research Lab ROCKS!
Anonymous

I’m impressed that this kid’s “magnetic field,” can even hold an aluminum non-stick pan. He really, REALLY needs to take a shower I think.
Chevan

I was going to call shenanigans, since any magnetic field strong enough to hold up that tablet would also seriously fuck with the screen.

And the first comment I saw was that debunking link. Thank you, Internet.
- dculberson
  
  LCD screens don’t care about magnetism.
- Anonymous
  
  Uh, no, LCD screens aren’t visibly affected by magnets. The iPad 2 has a couple of powerful magnets in it to hold covers on. You’re thinking of CRTs.
  - Chevan
    
    Oh, whoops.
    
    NEVERMIND, IGNORE ME.
Tim Howland

Interesting that his magnetism even works on aluminum.
pmhparis

Why criticize Xeni for posting a serious unbiased piece of news?