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{{For|the game|Pyramid Power (game)}}
{{short description|Pseudoscience belief that pyramids confer impossible powers}}
[[File:The Pyramid of Sejlflod, Denmark, June 1985.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|A pyramid constructed in [[Sejlflod]], Denmark, in 1980, inspired by the work of [[Patrick Flanagan]]. Its owner claimed that spending time inside the pyramid could cure diseases, increase lifespans and improve the taste of wine.]]
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'''Pyramid power''' is the belief that the [[Egyptian pyramids|pyramids]] of [[ancient Egypt]] and objects of similar shape can confer a variety of benefits. Among these supposed properties are the ability to preserve foods,<ref name="skeptic1935">Bovis, Antoine. {{cite web|url=http://www.skeptic.com/junior_skeptic/issue23/translation_Bovis.html|title=Excerpt from Exposé de M.A. Bovis au Congrès International de Radiotellerie à Nice}}  (Nice: Bovis, c. 1935). Translation by Jean-Paul Buquet. ''Skeptic.com.'' Retrieved November 24, 2008.</ref> sharpen or maintain the sharpness of razor blades,<ref name="autogenerated1959">Drbal, Karel. ''Patenti Spis c. 91304.'' (Prague: 1959).</ref> improve health,<ref>"some people report having been 'so energized that they could not cope with the dynamo effects they experienced'" Toth, Max, and Greg Nielson. ''Pyramid Power''. (New York: Warner Destiny, 1976). 165.</ref> function "as a thought-form incubator",<ref>Toth, Max, and Greg Nielson. ''Pyramid Power''. (New York: Warner Destiny, 1976). 177.</ref> trigger sexual urges,<ref>De Mattia, Joan Ann. "Enjoying the Fruits of Pyramid Energy." ''Pyramid Power'', edited by Max Toth and Greg Nielson. (New York: Warner Destiny, 1976). 198.</ref> and cause other effects. Such unverified conjectures regarding pyramids are collectively known as [[pyramidology]].

There is no evidence that pyramid power exists.<ref name="Linse 2002">Linse, Pat. (2002). ''Pyramids: The Mystery of Their Origins''. In [[Michael Shermer]]. ''The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience''. ABC-CLIO. pp. 397-412. {{ISBN|1-57607-654-7}} "If pyramid power really existed it would be wonderful indeed... But no scientific tests to date have managed to detect it."</ref><ref name="Neher">Neher, Andrew. (2011). ''Paranormal and Transcendental Experience: A Psychological Examination''. Dover Publications. pp. 262-264. {{ISBN|0-486-26167-0}} "There is no satisfactory evidence to support the theory of pyramid power. Although the pyramids are impressive structures, their particular construction—their shape and geographical orientation—does not seem to be capable of altering fundamental physical processes."</ref><ref>[[Joe Nickell|Nickell, Joe]]. (2004). ''The Mystery Chronicles: More Real-Life X-Files''. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 200-206. {{ISBN|0-8131-2318-6}}</ref>

== History ==
In the 1930s, a French ironmonger<ref>Drbal, Karel. "The Struggle for the Pyramid Patent." Pyramid Power, edited by Max Toth and Greg Nielson. (New York: Warner Destiny, 1976). 143.</ref> and pendulum-[[dowsing]] author, [[Antoine Bovis]], developed the idea that small models of pyramids can preserve food. The story persists that Bovis, while standing inside the King's Chamber of the [[Great Pyramid of Giza|Great Pyramid]] in Egypt, saw a garbage can inside the chamber piled with dead animals that had wandered into the structure, noticed that these small carcasses were not decaying and inferred that the structure somehow preserved them.<ref>Loxton, Daniel. {{cite web|url=http://www.skeptic.com/productlink/magv12n2|title=''Junior Skeptic'' #23: Pyramid Power}} (Altadena: Skeptics Society, 2006). 81–83</ref><ref>Laigaard, Jens. {{cite web|url=http://www.skeptic.com/junior_skeptic/issue23/translation_Laigaard.html|title=excerpt from Chapter Eight of ''Pyramideenergien – kritisk undersøgelse''}} (1999). Translation by [[Daniel Loxton]] and Jens Laigaard. ''Skeptic.com.'' Retrieved November 24, 2008.</ref><ref>Ostrander, Sheila, and Lynn Schroeder. Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain. (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1970). 340.</ref> However, Bovis never claimed to have visited Egypt.<ref name="skeptic1935" /><ref>Loxton, Daniel. {{cite web|url=http://www.skeptic.com/productlink/magv12n2|title=''Junior Skeptic'' #23: Pyramid Power}}  (Altadena: Skeptics Society, 2006). 83</ref>  In his self-published French-language booklet<ref>Bovis, Antoine. {{cite web|url=http://skeptic.com/downloads/Antoine_Bovis_Booklet.pdf|title=Exposé de M.A. Bovis au Congrès International de Radiotellerie à Nice|access-date=2008-11-25|archive-date=2023-09-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230910112003/https://www.skeptic.com/downloads/Antoine_Bovis_Booklet.pdf|url-status=dead}}  (Nice: Bovis, c. 1935.) PDF scan of original hosted at ''Skeptic.com.''</ref> Bovis ascribes his discovery to reasoning and experiments in Europe using a dowsing pendulum:

{{blockquote|
I have supposed that Egyptians were already very good dowsers and had oriented their pyramid by means of rod and pendulum. Being unable to go there to experiment and verify the radiations of the [[Pyramid of Cheops|Keops Pyramid]], I have built with cardboard some pyramids that you can see now, and I was astonished when, having built a regular pyramid and oriented it, I found the positive at the East, the negative at the West, and at the North and the South, dual-positive and dual-negative...

A new supposition: since with the help of our positive 2000° magnetic plates we can mummify small animals, could the pyramid have the same property? I tried, and as you can observe with the small fish and the little piece of meat still hanging, I succeeded totally.<ref name="skeptic1935" />
}}

In 1949, inspired by Bovis,<ref>Drbal, Karel. “The Struggle for the Pyramid Patent.” Pyramid Power, edited by Max Toth and Greg Nielson. (New York: Warner Destiny, 1976). 141.</ref> a Czechoslovakian named Karel Drbal applied for a patent on a "Pharaoh's shaving device", a model pyramid alleged to maintain the sharpness of razor blades. According to the patent (#91,304), "The method of maintaining the razor blades and straight razor blades sharp by placing them in the magnetic field in such a way that the sharp edge lies in the direction of the magnetic lines."<ref>Drbal, Karel. {{cite web|url=http://www.amasci.com/freenrg/tors/drbl.html|title=''Patenti Spis c. 91304.'' (Prague: 1959).}} English translation hosted at www.amasci.com. Retrieved November 2008.</ref> Drbal alleged that his device would focus "the earth's magnetic field", although he did not make it clear how this would work, or whether the device's shape or materials exerted the effect.<ref>Loxton, Daniel. {{cite web|url=http://www.skeptic.com/productlink/magv12n2|title=''Junior Skeptic'' #23: Pyramid Power}} (Altadena: Skeptics Society, 2006). 88.</ref>

Drbal's contention that razors could be sharpened or have their sharpness maintained by alignment with Earth's magnetic field was not new.<ref>Loxton, Daniel. {{cite web|url=http://www.skeptic.com/productlink/magv12n2|title=''Junior Skeptic'' #23: Pyramid Power}}  (Altadena: Skeptics Society, 2006). 82.</ref> In 1933, ''[[The Times]]'' carried letters claiming, "if I oriented my razor blades{{Nbsp}}... N. and S. by the compass{{Nbsp}}... they tend to last considerably longer"<ref>Coleridge, Gilbert. Letter. ''The Times.'' 7 Oct. 1933.</ref> and "The idea of keeping razor blades in a magnetic field is not quite new. About the year 1900 I found this out".<ref>Grange, William D’Oyly. Letter. ''The Times.'' 19 Oct. 1933.</ref>

Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder, authors of the paranormal, visited Czechoslovakia in 1968, where they happened upon a cardboard pyramid manufactured commercially by Drbal.<ref>Ostrander, Sheila, and Lynn Schroeder. ''Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain.'' (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1970). 339-340.</ref> They met Drbal,<ref>Ostrander, Sheila, and Lynn Schroeder. ''Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain.'' (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1970). 342.</ref> and dedicated a chapter of their popular 1970 book ''Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain'' to pyramid power. This book introduced both the concept of pyramid power and the story about Antoine Bovis to the English-speaking world.

== Origin of the term ==
Debate continues over who coined the term "pyramid power". Author [[Max Toth]] has claimed he coined the phrase,<ref name="loxton1">{{cite web |url=http://www.skeptic.com/junior_skeptic/issue23/interview_Toth.html |title=A Conversation with Max Toth |access-date=1 December 2008 |last=Loxton |first=Daniel |publisher=Skeptic.com}}</ref> as has [[Patrick Flanagan]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2008}} Both authors released books entitled ''Pyramid Power'' in the 1970s.<ref>Toth, Max and Greg Nielson. ''Pyramid Power''. (New York: Warner Destiny, 1976).</ref><ref>Flanagan, Patrick. ''Pyramid Power'' (Santa Monica: Pyramid Power – V, Inc, 1975).</ref> According to Toth, this led to a lawsuit by Flanagan against him.<ref name="loxton1" />

However, the term "pyramid power" in its current usage first appeared in print in [[Sheila Ostrander]] and [[Lynn Schroeder]]'s 1970 book ''Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain''.<ref>Ostrander, Sheila, and Lynn Schroeder. ''Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain.'' (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1970). 339-348.</ref> Ostrander and Schroeder claim that "Czechoslovakian researchers" coined the term in the 1960s.<ref>Ostrander, Sheila, and Lynn Schroeder. ''Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain.'' (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1970). 431.</ref>{{bsn|date=March 2021|reason=Primary unreliable source}}

== Popularisation ==
The conjectures of pyramid power convinced the Onan Family, hotel and condo developers in [[Gurnee, Illinois]], to build the "Pyramid House" in 1977.<ref>[http://www.goldpyramid.com/new/html/about_load.html Pyramid House website]</ref><ref>[https://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&ie=UTF8&ll=42.413239,-87.941313&spn=0.001531,0.002494&om=1 (Satellite via Google)]</ref>

[[Summerhill Pyramid Winery]] in [[Kelowna, British Columbia]] built a four-story replica of the Great Pyramid, alleged by the winery to improve the quality of wine aged within it.<ref>[http://www.summerhill.bc.ca/Story/The-Pyramid (Summerhill Winery Pyramid Story)]</ref>

A religion founded in 1975, called [[Summum]], completed the construction of a pyramid called the [[Summum Pyramid]] in [[Salt Lake City, Utah]] in 1979.

Pyramid power was used by the [[Toronto Maple Leafs]] and their coach [[Red Kelly]] during the [[1975–76 NHL season|1975–76]] quarter-final series, to counter the [[Philadelphia Flyers]]' use of [[Kate Smith]]'s rendering of "[[God Bless America]]". Kelly hung a plastic model of a [[pyramid]] in the team's clubhouse after a pair of away defeats at the start of the series, and each player took turns standing under it for exactly four minutes. The Maple Leafs managed to win all three of their home matches before losing the series' decisive game seven.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19760424&id=VHJIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=S10DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6601,211598&hl=en "Leafs employ 'pyramid power,'" ''The Associated Press'', Saturday, April 24, 1976.]</ref>

It is common in [[New Age]] magazines to see advertisements for open metal-poled pyramids large enough to [[Meditation|meditate]] under. The New Age group [[Share International]], founded by [[Benjamin Creme]], practices a form of meditation called 'Transmission Meditation' using an open metal-poled [[tetrahedron]], which according to their beliefs tunes into the [[Spiritual energy|cosmic energy]] of [[Maitreya (Theosophy)|Maitreya]] and other spiritual masters.

== Skepticism ==
The neurologist and skeptic [[Terence Hines]] has written that pyramid power is a [[pseudoscience]] and tests have failed to provide any evidence for its claims:

{{blockquote|Influenced by [[Erich von Däniken]]’s claims that Egyptian mummies had been preserved by some process unknown to science, pyramid power became quite a craze in the world of pseudoscience for a brief time in the mid-1970s. The idea was that the pyramidal shape itself was magical and filled with a mysterious energy and power{{Nbsp}}... Pyramid power claims have actually been tested. Alter (1973) and Simmons (1973) showed that pyramid-shaped containers were no more effective than any other shape at preserving organic matter (flowers or meat) placed in them. Nor did putting dull razor blades in a pyramid-shaped holder restore them to sharpness, contrary to a frequent claim of pyramid power promoters.<ref>[[Terence Hines|Hines, Terence]]. (2003). ''Pseudoscience and the Paranormal''. Prometheus Books. p. 306. {{ISBN|1-57392-979-4}}</ref>}}

In 2005, [[MythBusters (2005 season)#Episode 32 – "Jet Pack"|an episode]] of ''[[MythBusters]]'' was aired on the [[Discovery Channel]] in which a basic test of pyramid power was performed, using pyramids built to the specifications found in pyramid power claims, reflecting the location of the King's Chamber in the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]]. Several claims were tested, concerning food rotting, a flower rotting and a razor blade going dull. With control protocols in place, there was no significant difference between items in pyramids and items outside.<ref>{{cite episode |title= Jet Pack |series= [[MythBusters]] | date= June 9, 2005 |season= 3, Episode 32 |station= [[Discovery Channel]] }}</ref>

== In popular culture ==
*Patrick Flanagan's book was featured on the cover and in the lyrics of [[The Alan Parsons Project]]'s 1978 album ''[[Pyramid (The Alan Parsons Project album)|Pyramid]]''. "Pyramania", a song from the album, mocked the idea of pyramid power.
*Martin Gardner spoofed pyramid power in his "Mathematical Games" column in the ''[[Scientific American]]'' issue of [[List of Martin Gardner Mathematical Games columns|June 1974]], featuring his recurring fictional characters [[Irving Joshua Matrix|Dr. Matrix]] and Iva Matrix.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gardner |first1=Martin |title=The Magic Numbers of Dr. Matrix |date=1985 |publisher=Prometheus Books |isbn=0-87975-144-4 |location=Buffalo, NY |pages=158–172 |chapter=Pyramid Lake}}</ref>

* [[Terry Pratchett]]'s satiric fantasy novel ''[[Pyramids (Discworld)|Pyramids]]'' incorporates elements of the conjecture when an industry develops around pyramids' ability to manipulate time.

== See also ==
* [[List of topics characterized as pseudoscience]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Further reading ==
*Alter, A. (1973). ''The Pyramid and Food Dehydration''. New Horizons 1: 92–94.
*Simmons, D. (1973). ''Experiments on the Alleged Sharpening of Razor Blades and the Preservation of Flowers by Pyramids''. New Horizons 1: 95-101.

== External links ==
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313222718/http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-5408709/Pyramid-power.html |date=March 13, 2012 }} Pyramid Power: original research that details on origins, makers and backgrounds.
* [http://skepdic.com/pyramidiocy.html Pyramidiocy] – [[Skeptic's Dictionary]]

[[Category:New Age]]
[[Category:Paranormal terminology]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience]]
[[Category:Pyramidology]]