Pyroman of New Ipswich

October 31, 9:07 AMNew Ipswich Community ExaminerJohn Poltrack

Previous Next

2 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the New Ipswich Community Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Pyroman on stage

John M Poltrack

Nevada may have it's "Burning Man" festival which features the ritual burning of a large wooden effigy, but New Ipswich has Pyroman (aka Harry Cotterly)  who has set himself on fire at wedding receptions, pig roasts and graduation parties.

Harry works on a large estate doing a variety of maintenance work, haying operations, running  a kennel and other tasks. He is a man of many talents.

Harry is also a performance artist. At  friend's birthday parties he would adopt the character of "Harry the clown" and perform magic tricks. At one summer party at his neighbors he recreated David Copperfield's "Motorcycle in a Shadow Box" illusion.

Harry started adding firework displays to his performances. At first he would prepare a large piece of plywood affixed with a number of  fireworks all fused together with cannon fuse and hot glue. These displays were always a highlight at the summer parties.

Later Harry became a licensed pyrotechnician at Atlas Advanced Pyrotechnics headquartered in nearby Jaffrey, With a small crew he  has designed and shot both large and small displays for them. His displays for the summer parties continued and became more sophisticated as he added electrical firing technologies, coordinated with music.

At one of his annual pig roasts, Harry (dressed in a nomex suit and motorcycle helmet)  rode a bicycle through a "flaming wall of fire". This proved to be quite a popular event and Harry started to think of taking this to the next level.

At a subsequent pig roast , the persona of Pyroman appeared. Harry clad in a fireproof outfit with pyrotechnics glued to his body and trailing a wiring harness  stood on a platform and waved his arms to a musical soundtrack as a he exploded in light and sound.

The Pyroman performance is not an annual event, but is tied to special occasions.  Harry's art form has evolved and his latest  performance was held on June 6, 2009 at a graduation party. For this display, Pyroman sported a flaming pinwheel affixed to his back. During the performance, he detonated some kind of fuel-air explosion of his own design which produced an impressive mushroom cloud.

His fans await his next appearance, but no one can predict when that might be.