My dad said that when he was a teenager, he and his buddies could kill a 6 cylinder car engine by spreading their fingers out over the plugs. This would have been in the 40's.

He said he could do it, but one day when he was leaning over the fender and laid his hands on the plugs, well, a spark jumped from a spot "kind of tender" to the fender. [sm=omg_smile.gif] He never tried it again.