I was attracted to the idea of a Jacob's ladder as well. I beat some copper wire as flat as I could, borrowed my cousin's Model T ignition coil, and powered it with my Lionel train transformer (cranked all the way up, natch). Well, the arc just wasn't long enough, only about an inch or so.

Then I chanced on the possesion of a burned out incandesent street light, 'bout eight inches in diameter. I connected one side of the T coil to both contacts on the lamp base, and the other side to a wire wrapped round the widest part of the bulb. When turned on it was GREAT! I called in friends, got around on the other side to show it off, leaned over to adjust the transformer and put my hand in the middle of the loop.

Woke up on the other side of the room.

Al Hildenbrand