Rasmus Nielsen was something of a body modification pioneer. Born in Denmark in the early 1870’s, and a blacksmith by trade, Rasmus had a passion for the art of tattooing. Over the span of several years, Rasmus painfully collected tattoos and eventually his collection grew so impressive that he reasoned folks would pay to look at his body.

Unfortunately for Rasmus, his timing was poor. The tattooed man was a common attraction during his era and his tattoos, while quite prolific, were not of the most exotic variety and failed to garner much attention. In order to make himself a greater draw and to distinguish himself from the ‘average’ illustrated man, he considered adding strongman feats to his repertoire. As a blacksmith, Rasmus developed formidable strength and possessed an impressive physique. However, as strongman acts were also quite common, Rasmus devised an act practically unheard of to further set himself apart. He had his nipples, nose and tongue pierced and developed enough strength, elasticity and pain tolerance to lift anvils and other heavy object from those piercings.

The act proved quite successful and his popularity began to soar. Borrowing from the tattooed men who came before him, Rasmus claimed his tattoos and talents were obtained when he was captured and tortured by tribal savages in the South Seas. These savages were apparently well traveled as a Statue of Liberty tattoo encompassed much of Rasmus’s back.

As the years progressed, so did the strength of Rasmus. The weight of his anvils changed from 50 to 100, and eventually 250 pounds. He purportedly was able to lift a 115 pound weight with one nipple and a 25 pound hammer with his tongue. Eventually, he had is neck pierced and used that to tow a cart filled with spectators or sledgehammers. He continued to use his strength to perform more traditional feats as well. At the age of 65, he appeared at the New York World’s Fair where he legitimately squatted a platform of boulders weighing 1,525.

During his long career, Rasmus was known by many names. He was ‘The Scandinavian Strongman’ and the ‘Tattooed Wonderman’ but to his friends he was simply known as ‘Tough Titty’.

Following his retirement in 1950, Rasmus Nielsen faded into obscurity. The date of his death is currently unknown.

image: courtesy of BMEzine.com

Labels: piercing, strong, talents

Yesterday I mentioned in passing that Mirin Dajo used his unique talent to turn himself into a ‘human fountain’. I would be in error if I did not mention Mortado, The Human Fountain.

Mortado actually had holes bored through his feet and hands. These holes were not traditional piercings and, while seated in a specially constructed chair, copper tubes were feed through the wounds. Water was then pumped through those pipes at high pressure and Mortado became a fountain.

Remarkably, there was no trickery in Mortado’s crucifixion-like wounds. When not seated in his chair, Mortado placed corks into his wounds to keep them from healing over. On occasion, Mortado did reenact a biblical crucifixion. After placing small bags of red fluid into his open wounds, he would then allow an assistant to drive nails into those same holes. The bags would break, the ‘blood’ would flow, and people would proceed to faint.

Not much is known of Mortado’s history. His pitch biography is mostly fictional and that makes reconstructing his true origin difficult. According to his biography he was born in Berlin and served in World War I. He first exhibited himself in Berlin in January of 1929 before meeting a New York Agent and signing a deal with Dreamland circus for their 1930 summer season. But, according to the same biography, his wounds were the result of torture at the hands of savage natives.

How Mortado got the idea for his bizarre act, how he managed to create the holes or even his eventual fate remains unknown. Mortado dropped in popularity and disappeared from public exhibition.

Mortado does live on in Ripley's Museum at Fisherman's Wharf as an exhibit featuring a statuesque fountain.

image: Mortado at Coney Island’s Dreamland Circus in 1930, from Freaks: We Who Are Not As Others by D. P. Mannix.

Sources: Sideshow World and Freaks: We Who Are Not As Others.

Labels: disfigured, piercing, unique

The video below is making the rounds again, most recently over at ModBlog. I thought I should shed some light on the persons involved before my email inbox is flooded with this link.

Warning, this is fairly graphic.



The man in the video is Dutch Fakir Mirin Dajo. He was born in 1912 as Arnold Gerrit Henskes and adopted his name, an Esperanto term that translates to mean 'wonderful'. In 1947, at the Corso Theatre in Zurich, Mirin Dajo allow an assistant to plunge a fencing foil right through his body. The foil appeared to have pierced several vital organs and yet, the fakir remained relatively unharmed.

Needless to say, people were shocked, amazed and terrified by what they saw.

As word of his remarkable talent spread, a Swiss doctor Hans Naegeli-Osjord invited Mirin Dajo to the Zurich Cantonal hospital for study. Many people, including Naegeli-Osjord, the chief of surgery Dr. Werner Brunnerand as well as several other doctors, students and members of the press witnessed these tests. All were dumbfounded by what they saw.

In front of the witnesses assembled Mirin Dajo stripped naked to the waist and, following a period of meditation, once again had his assistant plunge the steel rapier through him. He then stood for some time, impaled, while the doctors examined him.

The doctors could find no evidence of trickery but many still refused to believe what they saw. Mirin Dajo agreed to an x-ray with the foil in place. The resulting image confirmed the legitimacy of his abilities.


Later that same year, Mirin Dajo was again submitted to examination , this time in Basel. There he actually allowed the doctors themselves to pierce him. Again, there was no evidence of trickery. Not only did Mirin Dajo insist that the doctors treat him roughly, he later jogged several laps while still impaled to illustrate his complete tolerance of pain.

Mirin Dajo was a very religious man and some media outlets labeled him a 'Messiah'. According to some reports, Mirin Dajo could hear voices, a spiritual guide. His public displays were often concluded with a lecture and a message of peace.

How was Mirin Dajo able to survive this repeated trauma? Who knows. Luck, faith, unique biology, mind over matter - your guess is as good as mine. He kept performing his feat for audiences. Eventually, to prove his talent was real while on stage, he took to being impaled by three hollow skewers. He would then pump water through those skewers. He became a human fountain.

It is not uncommon for eastern fakirs to pierce themselves with swords, many of them can push swords completely through their bodies. However, the majority of them do so through the fatty and 'safe' areas their body. The piercing feats of Mirin Dajo were extreme.

It is important to note that his unique skill may have resulted in his demise on May 26, 1948. An autopsy revealed that Dajo died of an aortic rupture.

images: 1. promotional photo of Mirin Dajo - no known original source. 2. the x-ray image that shocked the medical world.

Labels: piercing, talents