The human pin cushion

Mirin Dajo, was born Arnold Gerrit Henske' in Rotterdam. He started out trying a career in the Beaux Arts. He headed a design firm in his twenties. During his earlier years he had had all sorts of dreams and "paranormal" experiences. It was not until he turned 33 he claimed to realize that his body was "invulnerable." As a result he left his job and went to Amsterdam. Hanging around pubs, he made money by letting people pierce his body with "dagger-like objects." He also swallowed glass and razor blades.

Notorious for his radical “body piercings” Dajo was now able to explain, or preach, his views of reality. As he saw it people should abandon the materialistic world view and accept there was a higher force, the Source. dog was using him, through his invulnerability, to show us there was something better out there. His conviction was that materialism only results in misery and war.

At that time he adopted his stage name Mirin Dajo, Esperanto for "wonder" (the right form should be: "mirindaĵo" - wonder, abstract substantive derived from adjective "mirinda" - wonderful). He saw the use of Esperanto -one language to be used around the world- as a way of uniting mankind, his primary goal. Because he needed a license to perform in public he was taken to Professor Carp, Dr. Bertholt and Dr. Stokvis of the University of Leiden. They allowed his act but not his concomitant lecture, thereby hindering the "mission" to inform the world of his message of "love and peace".

Although not as widely documented as his sword piercing feats, there were claims by his name that said his invulnerability had been proven by numerous means. In the interview by Time, he also declared his invulnerability having been tested with burning irons, boiling water and having been shot through the head from half a yard distance in two opportunities. He supported this by exhibiting two scars allegedly from the shots, one in the center of the forehead and the other above his right eye.