Zé Arigó (pseudonym of José Pedro de Freitas 18 October 1921 – 11 January 1971) was a

faith healer Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice. Believers assert that the healing ...

and proponent of

psychic surgery An alleged psychic surgeon at work Psychic surgery is a pseudoscientific medical fraud in which practitioners create the illusion of performing surgery with their bare hands and use sleight of hand, fake blood, and animal parts to convince t ...

. He claimed to have performed psychic surgery with his hands or with simple kitchen utensils while in a

mediumistic Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or spir ...

trance, therefore he was also known as the ''Surgeon of the Rusty Knife''. During his operations he supposedly embodied the spirit of Dr. Adolf Fritz.

Biography

Zé Arigó was born José Pedro de Freitas on a farm located 6 kilometers from Congonhas do Campo, in the state of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

, Brazil. His family was very poor and he could only study up to the third grade of school. At the age of 14 he began working at a

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

where he worked for 6 years. According to his autobiography, around 1950 he began to suffer from strong

headache Headache is the symptom of pain in the face, head, or neck. It can occur as a migraine, tension-type headache, or cluster headache. There is an increased risk of depression in those with severe headaches. Headaches can occur as a result ...

insomnia Insomnia, also known as sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder in which people have trouble sleeping. They may have difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep as long as desired. Insomnia is typically followed by daytime sleepiness, low energy, ...

trances ''Trances'' is the second album by the American ambient musician Robert Rich. Like his first album '' Sunyata'', this album consists of slow, textural drone music. In 1994 this album was bound with Rich's third album, '' Drones'', on the two-di ...

, and

hallucination A hallucination is a perception in the absence of an external stimulus that has the qualities of a real perception. Hallucinations are vivid, substantial, and are perceived to be located in external objective space. Hallucination is a combinatio ...

s. One day he felt that the voice that had been pursuing him took over his body, and he had a vision of a bald man, dressed in a white apron and supervising a team of doctors and nurses in an enormous operating room. This entity identified itself as "Dr. Fritz." After claiming to have channeled Dr. Fritz, Arigó began to perform operations using scalpels and needles. His reputation soared and spread throughout Brazil after it was alleged that he had removed a

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

ous

tumor A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...

from the

lung The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans and most other animals, including some snails and a small number of fish. In mammals and most other vertebrates, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of t ...

of a well-known Brazilian senator. Over the next twenty years, thousands of people who mistrusted traditional

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

, or had not found help in it, came to Congonhas in search of a cure. In 1956 Arigó was convicted of illegally practicing medicine. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison, but was pardoned by President of Brazil

Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira (; 12 September 1902 – 22 August 1976), also known by his initials JK, was a prominent Brazilian politician who served as the 21st president of Brazil from 1956 to 1961. His term was marked by economic prosp ...

. In 1962 he was arrested and held for seven months for practicing medicine without a license. However, he was allowed to continue treating people while held in jail. Arigó died in 1971 in an automobile accident.

Critical reception

Magician and skeptic

James Randi James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician, author and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. Rodrigues 2010p. ...

considered the psychic surgery of Arigó to be the result of

sleight of hand Sleight of hand (also known as prestidigitation or ''legerdemain'' ()) refers to fine motor skills when used by performing artists in different art forms to entertain or manipulate. It is closely associated with close-up magic, card magic, card ...

trickery. Randi published a photograph of himself performing a knife stunt that Arigó was alleged to have performed. Skeptical investigator

Joe Nickell Joe Nickell (born December 1, 1944) is an American skeptic and investigator of the paranormal. Nickell is senior research fellow for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and writes regularly for their journal, ''Skeptical Inquirer''. He is als ...

has written that Arigó "prescribed various potions and concoctions that obviously depended for their effectiveness on the placebo effect. His prescriptions were filled at the only pharmacy in town run by the amateur doctor's brother. By such means were Arigo's alleged 'miracle healings' actually performed." Philosopher and skeptic

Robert Todd Carroll Robert Todd Carroll (May 18, 1945 – August 25, 2016) was an American author, philosopher and academic, best known for The Skeptic's Dictionary. He described himself as a naturalist, an atheist, a materialist, a metaphysical libertarian, and ...

, author of ''

The Skeptic's Dictionary ''The Skeptic's Dictionary'' is a collection of cross-referenced skeptical essays by Robert Todd Carroll, published on his website skepdic.com and in a printed book. The skepdic.com site was launched in 1994 and the book was published in 2003 wi ...

'', considered Arigó to be a

hoax A hoax is a widely publicized falsehood so fashioned as to invite reflexive, unthinking acceptance by the greatest number of people of the most varied social identities and of the highest possible social pretensions to gull its victims into pu ...

er.

Martin Gardner Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of Lewis ...

withdrew his book in protest to its publisher, Crowell-Collier, publishing

John G. Fuller John Grant Fuller, Jr. (November 30, 1913 – November 7, 1990) was a New England-based American author of several nonfiction books and newspaper articles, mainly focusing on the theme of extraterrestrials and the supernatural. For many years ...

's book ''Arigo''.

Alan Arkin Alan Wolf Arkin (born March 26, 1934) is an American actor, director and screenwriter known for his performances on stage and screen. Throughout his career spanning over six decades, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award ...

writes of the influence his knowledge of Arigó had on a specific time in his life in his book, ''Out Of My Mind:(Not Quite a Memoir).'' Arkin, Alan (2020) ''Out Of My Mind:(Not Quite a Memoir).'' ''Viva Editions'' pp. 18-25. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Out-of-My-Mind/Alan-Arkin/9781632280732

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arigo, Jose 1921 births 1971 deaths Brazilian spiritual mediums Channellers Faith healers Psychic surgeons Recipients of Brazilian presidential pardons Road incident deaths in Brazil

Biography

Critical reception

See also

References

Further reading

External links