When I First Looked At This Picture,

my thoughts were fake hands and feet,

but I was fooled, although little is known of Mortado’s history, he actually had holes drilled through both hands and feat and became known as Mortado, The Human Fountain, he was born in Berlin and after serving 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, 


in his act he was seated in a specially constructed chair, copper tubes were fed through the wounds, water flowed through them at a high pressure, making Mortado a “human fountain”, when he was not performing, he plugged his wounds with corks to keep them from healing,  He occasionally also performed in biblical Crucifixion reenactments, placing small “blood bags” in his wounds for realism, which his assistant would puncture when he nailed him, his eventual fate remains unknown, Mortado dropped in popularity and disappeared from public exhibition, I guess this is an example of body modification, sure had me fooled!