Skip to main content

Fakirs

The Fakir tradition as it relates to performing is a very old one, and typically includes acts that bring peril to the physical body. Examples are bed of nails, human pincushion, fire-eating, and sword swallowing. The word fakir comes from the Arabic word faqīr, which literally means “poor man,” and encompass the spiritual disregard for pain and body harm. For our usage Fakir acts are those performed in sideshow, and linked mainly to the Fakir traditions of India, and more specifically of Hindu religious ascetics that go by names such as gosvāmin, sadhu, and bhikku. The exoticism and danger of these acts have kept them popular for thousands of years in the East,, and for hundreds of years within the Western tradition of showmanship and extreme performance.

Performers in this category:

Goldie

Blacaman

Rasmus Nielsen

Mortado

Captain Ringman Mach

Habu

Tanit-Ikao

Singlee

Related Member-Only Images

THE FULL CONTENT IS RESTRICTED TO SUBSCRIBERS

Join now or LOG IN to view the entire image and any interior or verso images, you won’t be disappointed!

BECOME A MEMBER

Goldie “The Man Who Was Crucified”

Added Oct 12 2024

Goldie “The Man Who Was Crucified”

Added Oct 12 2024

Blacaman With Lions

Added May 19 2024

Rasmus Nielsen “Lifting 250 lbs. By His Breasts”

Added Jul 2 2023

The Great Nippulini

Added Jul 1 2023

Mortado “The Human Fountain”

Added Jun 26 2023

Fakir Kammamuri

Added Jun 25 2023

Captain Ringman Mach “European-American-Australian Artist”

Added Jun 25 2023

Fakir Tarano

Added Jun 25 2023

Capt. Ringman Mach “American Athlete”

Added Jun 25 2023

Captain Ringman Mack

Added Jun 25 2023

Captain Ringman Mack

Added Jun 25 2023

Captain Ringman Mach

Added Jun 25 2023

Captain Ringman Mach

Added Jun 25 2023

Captain Ringman Mach

Added Jun 25 2023

Mr. Rannow “The Steel Skinned Man”

Added Jun 24 2023

screen_shot_2018-05-19_at_6

Habu “The Man With The Iron Tongue” As Cartooned by Robert Ripley

Added May 20 2018

Habu “The Man With The Iron Tongue”

Added May 19 2018

Habu “The Man With The Iron Tongue”

Added May 19 2018

Habu “The Man With The Iron Tongue” In Dreamland

Added May 19 2018

Habu, The Man With The Iron Tongue, In Dreamland

Added May 19 2018

freetanitikao

Tanit-Ikao and One of Her Deadly Snakes

Added Apr 18 2016

Haji-Ali “Persian Wonderful Working Most Mysterious Man In the World.”

Added Apr 16 2016

J & G Hagenbeck’s Sword Swallowers & Jugglers

Added Jan 4 2016

Tanit-Ikao “The Great Woman Indian Fakir” 3-Color Pitchbook (10 Pages)

Added Jan 9 2015

womanfakirgreat_britain1939

Koringa “Female Fakir”

Added Sep 12 2014

An American Sadhu with Monkey

Added Jul 20 2014

Free Images

Robert Ripley Advertises Old Gold Cigarettes

Added August 3, 2025

Dolly Dutton’s Sheet Music

Added May 31, 2025

Wonderland Circus Sideshow, Coney Island

Added December 31, 2024

1893 Newspaper Advertisement For The Tocci Brothers and Chevalier Cliquot

Added March 30, 2024

1893 Newspaper Advertisement For The Tocci Brothers and Chevalier Cliquot

Added March 30, 2024

HORROR STORIES Pulp Cover Two-Headed Girl (December 1940)

Added January 28, 2024

Baby Irene “Fat Lady” Cashes In On Laughs (1950)

Added December 26, 2023

1937 Philadelphia Store Show Facade

Added July 22, 2023

Mr. & Mrs. Chauncy Morlan at Huber’s 14th Street Museum

Added July 21, 2023

Hulett Pest Control Spokesmen, Dwarfs John and Greg Rice

Added January 31, 2023