Abbé Faria – The Father of Hypnotism

A statue of Abbé Faria hypnotising a woman.

An interesting fact is that hypnotism, as we know it today, was started by a Goan named Custodio Faria (nicknamed Abbé).  He believed that by talking to humans in a special way you could get them to enter a sleep-like state.  Once in this state you could suggest things for them to do, and they would do them (cluck like a chicken, pretend you’re a dog, that sort of stuff).  Custodio didn’t stay in Goa long, his interest in magic and hypnotism saw him travel the world.  His dark and mysterious ways made him very popular with royalty around Europe, and everyone wanted him as a friend.

In Goa his fame and legend live on in the form of a copper statue that sits in a little square next to a government building.  The statue is quite spooky and captures Abbé’s intensity and power.  In it he is standing over a woman who he is about to hypnotise.  His arms are stretched out and his eyes are staring deeply at the woman who has fallen to the ground.  It is so realistic and conveys such emotion it looks like it is about to come to life.  If it did come to life, what do you think Abbé and the woman might say?

So the next time you watch a magic show where someone in the audience is hypnotised, you will be watching the lessons that Abbe Faria passed down from his experience as the world’s first hypnotist.