Raised in Seattle, The Enigma is an actor, musician and daredevil sideshow stuntman. A founder member of the Jim Rose Circus, he’s currently working with female performer Serana Rose in live freak act the Electric Acid Theatre.


Howdy Bizarre readers,

I’m probably best known for my tattooed jigsaw body suit, which has been put together by over 200 separate artists adding pieces over nearly 17 years, but I’m also riddled with holes, horns and other mad mods. I see myself as an artist, showing people how to view something they see every day – an eyebrow, a pair of lips – in a new way.

I like to push boundaries and make my mods different from what others are doing; for instance, the ‘trend’ in ear restructuring is to have the tips pointed in an elfin style, so I asked Howie from Luna Cobra studio to scalpel out deep ‘dents’ along the outer cartilage of mine to create a fringed, ‘finger’ effect instead.

The latest facial cuttings I’ve had done are unusual in their location; I’ve had crosses scalpelled over both my eyes and right across my mouth. I have quite a spiritual approach to modding and believe that every time you change your body you also change your mind, so I didn’t rush into this… but even though I felt prepared, these mods really pushed me to my physical and mental limits.

LIGHTS, CAMERA… CUT!

The procedures were carried out by scarification expert John Durante in two sessions at his warm, comfy, private Laughing Buddha studio in Seattle; these aren’t operations I’d want done at a bustling convention! As it was, people could still hear me yelping on the streets outside.

I chose a cross design partly because I knew a simple shape would heal better, especially on an area like the face that moves a lot. I feel drawn towards the ‘X’ symbol too… I’d say 80 per cent of my choice was made subconsciously and 20 per cent was because I wanted to look like a zombie!

John did my eyes first, using a technique known as ‘tissue removal’. To begin, he drew the outline of each cross on my face, then cut around the edges of each section using a scalpel. Next, he ‘pinched’ up the skin within each section using a small clamp, and cut underneath it to a depth of 1.5mm, pulling on the clamp to peel off the skin as he went.

LIP BARMY

The pain was so intense that I struggled not to pass out, but the second operation to scar my mouth was even worse. Feeling the skin ripping off my lips was horrifying, and I was zoning in and out of consciousness throughout. At the end of that long process, I sat with bandages across the lower part of my face, unable to speak as there was no mouth hole, and cried from a combination of exhaustion, physical stress and extreme emotions.

The following day, I had to change the dressing. I knew it’d be hard to keep it from sticking and tugging painfully, but I wasn’t prepared for the shock of seeing exactly how much of my mouth had been removed. For 48 hours I could only drink liquids through a straw and, for a week after that, the best I could manage was to gingerly slide a teaspoon through my scabs and scrape off bits of food with my top teeth.

It’s healed fantastically, though. I’ve now had piercings added around my mouth crosses, but I’m keeping my newly-scarred lips closed about my next project – you’ll have to wait and see!

The Electric Acid Theatre DVD is out now.  Buy it at Electricacidtheatre.com