Count Ostoja Rises from his Grave

Count Ostoja with skewers through his tongue and palm

“1926 – Burial of Polish mystic and chicken mesmerizer Count R. Ostoja, sponsored by Santa Ana Junior Chamber of Commerce. Time and place to be announced. The Count is not dead – yet.”   

-Jim Sleeper. “Curious County Calendar of Weird Events,” Jim Sleeper’s Orange County Almanac of Historical Oddities (3rd edition)

If that blurb isn’t Uncle Jim challenging us to (ahem) dig up the rest of the story, I don’t know what is. 

And what a challenge! Almost everything ever printed about Mieszko Roman Maszerek Maszerski (a.k.a. Count Roman Ostoja) requires an asterisk and a large grain of salt. But here’s the story as best as I can currently determine it,...

Mieszko Roman Maszerek Maszerski was born on August 16, 1887 – supposedly in Lodz, Poland. He later claimed that in his youth he discovered his ability to read minds. He also professed to having earned a medical degree and studying psychology. 

Rabbits and chickens don't mezmerize themselves, you know.

According to a 1958 UPI article for which Maszerski/Ostoja was interviewed, he was the "son of a famous Polish general. His father had been executed in the first World War, and his mother had given him money and sent him to India. There he found a guru who took him into the Himalayas and taught him the ancient yogi secrets. ...He came to [the U.S.] at the invitation of . . . Dr. William McDougall, then a Harvard University psychologist, to lecture on auto-suggestion, hypnosis and telepathy."

Among other things, McDougall studied psychic powers, was a proponent of animism and eugenics, and was instrumental in making parapsychology a discipline in U.S. universities.

Maszerski/Ostoja first arrived in the United States in or around 1923. After his time with McDougall was done, he settled briefly in Cleveland, Ohio. He then returned to Poland for a short time and perfected the schtick that would be his bread and butter from then on. He toured Europe and demonstrated his supposed mystical abilities before audiences.

The old Mount Washington Hotel became the Self-Realization Fellowship headquarters

He officially immigrated to the U.S. in 1925 and took his act on the road, travelling throughout the country. This time he settled in Los Angeles where he studied with Swami Paramahansa Yogananda, who was a Hindu monk, a yogi (teacher), the "Father of Yoga in the West," and the founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship. 

Somewhere along the way, Maszerski began claiming he was a Polish nobleman and calling himself Count Roman Miesko Ostoja Maszerski, which was often shortened to “Count Roman Ostoja.” He would later make Roman Ostoja his legal name. 

The Clan Ostoja were powerful knights and lords in medieval Eastern Europe and continued to maintain some of their aristocratic clout into the 20th Century. So, like the title of “Count,” the surname Ostoja further underscored his assumed noble roots. That said, he occasionally skipped the nobility routine and used the stage name “Notre Damus” – an attempt to take on the mystic mantle of the 14th Century French seer “Nostradamus.” Never pitched as entertainment, but more like an educational Chautauqua program, Ostoja’s “show” primarily toured the West Coast. Although not a large man, this muscular, dark-eyed, and exotically-accented purveyor of woo-woo had an impressive stage presence.

The site of Ostoja's 1926 Santa Ana burial would become the site of the Santora Building (1929)

At 1:31 p.m. on October 11, 1926, at an event sponsored by the Santa Ana Junior Chamber of Commerce, Ostoja "cast himself into a catacleptic trance" and was buried about six feet deep in a wooden coffin (loaned by Winbigler's Mission funeral home) in a vacant lot on the northeast corner of 2nd Street and Broadway. (Ground would be broken on that lot for the Santora Building in 1928.) A crowd of several thousand gathered to watch the proceedings. A team of Santa Ana's best-known physicians, including Dr. C.D. Ball and R. A. Cushman, were on hand to observe the entire process. Ostoja was disinterred two hours later with only a racing pulse (176 beats per minute) to show for his ordeal. If anyone figured out the trick, they were good enough sports not to announce it to the media.

 Ostoja then described the sensation of being "dead" to the audience. He then stuck pins through his cheeks, supposedly using his force of will and powers of concentration to keep himself from bleeding. He claimed he could locate hidden articles while in a hypnotic state. He also offered to tell the directors of the Jaycees the dates they would each die, but everyone passed on the offer. 

Ostoja followed up his public feats by appearing that night at the Junior Chamber's regular meeting at Ketner's Cafe and by putting on a performance the following week at the West Coast-Walker Theater.

Ad from the Santa Ana Register, Oct. 15, 1926

A December 1953 article about Ostoja in the sensational Fate Magazine (a pulp dedicated to the paranormal), entitled “Man of Miracles,” described and exaggerated Ostoja’s buried alive trick, claiming that he’d remain buried for multiple days “to prove that man can survive for long periods of time in a state of suspended animation without air, food or water.” 

Actually, the period he remained buried (assuming he actually was) was usually more like three hours. 

According to Fate, Ostoja would always begin by going into a hypnotic state, where “During the process he turned his tongue backward and swallowed it, so as to allow no air to enter and leave is lungs.” Supposedly, physicians would then verify that he had no pulse.

Ostoja about to be placed in his "grave" by local businessmen

Apparently, in later years, Leo Tolstoy and his wife Sophia witnessed one of these demonstrations, but after an hour Sophia insisted they dig Ostoja up. Sure enough, he was about to suffocate. 

Hobnobbing with celebrities became a habit for Ostoja, beginning with famous muckraker Upton Sinclair.

By 1928, he was hanging around with Sinclair so often that the author called Ostoja "practically a member of our family." Ostoja even appeared as the character Jan in Mental Radio, Sinclair’s book about his wife’s Mary’s experiments in telepathy. This notoriety put him on the radar of even more notable personalities, including Tolstoy.

Ostoja with Tolstoy. (Oy, such a headache!)

Ostoja returned to Orange County in March 1928, possibly stumping for his new book, Mind Made Visible, published and with a foreword by Mary Sinclair. While here, he gave two demonstrations of his uncanny abilities at the Santa Ana Ebell Clubhouse. 

"Ancient teachings of the Hindu masters demonstrated," claimed a 1928 newspaper ad. "The science of mental healing and bodily control fully explained. The sick are invited to come and be relieved."

Most of the program time was taken up with a lecture about his psychological theories. But a film of his earlier 1926 Santa Ana "buried alive" stunt was shown. Then he eventually got around to mind reading and faith healing. He followed it up by mesmerizing a chicken and a rabbit, and by lying on a bed of nails while a 230-pount man stood on his chest. It was not high-water mark for the otherwise education-focused Ebell Club.

Santa Ana Valley Ebell Club, Santa Ana, circa 1930s

In any case, with his growing number of celebrity friends and contacts, Ostoja had bigger plans than staying on the (mesmerized) rubber chicken circuit forever. He would peddle his hokum to more influential folks than the Jaycees and Ebell Clubs.  

In 1931, Albert Einstein was in Los Angeles to visit the Mount Wilson Observatory and the Sinclairs talked him and several other prominent scientists into attending a séance conducted by Ostoja. Other invitees included Richard Tolman, who would soon become chief scientific adviser to the Manhattan Project; and Caltech professor of theoretical physics Paul Epstein. Sinclair hoped to convince these skeptical men of science of his open-minded brand of spiritualism.

The Fate Magazine article described the demonstration, stating that “a chair rose to the ceiling, books flew out of a bookcase, and some of the participants had their faces slapped and their hair pulled.”

Part of a booklet promoting "Mind Made Visible" programs

According to George Pendle – author the biography of rocket scientist John Parsons, Strange Angel – the event actually went quite differently. 

“Ostoja went into a cataleptic trance and began mumbling incomprehensible words,” wrote Pendle, telling the tale as it was recalled by Einstein’s secretary, Helen Dukas. “Each of the guests was invited to ask him questions. Silence fell, the table shook, and then . . . nothing happened. Sinclair was distraught. He grumbled about non-believers being present at the table.”

By 1934 Ostoja was on the road with his show as "Dr. Yogi Roman Ostoja, Ph. D.," which was sponsored by Swami Yogananda. At the time, Ostoja was said to oversee the Healing Department at the Swami’s Self Realization Fellowship. He continued to tour the West Coast throughout the 1930s and 1940s. 

In December 1935, Ostoja married Anna Melnik in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

Roman Ostoja

By 1936 Ostoja had given himself another promotion and was introducing himself as the "Rev. Dr. Roman Ostoja, Great Western Master of the Ordeal of the Orient,” and “the only white Yogi in America.” Americans’ fascination with and reverence for European counts, dukes and dauphins had faded. But being a “doctor” in the age of science was a boon to his credibility.

He settled in Hollywood in the late 1930s, filed for divorce from Anna in December 1938, and became a naturalized citizen on April 28, 1939 at which point he officially changed his legal name from Mieszko Roman Maszerek Maszerski to Roman Ostoja.

Around the same time, he founded the Institute of Infinite Science, Inc., located at 2414 W. 7th Street in Hollywood. He described Infinite Science as "the quintessence of all science, scripture, philosophy, psychology and religion."

Cover of 1940s promotional pamphlet

He offered a variety of nonmedical healing at the Institute and became well-known for curing all manner of ailments. He primarily presented himself as a Westernized yogi, combining the teachings of the East with the new Western psychology, thus providing a form of Hinduism more palatable to modern Westerners. He shared his healing techniques with students as an integral part of his spiritual and metaphysical teachings.

The teachings of Ostoja combined the yoga teachings of Yogananda with New Thought metaphysics. The object was, he said, to produce through concentration and will power, “both self-mastery and the identity of the deepest level of the self with the Infinite One, Mind, Self of All, God.” 

According to the Encyclopedia of American Religions, Ostoja “taught the yoga disciplines, especially pranayama (breathing) for the development of the will and the use of suggestion and autosuggestion as a means of projecting ideas into the mind. Once in the mind, ideas could be a force for good, such as controlling the body in the cure and prevention of disease.”

Ads in the Los Angeles Times, Oct. 25, 1947

In mid-January 1946, Ostoja made the news when Miss Louise Hunt, his part-time secretary at the Institute (or “Infinite Science cult” as the Los Angeles Times called it), asked him to “make her into a jungle woman” so that she would live in the wild. Apparently, Ostoja was trying to dissuade Hunt when she pulled out a .25-caliber pistol and shot herself in the head. She went to the hospital in critical condition. Although it’s unclear if Hunt survived, her home was being advertised as vacant and for rent just a couple weeks later. Ostoja was not charged with any wrongdoing.

The 1950 U.S. Census shows Ostoja living in Los Angeles with three younger, unmarried, female lodgers: Sophie Peterson, 48; Hazel Favot, 40; and Dorothea Zaph, 24.

As the last vestiges of the traveling show and vaudeville era gave way to television, Ostoja altered his act accordingly. Being buried alive for hours, for instance, wasn’t a trick well suited to a broadcast studio or a five-minute segment of a thirty-minute variety show. Although he continued to tour, his act had to evolve if he wanted a larger audience.

Ostoja lying on a bed of nails

By 1957 he was lying on swords while people dropped boulders on him, walking on hot coals, jamming hat pins through his tongue and palm without blood or pain, and visiting other planets while in a trance. "The people of Mars are not little green men," he said. "They are taller than we. And the people of Venus are round, how shall I say, plump." 

He also encouraged the drinking coffee and the smoking of cigarettes, saying they both "have vitamin B-12." (Both of these assertions are patently false.)

By then, Ostoja claimed he’d been buried for up to fourteen consecutive days with no ill effect. He also claimed he had shared or taught his mystical skills to 250,000 people, including such celebrities as Leopold Stokowski, Aldous Huxley, Dick Powell, Joan Blondell, Lana Turner, Anna May Wong. 

Promotion of Ostoja, focused on his links to Hollywood stars.

His TV appearances increased is fame, which meant more and better bookings for in-person appearances. These appearances, in turn, increased his visibility with television executives looking for something interesting to broadcast. He became, as one newspaper columnist put it, one of the “most popular cosmic consultants” in showbiz.

Ostoja played Carnegie Hall on Oct. 27 and 28, 1958, where he ate glass, walked barefoot on broken glass, was "hit over his stomach with a 40-pound sledgehammer," and performed other amazing feats. Among the attendees was Tonight Show host Jack Paar, who was a fan and had showcased Ostoja on his program. 

By the late 1950s and early 1960s, Ostoja was putting on performances all over the United States an even in Canada. Appeared on Steve Allen's show in August 1964, firewalking. His billing was last after a Beatles spoof by Santa Ana's John Raitt and Cliff "Charley Weaver" Arquette.

From the Belleville News Democrat, Jan. 3, 1958

But for all his fame, the Air Force was underwhelmed with his offer to train future astronauts how to "withstand the emotional and physical stress of rocket flight into outer space, and also to be able to go without nourishment, if necessary." Nonetheless, the offer got him more media attention.

Around the peak of his fame, in 1964, Ostoja seemed to largely disappear from public view.

Despite all his mystical powers, he died June 9, 1974 in Los Angeles County. The Institute of Infinite Science disappeared. But for many years, Ostoja Laboratories of Reseda, California, continued to make and sell a Peruvian tree oil healing balm developed by the yogi. He also left behind an assortment of books and booklets, including Mind Made Visible (1928), Body and Mind Control (1949), and A New Revolutionary Way of Eating (1954), -- all of which sell for remarkable prices on eBay today.

And despite the many times his burials were covered in the press, the whereabout of Ostoja’s actual mortal remains are unknown. Perhaps he will appear at a séance or through a Ouija bord someday. Or perhaps he’ll claw his way out of whatever grave he’s in – fresh as a daisy and awaiting another round of applause.