Nana's Stories: George, the Hypnotist, and the Mysterious Black Goat
Extraordinary tales passed down through generations of our family
By Ovi Catanescu, with additional memories from Adrian Catanescu
When my brother Adi and I were children in Brăila, Nana was one of the most important people in our lives. She was a strong, sturdy woman in her early sixties who lived with us, shared our bed and defended us against everyone, including our own mother.
Nana was our grandmother Ica's aunt. She had married a sailor when she was young, but he left on one of his voyages and never returned. She never discovered what had happened to him and never remarried.
She also loved reading to us. Since she didn't have eyeglasses, she used a lens taken from an old slide projector, which she affectionately called her ochean. She used it as a magnifying glass to enlarge the letters and make reading easier.
Whenever she wanted to read us a story, she would ask:
"Have you seen my ochean? Does anyone know where my ochean is?"
At night, before we went to sleep, she entertained us with family stories and made us practice addition and recite our multiplication tables until we fell asleep.
Among her most extraordinary stories were those about her older brother George.
George Graminopol
According to our family stories, George was an exceptionally intelligent and educated man who had studied in France. He returned to Romania accompanied by a Frenchwoman and was known for his elegant appearance, particularly the joben, or top hat, that he wore.
His father, Graminopol, had owned an old inn known as Hanul lui Conachi, which he reportedly lost while gambling.
There was also an unusual story surrounding George's baptism. According to the account passed down through the family, Graminopol had insisted that his son be baptized in mare's milk.
But perhaps the most remarkable thing about George was his knowledge of hypnosis and the numerous stories surrounding him that our family considered paranormal.
The Little Girl at the Keyhole
When Nana and her sister Babaca were very young, George was already considerably older than they were.
One day, he was working alone in his room when the two little girls decided to spy on him through the keyhole.
George noticed them and warned them to leave him alone, threatening to punish them if they continued.
Nana became frightened and immediately moved away from the door. But Babaca wasn't so easily intimidated. She remained glued to the keyhole, determined to see what her older brother was doing.
George didn't even bother to come out of his room.
According to Nana, he hypnotized Babaca right through the door, making her press her palms together as though she were praying.
Suddenly, she discovered that she couldn't separate her hands!
No matter how hard she tried, her palms remained firmly pressed together.
Terrified, Babaca ran to her mother, begging for help.
Only after their mother intervened did George release her from what Nana described as the hypnotic spell.
For Nana, who had witnessed the incident, it was an experience she would remember for the rest of her life.
Many years later, she was still telling Adi and me about that extraordinary afternoon.
The Mysterious Black Goat
Another extraordinary story about George was passed down to Nana by her mother, Catrina, who had heard it directly from him.
One evening, George had visited an establishment resembling a cabaret, where women danced onstage while customers talked and enjoyed their drinks.
George hadn't been drinking that evening.
When he decided to leave, he hired a horse-drawn carriage to take him home.
During the journey, the horse suddenly stopped and refused to move.
The coachman tried everything he could to persuade the animal to continue, but nothing worked.
Then, out of nowhere, a black billy goat appeared.
The goat jumped directly into the carriage and settled on the seat opposite George.
The animal stared insistently into his eyes.
George later described to his mother the goat's strange rectangular pupils and the unsettling way it had looked at him. He couldn't escape its penetrating stare.
As soon as the goat entered the carriage, the horse began moving again, as though nothing unusual had happened.
They continued their journey until they reached a barrier, where the horse stopped once more.
The black goat jumped out of the carriage and disappeared into the darkness.
But it left something behind.
Its powerful, unpleasant smell lingered inside the carriage long after the mysterious animal had vanished.
According to Nana, the black goat was no ordinary animal.
She was convinced it was the Devil himself.
Whether the incident happened exactly as George described it, we cannot know. But the details of the goat's penetrating stare, its rectangular pupils and the smell it left behind made the story particularly memorable.
The Barber-Shop Demonstration
George's reputation as a hypnotist apparently extended beyond his own family. Adi remembers another story Nana told about an incident at a barber shop.
One day, George went to have his hair cut or his beard trimmed. While he was there, another customer began making rude remarks about his appearance and the way he dressed.
George decided to teach the man a lesson.
According to the family story, he hypnotized the customer and persuaded him to eat cotton wool from a jar belonging to the barber.
The man began eating the cotton, convinced that he was enjoying a delicious serving of potatoes.
He even insisted that the potatoes were exceptionally tasty!
After this extraordinary demonstration, people reportedly began to fear George and his unusual abilities.
A Man Surrounded by Mystery
According to the stories Catrina passed down to her children, George was a man associated with many strange and seemingly inexplicable events.
His education in France, his elegant appearance, his knowledge of hypnosis and the extraordinary stories surrounding him made him a fascinating figure in our family history.
There were apparently other incidents involving George that Adi and I have yet to reconstruct.
What I find particularly remarkable is how these stories have survived.
George told his mother about the mysterious goat. His mother passed the story to Nana. Nana told it to Adi and me when we were little boys in Brăila.
And now, more than sixty years later, Adi and I are comparing our memories and putting the stories back together.
I can still picture Nana searching for her beloved ochean so she could read to us.
And I can still remember falling asleep beside her, listening to stories about extraordinary people who belonged to our family.
Perhaps some details have changed as the stories passed from one generation to another. But the memories of Nana telling them have remained with us.
And through those memories, her voice lives on.
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