Svetlhdm at 12:22, 8 December 2025

2025-12-08T12:22:31Z

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{{Short description|American hippie (1924–2010)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Eight Finger Eddie
| image = Eight Finger Eddie.jpg
| caption =
| birth_name = Yertward Mazamanian
| birth_place = [[Boston, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| birth_date = {{birth date|1924|3|8}}
| death_date = {{dda|2010|10|18|1924|3|8}}
| death_place = [[Goa]], India
| occupation = {{hlist|Businessman|bass player}}
| resting_place = [[Anjuna]], Goa, India
}}

'''Yertward Mazamanian''' (March 8, 1924 – October 18, 2010), better known as '''Eight Finger Eddie''', was an American businessman and former bass player. A [[hippie]], he was credited with popularizing the coastal state of [[Goa]], India as a hippie destination from the mid-1960s onward.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Earthman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x_LbjgEACAAJ|title=Eight Finger Eddie: The Hippie History of Goa and Kathmandu|date=2015-12-11|publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform|isbn=978-1-5176-3442-1|language=en}}</ref>

==Early life==
Mazamanian was born with only three fingers on his right hand, and was one of seven children of Armenian immigrants from [[Istanbul]] who apparently settled near [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]]. In his memoirs, he claimed to have been a [[Scout (Scouting)|Boy Scout]], a regular churchgoer and an "honors student" at school.<ref name=":0" />

==Career==
During [[World War II]], he convinced an [[United States Army|Army]] psychiatrist that he was unfit for military service, and worked for a while for the [[General Electric Company plc|General Electric Company]] before being fired. He later wrote:<ref name=telegraph>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8097614/Eight-Finger-Eddie.html Obituary, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 29 October 2010]</ref>

<blockquote>I abhor work, begrudging every moment I've wasted as a wage earner. My aim in life is to get through life doing what I want to do.</blockquote>

He performed occasionally as a [[Double bass|bass]] player in jazz bands, consumed large quantities of [[Prohibition of drugs|illegal drugs]], married, and divorced, before moving to [[Southern California]] around 1950. In the 1950s, he lived for a time in [[Mexico]], and in the early 1960s was based in [[Copenhagen]], traveling to [[Spain]], [[Morocco]] and elsewhere with friends in a [[camper van]]. Around 1964 he made his first trip to [[Iran]], [[India]] and [[Nepal]], eventually settling for a period at [[Colva]] in Goa. Around 1966, he settled at [[Anjuna]] beach in Goa, at that time "a tiny hamlet with a few tea stalls and houses dotting a pristine sandy beach".<ref name=ap>[https://web.archive.org/web/20101031095325/http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gGTqHupYvRUlfX-p2M6pHONNlVpQ?docId=31013082db644eb09c6511326f76134d Associated Press, ''Goa's hippie pioneer dies in India's tourism mecca'']</ref> Mazamanian once stated:<ref name=telegraph/>

<blockquote>I was the first [[freak]] in Goa. I turned up and liked it so much, I just wanted to stay. And then others started coming. In those days, they came overland from Europe in camper vans and no one had any money ...</blockquote>

He started a soup kitchen at Anjuna, to assist the growing numbers of western travelers who came to the area as a final stopping place on the "[[hippie trail]]", and, in 1975, set up a [[flea market]] mainly for the foreign hippies wanting to barter their unwanted possessions and "hang out". The presence of Eddie and his companions was tolerated by locals, who would watch as the visitors "consulted the ''[[I Ching]]'', performed [[yoga|yogic exercises]], sucked earnestly on [[hashish]] pipes or argued over the true meaning of [[Bob Dylan]]'s [[Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands]]."<ref name=telegraph/> Local writer Dominic Fernandes commented that "[T]hey were in love with this place. And we fell in love with them, because of the way they lived."<ref name=ap/>

Apart from regular visits to [[Kathmandu]], and to [[Bombay]] to renew his American passport, Eight Finger Eddie remained in Goa for the remainder of his life. The area gradually became a top tourist destination with hotels and [[casino]]s catering for a commercial tourist market quite different from its origins in the 1960s and 1970s. The market at Anjuna itself turned into a thriving retail center. In 1991, he commented:<ref name=ap/>

<blockquote>Some people say it's not like it used to be, and it's not. But I like it here now. I like the parties. And I like the music. It's good to dance to.</blockquote>

==Illness and death==
When he became ill, a Norwegian journalist, Øystein Krogsrud, launched a campaign to raise money for his medical bills. After his death, he was [[cremation|cremated]] according to [[Hindu]] rites, and his ashes scattered at Anjuna.<ref name=ap/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://gatelessgate.wordpress.com/category/8-finger-eddie/ 2008 interview at GateLessGate Magazine]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mazamanian, Yertward}}
[[Category:1924 births]]
[[Category:2010 deaths]]
[[Category:American people of Armenian descent]]
[[Category:Hippies]]
[[Category:Place of birth missing]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Mexico]]
[[Category:American expatriate musicians in Denmark]]
[[Category:American expatriates in India]]

Eight Finger Eddie - Revision history

Svetlhdm at 12:22, 8 December 2025