ARLINGTON, Va. -- Braco stares. He gazes. Silently. He gets paid $8 to do it for some 10 minutes at a time in hotel meeting rooms.
Friday, Saturday and Sunday, he'll be staring at the Sheraton in Crystal City.
What is supposed to happen as a result of all this looking? Here's what Braco says on his website:
While Braco doesn’t call himself a healer, hundreds of thousands around the world do.
The reported transformations and healings are often medically and even intellectually unexplainable, yet undeniably miraculous. Reams of documentation recount stories of countless souls remarkably and often spontaneously changed by standing before Braco’s silent gaze -- and not just physical healings, but emotional, spiritual, mental, and interpersonal healings, too.
A man reportedly came out of a coma upon being played a Braco DVD. A promotional video features many followers who attest to experiencing healing miracles, and one who claims to have seen Braco shape-shift. (Disappointingly, this follower does not say what shape Braco shifted into.)
Yes, there are skeptics. There are those who say that Braco is a charlatan. They are refuted by others who believe that for the low low price of $8 per session, it's almost beside the point if Braco is or isn't able to heal.
We prefer the thoughts of those who comment on ARLnow.com, which tipped us off to Braco's arrival in the D.C. area:
I also used to gaze at rooms full of people at a Crystel City hotel. Then I was arrested.
This is probably the most interesting event happening in Crystal City this weekend.
He ought to stare at the Artisphere.
As with so many unexplained things in the universe, Braco says his healing gaze is a "a beautiful mystery here that reaches beyond the current understandings and conventions of what is logically possible."
Less mysterious -- he also says he's got an advanced degree in economics -- is the Braco line of 14-karat gold jewelry.
Another unexplained mystery: the U.S. immigration system. Braco, who is Croatian, says on his website that in 2010, he granted an "an Extraordinary Talent Visa by the U.S. Immigration Department" -- the same visa recently granted to a Canadian nude model.