the 16th century was when traveling freak shows first became popular
so over the centuries they have produced many dark and
interesting stories of freaks and their life on the road
its might sound harsh to call them freaks but we live in a different
era now and there is really no other word for them
so from the pig-face lady to the Elephant Man these are the 10 most
shocking
old freak acts
born in 1880 Minnie Woolsey he was billed under the name 'koo koo the bird girl'
suffering from a very rare skeletal disorder she had a small head
and now we face she also had no teeth or hair
and his thought to have been completely blind
when performing she would wear a
Native American costume and speak in a made-up language
she didn't seem to do much other than dance around covered in feathers
but she was so well respected that she featured in the film freaks
a film that was banned in the UK for thirty years
like most traveling freaks her background is very mysterious
the only thing we know about her early life is that she was rescued from a
mental asylum
we also don't know when she died but she was still performing in 1960
maybe she's still alive today traveling the world with the circus
aged 135
born in 1870 Ella Harper was an icon of freak culture
people traveled from all over the world to see the deformed woman known
as camel girl
her knees were bent backwards which forced her to walk on all fours
and she earned two hundred dollars a week for performing
which was a helluva lot for the 19th century
in 1886 he stated that she aims
to leave the freak show business and pursue education
she disappeared from the business soon after. Records of her later life a hard
to find
but according to the 1920 census, she was living in Nashville
when she died one year later
born in 1901 schlitzie the pinhead became world famous for his role in the
film freaks
having spent his entire life is a sideshow performer
he was known for his tiny head and lack of height. He was just four feet tall
he was short-sighted and suffered from mental retardation
he was said to be as intelligent as a three-year-old and could only form basic
sentences
he was usually billed as the last the Aztecs, the missing link
or something even more offensive his birth name was possibly Simon Metz
but that's been disputed as no one knows for sure who he was or where he came
from
born in 1834 Julia Pastrana was known as the 'Ape Woman'
or sometimes known as the bear woman she had abnormally large
ears and lips and her face was covered in thick black hair
which once caused Charles Darwin to say "her face had a gorilla like
appearance"
she made a name for herself traveling across Europe and North America with the
Freak Show
despite the respected medical doctor Alexander Mott describing her as the
result in a human mating with an orangutan
she found love and was married in 1857
she was 23 at the time so for anyone watching this who happens to be both
single and over the age of 23
just remember the you are less romantically successful than someone
they used to call the ape woman
her marriage didn't last long though she died three years later
her husband's went on to mummify her body and marry someone else who looks
just like she did
he was later committed to a Russian insane asylum
born in 1881 Frank Lentini suffered from severe deformity
which was the result of a partially absorbed conjoined twin
I don't know what a partially absorbed conjoined twin is but I'm pretty sure
I don't want to
Lentini had a full-sized third leg
attatched to the knee of his extra leg was a small foot
bringing his toe count up to 16. When he was 8 years old his family moved from
Italy to america where he joins the circus
billed as 'The Great Lentini' he would kick a football across the stage with
his extra leg
which I guess past the entertainment back then
he led a relatively boring life for a freak show performer
before ultimately passing away aged 85
As all of his legs were different lengths
he used to joke that even with three legs he still didn't have a pair
a common story from freak shows all across Europe is the pig-faced woman
the tales all describe the same thing: and upper-class woman with the body of a
human
but with the head of a pig. In 1815 rumors spread that a pig-faced woman
was living in London
which led to mass panic shortly after
freak shows started taking advantage of this. some shows molded a Pig faced woman
out of wax
but some shows gave alcohol to a bear until it was drunk
shaved its furr off, put it in a dress, and gave it a wig
apparently shaved bears in dresses kinda look like pig women
this was such a common practice that Charles Dickens once said "no fair is
complete without one"
the original story of pig face woman goes back to the early 17th
century
it is that a witch once cursed a man's wife
but she gave him the choice of whether his spouse would look like a pig to him
but normal to everyone else, or look normal to him
but like a pig to everyone else
born in 1838
Charles stratton became world famous under the stage name
'General Tom Thumb' with the help of the legendary circus pioneer PT barnum
he traveled the world won over many fans he was basically just a dwarf
standing just over three feet
but people loved to see him especially when he was dressed as an old soldier
the best thing about him is that he married someone of similar height
and lead a happy life with her
they eventually retired to a large mansion
which must have seemed really really really big to them
when he eventually died over twenty thousand people attended his funeral
born in 1841 Chang the Chinese giant was nearly
8-foot-tall standing 7 ft 9 he made a name for himself in China by
entertaining the Emperor
it is unknown when he left China but he moved to England
1865 thousands of people would pay money just to see his huge frame
and to hear his Chinese accent which was also quite rare at the time
he went on to tour Europe and North America where people went to see him for
the same reasons
at freak shows a dwarf would often be stood next to him
making him look even taller than normal. He earned five hundred dollars a month
which was good money for someone who just stood around all day doing nothing
assumed to have been born in 1909 Susi the elephant girl suffered from a rare skin
condition
shortly after her birth her skin turned gray and became very thick
and rough and as she grew older her skin started to resemble that of an
elephant. In 1927 she visited America as part of a freak act
along with a bearded lady and a Giant woman. as she was quite shy she rarely
performed outside of New York
but her last known performance was in pennsylvania when she was billed as the
swamp girl
Her act basically just consisted of people staring at her skin for a while
some reports suggest she died in New York in 1975
whereas others suggest she returned to her home country of Germany
Joseph Merrick was immortalized in the movie 'The Elephant Man'
he was born in England in 1862 in his early life
his skin developed thick and lumpy and it's only got worse as he grew older
one of his feet, arms, and his head also became grossly enlarged
and he even damaged his hip when he was a child
rejected by his parents he left
home young
at age 22 he was given a deal with a freak show
he was taken on a tour of Europe while in Belgium his manager robbed and
abandoned him there
but he eventually found his way back to London where he was allowed to live in a
hospital for the rest of his life
he died in 1890 at the age of 27
the cause of death was a dislocated neck
due to the weight of his head he was forced to sleep sitting upright
it is believed that his neck injury resulted from him sleeping lying down
so that he could be more like other people
Joseph Merrick's story is both
shocking
and sad.
and so that brings us to the end of our list on freak acts
once again I'd like to stress that we are not mocking these people
just learning of their lives
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