We increasingly need bigger and better stimuli to entertain us. What yesterday
kept us expectant and surprised, today seems uninteresting to us, boring in every way,
so we are always looking for new things to distract us from our day to day.
Human beings for some weird reason have always been attracted by the strange,
the mystical or that which their mental capacities are not enough to understand.
Some are afraid of these things, but many others seek to satisfy their morbid curiosity.
While a few see these things as an opportunity to profit.
Today we will attend one of the most interesting, mysterious and creepy
shows that existed to quench people's thirst for entertainment, Welcome to Copernicus's Galaxy.
What really were human beast circuses?
From the late nineteenth century until the first decades of the twentieth century,
the exhibitions of monsters, better known as "Freak Shows" were very popular.
In these shows, they exposed both animals and humans that qualified as monsters of that time.
People with large or underdeveloped body parts, lack or excess of limbs, lots of hair or any
malformation were the perfect candidates, but we must not forget that this was a show.
None of the "creatures" exhibited there could do so without first being introduced by the
"Showmen", who introduced each and every one of them by talking about their characteristics
and explaining their supposed origin, sweetening it with mystical touches, because nothing could
be further from the truth. Most of them were lies and exaggerations designed to intrigue the public.
Those with a disability were often presented as unknown races or different cultures.
They were seen as some kind of recently discovered subhuman, missing links in
the evolutionary line or the last specimen of an extinct civilization. On the other hand, there was
also the classification of human-beast, a hybrid between a person and an animal that seemed to be
taken from ancient mythology. Werewolves or snake women were just some of the possible attractions.
In the first decade of the twentieth century, Freak Shows began to lose popularity
mainly thanks to advances in medical and scientific matters that gave a plausible
explanation to what was exhibited in these shows. The sympathy and laws against these circuses also
played key roles in collapsing the veil of mystery that surrounded them and made them so attractive.
They were shows that were fully accepted by society
In any situation, you have to look at both sides of the coin.
Nowadays, it would be outrageous to most people for a living being of any species
to be exhibited as a strange object for the sole purpose of producing a few coins.
Morals have changed, developing sympathy for living beings with a disability or disease,
however, a couple of decades ago freak circuses were a normal part of American culture.
With the expansion of the middle class having shorter work weeks and higher pay, along with
the new perception of leisure that positioned itself as a necessary and beneficial activity
for productivity in their jobs, Freak Shows gained popularity, becoming a suitable diversion.
Moreover, these circuses were one of the few places of employment for people with severe
disabilities, especially for those of extremely short stature, since sometimes performing was
the only way to earn a living... and some fame in between. The luckiest ones became
celebrities who earned a salary much higher than that of accomplished acrobats and actors.
If only everything was as good as it sounds... but the reality has never been so kind. Despite
the fame and good salaries, almost none enjoyed a quality life since the eyes that looked at
them were filled with repudiation and fear. Frank Lentini, better known for being the 3-legged man
expressed: "My limb does not bother me as much as the curious and critical looks of others".
Some of them had to deal with museum managers who exploited them by using
exhausting schedules that included 23 shows in a single day with almost no
rest and paying them a miserable percentage of the total profits.
The most impressive “Freaks” of the time
During the time that the "Freak Shows" were at their peak, countless people played the role of
monsters thanks to a simple whim of nature. Among them is "The Camel Girl" Ella Harper.
She was born in 1873 with a strange condition that today
we know as congenital genu recurvatum which allowed her to bend her knees backwards and move
on her four limbs. She was first presented in 1886 in the Nickel Plate Circus of W.H. Harris.
Annie Jones was one of the most recognized artists on this side of show business.
Her condition was none other than an excess of thick, dark hair that grew similar to
that of a man due to a condition called hirsutism. She was known as the "Bearded
Lady" in the American Museum of P.T. Barnum. Her popularity was such that she
was even kidnapped on one occasion by another showman who wanted to take advantage of her.
The beard was not her only "attraction" as, following her own interests, she was
also recognized for her musical abilities, dying of tuberculosis at the age of 37.
This giant named Jack Earle reached the average height of a grown man at just 10 years old,
reaching up to six feet tall in his adulthood. His life did not begin as a monster on display,
but as a Hollywood star playing roles in movies like Hansel and Gretel,
until he was injured in an accident. He had to find another way to make a
living by entering the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus, where he spent
14 years posing alongside extremely short or average sized men to emphasize his height.
One of the strangest and most particular cases is that of Myrtle Corbin. Born in 1868 with a
condition known as dipygus, she had an extra pelvis. It was located right next to the other
and from each one a pair of legs protruded. The first ones were of normal size while the
others were smaller, and she had total control of the four extremities. Corbin had 5 children
with whom she lived a quiet life until her death in 1928 from a skin infection.
In 1882, Issac W. Sprague finally discovered the reason for his condition.
He was diagnosed with progressive muscular atrophy, a disease that forced him to work as a
circus specimen from his 20s until his death going by the name "living skeleton". He was an extremely
thin man who always felt exhausted. He began his career in the Freak Shows with the famous Barnum
and although he tried to seek employment elsewhere, never managed to leave the
circus because of gambling problems, living in poverty until his death.
For Fanny Mills finding footwear was a challenge,
she suffered from a strange disease that made her feet grow huge. As a child,
she had to wear pillowcases as socks and goat skins as shoes. She was announced by the showmen
as the "Ohio Big Foot Girl" and her feet were recognized as the biggest feet on earth.
Hereditary Hypertrichosis or better known as werewolf syndrome is a peculiar condition that
causes excessive hair growth all over the body. Fedor Jeftichew was born with this disease in
1868, he was nicknamed the dog-faced boy and brought from Russia at the age of 16 by Barnum
to the United States and presented as an animal captured in a cave by a hunter, although he was
a gentle boy. He was highly intelligent and spoke multiple languages, but unfortunately
was forced to bark like a dog on stage, his death coming in the form of pneumonia at the age of 35.
Prince Randian was born without limbs so he was commonly called "The Living Torso"
or "The Human Worm". P.T. Burnum presented him in his shows as a carnival sensation for 45 years
and he starred in the 1932 movie called "Freaks" along with other actors with special conditions.
Off stage he was considered a wise and intelligent man who spoke four different languages. He
continued his presentations until he was 63 years old when he suddenly collapsed and died.
Grady Stiles would be the one who would best qualify as a monster and not precisely because
of his appearance or condition, but because he turned out to be a despicable human who ended
the life of his daughter's future husband. Born with ectrodactyly, Stiles' fingers were fused
together giving him a pincer-like appearance, this led him to begin his career at an early
age as the "Lobster Boy". His mistreatment of his family led his wife and son to hire Christopher
Wyant who ended his life by shooting him in the back of the head. Only 10 people attended his
funeral and his coffin was adorned with flowers and a banner that read "From your beloved wife".
Chang and Eng Bunker were discovered by Robert Hunter in Thailand.
They were brothers who were born united only by a piece of flesh at the level of the sternum.
Hunter paid their mother $500 dollars to let him exhibit them as "The Siamese Twins".
They were on tour for 3 years treated as objects and living on very little of their earnings.
Some time later they got married and bought a piece of land where they died due to economic
problems that led Chang to alcoholism and bronchitis that ended their lives in 1874.
The brothers George and Willie Muse were kidnapped and enslaved because of their skin.
They were born to a family with dark skin but they were albinos. They were forced to perform
in circuses of monsters with the name "The Men from Mars" and other humiliating nicknames,
and were told that their mother was dead. They were only offered
enough money to satisfy their basic needs in exchange for their work.
Surprisingly when they were around 30 years old, their mother managed to save them.
Schlitzie has possibly one of the saddest stories, born with microcephaly he spent his
first years of life going from home to home until he ended up in one of these circuses.
He barely had the mental capacity of a 3 or 4 year old child, and was totally innocent,
yet he received the ridicule of the audience who often called him "imbecile". George Surtees tried
to take care of him gently but unfortunately he died young, and was buried in an unmarked grave.
Being a relative of the famous showman Barnum, it could be said that Charles Stratton, better
known as "General Tom Thumb" was the best of them all, with a stature that never exceeded 25 inches,
he sang, danced and impersonated famous figures. He even appeared before Queen Victoria in Europe.
His fame and good salary let him lead a life full of luxuries after his retirement.
Wang was the only one who never performed before the public of those named here.
Only one photo taken of him by an ambitious banker in China during 1930 is known, in it
you can see a 13-inch horn growing on the back of his head. The image came into the hands of Robert
Ripley who offered a large sum for exhibiting him, but no one ever knew of his whereabouts.
The decline and fall of Freak Shows
Technological advances in medicine since 1890 made the veil of mystery surrounding
the Freak Shows disappear. Diagnoses that explained the reason for these malformations
supported by science eliminated the curiosity for these shows with the stroke of a pen.
The seriousness of these conditions came to light,
turning admiration into pity and creating a feeling of rejection towards those
circuses and museums that profited from the disabilities of others. On the other hand,
the increasing expansion of television began to change the habits of citizens, opting for
entertainment from the comfort of their couch instead of going out and paying for circuses.
By 1950, these types of shows were almost non-existent, but in fact the coup de grâce
was caused by the new laws that protected the rights of the disabled and promised to provide
them with help. Unfortunately, many of the actors died in destitution because of this.
Nowadays, any activity that takes advantage of these people is punishable by law.
Nature is fascinating and at the same time unpredictable. No matter how many studies
exist that can help us to predict and prevent these types of conditions, genetic whims do their
thing without taking anyone into consideration, not to mention that we contribute greatly to
these anomalies with our own actions. Perhaps we should ask ourselves who are the real monsters,
whatever the answer is, we will be here to tell you about it, at Copernicus's Galaxy.