People are different, but no one willingly would want the fate of a circus freak. Some of them earned good money, others dreamed of becoming “like everyone else,” having surgically corrected their deformity, while others preferred death. How does it feel to be part of a freak show? Fortunately, the violent genre of freak shows is dying out. We remembered 15 stories of people who had no other way but to make a living by demonstrating their own deformities.
15. Woman bird Minnie Woolsey (Ku-ku)
Minnie Woolsey was born in Georgia in the late 1800s. Little is known about her childhood, so it is difficult to say whether she herself abandoned her family or became an outcast. All that is known is that she was found in a mental hospital and "rescued" by a certain entertainer, who brought her to his show, where she worked for many years. Minnie suffered from skeletal imbalance and appeared to have Virchow-Seckel syndrome. This disease made her head small, face and nose narrow, like a bird. Also, the unfortunate woman did not grow hair on her head, she was completely toothless and almost blind. Since her figure resembled a crane, Ku-Ku was dressed up in a feather suit.
14. Camel Girl
The most famous freak of the late 19th century was the camel girl Ella Harper, who suffered from congenital genu recurvatum, a syndrome of inverse bending of the knee. She was born in 1873 and if her knees were bent in the usual direction, she would be the most ordinary child. Ella's star year was 1886, when she, performing in the circus, earned up to $ 200 a week. In her room, Ella went on stage simultaneously with the camel and repeated all its movements. At the end of the year, Ella left the circus, being the owner of a good fortune, and later would even be married to a school teacher. She died of colon cancer at the age of 40.
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13. Pillow Man
Mirin Dajo became famous in the early 1900s. He was pierced almost 50 times a day. Sharp needles passed through his internal organs, but blood did not gush from the wounds, it was simply absent. During one of the performances in Zurich, to prove to the public that this was not a hoax, Dajo was pierced with three hollow 8 mm pipes through which water was supplied. Dajo argued that it is not metal that passes through him, but that he passes through metal. He "dematerialized" the part of the body that was pierced. He died of a ruptured aorta, on the third day after the execution of the fatal act - he swallowed a steel needle, which was then surgically removed.
12. Chicken without a head
Mike, the headless rooster, of course, was not born that way. In 1945, Lloyd Olsen, a farmer from Fruta, Colorado, USA, went outside to pick out a chicken for dinner. Olsen chose a cock named Mike. The ax missed the jugular vein on impact, leaving most of the brain stem intact. After the beheading, Mike did not move for a while, but then he got up and walked. The unfortunate rooster was able to balance on a perch and walk awkwardly; he even tried to peel feathers and crow, although he did not succeed in either. After the bird didn't die, the surprised farmer gave him a mixture of milk and water using a pipette. Mike's weight continued to grow: Olsen said that at the time of the decapitation, Mike weighed about 2.5 pounds, while at the time of his death he was almost 8 pounds. Miracle Mike lived 18 months after his head was almost completely chopped off. Olsen brought it to the University of Utah to document a unique fact, as the story was widely considered a hoax. At the height of its popularity, the chicken brought owners $ 4,500 a month (that's about $ 48,000 in 2010 prices) and was valued at $ 10,000.
11. American Werewolf or Hairy Girl
In the entire history of medical observations, since the Middle Ages, only about 50 cases of hypertrichosis have been registered in the world. Alice Doherty, born in 1887 in Minneapolis, known as "The Hairy Girl", is the only known woman in the world with this rare disease, Lanuginosa hypertrichosis. The disease caused silky blonde hair to grow on Alice's face and some other areas of her body. Doherty began her show career at the age of two and brought in a lot of money for her family. There was no end of those wishing to look at the unusual girl, and she was shown as an unknown animal for a long time. And although she received the offensive nickname "American Werewolf", by all accounts, Alice was a sweet, playful child (today she would definitely be called Chewbacca).
The following review has been preserved about her: "the blue-eyed baby is gorgeous, like a playful kitten, shows intelligence far beyond her years." Around 1910, the Alice family moved to Dallas, Texas, where she received a pension in 1915, was content with her life and financial comfort. She died on June 13, 1933, at the age of only 46.
10. Elephant Man
The photo shows a shot from the film "The Elephant Man" by David Lynch, about the cruel fate of a farcical freak who sadly says about himself: "people are afraid of what they do not understand." Lynch directed a story of courage and human dignity based on the facts of a real-life 19th-century man named Joseph Merrick who suffered from a rare disease in which his head and body were frighteningly disfigured. What is the name of Merrick's disease is still the subject of medical debate, whether it was Proteus syndrome, neurofibromatosis or something else. "The Elephant Man" received such a nickname for his deformed head, which he hid from others under a hood with slits for the eyes. He was an exhibit of the Kunstkamera and was exhibited as a laughing stock in the booth.
9. Lion Man
Hypertrichosis (increased hair growth) has already appeared on this list. The most famous lion boy was Fyodor Yevtishchev, who inherited the "dog face" from his father Adrian. Yevtishchev became famous by performing in the American Barnum show in the late 19th century. Another "lion" was Stefan Bobrowski, who was born in Poland in 1891. At that time, there was a version that the reason for the child's deformity was the meeting of Stefan's pregnant mother face to face with a lion. A more realistic version, after all, is this: Stefan was born with hypertrichosis. He grew up to be a very kind, educated person, he could speak five languages. Sadly, Stefan died of a heart attack at the age of 41. It should be noted that today such patients lead a completely normal lifestyle, their hair growth is suppressed by hormone therapy.
8. Skeleton Man
Isaac Sprague was born in Massachusetts in 1841. Issak grew up as a normal child, but by the age of 12 he began to rapidly lose weight. Later, through constant malnutrition, he tried to maintain an unusual body shape. Upon reaching adulthood, Isaac began working in the Barnum circus, portraying a skeleton man. At the age of 44, Sprague managed to end his life as a living artifact, married and even had three children. The "skeleton man" died in 1887 in complete poverty, which led to his passion for gambling. Isaac Sprague bequeathed his body to science so that scientists would find out the reasons for his thinness. With a height of 168 centimeters, this unique person weighed only about 18 kilograms. Doctors were unable to explain why he lost weight, but it is believed to be due to "extremely progressive muscle atrophy."
7. Non-combustible salamander man
In the London Book of Amazing Personalities, published in 1869, there is information about a certain Chamonix, a Russian salamander: “He could lose thermal sensitivity for a while. He was distinguished by simplicity and integrity of character, as well as an innate idiosyncrasy, which allowed him for many years not only to show fearlessness in front of fire, but also to absorb substances that are destructive to other people. At the same time, he was above any tricks and often asked his viewers to melt a portion of lead or boil mercury themselves, so that later they could see with their own eyes how happy he would be to drink these dishes”.
Little is known about the beginning of the path of a unique refractory Russian illusionist with the French name Chamonix, he became famous as an adult. Chamouni showed this number: he entered a burning oven, took a raw lamb leg with him, and sat in the oven for up to thirty minutes, waiting for the mutton to be baked. Many people had doubts about his ability, as it was rumored that he was caught cheating with another trick - swallowing boiling water. However, all the controversy ended with Chamonix's last performance: something went wrong, because only a pile of ash was pulled out of the oven.
6. Two-faced people
Edward Mordrake's story is sad. He was born with two faces. Behind, at the back of his head, he had a second face, which was very ugly. This pathology is called Craniophagus Parasiticus. This can happen when the skulls of two Siamese twins grow together in one body.
The people around him had never heard a word spoken by the second person, but Edward swore that he often woke up from the fact that the second person whispered something. According to the man, he repeatedly asked surgeons to remove his second face, but none of the doctors dared to have an operation. At the age of 23, he committed suicide by shooting his second face. After he passed away, relatives found a letter in which the deceased asked to remove his "demonic" face before his burial. He asked for this so that the face "would not continue its terrible whisper" in his grave.
5. An amazing disabled person
Leonard Trask was born in Maine in the early 1800s. At the age of 28, Trask fell from his horse and suffered a curvature of the spine. Another 7 years later, he fell out of the crew and suffered a number of fractures. Over the next 18 years, his spine flexed spontaneously: as a result, Trask's nose buried in his chest. He saw nothing in front of him and earned a living by showing his hump. The flexing is said to be caused by ankylosing spondylitis, a systemic joint disease. Despite the discomfort, Leonard fathered 7 children and died at the age of 56.
4. Mademoiselle Zazel
Rosa Richter was born in England in 1877. She is described not only as an acrobat, but also as a beautiful woman with an excellent physique. She came to the circus as a teenager and became almost the first "man - a cannonball." 16-year-old Rosa Richter, the best aerialist of her time, performed her circus act like this: "Mademoiselle Zazelle," as she called herself, was thrust into a cannon, the fuse was set on fire - an explosion was heard, and the gymnast flew twenty meters above the spectators' heads in clouds of smoke. Then safely, almost with a curtsy, I landed on the safety net. The explosion was needed only to stun the audience, the trick was simple: at the moment of the "charge" flash in the cannon, a spring was straightened out, pushing the acrobat out. Ms. Zazel's fortune grew with each appearance on the stage, she received a huge salary - 200 pounds a week. But once luck turned away from the girl: she flew past the safety net. The Projectile Man survived, but injured her spine and retired. How the further fate of Rosa Richter, where she spent the rest of her life - history is silent.
3. Princess of polar bears
In 2010 in Dresden at the age of 82, the legend of the world circus Ursula Boettscher died. During the GDR times, her attraction with polar bears became the country's "calling card". Ursula's name literally translates from Latin as "bear", which is why, according to her, she had a strong emotional connection with the animals she trained. Over the course of Ursula's career, she trained fourteen polar bears and four common ones. She has traveled with several circuses such as Ringling Brothers, Berolina Circus, Orpheus Golden Circus, and many others. Despite being attacked by bears twice, this brave little woman continued to treat the animals with special care and affection. Admiration was aroused by the contrast - how miniature the "princess of polar bears" looked against the background of her pets (don't ask how she got on this list - apparently,the circus woman is already a freak).
2. Unicorn
In fact, this is not exactly a unicorn, but close to that. Wang was discovered in 1930 by a Russian banker. It looked incredible: Wang had a 14-inch horn protruding from the back of his head. Very little is known about him, because soon after he was discovered, Wang simply disappeared. The banker, with Wang's consent, photographed him and sent the photo to Robert Ripley, an amateur anthropologist, for his Believe It Or Not! Show Robert saw the photos and was amazed. Ripley immediately offered a huge cash prize if Wang appeared on his show. But Wang disappeared and has not been seen since.
1. Madame Gustika
Madame Gustika was from a tribe of platypuses (as she said about herself). Her lips have been stretched in discs over the years to give her face that glorified look. Despite being a traditional practice for many tribes, Madame has turned her lip into a well-paid show. Her debut took place in New York in the 1930s. All she did was just smoke a pipe in front of the audience. Either way, it was enough to make her a household name. Little is known about her future career, one can only assume that she earned money and retired early. Or maybe a sprained lip led to infection, illness, and a death sentence.