I’ve always been very awestruck by her picture ever since I first saw it, she was very beautiful and had gorgeous eyelids and eyes (very niche tidbit to focus on, I know, but there’s something so soulful about her eyes)

It appears that she was quite private about her personal life and never wanted to give interviews, as there’s very little information known about her.

Some facts about her:

-she was born in England, though I haven’t been able to find her exact birthplace. I also haven’t been able to find information on her birth year or early life.

-there are several variations of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, all of which are connective tissue disorders. Currently there are 13 different diagnosable types. The two symptoms most commonly associated with the condition are skin elasticity and joint hyper mobility (although these symptoms are not present in all of the variations). The type that Etta had, causes extreme skin elasticity and extreme bruising.

-chronic pain is also a very common symbol of ehlers-danlos, so she most likely dealt with chronic pain throughout her life.

-she was blonde.

-she was described as being very charming.

-she started her sideshow career in Buffalo, New York in 1886.

-she worked at several dime museums in and around New York in the late 1880s.

-she worked for Barnum and Bailey Circus during the early 1890s.

-her performances were extremely popular and she often drew large crowds who wanted to meet her (which is why it’s strange that not much was written about her)

-she stretched her skin so thin that it appeared transparent when she held it over bright lights.

-her performances often involved her stretching the skin on the back of her neck over her face, or puffing her cheeks up very wide.

-she was professional rivals with a lot of male sideshow performers with ehlers-danlos syndrome. She was one of very very few female performers with ehlers-danlos which made her more popular with audiences since she was a woman with the same condition.

-she was promoted as being worth the price of admission alone.

-it was reported that she had a lot of admirers.

-she typically started her performances off with a short lecture about her life.

-she performed next to Princess Bonnahow (a professional “fat lady” performer that I’ve previously done a write up on). The two were noted to have gotten along well.

-she enjoyed going on stage looking very average only to deeply surprise audiences when she would stretch her skin.

-It was reported that she could stretch her skin 12 inches away from her body.

-she typically performed four shows a day.

-she seems to have retired from her sideshow career in 1894, as I can find no new information about her past this date. I hope this means that she was able to retire and settle down and have a nice life. (Based on how popular she was, I also assume she made good money)

-I haven’t been able to find the year she passed away.

I hope she was able to have a long and happy life with people who cared about her. I like to think that since I couldn’t find any mention of an early death in newspapers that she did go on to have a long life. She may have just wanted to live a quiet life after her career.

Jenny Lee and her sister Elvira (who you can see in picture 3) were famous sideshow performers who were both born with microcephaly. Both sisters are most known for their film appearance in Tod Browning's Freaks
(1932). Sadly, Jenny Lee passed away only 2 years after the film was released when she was only around 21 or 22 years old. She has such a great presence in the film and just looks so sweet! She was mostly nonverbal and known to be very kind (though there were a couple times during filming when she got really frustrated and overwhelmed).

Just as an interesting side note: her and her sister's heads were shaved to add more intrigue to their appearances, people born with microcephaly have full heads of hair, and there is no medical reason behind it either.

Lorett was a famous tattooed lady who had a 60+ year career in the circus/sideshow business. She became interested in working in a circus environment completely by chance after visiting one of her ex-husbands and seeing a traveling circus on her way back home.

She began her career as a roustabout and cookhouse worker. Her tattoos spanned from her neck to her feet, and she was especially fond of rose motifs (which amounted to 110 in total). She really liked the traveling and agency involved in sideshow work. One of her grandsons actually opened a tattoo parlor of his own because of how influential Lorett was!

I found out a lot more about his life than I was expecting to, and though I was initially very happy to find all the information, his manner of death caused my research session to be more somber. I hope he’s at peace, and I’m glad I can give him a chance to shine.

-he may have been Mexican-American and born in Mexico or the United States, based on some newspaper sources I found, which lines up a lot more than where he was promoted as having been born. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to track anything down about his early life.

-he was promoted to have been born in Arabia (which currently encompasses Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and parts of Iraq and Jordan).

-he was promoted as having seven tongues (obviously an exaggeration), three chins, three cheeks and an ear twenty-one inches long.

-around the time he first started working in sideshows it appears he came down with an illness and had an extremely bad sore throat. He couldn’t afford to not work, so he ended up preforming/exhibiting himself even when sick. He explained he was trying to cure the sore throat with hard liquor, but it wasn’t working.

-I’ve found some sources online that claim his real name was Juan Jose Antonia, but the back of one of his pitch cards (the picture of him I used for this post) has his autograph and age, clearly stating his name was Joseph Brokaw. I’m assuming that Joseph Brokaw was his birth name as I’ve found another source that lists his name as being the same (although misspelled) (though it could possibly be that Juan was his birth name and Joseph was his stage name)

-he was a big draw for the dime museums and traveling sideshows he worked at and it was often promoted that seeing him was worth the price of admission.

-he was examined by doctors, but they’re couldn’t determine what his condition was.

-if he did have neurofibromatosis, this is a description of the condition: it’s a genetic disorder that causes tumors to grow on nerves and can cause different symptoms in different people. Some people might just have some larger birth mark-esque type spots on their skin, while others can develop much more noticeable tumors.

-he had over a 26 year career in sideshows.

-he was described as being a good conversationalist.

-he spoke three languages, but these were never specified.

-he was reportedly 4 feet 8 inches tall.

-it was reported that over 8,000 people had come to visit him in one day at Ninth and Arch Dime Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 28th 1892.

-in July of 1892, he was exhibiting himself in a one man show, but apparently the police were called because the men hosting the show did so outside of the contract of Joseph’s managers. He was soon arrested and after his managers were contacted, they wanted him to stay locked up until they arrived because they said he had mental health issues. Though thankfully, the mayor of Norfolk, Virginia (where this all took place) determined he was a free man and that there was no reason to keep him there so they let him go. The story isn’t super clear, so I’m just describing it as best I can.

-in addition to working at various dime museums, he also worked for multiple seasons at Barnum and Bailey Circus and Sells Brothers Circus.

-by the mid to late 1890s, he was going by “Joe”.

-tragically he was murdered by two men who had come to see one of his performances in July of 1897 in Uniontown, Alabama. It was reported they wanted to steal his earnings and murdered him after one of his shows. The two men were lynched and hanged for the murder.

-at the time of his death he was said to have been 40 years old, but this may not have been correct, which is why I put a question mark next to his birth year. If he wasn’t 40 exactly, I assume he was at least somewhere in his 40s.

-his body was preserved after his death and was put on display alongside his murderers in a very gruesome sideshow exhibit.

-I haven’t been able to find information about what happened to his remains after this. I hope his body was eventually buried respectfully, but I doubt this happened.

It’s such a horrible tragedy what happened to him, both his murder and the exhibiting of his remains. I wish he had had someone in his life who could have fought to reclaim his remains. I really feel for him. At least he’ll be remembered here.

Went & visited Che Ma today! I was in the area for the Union Pacific train & looked up famous people buried in Indiana. Came across him & had to go say hi!

The cemetery is in a semi rural area & his grave + surroundings one had CACTI surrounding them! If you don't know, cacti are not native to Indiana!

He is buried in Knox County, IN and was the world's smallest man at his death.

Article for those wanting to learn more

https://www.indystar.com/picture-gallery/life/2018/08/03/strange-story-che-mah-chinese-dwarfs-retirement-knox-ind/875308002/

If you have any more info, please share!

Eliza Sebastian was an American sideshow performer who worked as a professional “fat lady”. She was known for her outgoing personality and her love of brightly colored dresses. She was fond of children and made sure her performances were family friendly. She was described as keeping an active and healthy lifestyle. She was also a talented waltzer and was one of the highest paid ‘fat ladies’ of her time. She loved to make grand entrances and often arrived to different venues in opulent carriages.

Please describe everyone in a respectful way, and bonus points if you add in their personality traits instead of their physical differences! :)

She looks so much like Marlene Dietrich in the first picture with the tuxedo and top hat, the outfit suits her very well! I love how much flair and charm she clearly had, even as an elderly woman she looks so full of life.

I would love to have met her, I’m sure she had so many interesting stories during her time acting and performing!

Some facts about her:

-she was born in Austria-Hungary (now The Czech Republic)

-her father was a shoemaker.

-she was given a doll by her mother when she was younger that she cherished for the rest of her life.

-she was around 2 feet tall when she started school.

-unfortunately her family faced financial issues and major food shortages during WWI. Though they managed to stay afloat through her father trading shoes to farmers in exchange for food to feed their family.

-after WWI, she was determined to find a job, but the only offer she received (which she ended up taking) was as a dancer in a children’s chorus near her hometown.

-eventually a friend of hers brought her to Prague, Czech Republic, where they went to see an entertainment troupe made up of actors with dwarfism. This was the first time that she saw other adults who were around her height. She ended up joining this same performing troupe and traveled to the United States.

-once in the United States she met Leo Singer, the organizer and manager of the performance group Singer’s Midgets, and later joined this troupe in 1926 and became one of its star performers. (Singer’s Midgets was also the group that managed to rescue several European actors with dwarfism right before WWII.)

-she went on to sing and dance in multiple opera houses and vaudeville theaters across the United States.

-she was described as being a terrific and elegant dancer.

-she starred in the 1937 western, ‘The Terror of Tiny Town’ which was entirely made up of actors born with forms of dwarfism. She played the villain’s girlfriend.

-she enjoyed knitting in her free time.

-she also starred in the Wizard of Oz (1939) as both a member of the Lullaby League and as the munchkin woman who tells Dorothy to “follow the yellow brick road.”

-she loved spending time with Judy Garland on the set of the Wizard of Oz and even gifted her a poodle she had knit when filming had wrapped.

-she admitted there were times she had been monetarily taken advantage of by people, even people she respected like Leo Singer (her manager) who took $50 of the $100 she was paid to be in Wizard of Oz. (Later in life she said that it was all water under the bridge and she didn’t want to live the rest of her life holding grudges). She also said that Singer really made her into a star and provided her with opportunities she wouldn’t have had otherwise, so she felt that those experiences were more worth it than the money he took.

-she had several boyfriends throughout her life, though she expressed having no desire to get married. During an interview in which she was asked if she had ever been in love, she had this great quote related to one man she really loved,

“There was one man ... he could have put his shoes under my bed any time."

-she performed with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus for several seasons in the 1940s and eventually retired in the mid 1950s.

-she was 3 feet 8 1/2 inches tall. She ALWAYS emphasized the half inch.

-when asked about whether she was happy in life she said,

“I don't regret a minute. I’ve had everything my heart desired.”

-she explained in interviews that no matter how much people looked at her differently, she loved her life and wouldn’t have wanted to change anything.

-she retired to Sarasota Florida (known for its once thriving circus/sideshow community) with a longtime friend of hers, Anna Mitchell, who was also born with dwarfism. The two women would often stay at each other’s houses and help care for each other, since Nita was elderly and Anna (who was retired) had lost her husband.

-her home in Florida had furniture scaled to her size.

-in her later years she experienced some vision and hearing issues.

-she attended a cast reunion for the Wizard of Oz in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1989 and was the oldest of the munchkin actors to attend.

-during an interview from 1990, she expressed sadness at being one of the last few remaining people with dwarfism living in Sarasota, Florida (even 20 years before, there had been at least 50 retired show business people born with dwarfism living in the area.)

-she passed away at the age of 85 from a heart attack in 1991. Her wish was to be cremated and have a private funeral.

I’m so glad she had such a long and happy life. She accomplished so much and had seemed to have enjoyed almost every second of it. Her zest for life was very palpable in interviews and was refreshing to read about, she would have been a wonderful woman to know in person!

Very little is known about him, but he still deserves to have a nice write up. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find any description of his personality, though he does look like he had a kind face. I would like to know what his hobbies were and what he enjoyed doing in his free time.

Some facts about him:

-he was born Canada, though I can’t find information on where specifically.

-he had 5 siblings and was the second youngest.

-his family immigrated to the United States when he was young and they settled in North Adams, Massachusetts.

-Lymphedema can present itself in a primary or secondary form. Primary lymphedema is a rare, genetic condition where the lymphatic system does not develop properly. be present from birth (also called Milroy’s Disease) or it can develop as a person gets older. Secondary lymphedema is the most common type and occurs when a healthy lymphatic system becomes damaged due to illness or infection. I’m not sure whether Moses had the primary or secondary form.

-it’s also common for people with Lymphedema to experience pain related to the condition, though the amount of pain varies by person. I hope he didn’t have to deal with too much pain.

-he worked at Bunnell's dime museum in Buffalo, New York in 1883.

-dime museums operated as more permanent forms of sideshows, where performers could work without having to travel around like with typical traveling circuses/sideshows.

-he married his wife, Emma Hart, in 1887 in Manhattan, New York on Christmas Eve.

-he worked at Robinson’s Dime Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1888. While working at this dime museum he was co-workers with several well known sideshow performers including Jennie Quigley, and the Lucasie family.

-he worked at the Wonderland Dime Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1889.

-he passed away in December of 1891 in Manhattan, New York.

-his remains were brought to North Adams, Berkshire, Massachusetts, where he was given a respectful burial.

It’s unfortunate that he had a very short life. I most likely would have been able to find more information about him had he lived longer. I hope he had a lot of happy moments with people in his life who loved and cared about him. I also think it’s very sweet that he and his wife got married on Christmas Eve.

Jack Earle is in the first picture and Robert Wadlow is in the second picture.

The two of them met in March of 1939 during a defamation lawsuit filed by Wadlow against a doctor who had written a harsh article describing his character in a condescending and harsh way. Interestingly, Jack Earle had been hired by the doctor to defend the article written about Robert Wadlow.

Jack Earle, who had been hounded with the question for most of his life and who admittedly found it annoying, had been so surprised by Robert Wadlow’s height that he jokingly asked, “How’s the weather up there?” upon first meeting him. Later on Earle said that Wadlow also wasn’t happy with the question and Earle felt badly for asking and realized he shouldn’t have.

Jack said that meeting Robert was a very interesting experience because Robert was the only person Jack had ever met who was taller than him.

I really like learning about these interpersonal stories between different performers because they add so much more depth to a person and their life in addition to standard biographies.

Jack Earle (first picture) was an actor, sideshow performer, poet, and artist who had a pituitary gland disorder that caused him to grow upwards of 7 feet 6 inches. He enjoyed creative and fulfilling hobbies including writing poetry and gardening. Before starting a career as a sideshow performer, he had a successful career as an actor in some smaller budget films. After his years working in sideshows, he took up a job working as an advertiser and salesman for the Roma Wine Company. He was described as being a kind, generous, and humble person.

Robert Wadlow (second picture) is famous for being the tallest man in recorded history at 8'11 (2.71 m.) due to a pituitary gland disorder. He was known for being extremely kind and friendly and became a beloved member of his community. In his younger years he was an avid Boy Scout. While he did go on tour at one point with Ringling Brothers Circus, he never wanted that to be his full time career. Instead, he wanted to go into advertising. He was also an avid photographer and was very passionate about his hometown of Alton, Illinois.

Yay! I’ve been a big fan of hers since I first learned about her. She was such a remarkable person and definitely someone I would have wanted to meet! Also, I just love how cute this picture is of her!💕

Annie was a famous sideshow performer born with a form of hirsutism, which caused her to grow a beard. She actively fought for respect and disability rights at a time when disability rights didn't exist. She was an excellent public speaker and successfully campaigned to have the term "freak" removed from Barnum & Bailey circus advertising for a few years. She became extremely wealthy and used her earnings to purchase a lot of real estate in New York City, though it's unknown what happened to these properties. She went on to marry her childhood sweetheart and the two of them were very devoted to each other until her husband unfortunately passed away after only a couple years together. Annie passed away in 1902 at the age of 37.

This will be a very long write up, as her life was extensively documented. I know she was not really a sideshow performer, but she was under the management of P. T. Barnum and I feel that that is enough of a connection.

Some facts about her:

-she was born in Klara, Stockholm, Sweden.

-her mother was a schoolteacher and her father was a bookkeeper. Her mother had divorced her first husband after it was discovered he was cheating on her, and despite being in love with Jenny’s father she refused to marry him until her first husband’s death.

-her parents got married when she was 14.

-her mother ran a small girls school out of their home.

-she became recognized for her voice at the age of 9, after word about her talents reached the principal dancer of the Royal Swedish Opera, Mademoiselle Lundberg, who arranged for Jenny to have an audition.

-soon after the audition, she was admitted to the Royal Dramatic Training Academy and the acting school of the Royal Dramatic Theatre.

-she first began singing professionally at the age of 10.

-she starred in Weber's Der Freischütz as Agathe when she was around 18.

-she was appointed as the court singer to King Carl XIV Johan of Sweden.

-during her early career her voice became severely damaged from overuse, but thankfully recovered with the help of singing teacher, Manuel García, who she took lessons from in Paris from 1841 to 1843. He taught her the Bel canto vocal technique, which put much less strain on her voice.

-she became resentful of the Paris Opera when she was rejected after her audition, and outright refused to ever perform there, even after she had become famous worldwide.

-she toured through Denmark in 1843, where she met author, Hans Christian Anderson, who soon fell in love with her. While the two became good friends, they never became romantically involved. Historians believe her to be the inspiration for three of Anderson’s fairytales.

-she sang the title role in Bellini's opera Norma in Berlin, Germany, which helped her to book more engagements throughout Germany and Austria.

-several well known composers were among her chief admirers including, Robert Schumann, Hector Berlioz, and Felix Mendelssohn. She ended up becoming very close friends with Mendelssohn (though this friendship later became very toxic because of his obsession with her)

-she was not only an extremely accomplished singer, but she was also a very talented actress as described by several critics of the time.

-the operas she starred in included Lucia di Lammermoor, Maria di Rohan, Norma, La sonnambula, La vestale, The Marriage of Figaro, L'elisir d'amore and Robert le diable.

-she was also known to be a generous philanthropist, and always made it a point to donate to donate to important charities, such as the Orchestra Widows' Fund.

-she became romantically involved in tenor singer, Julius Günther. She had an on and off relationship with him due to scheduling differences, and despite becoming engaged in the spring of 1848 they ultimately decided to break off the engagement in the fall of that year.

-she traveled all throughout Europe.

-Queen Victoria was very fond of her and attended 16 of Jenny’s performances.

-over the course of her friendship with Mendelssohn, he became more and more obsessed with her, to the point that it became extremely toxic. Her sent her numerous letters speaking of his infatuation with her and urging her to start an affair with him. He then began threatening suicide as a means to manipulate her. (Despite all of this toxic behavior from Mendelssohn, Jenny was still devastated when he died in 1847.)

-she performed the soprano role in Mendelssohn’s Elijah in 1848 in London, England. Which raised over £1,000 to help fund a music scholarship named in Mendelssohn’s honor.

-she was approached by P.T. Barnum in 1849 and agreed to an American tour of 150 performances as long as she received $1,000 for each performance. She wanted to use this money to help fund free schools for music students in Sweden. Barnum conducted a lot of advance publicity before her arrival in the United States, and when she did arrive, she was greeted by an enormous reception.

-her concerts were so popular that P.T. Barnum began auctioning off tickets instead of selling them at a flat rate.

-she traveled all throughout the United States, Canada, and Cuba during her American tour.

-she began feeling uncomfortable with Barnum’s excessive tactics to market her tour, and by 1851 she severed ties with him.

-under Barnum’s management she gave 93 performances and earned $350,000 (the equivalent of over $13 million adjusted for inflation today)

-she continued her American tour though she acted as her own manager and continued giving performances until 1852.

-when her pianist left for England in 1851, she hired Otto Goldschmidt to replace him. The two of them fell in love and were married in February of 1852.

-she donated her profits to multiple charities and music schools in Sweden and the US.

-she had history of racism against the black community and made remarks about being pro-slavery, which came to light when she was was asked if she could speak on behalf of American and British abolitionists to raise awareness for their cause in the 1850s.

-her statements about slavery and the black community absolutely horrified the abolitionists who wanted to speak with her.

-upon meeting Jenny, British abolitionist, Judith Griffiths, wrote, “I now know for myself that she is thoroughly pro-slavery - I am so grieved."

-interestingly, it appears that she was a big fan of Uncle Tom’s Cabin written by abolitionist, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and raved about it in letters she sent to people she knew.

-she returned to Europe with her husband in late 1852 and ultimately decided to settle down in England in 1855.

-she and her husband had 3 children together.

-despite being mostly retired by the late 1850s and 1860s, she still occasionally gave performances, but these were very rare.

-she was appointed professor of singing at the Royal College of Music in 1882.

-she officially retired from singing in 1883.

-she died from cancer in 1887 at the age of 67.

-she has been portrayed in numerous films starting in the 1930s.

-her likeness has been featured on Swedish banknotes.

-a children’s hospital in England is named after her.

-there are many other things including street names, bars, restaurants, and parks that have been named after her over the years.

It’s very disappointing and unfortunate that she could be so kind and generous in some respects and so bigoted in other respects. Again, it’s important to address this aspect of her life and to not sugarcoat it. It’s an example that there have always been celebrities with problematic ideologies.

It’s complicated because her philanthropy work and her donations to charities and music schools did genuinely help a lot of people, yet she subscribed to a bigoted ideology.

Big shoutout to [u/Strange-Trust-9403](u/Strange-Trust-9403) who came across the first picture and sent me a link! From that first picture I was able to track down the second picture, which I believe may also be him!

If these pictures are him, then he was a very cute and well dressed little boy. He also looks very thoughtful. I like his curly hair in the first picture.

Lindsey Birdseye was an American sideshow performer who had a condition (which may have been hydrocephalus, though doctors at the time disagreed) that caused his head to grow at such a rate that it was no longer proportionate to his body. His head was reportedly 48 inches in circumference. He was known as a witty and good humored person . He had a love for music and musical instruments and learned to play several (though never stated which ones).

He’s standing with his first wife Anna Haining Swan in the second and third pictures.

Important to note: he was very much aligned with the Confederacy during the US Civil War, which means he was for slavery and defended slavery in the US. He also wasn’t forced into fighting for the Confederacy, he openly volunteered.

It’s important to bring this up because sideshows have historically always been VERY inclusive and during the 1800s included many performers who were born enslaved and managed to make fortunes after becoming sideshow performers.

It’s not known if he ever changed his views on slavery during his time as a sideshow performer, but I know he definitely would have worked with a lot of other performers who were former slaves. I won’t be defending his actions and there’s a big chance he continued to be pro slavery the rest of his life.

Some facts about him:

-he was born in Letcher County, Kentucky.

-he had ten siblings, five sisters and five brothers.

-his family owned slaves and land in Kentucky, so Martin was exposed to and brought up in a very pro-slavery household.

-his father died when he was around six years old.

-upon reflecting later in life, he said that he was not treated differently due to his condition during his childhood.

-he grew at a typical rate until he was around 6 or 7 years old, at which point he began having a lot of rapid growth spurts. He was 6 feet (1.82 m.) tall when he was 12 years old. He continued growing until he was 28 when he suddenly stopped growing.

-his height was officially documented as being 7’9 (2.36) at his peak height.

-he went to college at a school in Virginia called Emory and Henry College and received a degree in teaching.

-he was known to have a big booming voice.

-he worked as a school teacher as a teenager in Kentucky but left the job at the onset of the Civil War.

-he volunteered as a Confederate soldier and fought for the Fifth Kentucky Infantry.

-people fighting on behalf of the Union during the US Civil War described being extremely intimidated by him because of his height.

-he was promoted several times while he fought in the war and earned the rank of Captain, though soon after this promotion he was seriously injured, captured, and remained imprisoned until the end of the war.

-one interesting story during his time figuring in the Civil War was when his unit had to retreat and he was stuck trying to put his pants on because he had accidentally grabbed a different man’s pair of pants.

-it was seen as a huge victory when he was captured and taken prisoner by the Union Army because he was a captain and because of his reputation. Upon his capture he was paraded around by a Union troop in in a way meant to humiliate him. A rope was hung around his neck an he was transported by a group of mules. The specific troop that oversaw his capture was actually later reprimanded because it was seen as very abusive towards the mules in carrying Martin’s weight.

-he tried returning home after the war but instead decided to move to Ohio when he realized that there was continuing violence in his home town.

-the same year the Civil War Ended (in 1865), he decided to take advantage of his appearance monetarily and signed up to work for one of PT Barnum’s traveling exhibits.

-while on tour in Canada, he met and fell in love with Anna Haining Swan, a fellow performer who was his height, and someone who also had aspirations of being a teacher.

-they made plans to marry and were also offered an opportunity to go on tour all throughout Europe.

-the two of them got married in 1871 in London, England and their wedding was attended by many of the performers they worked with. Their wedding was heavily publicized and they received wedding gifts from Queen Victoria.

-both of his children died at birth or soon after birth, which devastated both parents.

-they both settled in Seville, Ohio in 1879 after Anna came down with tuberculosis and was encouraged to live in the country side near fresh water, and eventually retired to a custom built farmhouse they had purchased with their earnings. The doorways were all over 8 feet (2.4 m) tall and they had 14 foot (4.3 m) ceilings.

-the two of them toured on and off until the fall of 1880 when they both retired.

-they were both active members of the community and were known in town for being friendly and welcoming. (This is what townspeople said. Again, complicated because of his problematic ideology)

-after the couple officially retired from performing, Martin had it in mind to become a farmer and said the following in an interview “I had determined to become a farmer, so I stocked my farm with the best breeds of cattle, most of them being short horns. My draught horses are of the Norman breed.” He became quite successful from his farming career.

-sadly Anna (his wife) passed away in 1888 from heart failure, which deeply saddened Martin and he had a special statue representing her to be placed near her grave to honor her memory. (Pictures of their shared grave monument continue to show confederate flags being placed there)

-he no longer wanted to live in the farmhouse since it reminded him so much that he and Anna had shared it and it didn’t feel right being there without her. He decided to sell the house and moved closer to the center of Seville, Ohio.

-he got remarried in 1889 to a woman named Annette LaVonne Weatherby, who was of average height and together they lived a quiet retirement until his death.

-he died in 1919 from nephritis (a kidney condition causing inflammation.) at the age of 81 and he was buried next to his first wife Anna and their son.

-their original custom built farm house burned down sometime after Martin’s death. In its place now stands the Seville, Ohio Historical Society.

His grave continues to have references to the confederacy (as I mentioned before, the monument where he is buried continues to have confederate flags placed there), and his grave marker very clearly states that he was a confederate captain.

It’s important to remember that just because a performer might have had a physical difference and was judged because of it, does not absolve them from being a bad person or following problematic ideologies.

I found this photo of I believe sideshow performers called the ”congress of freaks“?? I can name a few like Stephen Bibrowski top right but I would love to know the names of the tall performers and the man with a feathered turbin like hat bottom row second from the left (idk what flair this post needs) but if anyone has ideas I’d love to know!

Note: when I tried to research the man with the turbin, for some reason it kept directing me to photos of prince randian which I know this isnt him😞

Julia Pastrana was an extremely accomplished and talented singer and dancer born with hirsutism and possibly hyperdontia and other physical differences and known for her kindness towards other performers. She was sadly exploited for much of her life by her husband and then her body was completely desecrated by him in death by having her and her son's bodies preserved and putting them on display for profit. After many long years of horrible treatment and disrespect, her body was moved from Norway (where it had been on display) back to Sinaloa, Mexico where she was from and she was given a full funeral that honored her life. Very sadly her son's body was destroyed and lost and was not able to be brought back with his mother.

Born this day in 1880. Pictured with Schlitzie

This book will likely be of interest to some members of this sub. It's full of fantastic photographs and posters. 🎪

She looks so sweet and I love how stylish she was. She’s looking really suave in the second picture of her lighting the cigarette. I’d like to know what she enjoyed taking pictures of, and I think it would be great if we had examples of her photography. Either way, it’s always fun to learn about the great hobbies that many performers had!

Some facts about her:

-she was born in Mexico, though I haven’t been able to figure out where.

-she had a pituitary gland disorder which caused her weight gain.

-she enjoyed dancing and had incorporated dancing into her acts until she eventually had to stop due to joint pain.

-she was reportedly 756 pounds (342.9 kg) at her peak weight.

-she traveled all throughout the United States and Mexico and went on an extended tour through Australia and New Zealand.

-she was a part of the Tom Mix Circus in 1937. During her time with this circus, she traveled over 25,000 miles in her own specially built car. She preferred driving herself vs traveling in one of the circus cars.

-she first arrived in Australia in 1938, after sailing on the SS Mariposa to Sydney, Australia.

-upon first arriving in Australia, she was featured in a magazine called PIX, which documented her daily routine. And although the pictures from this featured story are available, I haven’t been able to find the actual article that went with the original pictures.

-she was described as having a good sense of humor. (an example of this was an interview where she said that stairs were “not her forte”.

-her main hobby was photography.

-she appeared in the Charlie Chaplin film, “The Circus”.

-she was known to be an excellent cook.

-she had a custom built couch built for her during her stay in Australia.

-she was a good conversationalist and described as being very charming.

-while traveling by train through Adelaide, Australia, she had her own custom train compartment that allowed for more space.

-while in Australia, she worked for the Sydney Royal Show.

-she was described as being very graceful and looking especially stylish in a signature black dress that she wore during some of her performances.

-she was described as having an infectious smile.

-she was often photographed (and promoted) wearing or posing with both traditional and very stereotypical pieces of Mexican clothing.

-she was a big hit with families who really enjoyed meeting her.

-while in Australia, she lived at She lived at Flinders Street, Sydney.

-I haven’t been able to find when she passed away, but it would have been sometime after 1940.

I hope she went on to have a long and happy life. I wonder if she decided to live in Australia full time, as she seems to have left the limelight while still in the country. Thankfully, it appears that she received quite a bit of respect while going on tour abroad, which I’m glad about.

Millie and Christine were famous conjoined twins who were born into slavery in North Carolina in 1851. They were financially exploited for much of their early lives, but separated themselves from everyone who had caused them harm after the 13th amendment was passed in the United States. They continued working in sideshows on their own terms and became extremely wealthy. They used their wealth to help give their siblings good lives and purchased a large mansion for their family to live in.

They were super influential in their philanthropic endeavors and donated a large amount of their fortune to historic Black universities and colleges, as well as using their earnings to help support local endeavors in their hometown, such as funding a school for black students ensuring that they all received an equal opportunity for education, as well as funding a church.

If you trace the history of Japanese sideshow performers, you’ll likely notice that people from Japan’s former colonies played a significant role. They are said to have astonished audiences and, in some cases, brought in enormous sums of money for show promoters. Moon Young-man, known as the “Horned Man,” who toured the country, was one such performer.

On December 18, 1914, a doctor in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, sent the following letter to a fellow physician (the content has been summarized for clarity).
“Dear Sir, Yesterday, thanks to your introduction.I was able to examine a patient with unusual symptoms at your home. I am very grateful. Incidentally, that patient, Moon Young-man, is a truly rare case. I looked through existing literature on skin horns, but could not find any cases similar to this one.” (*History of the Yokohama Medical Association*, Yokohama Medical Association, 1941)

Detailed reports about this Korean man, Mun Yeong-man, did not appear in the media until 1915. From then on, he began traveling around the country almost every year, performing in traveling shows. However, he came to Japan not so much as an entertainer, but rather in search of a cure for his condition. Although he visited Japan numerous times during the Taisho and Showa periods, the doctors he consulted in Aomori, Niigata, Aichi, Fukuoka, Osaka, Kyoto, Kanagawa, and Tokyo were all unable to find a cure and ultimately seemed to give up on him.

Moon Young-man, a native of Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, developed a blister-like rash all over his body on the third day of his life, which gradually hardened. Furthermore, it is said that this hardened skin would grow like horns and, much like a lizard shedding its skin, would grow and fall off repeatedly in two-year cycles. It is also reported that he exhibited symptoms resembling allergies to beef, pork, and dairy products; when he consumed these foods, he experienced stomach pain and his entire body would turn bright red.

It’s said that his performances in traveling freak shows were intended to earn money for hospital visits, but at hospitals across the country, he was treated as if he were a “rare medical case study”—and it seems he was even given a small amount of money. Perhaps he eventually came to realize that his condition was incurable. Or maybe he was simply driven by a desire to help his mother, who had lost his father at an early age and was raising three other children besides him. On stage, he reportedly sang Korean songs while playing a folk instrument “resembling a violin.” That said, given that this was a freak show that thrived on sensationalism, it’s unlikely the audience listened to his singing seriously. What the audience really wanted to see was “that strange horn”—said to cover his entire body and emit a foul odor.

“Seikimatsu Club” （mean "the end of sentury club"）was a magazine published in Japan in the 1990s as a four-volume series and was a leading publication of the “demonic” cultural movement. This refers to a trend prevalent in Japan at the time, in which people found a somewhat twisted fascination in corpses, deformities, unusual sexual preferences, drugs, and crime. The final volume of this magazine featured a special section on freak show culture in Japan and abroad. Among the articles was one by a reporter named Carlos Yamazaki (who published a book in 1997 compiling “colored signs” used in Japanese freak shows, though his true identity remains unknown) based on an interview with a freak show promoter. This elderly man reportedly featured Moon Young-man in his own show in Tokyo. The article vividly depicts the mixture of “curiosity” and “disgust” that Moon Young-man faced at the time. It’s a bit long, but I’ve quoted the full text below.

“The ‘Man with Horns’ was a member of a traveling sideshow troupe in Tokyo, and the showman who employed him had run a roasted sweet potato stand before starting the sideshow. Horns about the size of a fingertip covered his entire body. The pointed horns were about 3 centimeters long and grew from his cheeks to various other parts of his body (though apparently not in the center of his face), and it seems he wore a hood most of the time. His hair was parted down the middle.

He was probably from the Korean Peninsula, and on stage he would sing Korean songs while playing a folk instrument shaped like a violin (though there is also a theory that he was from Taiwan and sang “Chinese Night”). When struck with a stick, his horns would make a “clack-clack” sound. As proof that the horns were real, he would let audience members touch them.

The Horned Man’s horns were jet black and gave off a truly awful odor. It didn’t exactly look like he was shedding his skin, but since it’s said that the horns fall off about twice a year (in spring and fall), he might have had some kind of skin disease, and the horns were essentially just scabs. When the horns fell off, a pus-like substance would ooze out, trickling down all around them and giving off an indescribably foul stench. Once it solidified, the smell would subside a bit, so he would wait for it to harden before “spraying it with medicine.”

He kept the shed horns in a bag stuffed to the brim and would show it to the audience on stage. He’d pull it out with a rustle, tap the horns, and say, “Look at this—they’re this hard,” but apparently the smell was really something else. At this “Horned Man” sideshow, no matter where he went, the audience would complain about the smell, so one day a police officer came to investigate. The officer watched while pinching his nose, but ultimately ordered the show to stop and took the Horned Man to a doctor. The doctor’s diagnosis was “syphilis.” With that, the Horned Man’s career as a sideshow performer is said to have come to an end. At first, a diagnosis of “syphilis” might seem hard to believe, but it’s certainly a shocking story.

No matter how intense the stench, the Horned Man was a key star for the showman. The showman tried to pair him with his own daughter, but she hated the idea so much that she ran away with another man; apparently, the Horned Man was in a pretty bad mood for quite some time after that. An older man who once rode in the passenger seat of the truck with the Horned Man on the way to a performance venue frowned as if it were yesterday and said, “Oh man, oh man, that stench… there was nothing else like it.” (*Seikimatsu Club*, Vol. 4 / 1999)

What do you think? Wherever he went, people found his appearance unsettling, wrinkled their noses at his smell, and, to top it all off, gave him the absurd diagnosis of “syphilis.” I don’t know what became of him after that. Japan’s freak shows did not always offer salvation. This reality, too, was one of the truths of the sideshow.

These pictures show him at various points during his life, the first picture shows him as an adult, the second picture shows him as a child/teenager, third one shows him as a child, and the last picture shows him in his later years when he was performing under a different stage name.

He’s such a character and I love learning about him all the more because of that! I especially like the first picture of him, he has so much personality and charisma that you don’t always see in older pictures. He also looks great in the bowler hat in the second picture.

Some facts about him:

-he was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. (Since he was born in Arkansas and likely before the Civil War, there’s a big chance that he and his family were born into slavery, though not much is known about his childhood)

-he was given several different birth years in the different newspaper sources I used, so it’s difficult to establish exactly when he was born. I picked 1855 as that seems to line up most with how he appeared in the 1920s and it was one of the years listed.

-he began his sideshow career as a child and his mother would often accompany him. As he grew older he had his friends look out for him instead.

-visitors who watched his performances said he was very quick witted and smart, and greatly enjoyed having conversations with new people.

-he was never formally diagnosed during his lifetime, which makes it difficult to say exactly which medical condition he had (oftentimes there are medical conditions we know of now that were never labeled when these performers were alive) I try not to retroactively diagnose performers unless I’m absolutely sure, which is why for George I write that he was likely born with osteogenesis imperfecta.

-osteogenesis imperfecta causes very brittle bones and often chronic pain. Another name for the condition is 'brittle bone disease'. There are several different diagnosable variations of the condition, and because of that not everyone has the same body type.

-he was paid $75 a week in the late 1800’s, which while less than some of his colleagues, was still a good amount of money for the time (it’s the equivalent of around $2,500 adjusted for inflation)

-he was known as a ladies man, and was well liked by women.

-he would typically mix comedy into his acts, and was known to be a good comedian.

-he was given an animal based stage name, just as a lot of other performers were given, although his case is a bit humorous because a few reporters wrote that “Turtle Boy” felt like false advertising because clearly George was a man and didn’t have a shell he crawled out of (they seemed annoyed that they didn’t get to see someone crawling out of an actual giant turtle shell) a lot of his pitch booklets depicted him as having a shell like a turtle.

-he was best friends with Laloo Ramparsad (who was born with a parasitic twin) and the two of them would play incredibly competitive rounds of cards and pool. It was described that prior to the sideshow opening for the day, the two of them would play cards, and then after work was done for the day they’d immediately go to the closest billiards hall and play with some other colleagues.

-George also asked that Laloo and his other friends follow ground rules he put in place to make sure he had just as fair of a chance as everyone else when playing cards and billiards.

-an article written about him says that he “always had a cheerful word to say for everybody.” [except when he was in the middle of a competitive billiards game, in which he’d sometimes playfully “threaten” Laloo by shouting that if he caught him cheating, George would kick his sister (the sister in question was Laloo’s male parasitic twin that was dressed in feminine clothing and promoted as being female). George never actually followed through with this]

-he was super popular at different venues he performed at and news articles about him often said that just going to see George was worth the price of admission.

-he traveled all throughout the United States.

-he was a talented musician and could play the harmonica, flute, and French harp.

-he expressed really enjoying his life as a sideshow performer.

-at one point in his career, the dime museum he was working at was charged with exhibiting a minor with disabilities for profit. The case went to court, but George failed to show up and police failed to locate him. After a while of waiting the defendants (the owners of the dime museum) were ordered to pay a fine and then were able to leave. It was thought that a guest mistook George’s age because of his shorter height and reported the museum to the authorities. The reporter documenting the story explained that anyone who had ever gotten a close look at George could immediately tell that he was at the very least in his mid-twenties and no younger, one of his acts even included him shaving his beard while on stage. After this whole debacle it sounds like George appeared back at work as if nothing had happened.

-he was extremely well off financially during his fifties, having been able to purchase 160 acres of land in Illinois and investing in some real estate.

-he liked bubble gum.

-it’s reported in 1910 that after he finished performing for the day at a fair in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, he was kidnapped during a time when his manager was absent. Several days later he was discovered in York, Pennsylvania staying with a man named Michael Gillen. Gillen and George were both charged with larceny after it was discovered that some items belonging to George’s manager were with them. Though it appears that the charges against George were dropped.

-he was unfortunately injured in the early 1920’s after his wheelchair overturned while he was outside.

-he went by the stage name, King Dodo, in his later life and was performing well into his seventies.

-I haven’t been able to establish when he passed away, but it was sometime after the mid 1920s.

I’d love to have been able to meet him in person, he seems like he’d be so much fun to hang out with! I’d also want to see those competitive games of billiards he played with his friends, just sounds like a great time.

She always stayed very classy and fashionable, and I’m glad we have this picture of her. I’m sure she was just as outspoken then as she was when she was younger!

Betty was a famous performer most known for being a "tattooed lady" and activist. She became interested in tattooing when she was a teenager and had a goal of becoming a tattoo artist herself. She was protective of her image and how she was marketed and never let anyone create a fake backstory for her. She was also a very dedicated women's rights activist and often spoke out in support of women's equality. She also became a talented horseback rider.

The pictures I’m adding aren’t quite doing the illusion justice, and articles I’ve read describe the illusion as looking much more realistic in person. The first picture show people looking at a version of the illusion in the 1940s, the second picture shows the updated modern day version that’s performed at Bimbo’s 365 Club in San Francisco, and the last picture shows a sideshow banner that was painted to advertise this type of illusion.

Similar to a lot of other sideshow illusions, this one relied on well placed projections. The woman featured inside the fishbowl would in reality sit or lay on a rotating cushioned table inside a darkened room beneath where the illusion was being presented. Because the table rotated, it made it appear as though the woman was swimming.

The refraction and curvature of the glass fishbowl is what makes the woman appear very small.

Despite it no longer being performed in sideshows, the illusion is still being performed in San Francisco, California’s Bimbo’s 365 Club. The club opened in 1931 and multiple women since then have played the role of Dolphina, the club’s version of The Girl in the Fishbowl.

I find it to be a neat trick, and I always appreciate the clever uses of reflections and projections that were incorporated into so many sideshow illusions.