17 Vintage Photos of Sideshow Performers
Cody Brousher
Published
07/08/2019
Sideshows used to be one of the biggest draws in old traveling circuses. These photos give you a good taste of what kind of things you could expect to see.
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Fannie Mills, also known as "The Ohio Big Foot Girl" had a rare condition called Milroy disease that caused her feet and legs to become enormous. This photo is circa 1890. -
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Frank Lentini, also known as "The Great Lentini" was known for having a third leg that was caused by being born with a parasitic twin. He traveled with the Ringling Brothers Circus. This photo is circa 1914 -
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Pasqual Pinon, also known as the "Two-Headed Mexican" had a tumor growing out of the top of his head which was decorated to look like a face. This photo is circa 1917. -
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Little is known about "The Two-headed Man" shown in this photo. -
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Annie Jones, also known as "The Bearded Woman" became the spokesperson for P.T. Barnum's "Congress of Freaks" after becoming the most famous and recognizable bearded lady. -
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Lucia Zarate is said to be the smallest person who ever lived, weighing only four pounds at 18 years old. -
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Grady Stiles Jr, also known as "Lobster Boy" came from a family history of the affliction that caused the deformity. -
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Alice Doherty, also known as the "Wooly Girl" was bore with the rare "werewolf syndrome" Hypertrichosis. She was put into the freak show by her mother. Photo circa 1902. -
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Artoria Gibbons, also known as "The Tattooed Lady" was famous for having tattoos. That's it. It was such a rarity at the time to be so heavily tattooed, especially as a woman, that she became a sideshow sensation. -
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Josephene Corbin, also known as "The Four Legged Lady" who was famous for having been born with four legs (and two vaginas). It's believed this was caused as the result of two embryos fusing in her mother's womb. Only one of her legs was functional. -
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John Jennings, known as "The Modern Samson" could lift over 1000 WITH HIS TEETH. -
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Known as "Oddity Fat and Skinny Man" these two men were circus boxers who apparently were entertaining solely based on the juxtaposition of their two body types. -
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Felix Wehlre, also known as "The Elastic Man" had a condition called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome that caused a collagen deficiency that allowed him to stretch his skin. -
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Minnie Woolsey, also known as "Koo Koo The Bird Girl" suffered from Seckel Syndrome which left her mentally handicapped and bald. She was actually pulled from an asylum to perform. -
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Mike, "The Beheaded Chicken" survived for 18 months without his head and became a favorite of touring sideshows -
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Mirin Dajo, also known as "The Invulnerable Man" was an extremely famous sideshow performer who would impale himself with a sword without injury. He was studied, but doctors never could figure out how he was capable of this. -
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Issac Sprague, also known as "The Original Thin Man" was a man who since the age of 12 couldn't keep any weight on. He toured with P.T. Barnum before dying at age 46, weighing only 43 pounds.
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