Talk:Freak show

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Gabriella.ceja.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 21:49, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

(First contribution(s)
"Late 1930's - The social view of those with physical or mental anomalies switches from fabulous freaks and curiosities to diseased people with disorders was complete." citation?? This is a bold statement, waaaay too broad. Turly-burly 13:00, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

999eyes is a new traveling show. The entry about their show has not been entered by a member of the show or anyone working for them. If anyone thinks the entry is bad, feel free to change it. But the fact remains this is a new show that should be described here. Their shows have been reported in local press or on local television stations. User:bubbatuba 21 march 2007

Section "rescue" attempt
The "Historical timeline" section below is temporarily placed here because most of it was deleted from the article due to lack of sources. Most of it however should be fairly easy to source properly. Please leave it here until adequate cites have been found. I'll try to work on it over the weekend. Please feel free to also work on finding cites. Roger (talk) 16:36, 5 August 2010 (UTC)

Historical timeline
The exhibition of human oddities has a long history:


 * 1630s: Lazarus Colloredo, and his parasitic twin brother, John Baptista, who was attached at Lazarus' sternum, tour Europe.
 * 1704–1718: Peter the Great collected human oddities at the Kunstkammer in what is now St. Petersburg, Russia.


 * 1738: The exhibition of a creature who "was taken in a wook at Guinea; 'tis a female about four feet high in every part like a woman excepting her head which nearly resembles the ape."


 * Late 18th century: The science of teratology changed the belief that freaks were evil omens and/or the work of Satan or witches. Instead, people believed the theory that freaks were part of God's great order of creatures.


 * 1810–1815: Saartjie Baartman (aka "Hottentot Venus") exhibited in England and France..


 * 1829: Chang and Eng, "the original Siamese twins", were exhibited in America.


 * 1839: J.G. Milligan writes "curiosities of medical experiments" in which freaks are described.


 * 1844: P. T. Barnum arrives in London to exhibit Tom Thumb, the famous midget.


 * 1860: Hiram and Barney Davis are presented as Wild Men of Borneo. The guidebook for Barnum American museum list 13 human curiosities. Zip the Pinhead begins his six-decade career with Barnum.


 * 1870–1890: Dime museums are at the height of their popularity, with the freakshow as the main attraction.


 * 1876: Wild men of Borneo, wild Australian children, man-eating fiji mermaids, and the 602 lb woman are exhibited at the first World's Fair in Philadelphia.


 * 1880: First freakshow at Coney Island.


 * 1881: The Conjoined Tocci Twins are exhibited in Vienna, billed as "The Greatest Wonder of Nature."


 * 1883: Coney Island debuts Henrietta "Nose Javelin" Whitfield. "Many believe her to be the ugliest beast freak that ever lived. Her hag head and witchcraft led to her execution in 1897."


 * 1884: Joseph Merrick, exhibited as "The Elephant Man" by Tom Norman in London's East End.


 * 1884: Freak recruiting becomes a career and full time occupation.


 * 1889: British medical journal describes Myrtle Corbin, the "four-legged girl," and verifies that both sets of reproductive organs are workable and capable of birthing children.


 * 1890: The Jones twins, Siamese twins joined at buttocks and sharing a rectum die on a carnival tour at fifteen months old.


 * 1893: At the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago a woman with a parasitic twin (resulting from her father's (?) abuse of alcohol) was shown in a stage show.


 * Late 19th century: The theory that freaks are biological throwbacks to earlier races of humans and apes is introduced. The theory of maternal impression attributes traumatic or significant events experienced by the pregnant woman as an explanation for deformities.


 * 1904: Silbey devises the "Ten-In-One" show and creates jobs for talkers.


 * 1908: An article in Scientific American introduces concept of freak exhibitions being inhumane and barbaric.


 * 1915: San Francisco exposition includes a midget village and dime museum freakshow.


 * 1922: "Professor" Sam Wagner starts the World's Circus freak show at Coney Island. The general public can read articles in popular press explaining the diseases behind oddities.


 * 1925: Freaks can be seen performing on the vaudeville stage.


 * 1932: Tod Browning's Pre-Code-era film Freaks tells the story of a traveling freakshow. The use of real freaks in the film provoked public outcries, and the film was relegated to obscurity until its re-release at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival.


 * 1933: Chicago Expo features a pit show with a "live two-headed baby" in a jar of formaldehyde.


 * 1940: The three-legged man, Frank Lentini, opens a freakshow.


 * 1950: The historical sideshow waned in popularity, as the public demanded that freaks be given "dignity" and not exhibited. At this time many went into institutions or on the welfare system.


 * 1952: The "Human Torso" is still on exhibit.


 * 1960: Albert-Alberta Karas (two siblings, each half man, half woman) exhibits with Bobby Reynolds on sideshow tour.


 * 1972: At North Fair, Sealo and the dwarf Pete Terhune confront charges against them for exhibiting themselves. The charges equated freakshows with pornography.


 * 1980s: Bobby Reynolds is arrested for exhibiting pickled punks.


 * 1983: Coney Island USA, founded by Dick D. Zigun, opens Sideshows by the Seashore, starting a sideshow revival in Coney Island.


 * 1984: Freak show performer Otis Jordan (the frog boy) is barred from exhibiting himself at the New York State Fair on the basis that the exhibition of human oddities is exploitative. Barbara Baskin, a "disability rights activist," led this fight and Otis was out of a job for two years before he beat the case and could perform again.


 * 1992: Grady Stiles (the lobster boy) is shot in his home in Gibsonton, Florida.


 * 1996: Chicago shock-jock Mancow Muller presented Mancow's Freak Show at the United Center in the Summer of 1996, to crowd of 30,000. The show included Kathy Stiles and her brother Grady III as the Lobster Twins. {Mancow Muller (with John Calkins) Dad, Dames, Demons & a Dwarf Regan Books 2004 pp. 121, 137-147}


 * 1998: The Brazilian TV show "Ratinho Livre", whose main performer was Carlos "Ratinho" Massa, became a kind of freak show, exhibiting mainly children with serious physical anomalies, such as hundreds of facial tumors (Eleandro, the Elephant Boy), tails, amputations, etc. In 2000, the Brazilian justice system prohibited such appearances on TV shows.


 * 2000–2008: Ken Harck's Brothers Grim Sideshow debuted at the Great Circus Parade in Milwaukee, WI. The Milwaukee run included a fat lady and bearded lady Melinda Maxi, as well as self made freaks The Enigma and Katzen. In later years the show has included Half-boy Jesse Stitcher and Jesus "Chuy" Aceves the Mexican Werewolf Boy. Bros. Grim toured with the Ozz Fest music festival in 2006 and 2007.


 * 2005: "999 Eyes Freakshow" founded, touting itself as the "last genuine traveling freakshow in the United States." 999 Eyes portrays freaks in a very positive light, insisting that "what is different is beautiful." Freaks include Black Scorpion.


 * 2005: "The King of the Sideshow" Ward Hall continues exhibiting fairground shows after over 60 years in the business.




 * 2007: Wayne Schoenfeld bring together several sideshow performers to "The L.A. Circus Congress of Freaks and Exotics," to photograph sideshows folks for "Cirque Du Soleil - Circus of the Past." In attendance were: Bill Quinn, the halfman; Percilla, the fat lady; Mighty Mike Murga the Mighty Dwarf; Dieguito El Negrito, a wildman; fireeaters; sword swallowers, and more.


 * 2008: Black Scorpion joins the cast of Coney Island's Sideshows by the Seashore.

P.T. Barnum
No mention of P.T. Barnum in this article?? It's the most recognized name! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.246.15.228 (talk) 22:17, 26 March 2011 (UTC)


 * If you have reliably sourced material about freak show aspects of Barnum's circus please add it. Roger (talk) 06:05, 27 March 2011 (UTC)

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Gabriella.ceja (talk) 21:34, 11 September 2016 (UTC)I think that this article could focus more the disability side of the freak shows and why they took part in freak shows i am student and i was assigned this article to fix and put more information about it. I will rearrange this article and put some new information in it. feed back is welcome thank you. Gabriella.ceja (talk) 00:24, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

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Bettie Lou (Betty) Williams
Is said to be the most paid individual. Young woman with parasitic twin growing out of her bodies left side.

See picture and text in video Old Rare Photos, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xpi74ACryro (+/- 4:29 / 34:42)

--Helium4 (talk) 11:29, 19 November 2017 (UTC)

I am a student in a History of Disability in America class. I am editing this page as part of a project. I intend to add a few more people to the exhibition of human oddities timeline. One of the people I intend to add is Lavinia Warren. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gabriella nutt (talk • contribs) 02:05, 6 December 2017 (UTC)

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Non-neutral tone of some sections
It seems to me that some of the sections—especially "disability"—don't have a particularly neutral tone. It pretty much looks like the writer defending freak shows to me. Amalthea Little (talk) 12:08, 30 August 2022 (UTC)

Eurocentric
Freak Shows were not only a European phenomenon. As Adam Kabat notes in The River Imp and the Stinky Jewel and Other Stories, the Kansei Reforms of 1787 outlawed freak shows, which had been quite popular in the years leading up to the ban. 2607:FEA8:AA03:9600:35CD:4DE9:2947:CAD0 (talk) 07:11, 16 January 2024 (UTC)


 * Improvements are always welcome, so please feel free to add it to the article. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 07:16, 16 January 2024 (UTC)