The 10 Most Famous SIDESHOW Freaks That REALLY EXISTED!! A 4-Legged Woman.. THE ELEPHANT MAN!!!!

It's a sad reality that on occasion a human being is born with a deformity or abnormality that effects their physical appearance and in turn their ability to live a normal life.  For thousands of years, in the most servere cases, one of the only ways the individual could actually make a living was by being exhibited to the public.  Crowds would flock to these exhibitions and witness these individuals, known as freaks, at what would become known as freak shows or sideshows.  

As far as back as the 17th century, Lazarus Colloredo would tour Europe, along with his parasitic twin brother, Joannes Baptista, who protruded out of the chest of Lazarus, but could not speak or open his eyes.  Rumor had it that if you poked Joaness in the chest, he would squirm or shake his hands.

These sideshows reached their peak in the 19th Century in both the United States and Europe, during a time when photography first existed, so many of these individuals have been captured on camera or film, as the massive popularity of freak shows continued into the early 20th century.  

Traveling exhibitions, circuses, fairs, carnivals and dime museums charged curious individuals to see some of these performers up close and in person and made a fortune.  There was more than just "natural freaks," as they were called - those with physical abnormalities.  There were also self-made freaks like people with extreme tattoos and piercings, along with exotic curiosities from places like Africa promoted as savages or cannibals.  Oftentimes, they were just performers born locally putting on an act, but the paying customer was none the wiser.  

These freak shows began to fall out of popularity in the mid-20th century as scholars argued against exploiting people with disabilities for profit.  They were worked long hours with grueling travel schedules and were paid just a small percentage of the profits.  Most people never attended these shows to make fun of the performers, rather to see an entertaining show that the human oddities would perform.  Nevertheless, the general population began to see the exploitative nature of the freak shows and the changing attitudes led to a decline in their popularity.  Today, these types of shows exist in a different form, with the performers having more control of their own careers.  The re-emergence of the old sideshow exists today and in recent times with performers like the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow, the Happy Side Show, Tokyo Shock Boys, and many others.  In today's video, we will look back at 10 of the most popular sideshow performers of the 19th and early 20th century, during a time when the sideshow was at its most popular.

10. Annie Jones - the Bearded Woman

Annie Jones

Bearded women in the sideshow was not uncommon, but Annie Jones was probably the most famous of them all.  She was born in Virginia in 1865, already with a beard as a newborn.  Her parents were initially shocked for obvious reasons, but later realized they might have an opportunity and before Annie was even a year old, they entered her into the exhibition tour.  The girl was billed as "The Infant Esau" and P.T. Barnum offered a 3-year contract to her parents, paying a very lucrative at the time $150 a week.  

Annie would later go on to be known as the "Esau Lady" and then the "Bearded Lady."  She had grown a full beard with a mustache and sideburns, but played up her feminine, creating an interesting contrast that appealed to audiences.  As part of the famous P.T. Barnum "Greatest Show on Earth", and because of her natural talents, she became hugely famous.  She married a man named Richard Elliot when she was just 15, and her parents disapproved.

After 15 years, the two divorced and she married another man named William Donovan.  They toured together for a few years, but after he passed away, she rejoined P.T. Barnum's show.  Towards the end of her life, she began to campaign against using the word "freak" to describe sideshow performers.  She died from tuberculosis at just 37 years old in 1902.

9. Isaac Sprague - the Living Skeleton

Isaac Sprague

Isaac Sprague was born as a completely healthy baby in Massachusetts in 1841 and for the first 12 years of his life, everything was normal.  One day, after a swim, he suffered from cramps.  From that day forward, he began to lose weight rapidly no matter how much he ate.  Doctors were unable to diagnose the cause at the time, and Isaac kept losing weight even into adulthood.  He worked a bit as a cobbler during his teens, but as a 5'6" adult, he weighed just 43 pounds and did not have the energy to continue to work any normal job.

He reluctantly entered a touring carnival in 1865 and realized he could make a decent living without too much strenuous work just by displaying himself as a curiosity to spectators.  He became known as "The Living Skeleton" and was eventually discovered by P.T. Barnum.  Isaac was offered $80 a week, an excellent income at the time, to entertain guests at the Barnum's American Museum in New York City, which was recently rebuilt after a fire.  He appeared regularly for 3 years until another fire burned down the museum in 1868.  Isaac was able to escape.

He made enough money to take a break from the sideshow gig and married a woman named Tamar Moore.  They had three sons, all completely healthy.  Isaac had a new appreciation for life, but still struggled with his weight and could not work a normal job.  He had to walk around with a milk flask around his neck to keep constantly nourished.  When the money ran out, he had to return to Barnum and tour the world as "the Living Skeleton" or sometimes "The Thin Man."  He did not enjoy the job, but had no other choice.  

At times, Isaac also struggled with gambling, perhaps in an attempt to make money another way besides the sideshow.   In 1882, he was finally diagnosed with aggressive muscular atrophy.  He died in poverty of asphyxiation in 1887.

8. Four-legged Lady Myrtle Corbin

Myrtle Corbin

Up next is a girl who had an extremely rare medical condition in which she was born with a dipygus twin, which caused a second set of legs to grow between her own legs.  She also had a second fully functioning female reproductive system.   Her name was Josephine Myrtle Corbin and she was born in 1868 in Tennessee.  She had four siblings, all who were born completely normal.

Despite her strange condition, Myrtyle was considered by doctors to be perfectly healthy.  Her father saw an opportunity to make the family some money and put her in a sideshow performances, charging spectators to see his four-legged daughter.  Later, she became known as the "Four Legged Girl From Texas" and became so popular that other sideshows began to exhibit fake 4-legged women. But Myrtyle was the real thing.

At the age of 19, she got married to James Clinton Bicknell and together, they had 5 children - four daughters and a son.  According to some sources, she had three children from one set of reproductive organs and two from the other.  

There are many photos on the internet that show an apparent four legged woman, claiming it to be Myrtle Corbin, but the photos obviously show a more modern person, especially this wedding photo, which was clearly taken long after Myrtle's wedding in 1887.  These photos turned out to be a hoax from tabloids in the 90's about a girl named Ashley Braistle.  How any one could ever see these photos and think they were from the 19th century is an absolutely mystery but there are still many of these photos on websites and social media posts that caption them as Josephin Myrtle Corbin.

A hoax from the 90's - these photos were falsely shared online as being Myrtle Corbin

The real Myrtle Corbin died in Cleburne, Texas, on May 6, 1928 at the age of 59.  Her casket was covered in concrete to ensure grave robbers did not try to steal her body.  

7. The Hilton Sisters

The Hilton Sisters

Born in England in 1908, Daisy and Violet Hilton were conjoined twins, fused at the pelvis, who were entered into exhibitions from a young age.  Their mother, Kate Skinner, allowed a woman named Mary Hilton to raise the girls and they were trained to sing and dance and put on the show circuit by the age of 3, touring Europe, Australia and the United States.  

According to their autobiography, they were not treated well as children and even beaten if they did not perform up to standards.  The abuse continued even after Mary Hilton passed away as Mary's daughter Edith Meyers and her husband took over managing and raising the girls, who were now 15.  They were forced to practice playing musical instruments and improve their routine, although they saw none of the money earned from their performances.

They were able to break away from the abuse at the age of 23 when they were legally emancipated after suing their managers.  They were paid $100,000 in damages.  The Hilton Sisters continued to perform, although they would dress differently than one another for the first time and work on developing their own individuality, thanks in large part to advice from world famous magician Harry Houdini.  They stared in two films - "Freaks" in 1932 and "Chained for Life" in 1952.  

Their careers began to decline in 1950's and they made their last public appearance in 1961 in Charlotte, North Carolina.  The twins were abandoned there by their manager with no mode of transportation or money, so they simply stayed there, getting a job at the Park N Shop grocery store and moving into a new home. The manager paid them each a full salary and designed a unique workstation that allowed one to be a checker and one to be a bagger, without making it obvious they were connected.  

In early 1969, Violet caught the Hong Kong flu and passed it on to Daisy.  Daisy died from the flu and Violet passed away a couple days later.  They did not call for help and were found only after police were called by their boss since they had not shown up for work. They were put to rest at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Charlotte, where many visitors leave 2 pennies, the price of admission to see the Hilton Twins during their time on the exhibition tour. 

6. Stephan Bibrowski - Lionel the Lion Faced Man

Stephan Bibrowski

Lionel the Lion-Faced man was born as Stephan Bibrowski in 1890 in Poland, completely covered in hair, likely due to a rare condition called hypertrichosis.  His mother thought the boy had been born this way because she witnessed his father being mauled by a lion while pregnant.  She gave him away at the age of four to a showman who put him on display as Lionel - Half-Boy Half-Lion.  Stephan enjoyed the attention and at the age of 11, he and his guardian moved to the United States.

He became a huge attraction at sideshows and he caught the attention of the world famous Barnum & Bailey's "Greatest Show on Earth."  He didn't just stand there for people to stare at him, he performed acrobatics and also interacted with the audience, using his charm and gentle voice to win them over.  Once he was signed to the "Greatest Show on Earth," he became a nationwide celebrity.  He became a popular attraction at Coney Island into his adult years, when he became known as "Lionel the Lion Faced Man."

While working at Coney Island, he would wander through the crowd and talk to random people, who at first were startled, but then calmed at the sound of his soft and soothing voice.  Stephen was kind, gentle and also very intelligent.  He studied in his free time and could speak multiple languages.  After speaking with him for a few minutes, people completely forgot he was covered in hair from head to toe.

In his late thirties, he decided to retire from show business and move to Germany, where he hoped to become a dentist.  Sadly, he died of a heart attack at age 41 in 1932.  

5. Frank Lentini - the Three Legged Wonder

Frank Lentini

Frank Lentini was born in Sicily in 1889, but had a parasitic twin attached to the base of his spine.  The twin never fully developed but did have a full-sized leg extending from the right side of Frank's body, with a small foot protruding out of the knee.  He was a 5th child and his parents gave him to his aunt to help raise him.

Frank was able to extend the third leg, but couldn't use it to walk.  He could, however, kick a football with it.  He began to feel depressed about his situation and just wanted to be normal, but after witnessing children with even worse problems at an institute for the handicapped, he realized his lot in life wasn't so bad.  He began his career in show business as a child as was exhibited throughout Europe by the time he was 8 years old.  He and his family moved to the United States and he became known as "The Great Lentini" after joining the Ringling Brothers Circus.  Other monikers included "The Three Legged Wonder" and "The Three-Legged Football Player."

All three of his legs were slightly different in length, but he learned how to ride a bike, drive a car and swim, using the extra limb to his advantage at times.  In public, he wore a raincoat to hide his third leg.  During performances, he had a natural charm and was an excellent storyteller, who could hold an audience's attention and even make them laugh.  He would set his third leg on a stool and take questions from the audience, giving quality answers filled with humor and entertainment. 

As the sideshows began to decline in 1950's, Frank spoke out against the notion that these were demeaning and insulting to those with disabilities, saying for most of them, it was their only chance to make a living and they actually enjoyed entertaining audiences.  Lentini eventually got married to a woman named Theresa and they had four children.  He died of lung failure in 1966 at the age of 77.

4. General Tom Thumb

General Tom Thumb

General Tom Thumb was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut as Charles Sherwood as normal baby in the year 1838.  If anything, the baby was larger than average, weighing over 9 lbs.  For the first 6 months of his life, everything was perfectly normal.  Then, Charles simply stopped growing at just over 2 feet tall.  His parents noticed he wasn't growing, but doctors could do nothing about it and explained that he would likely remain small for the rest of his life, although at the time he couldn't say exactly why.  Today, we know it was due to a faulty pituatary gland.  He had barely grown an inch by the time he was 5 and the famous showman and circus pioneer P.T. Barnum hired the child and taught him how to sing, dance and even do celebrity impressions.

The boy, who was perfectly healthy despite the fact he couldn't grow, was given the new stage name "General Tom Thumb."  He became a massive success, bigger than most of the celebrities that he impersonated.  During the 1840's, he was one of the most famous people in the world.  He had a flair for improvisation and a natural ability to entertain.  People showed up the at the sideshows expecting to feel bad for the child, but instead left huge fans who wanted to see him perform again.

He toured Europe and was renowned for his famous impression of Napoleon.  He became very wealthy, not only from his performances, but due to investments in real estate.  During the Civil War, he performed at the White House for President Lincoln and eventually fell in love and married another small performer named Lavinia Warren Bump.  The wedding generated massive public interest and was covered by every major newspaper.  The couple toured the world and performed together.  

Later on, when P.T. Barnum ran into financial troubles, Charles helped him out, and the two became business partners.  Charles died of an unexpected stroke in 1883 at the age of 45, and Barnum purchased a life size General Tom Thumb statue to be placed on his gravestone.  

3. Schlitzie the Pinhead

Schlitzie

One of the most beloved sideshow performers of the 20th century was Shlitzie.  Although his birth information is a bit murky, most biographies have him being born in 1901 as Simon Metz.  He had a condition called Microcephaly that caused him to have a very small cranium, brain and stature. His development was affected and he had the cognitive ability of a 3-4 year old child.  

Sideshows had displayed people with Microcephaly before, usually exhibiting them as a Aztecs or sometimes as an alien race.  They did the same thing with Schlitzie, billing him as "the Last of the Aztecs," but he became more popular with crowds than usual and became hugely beloved by his caretakers due to his constant smile, affectionate attitude and general joy he exuded, loving to talk with any and every one.  He had a positive energy that affected any one around him, including the spectators. 

He became so popular, nearly every major company in show business wanted to hire him and many did, including Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus and Tom Mix Circus.  He was oftentimes exhibited as a girl, because he normally wore dress-like clothing to make it easier to care for him.  He made his film debut in 1928's "The Sideshow" and later joined the Hilton Twins in the 1932 film "Freaks."

In the early 1960's, his legal guardian, a chimpanzee trainer named George Surtees, passed away.  George had been a caring a loving guardian, but after his death, his daughter had Schliztie committed to a hospital in Los Angeles County, where Schlitize became depressed, missing show business.  He was rescued by a sword swallower named Bill Unks who happened to be in the hospital and recognized Schlitize.  He convinced the hospital to let him hire Schlitzie to return to the sideshow circuit and be a performer again.  He continued to perform professionally until 1968.  

He lived the last 3 years of his life on Santa Monica Boulevard, where he would be seen at local spots, feeding pigeons and ducks and still performing for people passing by.

2. Grady Stiles - the "Lobster Boy"

Grady Stiles

Throughout the 1800's, the Stiles family took advantage of a constant deformity in the family - ectrodactyly, which causes the hands to look like lobster claws as the middle 3 fingers appear to be missing, since they are fused to the thumb and pinky.  Born in Pittsburgh in 1937, Grady Stiles Jr. became the most famous member of the family and not just for innocent reasons.  He has perhaps the darkest story of any sideshow performer.

Grady had severe ectrodacyly not only in his hands but also in his feet and he was unable to walk because of it.  He used a wheelchair to help get around, but also learned to use his upper body to pull himself across the floor, and doing this created massive upper body strength.  Stiles began touring on the sideshow circuit early in his life with his family.  Later on, he married a woman named Mary Theresa and continued to perform with his own family as 2 of his 4 children also had the same condition.

As an adult, Grady Stiles had become an alcoholic and could become violent, and his tremendous strength made him all the more terrifying.  He was abusive to his wife and kids, and would reportedly choke her with his incredibly powerful hands.  She eventually divorced him.

He proved what he was truly capable of when his daughter, Donna, fell in love with and agreed to marry a man Grady did not approve of.  The day before their wedding, he shot and murdered the groom and freely confessed to the killing in court.  However, as he mentioned to the court, no prison was equipped to deal with his condition and he was sentenced to house arrest and 15 years probation.

He married another woman and had two more kids, but they were all victim to his drunken rages and another divorce ensued.  Then, to the shock and disapproval of her friends and family, his first wife Mary Theresa agreed to get back together with him, believing he had quit drinking, and the couple re-married.  Sadly, he began drinking again and the abuse became worse than ever.  She believed he was going to kill again and decided to get ahead of it.

In 1992, Mary Theresa paid her 17-year old neighbor Chris $1,500 to murder her husband, in a plot was planned by Mary Theresa and her son from another man, Glenn.  Chris took gun into the Stiles home and put a bullet in the head of Grady Stiles, the Lobster Boy, killing him.  Theresa, Glenn and Chris were all charged and convicted of first degree murder and given lengthy prison sentences.  Grady Stiles was so disliked, only 10 people attended his funeral and no one would volunteer as a pallbearer.

Article about the murder of the Lobster Boy

1. Joseph Merrick - the "Elephant Man"

Joseph Merrick

Perhaps the most interesting and famous sideshow performer is Joseph Merrick.  He was born in England in 1862 and was a completely normal looking baby boy born to a loving mother, Mary Jane Merrick.  He started to develop some mysterious physical deformities by the age of 5.  They appeared to be lumpy and bony tumors that took over his face and other parts of his body.

His mother passed away at the age of 11, a huge blow to young Joseph.  His abusive father remarried a woman who had no sympathy for Joseph, and they both kicked him out on the street.  Eventually, his uncle took him in, but as he grew older and needed work, he found little success due to his condition.  An attempt at selling items door to door failed when people were horrified upon seeing his face.

He ended up at a miserable workhouse, where those who could not find work had to toil away in grueling conditions.  Looking for some purpose in life and a way out of the workhouse, Joseph began to send letters to people in the show business world.  One showman, Sam Torr, responded, eventually visited Joseph and gave him a management team, who gave Joseph a moniker - "the Elephant Man."  He was exhibited in some human oddities shows and certainly caught the attention of many spectators.

He was popular, but in order to keep interest high, he would need to tour and with the help of showman Tom Norman, the Elephant Man was exhibited at various cities throughout London.  The spectators were first sold pamphlets that had a biography of the Elephant Man, then gently prepared for the viewing with a speech, explaining that they needed to brace themselves to witness this remarkable human being.  They were told the Elephant Man was not there to frighten them, but enlighten them.  No other sideshow performer had ever required such a speech be given just to prepare the spectators for the viewing.

A doctor named Sir Frederick Treves took some interest in Joseph and, despite being horrified by his appearance, performed some initial examinations on him at his clinic.  He thought he was mentally challenged and gave Joseph his business card afterwards.  Years later, Joseph was robbed and abandoned by his new road manager in Brussels.  After returning to London, he got into an altercation with some one at the Liverpool Train Station, likely due to his appearance.  To make matters worse, he couldn't even speak at the time due to bronchitis, so he handed police Dr. Treves's business card.

After being reunited with Dr. Treves, a new examination revealed his condition has only worsened and he likely did not have many years to live.  Dr. Treves arranged for Joseph to stay at his hospital permanently and, although the nurses were first horrified, they eventually came to like Joseph, and Dr. Treves had frequent conversations with him.  The doctor realized that, although Joseph had trouble speaking, he was not mentally disabled at all.  Dr. Treves helped Joseph meet a woman who would not be horrified by his looks, and took him to the theater for first time, helping him be comfortable and happy in his final years.

On April 11th, 1890, he was found dead in his bed from a broken neck.  Dr. Treves surmised that Joseph, who was supposed to sleep sitting up due to the weight of his head.  If he slept like a normal person, he would risk breaking his neck.  Apparently, he tried it anyway.  To this day, the precise cause of Joseph Merrick's condition remains unknown.