The Camel Girl, an Elastic-Skin Man, a Two-Headed Mexican and the Beautiful Half-Woman, were wildly popular during Victorian times.
These are the haunting images of the circus 'freaks', who members of public would pay to see their physical deformities.
The word 'freak' was used to cruelly describe people born with 'abnormal' features.
Pasqual Pinon (left) more commonly known as 'The Two-Headed Mexican' and Alice Doherty (right) who suffered from hypertrichosis lanuginosa resulting in her being born with two-inch long blonde hair all over her body
Ella Harper known as 'The Camel Girl', pictured here in the 1880s, she was born with a very rare orthopaedic condition called congenital genu recurvatum that caused her knees to bend backwards
Mademoiselle Gabrielle, from Basel in Switzerland, was a legless marvel who rose to fame in the early 1900s, she began her freak show and exhibition career at the Paris Universal Exposition in 1900 as The Half-Woman
But some of the characters in these nineteenth-century photographs would go on to become the beloved stars of their generation.
The recently unearthed pictures reveal some of the fascinating people who took to the stage in the 1800s.
The collection features 'The Minnesota Wooly Baby' Alice Doherty, 'Armless Wonder' Charles Tripp and Pasqual Pinon more commonly known as 'The Two-Headed Mexican'.
Alice, from Minneapolis suffered from hypertrichosis lanuginosa resulting in her being born with two-inch long blonde hair all over her body.
She was constantly in a stand alone exhibit, on display for extended periods of time, in 'storefront exhibitions' and made her family a decent living.
Pasqual Pinon was discovered by a sideshow promoter in Texas - whose attention had been caught by the large benign tumour on the top of Pinon's head.
The promoter recruited Pinon into his freak show and placed a fake face made of wax onto his tumour - so that it looked like two heads.
Pinon's act as The Two Headed Mexican became an instant success and he toured for several years. At the end of his illustrious career, the circus manager paid to have the tumour removed.
Felix Wehrle, known as 'Elastic Man', pictured here in the early 1900s, had Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome which allowed him to stretch his skin to great length
Other little-known characters of the nineteenth-century freak shows include the limbless 'Half-Woman' Mademoiselle Gabrielle who enthralled Victorian society with her beauty and Ella Harper 'The Camel Girl'.
Born with a rare condition that caused her knees to bend backwards, Ella's preference of walking on all fours earned her the nickname 'Camel Girl'.
She became a hit and by 1886, she was demanding $200 per week (equivalent to over $5,000 today).
Mademoiselle Gabrielle, from Basel in Switzerland, became famous in 1900 after her debut at the Paris Universal Exposition in 1900 as The Half-Woman.
Her first foray proved successful and she travelled to America to work with the Dreamland Circus Side Show, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey.
The black-and-white photographs also feature 'The Elastic-Skin Man' Felix Wehrle who could stretch his skin to great length as well as conjoined twins Rosa and Josepha Blazek.
Joined at their posterior, twins Rosa and Josepha become worldwide sensations when they toured Europe in the late nineteenth century.
Giantess Anna Haining Bates, holding a small child for scale, 1888 (left) and the living skeleton John Battersby and his obese wife Hannah (right)
Rosa and Josepha Blazek, The Bohemian Twins, were conjoined sisters from Skrejsov, Bohemia (Czech Republic), they performed violin duets and Rosa had a child later in their career, although many believe this may have been a publicity stunt
Charles Tripp, the 'Armless Wonder,' from Ontario, Canada, pictured here in 1880 - he was born without arms, but learned to use his legs and feet to perform everyday tasks
When Rosa announced she was pregnant in 1909, the twin's apparent ménage-a-trois situation and rumours that her father was their manager caused scandal in Victorian society.
Nonetheless, Rosa's son, Little Franz joined the twins' travelling show as 'The Son of Two Mothers' in 1910.
Exhibitions of live human curiosities had appeared in travelling fairs, circuses and taverns in England since the 1600s - but 'freak' shows became a particularly popular form of entertainment during the Victorian period.
In America, the freak show was popularized by PT Barnham who described his offering as the 'Greatest show on Earth'. Barnham's circus was so popular that it toured the United Kingdom in 1889 and 1897 and was the ultimate in showmanship and spectacle with an average crowd of 10,000 people per performance.
However, many of the people weren't as shocking as described, so the show owners created a background story to go with each performer.
Midgets were frequently advertised as being much older than they actually were - whilst 'Hairy Mary from Borneo' was not a woman, but a monkey in reality.
As science improved and led to many of the 'freaks' physical differences being explained as genetic mutation or disease, the sideshow fell into decline as the individuals were treated with compassion and sympathy instead of fear and disgust.
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2018/11/21/haunting-images-show-the-freakshow-stars-who-entranced-victorian-audiences-across-the-atlantic/
Main photo article The Camel Girl, an Elastic-Skin Man, a Two-Headed Mexican and the Beautiful Half-Woman, were wildly popular during Victorian times.
These are the haunting images of the circus ‘freaks’, who members of public would pay to see their physical deformities.
The word ‘freak’...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2018/11/21/11/6465436-6413539-image-a-47_1542798381085.jpg
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