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Freak show

Encyclopedia : F : FR : FRE : Freak show

For the Silverchair album by the same name, see Freak Show (album), for the cartoon series, see Freak Show (TV series), for the Marvel Comics character, see Freakshow_(comics)
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A freak show is an exhibition of rarities, "freaks of nature" — such as unusually tall or short humans, and people with both male and female secondary sexual characteristics — and performances that are expected to be shocking to the viewers. Heavily tattooed people have sometimes been seen in freak shows, as have fire-eating and sword-swallowing acts.

Contents

History

Freak shows were popular in the United States from around 1840 to 1940, and were often, but not always, associated with circuses and carnivals. Some shows also exhibited deformed animals (such as two-headed cows, one-eyed pigs, and four-horned goats), famous hoaxes (such as the famous beheaded swamp monster, which was found to be the buttocks of a deer with false eyes and fangs) or simply "science gone wrong" exhibits (such as deformed babies). With the increased mobility brought by the automobile, the audience for travelling shows dwindled as Americans began to seek out entertainment farther from home.

Advances in medicine and political changes all but spelled the for the freak show. As previously mysterious anomalies were scientifically explained as genetic mutations or diseases, freaks became the objects of pity rather than wonder. The eugenics movement saw human anomalies as unfortunate mistakes of nature. In 1937, Germany passed a law outlawing freak shows, decrying them as exploitation.

Since the freaks were now unemployable, they were considered social parasites by the Nazi regime, and were among the first to be sent to the Nazi death camps.

Today, freak shows are outlawed in a number of U.S. states. For example, Michigan law forbids the "exhibition [of] any deformed human being or human monstrosity, except as used for scientific purposes". [link]

A short historical timeline of the Freakshow

The exhibition of human oddities seen as far back as recorded history - we start in the year 1738.

1738 - The exhibition of an exhibit 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."

By the late 18th century, the science of teratology changed the belief that freaks were evil omens and the work of Satan or witches. Instead, people believed the theory that freaks were part of gods great order of creatures.

1822 - The FeeJee Mermaid is discovered in Indonesia by Captain Eades.

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 - Barney and Hiram are presented as wild men from the island of Borneo. The guide book for Barnum American museum list 13 human curiosities. Zip the Pinhead begins his six-decade career with Barnum.

1863 - Barnum uses his brilliant showman skills to get the civil war and emancipation proclamation pushed off the front pages and replaced by a midget wedding.

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 FeeJee Mermaids and the 602lb woman are exhibited at the first World’s Fair in Philadelphia.

1880 - First freakshow at Coney Island.

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 as workable and capable of birthing children.

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

Latter part of the 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.

Turn of the 19th century - The resurgence of Mendel’s law of genetics coupled with Darwin's Origin of Species introduced the idea that freaks could "taint the gene pool".

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 freakshow at Coney Island. General public can read articles in popular press explaining the diseases behind oddities.

1925 - Freaks can be seen performing on the vaudeville stage.

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

1937 - Nazis banned freakshows making it legal to arrest these "useless" members of society and experiment on them. Often they were sent to infamous Nazi doctor Josef Mengele.

Late 1930's - The switch in social view of those with physical or mental anomalies from fabulous freaks and curiosities to diseased people with disorders was complete.

1940 - Freakshow is on the ropes and the dime museum essentially dead. The three-legged man, Frank Lentini, opens a freakshow.

1950 - Historical sideshow died as public demands freaks be given "dignity" and not exhibited, at this time many went into institutions or on the welfare system. Kokomo (the mule faced boy) and Serpentina still strongly exhibiting.

1952 - The "Human Torso" is still on exhibit.

1960 - It is said as more freaks lost their jobs with the freakshow that many of them joined up with Anton Szandor LaVey. Albert-Alberta Karas[link] (siblings each half man, half woman) exhibits with Bobby Reynolds on sideshow tour.

1969 - John Strong saves $150 and purchases Patches the two headed cow and begins his freak animal show.

1972 - At north fair Sealo and the dwarf Pete Terhune confront charges against them for exhibiting themselves. The charges equated freakshows with pornography

1980's Bobby Reynolds is arrested for exhibiting pickled punks.

1984 - Freakshow 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.

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, et cetera. Later, near 2000, the Brazilian justice prohibited such appearances on TV shows.

2005–2006 - Ward Hall is still going strong with his sideshow where he still exhibits some born freaks. The 999 Eyes of Endless Dream sideshow begins scouring the streets for modern-day freaks. [link]

2006 A new "Lobster Boy" known as [BLACK] is found living in Austin, Texas and is recuirted by The 999 Eyes of Endless Dream Sideshow [link]

Today

The term "freak show" is archaic and widely seen as pejorative; shows such as mentioned above, Jim Rose Circus sideshow, and at Coney Island are more politely termed sideshows. However, Cut Throat Freak Show still uses the term, as do many other freak show and sideshow performers.

Freak shows are rare today, often reduced to museum displays containing newspaper clippings, photographs, statues, and other memorabilia of the freak shows of earlier times.

Freakshow is also the name of a character with hideous boils on his neck from the movie Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle.

However, with the rise of the Internet, the freakshow mentality has been given a new lease on life as sites such as rotten.com arose, allowing people to gaze at "freakish" abnormalities that would not have been seen during the television era due to ideas about aesthetic taste. Some extreme Internet pornography can be placed in this category, too.

All of this is a far cry from the freak shows of old, which featured real living human oddities and medical anomalies - people that are born truly physically different from the "norm". Although widely referred to as freaks, a distinction must be made between self-made freaks and born freaks. Generally, the most extreme examples of self-made freaks are referred to as "Human Marvels". Katzen, the Enigma, the Lizardman and both the Scottish and Texan Leopard men are all human marvels. Currently, the only travelling freak show known to feature born living human oddities and medical anomalies is the 999 Eyes of Endless Dream sideshow. This show features people born with medical anomalies such as Jackie the Half Girl, Peg Leg the Modern-Day Elephant Man, Lobster Girl, and the Dame Demure Madame Miniature.

See also

References

 

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