The freak show
What is it?
A Freak Show or Sideshows is a show where you can see some biological rarities, although not all performers were born with physical deformities. Some were artists who had unusual talents; fire eating, sword swallowing, obese people, skinny people, full-body tattoos.
Time
The freak shows begans on XVI century in England.
It wasn’t until the 19th century that freak shows become famous, the people started to pay for viewing the show and quickly become in a hit.
By the 1890s, the popularity of freak shows started to decrease.
The most famous people
The Monkey Girl:
She was Percilla Lauther, a woman who her father helped to enter in a Freak Show. When she was working in a circus, she met The Alligator Skinned Man. They married and lived together 60 years.
The Half-Woman:
Mademoiselle Gabrielle was born in Switzerland in 1884 and she began her freak show at the Paris Universal Exposition when she was 16. She married three times during her life. But after that, her history is unknown.
The Half-Man
He was John Eck, he was born in 1911 with a twin brother. The brothers performed as a pair for a magician, making the old sawing a volunteer in half illusion more realistic.
