Everyone’s a freak. No two bodies are the same; we all have unpleasant, wonderful, shocking and extraordinary features; we are all unique. But for centuries the word ‘freak’ has been used cruelly to describe people born with ‘abnormal’ features, or those able perform extraordinary physical acts by contorting or misshaping their bodies.
Exhibitions of live human curiosities had appeared in travelling fairs, circuses and taverns in England since the 1600s. These included so-called giants, dwarves, fat people, the very thin, conjoined twins and even people from exotic climes. Freak shows were a particularly popular form of entertainment during the Victorian period, when people from all classes flocked to gawp at these unusual examples of human life.
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that’s really interesting.
Present freaks are probably the models then ..
Every morning is a freak show …. in your house I bet …
Thank god I awake being alone …. this morning heart attacks are not really my favorite thing (OH MY GOD WHO ARE YOU????!!!). I do see some times someone in the shiney thing on the wall though … but I dont believe in ghosts so just pretend I dont see it …. (it’s really something you dont wanna see you see …)
we did a show once based on a Victorian freak show.
It was called Skin Deep Circus http://www.dynamicnewanimation.co.uk/SkinDeepCircus.html
It had characters based on the elephant man, Caroline Crachami (The Sicilian Dwarf Fairy), Chang and Eng, The Fiji Mermaid and stangely Flea Circus performers
I think everyone is fascinated with the unusual at some level — after all, they are the only things that are not usual, commonplace, and virtually invisible.
This is great to read about. I grew up in the town where Mercy Lavinia Bump Warren, wife of Gen Tom Thumb, was from. They were amazing benefactors to the town, having built the town’s beautiful library and filled it with books. I grew up looking at huge portraits of the Thumbs and their wedding party and enjoying the grand rooms of the small town library. I chose Lyvvie as a nickname with her in mind.
I can bend my elbows backwards! I’ve also got overlapping vertibrae in my neck, leaving a gap in my spine, I don’t notice though, so I’d be pretty boring in one of those shows.
Victorian Freak Shows are fascinating… even more so than the exhibits, were the strangely suited grinning Showman. Whipping the crowd into a frenzy of curiosity where they couldn’t resist the temptation to give over their hard earned wages…what a job !
And now we have reality TV…