This page is dedicated to the great freaks who dedicated their lives to provide entertainment to us. Thanks to FHM for all the information they provided me with.
Prince Randian
Prince Randian or 'the living torso' lived for 63 limbless years around the turn of the century. The 'catarpillar man' starred in Tod Browning's 1932 movie Freaks as many famous circus freaks of the time did, and although he only played a bit part, he did display his famous skill of rolling, lighting and smoking a cigarette.
Although he had no arms or legs, he learnt to move using his stomach muscles and wobbling from side to side.
With this disability Prince Randian learnt to use his mouth to do normal everyday tasks. He was so skilled he made his own box from scratch to keep his tobbaco in, in fact he said that 'one day I'll build my own house'!
Johnny Eck
Billed as the 'amazing quarter man' Johnny Eck had only the top half of his body and actually learned to walk on his hands. In fact, if you watch the film Freaks you can see that he can actually walk as fast as any 'normal' person. He also displayed superb balance and strength, I have seen him climb up and onto a bedpost and balance himself on it, which I found very impressive.
In fact, in my view (and that of my friends), he was the star of Tod Browning's classic and is one of the all time great circus freaks.
Grady Stiles
The 'Lobster Man', as he was known by his circus had ectrodactyly, this meant that all his fingers were fused together to make just two lobster like claws. This was the same on both his hands and feet, but despite this he could still run faster than most men could on their feet. The Stiles family toured for years with the World of Mirth Carnival, the deformity was passed on for five generations and it was reported that Grady actually killed some of his children for being born normal.
A rabid alcoholic and wife-beater Grady narrowly avoided the electric chair after shooting and killing his daughter's fiance by playing on his injuries. However, in 1992 he was eventually shot three times in the head by a hit man who had been hired by his wife.
Edward Mordake
Edward was born a united twin, meaning that he had another face on the reverse of his, said to be that of a beautiful girl. Apparantly her eyes followed you around the room and her lips gibbered ceaselessly. His 'devil twin' as Edward called it drove him to an early grave, he reported that she whispered to him, keeping him awake with 'things as they only speak off in hell'. Edward poisened himself at the age of 23 after surgeons refused to remove the face as it was too risky. In his final note, Edward wrote that the head should be smashed incase she kept talking to him in his grave.
Robert Earl Hughes
After Robert caught whooping cough in his youth which caused a hormonal imbalance meaning he gained weight incurably. In fact, at the age of 10 he weighed 378 pounds, but by the age of 32, in the year of his death Robert weighed 76 stone. He had a chest that measured 124 inches and a waist of 122 inches around, in fact his upper arm is bigger than my waist at 40 inches around!!!!
Lori and Reba Schappel
Reba and Lori were born joined a the head, facing in opposite directions. The two sisters not only share an eye, but also share some brain tissue, unfortunately, Lori had to carry her twin due to a height difference, making life very hard for the larger sister. The two still manage to live very different lives, Reba is an award winning country singer, while Lori plans to marry her fiance. Unfortunately for Lori, while her sister sings she has to face the back of the stage and for publicity shots has to hide under a pice of carpet!!!
Betty Lou Williams
As FHM put it, Betty looked like the result of a human cannonball stunt gone wrong. She had a parisetic twin embedded in ehr side, as if it had been shot into her by a cannon. She was a very popular freak and made around $1000 a week, however, most of this was fleased off her by one of the suitors apparantly attracted to her preetty face. He eloped with the money, reportedly with a bearded lady!
Stephan Bilgraski
Called Lionel, the Lion-Faced Boy at his shows, Stephan was born with 6 inch fur covering his entire body!
It is said that his mum saw his father ripped to shreads by lions during her pregnancy and this is what is blamed for the boy's appearance. The Polish freak moved to the USA and was one of the top sideshow freaks during the second world war. Unfortunately for him, when Stephan moved back home he was caught and gassed by the Nazis.
Celestine Tate Harrington
After her mother tried to abort her preganancy using a coathanger Celestine was left with horrific injuries, her arms and legs were left as deformed stumps. After a horrific child-hood, during which her mother considered selling her to the hospital for medical research to gain extra money to spend on her drug addiction, Celestine was married and had two children. She also lived confortably, making $100,000 a year from playing the electric organ with her tongue on the streets of Atlantic City.
The Tocci Brothers
Giovanni and Giacoma shared a single lower body, but above the wiast split into two. Below the waist the twins controlled a leg each, making walking almost impossible and shared just one pernis and anus. At two days old the Toccis had their first taste of fame making $1000 a week after their parents displeyed them. Finally, after breaking America and becomming fairly rich the boys retired from the public eye and lived happily for many years.
Myrtle Corbin
The four legged woman had a malformed siamese twin, which meant she was left with two pairs of legs and two vaginas from which she gave birth to five children, 3 from her body and two from her twins. Billed as the Four-Legged woman form Texas, Myrtle used to gallop across the stage like a horse and was a very popular freak in the early 1900's for her horrific deformities.
Lucia Zarate
When born Lucia was just seven inches long and weighed only eight ounces, in fact, even when she was full grown she only measured 17 inches and weighed 5 pounds. However, she had a waist almost as great as her height at 14 inches. Despite this, she was apparantly very intelligent and fun to be with. Unfortunately, her life was cut short at the age of 26 when her train stalled in the mountains, she died in the extreme cold.
The two headed boy
Although this picture isn't of him, this is the same disorder that this boy suffered of. However, his extra head sat upside down on his head, not the same way up as in the picture above. The boy had an awful upbringing he was kept covered by a towel before shows and was only saved from a bonfire by his parents as they realised they could make money from him. Even after his death at the age of 4 in 1787 his torment wasn't over, his grave was robbed by British scientists and taken back to the UK for tests.
Frank Lentini
The result of non-seperating triplets, Frank was left with a third leg sprouting from the base of his spine, he also had 2 sets of genitals, he also had four feet and 16 toes with his extra foot sprouting from his third knee. As a keen fisherman Frank claimed he could use his extra leg as a stool and also claimed it made a fantastic rudder while swimming. Unfortunately, his legs were all differnt legs, so although he had three legs he always said he still didn't have a pair.
Zip, the missing link
Like all pinheads Zip had microphaly, a condition meaning the skull was deformed, leaving a normal size face on a head the size of a grapefruit. He made his point by growing a little tuft of hair on the top of his head so everyone noticed. Zip used to wear a fur suit for his part of the wildman of Africa and was famous for having very little brains, but always tried new things, like playing a fiddle, for which he had more enthusiasm than talent. His manager had a heart attack at Zip's funeral and had his final wish of being next to his friend, "just in case the little guy needed him".
Grace McDaniels
The mule face woman was said to have skin like red, raw meat, she had a huge, sidtorted chin which was at such an angle she could hardly move her jaws. Her teeth were large and jagged and she had a huge nose and massive lips, exactly like a mules. Hence the name. She made it into show biz by winning an ugly woman competition-by this time she was married with a son. Her son later became her manager and change her billing from the Ulgliest woman in the world, which she found saddening, to the Mule faced woman, which she liked a lot more.
Julia Pastrana
Billed as the bear woman, she was born in a cave in Mexico surrounded by grizzlies. She too was said to be very ugly, with a huge forhead, swollen gums with two rows of teeth and a body completely covered in black fur. She started off working as a nanny, but was soon noticed and became very famous in the freak world. She married her manager, only so he could have sole ownership rights and later gave birth to an equally ugly son. Unfortunately he was born stillborn, but still earned his father much money when he, along with his mother were enbalmed and taken on a world tour. In 1990 the armless body of Julia was found in a ditch in Norway, after a comeback tour of Scandinavia.
Bobby Kork
An evenly split hermaphrodite, Bobby was male on the right and female on the left. Bobby also had a 50/50 split of genetalia. Apparantly much more masculine in personality and was well known for getting in fights with people who called him a freak. He died in the mid 1900s of food poisoning.
Charles Byrne
Due to a defect in the pituitary gland-which controls the release of growth hormones, Charles grew to a height of 7ft 9in. However, he wasn't the talelst man ever, Robert Wadlow was over 8ft 11in. However, Charles was still very famous and was followed around by a group of doctors waiting for him to die so they could test his body. One in particular, John Hunter used to follow him with a large pot, ready to boil the giant's flesh. The sight of this pot eventually killed Byrne, driving him into a nervous breakdown. But first he made sure his body would be buried safely, unfortunately, Hunter bribed the undertaker to install a trapdoor in the coffin, the skeleton is now in the Royal College of Surgeons.
Freaks on Film
Freaks
Born Different
Freaks Uncensored-A Human Sideshow
Sideshow-Alive on the inside
Check out Reel or Blackstar to buy some of these movies
