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These individuals earned their livelihoods as sideshow performers, often due to physical conditions that left them with limited career options. No such list would be complete without mentioning the most iconic figure of all: The Elephant Man. NOTE: Click the images for a closer look.
10. Joseph Merrick - The Elephant Man
Born in 1862, Joseph Merrick developed a rare physical condition at the age of five, causing his limbs to grow abnormally large. In 1884, he joined a sideshow, where he was treated kindly and earned a substantial income. A visiting physician later arranged for him to live a more comfortable life. It is now widely believed that Merrick suffered from Proteus Syndrome, not elephantiasis as previously thought. He passed away at 27 due to suffocation in his sleep.
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9. Juan Baptista dos Santos - The Man With Two Penises
Jean (or Juan) Baptista dos Santos, reportedly born in Faro, Portugal around 1843 to ordinary parents with two other typical siblings, was said to be of “Gipsey” origin. His exhibitionist career was primarily limited to medical audiences; in 1865, he declined an offer of 200,000 francs to perform with a French circus for two years. He had two functional penises and three scrota, with the outer two each containing a single testis. Dos Santos claimed that the central scrotum once held a pair of fully-formed testes, which had retracted into his abdomen at the age of ten.
8. Myrtle Corbin - The Four-Legged Woman
Josephine Myrtle Corbin entered the world in Lincoln County, Tennessee, in 1868. Born a dipygus, she possessed two distinct pelvises side by side from the waist down, a result of her twin not fully separating during development, similar to Frank Lentini’s third leg. Her smaller inner legs, paired with her outer ones, could move but were too frail for walking. She became a mother to four daughters and one son.
7. Mademoiselle Gabrielle - The Half Lady
Gabrielle Fuller was born in Basle, Switzerland, in 1884 and began her circus career at the Paris Exposition in 1900. She toured with the Ringling Brothers Circus and performed at Coney Island’s Dreamland sideshow. Married at least twice, including to a man named John de Fuller, she had a fully formed upper body that ended smoothly just below her waist.
6. Mary Ann Bevan - The Ugliest Woman
Mary Ann Webster was born in 1874 in London, England, as one of eight siblings. She worked as a nurse in her youth and married Thomas Bevan, a greengrocer, in 1903. Shortly after her marriage, she began showing signs of acromegaly, a condition characterized by abnormal growth and facial distortion, along with headaches, vision problems, and joint pain. The couple had four children before Thomas passed away in 1914.
5. Martin Laurello - The Human Owl
Martin Laurello, originally named Martin Emmerling, was born around 1886 in Nuremburg, Germany. He started performing his unique act in Europe during his twenties and brought it to America in 1921. He became a regular at Coney Island and performed with Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey’s sideshow. He also worked with Dick Best’s Royal American Shows and, as late as 1945, appeared in Ripley’s shows alongside “Popeye Perry” and “Junior Stiles,” the 7-year-old Lobster Boy.
4. Mme. Clofullia - The Bearded Lady of Geneva
Madame Clofullia, born Josephine Boisdechene in Switzerland, exhibited unusual hair growth from birth, reportedly sporting a two-inch beard by the age of eight. At fourteen, she began touring Europe, initially with her father and an agent, and later with just her father. In Paris, she met and married the painter Fortune Clofullia. She gained additional fame by styling her beard to resemble that of Napoleon III, who rewarded her with a magnificent diamond.
3. Ella Harper - The Camel Girl
This text comes from Ella Harper’s pitch card, a promotional flyer used to advertise sideshow attractions.
“Known as the camel girl, my knees bend backward, allowing me to walk most comfortably on my hands and feet, as depicted in the image. I’ve spent the last four years traveling extensively in the show business, but now, in 1886, I plan to leave this life behind, attend school, and prepare for a new career.”
I once witnessed a similar condition in Verona, Italy, where a woman knelt on the street to beg, but her legs bent forward at the knees instead of backward.
Most images in this article are sourced from The Human Marvels.
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2. Lionel - The Lion-Faced Boy
Stephan Bibrowsky, born in Poland in 1890 to ordinary parents, was affected by hypertrichosis, a rare genetic condition causing excessive hair growth over the entire body. Only around 50 cases have been recorded since the Middle Ages. Lionel’s body was covered in six-inch-long hair. Discovered by a German man named Meyer at age four, he gained fame across Europe as Lionel the Lion-Faced Man. Despite his appearance, he was often dressed in fine clothing to emphasize his intelligence and charm, speaking five languages fluently.
1. Wang - The Human Unicorn
In 1930, a Russian expatriate banker discovered a Chinese farmer from Manchukuo. The banker photographed the man and sent the image to Robert Ripley, famous for ‘Believe It Or Not!’ The farmer, known only as Wang or sometimes Weng, appeared entirely normal except for a 14-inch horn protruding from the back of his head. Ripley offered a substantial reward for anyone who could bring Wang to his Odditorium, but Wang vanished in the early 1930s and was never seen again.
