Top 10 Iconic Female Sideshow Performers

The golden era of freak shows in America and Europe, which featured traveling exhibitions and carnival attractions with performers who were often disabled or disfigured, lasted roughly from 1840 to 1940 [source: Disability Social History Project]. These exhibitions were particularly popular during the Victorian age, drawing crowds at circus tents, fairgrounds, and even P.T. Barnum’s American Museum in New York. Barnum, who would later go on to organize the first Miss America-style beauty pageant in 1854, is often credited as the pioneer of the freak show [source: Thomson]. Alongside his British counterpart Tom Norman, who discovered the Elephant Man, they charged visitors to see displays of bearded ladies, conjoined twins, little people, and other societal outcasts.

Modern disability studies explain the allure of freak shows as a form of cultural transgression—paying to gawk at individuals with unusual traits, such as morbid obesity—and reinforcing social standards by highlighting the abnormal [source: Craton]. Many sideshow performers, however, used their unique conditions to build wealth and gain fame, a phenomenon some scholars regard as a form of success for the era [source: Thomson]. For female performers in particular, their role onstage symbolized a clear break from Victorian conventions. In a time when women were typically expected to remain in the domestic sphere, the following 10 women who embraced their “natural” deformities (such as extra limbs) and “artificial” enhancements (like tattoos) were seen as both compelling and taboo-breaking.

10: Joice Heth, the 161-Year-Old Woman

Promoted in 1835 as "The Greatest Natural & National Curiosity in the World," Joice Heth became the subject of intense scrutiny, with crowds marveling at her frail appearance and gnarled fingers. Was she truly 161 years old, as the promotional ads for her traveling show claimed [source: Lost Museum]? Did she really care for George Washington as an infant? Certainly not, but P.T. Barnum didn’t care. As long as Heth’s mysterious age and backstory captivated onlookers, Barnum was content to profit from the spectacle.

Barnum acquired his first "freak," the former slave Joice Heth, from Kentucky showman R.W. Lindsay, and toured her through the Northeast for seven months as her health deteriorated [source: Reiss]. For a mere quarter, visitors could witness Heth's frail form and composed demeanor, leading some to speculate she was an elaborate automaton [source: Curry]. Although she was undeniably alive, her life wouldn’t last much longer [source: Thomson]. Upon her death in February 1836, Barnum continued to capitalize on the deception, charging 50 cents for an autopsy of her body. The attending doctors revealed that Heth was far from 161 years old; she was likely in her 70s at the time of her passing.

9: Ella Milbauer, 586 Pounds of Feminine Charm

Sideshows often utilized visual contrasts to highlight physical anomalies. For example, a showman might place a little person beside a giant to exaggerate their contrasting heights [source: Rosenbaum]. Similarly, both extremely tall and very short individuals were frequent fixtures in freak shows, as were those with extreme body sizes. Thus, obese women were often showcased next to average-sized individuals or even 'human skeleton' attractions.

Ella Milbauer, known as "586 Pounds of Feminine Charm," was a popular sideshow attraction who toured with the Ringling Circus [source: BoingBoing]. She began her circus career in 1956, at a time when the heyday of the sideshow era had already passed. Milbauer replaced Alice from Dallas, the circus’s former ‘fat lady,’ and performed for just five years—likely due to the decline in sideshow popularity and the loss of jobs among many freak performers [source: Sunday Magazine]. Yet, Milbauer's legacy endures in a portrait featured in Drew Friedman's 2011 book "Sideshow Freaks." Being immortalized in freak show history is no small feat, as fat ladies were often undervalued performers, earning less than other sideshow stars [source: Thomson].

8: Seven Sutherland Sisters

The Seven Sutherland Sisters earned more as entrepreneurs than as circus attractions, but their initial fame from touring set the stage for their brief wealth. The adopted daughters of Fletcher Sutherland—Sarah, Victoria, Isabella, Grace, Naomi, Mary, and Dora—trained as a musical act under the Barnum and Bailey Circus. After delighting audiences with their voices, the sisters would reveal their lengthy hair, letting their dark tresses cascade to the floor. Altogether, their hair measured nearly 37 feet [source: Sammarco and Rounds].

Their father, realizing that singing would only take his daughters so far, capitalized on their long hair by creating the Seven Sutherland Sisters' Hair Grower. Thanks to the publicity from their circus act, the tonic quickly became a hit, earning $90,000 in its first year [source: Sherrow]. This fortune allowed the Sutherland Sisters and their legendary locks to retire from the circus. However, their fortune was squandered, and their empire fell apart when short haircuts like the bob became popular at the turn of the century [source: Sammarco and Rounds].

7: Myrtle Corbin, the Four-Legged Woman

Myrtle Corbin, born in Tennessee in 1868, was a woman with four legs. The additional pair, which belonged to her dipygus twin that didn’t fully develop, hung below Corbin’s own legs. The extra limbs were small and not functional, connected to their own pelvis. Recognizing her potential to make money, Corbin’s family had her perform in sideshows starting at the age of 13.

Myrtle Corbin performed with her extra legs at P.T. Barnum shows, Coney Island, Ringling Bros. Circus, and other attractions, leaving audiences in awe. To counterbalance her “monstrous” appearance, her promotional material emphasized her kind nature, portraying her as “gentle of disposition as the summer sunshine and happy as the day is long” [source: Bogdan]. This marketing approach proved effective, and Corbin earned up to $450 per week at the peak of her career [source: Hartzman].

Corbin's fame also coincided with the rise of teratology, the study of physical anomalies (often referred to as "monstrosities"). As a result, she became a well-known figure in the medical field. Articles about her condition, as well as her first childbirth experience in 1889, were published in prestigious medical journals such as the Journal of the American Medical Association, the British Medical Journal (now BMJ), and the American Journal of Obstetrics. These journals referred to her as part of "a class of monsters by fusion" [source: Bogdan].

6: Josephine Joseph; Half Woman, Half Man

Josephine Joseph, born in Austria, is a prime example of a sideshow favorite: the gaffed presentation [source: Springhall]. P.T. Barnum was known for his willingness to "gaff," or stage, an unusual act to boost ticket sales. For example, did he truly believe that Joice Heth was 161 years old? Probably not.

A common form of gaffed presentations at circuses and freak shows included the half-man, half-woman act. These performers would present themselves as intersex individuals (the preferred term for those once called hermaphrodites), possessing both male and female biological traits. Josephine Joseph is among the most famous of these "double-bodied" figures, appearing in Tod Browning's 1932 film "Freaks." The right side of Josephine Joseph’s body was masculine, with short hair and a strongman’s leopard leotard, while the left side presented a more feminine appearance with long hair, makeup, and women's clothing. Little is known about Josephine Joseph’s life outside of the peak of his or her career in the early 1930s, but it’s likely the performer was a male impersonator [source: Nickell].

5: Hilton Sisters, Conjoined Twins

The Hilton Sisters were one of the few sideshow acts to rise beyond the circus tent and reach mainstream Hollywood fame. In fact, conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton became some of the highest-paid performers on the vaudeville circuit during the 1930s, earning up to $5,000 a week at their peak [source: Thomson]. They also appeared in Tod Browning’s 1932 cult film "Freaks" and later starred in the 1950 B-movie "Chained for Life," which explored their experiences as conjoined twins.

It’s not entirely surprising that the Hilton sisters reached brief stardom since they were raised with the intention of becoming performers. Daisy and Violet were cared for by the midwife who delivered them, and from a young age, they were trained in singing, dancing, and playing musical instruments. By the age of three, they were already performing at circuses, carnivals, and fairs [source: Hartzman]. Unfortunately, their adoptive mother, referred to as "Auntie," kept all the earnings they made. It wasn’t until the twins turned 23 that they finally took legal action to claim their income. Despite their fame, their personal lives were troubled, especially in terms of romantic relationships, which were complicated by their conjoined condition. Both sisters briefly married, though Violet’s marriage in 1936 was a publicity stunt, and Daisy’s marriage ended after only 10 days in 1941 [source: Thomson].

When their fame faded in the 1960s, the Hilton sisters took jobs at a grocery store in Charlotte, North Carolina. One twin would handle the register while the other bagged groceries [source: Hornberger]. They passed away in 1969, marking the end of their public story.

4: Mary Ann Bevan, World's Homeliest Woman

Mary Ann Bevan’s reputation as the "World’s Homeliest Woman" often overlooks the fact that she was not born with unattractive features. Her unusual appearance was the result of acromegaly, a metabolic disorder that causes excessive secretion of growth hormones, leading to abnormal bone development, particularly in the facial bones [source: Danzig]. This condition, also known as gigantism, resulted in Bevan’s facial features becoming enlarged and distorted.

In 1903, Mary Ann Bevan, a nurse by profession, married a farmer, and they had four children together. However, after her husband's untimely death in 1914, she became the sole provider for her family. In a bid to support her children, Bevan entered and won a "Homeliest Woman" contest, which led her to perform in sideshows. She displayed her altered appearance to audiences, including at Coney Island’s Dreamland Circus Side Show and the Ringling Bros. Circus, until her death in 1933 [source: Danzig].

In 2006, a British doctor saw Bevan’s image on a Hallmark card that mocked her acromegaly-disfigured face. Outraged by the insensitivity, the doctor filed a protest against the greeting card company. As a result, Hallmark discontinued selling the "World's Homeliest Woman" cards for profit.

3: Millie-Christine, The Two-Headed Nightingale

Born into slavery in 1852, Millie-Christine McKoy, conjoined at the lower spine, faced a harsh start to life. Disabled children were seen as burdens during slavery, with plantation owners reluctant to feed extra mouths that couldn't contribute to field labor [source: Disability Social History Project]. However, their rare conjoined state made them valuable as a sideshow attraction, leading to the twins being bought and sold multiple times before they turned six [source: National Institutes of Health]. Eventually, salesman Joseph Pearson Smith purchased the twins and their family, where his wife took on the task of teaching them to read, write, sing, and dance.

For nearly three decades, Millie-Christine’s main talent was singing. Known as 'The Two-Headed Nightingale,' the twins performed across the United States and Europe, making appearances at P.T. Barnum’s American Museum in New York and even performing in front of Queen Victoria. At their shows, audience members could purchase their autobiography titled 'Biography, Medical Description and Songs of Miss Millie/Christine, the Two-Headed Nightingale' for a quarter [source: Bogdan].

By 1882, Millie-Christine earned a combined income of $25,000 while touring with the Great Inter-Ocean Railroad Show, paving the way for their eventual retirement later that decade [source: Martell]. In post-Civil War America, it was extraordinary for Black women, or any women, to earn such an amount, and this success cemented their place as one of the greatest sideshow acts in history. Millie-Christine passed away in 1912 after Millie, the slightly smaller twin, succumbed to tuberculosis.

2: Julia Pastrana, Baboon Lady

In his 1868 work 'The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication,' Charles Darwin described Julia Pastrana, known as the Baboon Lady, as 'a remarkably fine woman, but she had a thick masculine beard and a hairy forehead' [source: Bondeson]. Born around 1834 in a Mexican orphanage, Pastrana suffered from a rare genetic condition known as congenital generalized hypertrichosis terminalis with gingival hypertrophy. This led to excessive hair growth, enlarged gums, and a protruding jaw, giving her an appearance that, at the time, fascinated scientists and naturalists like Darwin who had little understanding of her condition, making her a sideshow sensation and a medical oddity [source: LiveScience].

Pastrana toured widely across the United States, Europe, and Russia, often referred to as a 'nondescript'—a being somewhere between human and animal, or male and female. At her performances in concert halls and exhibitions, she would emphasize her enigmatic gender identity by dressing her hirsute body in frilly dresses, accessorizing with flowers, glittering ornaments, and even holding flowers to further highlight the contrast between masculine and feminine traits. She also captivated audiences with her powerful singing, performing both English and Spanish arias, and showcasing her dancing skills, including the highland fling [source: Bondeson].

Despite her fame, those who knew Pastrana revealed that the constant gawking she endured left her feeling isolated rather than celebrated. Although she was one of the most famous performers of her time, Pastrana faced invasive oral and medical examinations and endless scrutiny about her true gender. In 1860, she tragically passed away after giving birth to her child, a boy who inherited her genetic disorder and died shortly after birth due to asphyxia. After their deaths, both mother and son were embalmed and their bodies continued to be displayed in exhibitions [source: Sweet].

1: Lavinia Warren, Mrs. Tom Thumb

When Lavinia Warren married General Tom Thumb in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln hosted the couple at the White House for a wedding reception. The New York Times lauded the 32-inch-tall 'Queen of Beauty' and her wedding attire in a detailed article [source: The New York Times]. This highly publicized event marked the peak of the sideshow era and represented the closest Victorian America came to embracing a 'freak' as a beloved figure. The couple had transcended the circus world and gained genuine celebrity status.

P.T. Barnum began showcasing Charles Stratton, better known as General Tom Thumb, in England in 1843 when he was just 11 years old. By 1863, Stratton had become one of the most famous individuals in the world of sideshows, and his wedding to Lavinia Warren was largely a publicity stunt masterminded by Barnum. Lavinia had started her career in 1858, touring with a maritime dime museum owned by her uncle, and in 1862, she joined Barnum’s troupe at the American Museum in New York [source: Bogdan]. When Stratton saw Warren, he was immediately smitten, much to Barnum’s delight. Once the engagement was announced, crowds at the American Museum flocked to catch a glimpse of the soon-to-be bride [source: Bogdan]. After Stratton's death in 1883, Warren remarried another little person performer, Count Primo Magri, though by then, the public's fascination with sideshow acts had diminished.