Frieda Pushnik was born without arms or legs on Feb. 10, 1923 in Conemaugh, Pennsylvania. She claimed that her condition was due to a botched appendectomy conducted on her pregnant mother. The validity of this statement is questionable, however considering no lawsuit was filed – the story is most likely a case of sideshow creativity….
The man who would become Prince Randian was born in 1871 in Demerara, British Guiana to Indian slave parents.Despite being born without arms or legs he was incredibly self sufficient. Randian was brought to the US in 1889 and, while he performed at many dime shows and museums, he gained most of his fame performing…
The promise of suggestive sexual content lured many warm blooded men to curiosity displays, carnivals, and sideshows. The Cooche Shows (exotic or burlesque shows) presented by carnivals in the first half of the 20th century proved incredibly successful. But the shy or modest man would often opt to take in the sideshow, where skin…
‘The tricks he plays at cups and balls, Tis wrong in any man, who calls, Them slight of hand, as he gives out, Their slight of stumps, and are no doubt … I’m sure that’s the worst thing about his life, that he had to suffer these terrible poems.’ – from a handbill dating from…