The Sad Stories Behind The Ringling Brothers' Most Famous 'Freak Show' Acts (2024)

FAQs

How were people in freak shows treated? ›

Some of the performers had been kidnapped and were forced to go onstage against their will. Others were mistreated by abusive staff members or by people in the audience, who did not see the performers as real people. That said, there were some performers who were widely accepted and well-paid by the circus staff.

There were four types of human abnormalities on display in dime museums: natural freaks, those born with physical or mental abnormalities, such as dwarfs and "pinheads"; self-made freaks who cultivated freakdom, for example tattooed people; novelty artists who were considered freaks for their "freakish" performances, ...

“Freak shows” remained popular until the 1940's, when public opinion began to shift. Throughout the 20th century, several federal laws made discrimination against people with physical disabilities illegal, and the exhibition of “extraordinary bodies” was outlawed in some states.

Freak shows were selling much more than merely a cheap peek at a monstrous body. In fact, they helped to educate the public about their place in the hierarchy of classes, races, civilizations, and nations that was so crucial to the nineteenth-century worldview.

The Venice Beach Freakshow will offer its final performances Sunday, forced to abandon its boardwalk home because its landlord declined to renew its lease, according to the founder. The news came about two years after Snap Inc.

Here are the true stories that inspired major plot points in AHS Freak Show. Season 4 references John Wayne Gacy, the Lobster Man, Edward Mordrake, and more. In this video, Greg breaks down how AHS Season 4's most iconic characters were inspired by real-life figures and horrific crime stories.

Geek was originally an early 20th-century term for a carnival worker who was so unskilled that the only thing the worker could do at the carnival to entice an audience was to bite off the heads of live animals. Essentially, a geek was a socially undesirable person who lacked any skill or ability.

It was a box office disaster. Supposedly at the premier of Freaks, women fainted, people vomited, and all were horrified. In fact, the film was so controversial that Browning was never permitted to direct with creative control again. After just a few more films, his career ended.

Is PT Barnum a good person? ›

But beneath his carefully constructed gregarious façade, he was a truly terrible human being. “The Greatest Showman” tells a highly sanitized version of Barnum's days of duping the public and his contemptible exploitation of anyone he could use to make a buck.

Barnum created a novelty act that would become one of the greatest attractions of the Victorian Era. Charles Stratton, or Tom Thumb, was eleven years old when first exhibited by Barnum in 1843.

But a “geek” in the world of the freak show was a performer who delighted audiences with disgusting feats and tricks. While most people today associate the freak show with the exploitation of visible physical disability, the geeks were just “normal” people performing abnormal behaviors.

Coney Island USA's Sideshows by the Seashore Theater is home to the last permanently housed, traditional ten-in-one circus sideshow in the USA. They're here, they're real and they're alive! Freaks, wonders, and human curiosities — and you can experience the thrill at Coney Island USA!

American Horror Story: Freak Show begins its tale in the quiet, sleepy hamlet of Jupiter, Florida. The year is 1952. A troupe of curiosities have just arrived in town, coinciding with the strange emergence of a dark entity that savagely threatens the lives of townsfolk and freaks alike.

Shows of the early 19th century that are today considered freak shows were known at that time as raree shows, pit shows, or kid shows. Freak show did not come into use until close to the end of the 19th century, after the death of the American showman P.T. Barnum; Barnum is not known to have used the term himself.

You live together, work together and eat together daily, you are never more than a few hundred feet away from your family. The show itself becomes a parent with everyone looking after the show kids. Kids learn good work ethics early on circuses, everyone has chores or duties that must be performed daily.

With this, the freaks launch a full-fledged attack on Stanley (including stabbing him in the crotch and throwing knives at him on the spinning wheel). At the end of the episode, we learn the freaks mutilated Stanley's body and turned him into a freak.

The rest of the performers in the freak show go on to lead pretty happy lives including Jimmy (Evan Peters) and Dot (Sarah Paulson), who get married and have a child. Elsa (Jessica Lange) dies and is finally able to be reincarnated where she is reunited with the other freaks who have died.

Although she died in Asylum, Freak Show is a prequel. It was confirmed conclusively in the season four episode "Orphans" that Pepper is the same character from both seasons.

What is a ten in one carnival? ›

There are four main types of classic sideshow attractions: The Ten-in-One offers a program of ten sequential acts under one tent for a single admission price.

Although Freakshow is not really a ghost, in "Reality Trip" he had a ghostly aura just like the other ghosts in the series. He is the fourth villain to try to kill Danny's family and friends, the first being Vlad Plasmius, the second being Youngblood and the third being Dark Danny.

P.T. Barnum and the Rise of the Freakshow

For centuries, cultures around the world had interpreted severe physical deformities as bad omens or evidence that evil spirits were present; by the late 1500s, these stigmas had translated into public curiosity.

Before "Giannis" became a household name, those who couldn't pronounce his last name often called the NBA's reigning MVP the "Greek Freak," because of his rare, freakish athletic ability and ballhandling skills for someone 6-foot-11.

These tours were so unsuccessful that the Twins were abandoned by their manager at one drive-in and left without any money or transportation. With little option, The Twins found employment in a grocery store in the town they had been left in. Two years later the Twins were found dead in their home.

After having a seizure on his birthday, Freak is admitted into the hospital, where he gives Max a blank book, telling him to write the story of Freak the Mighty in it. Max returns to the hospital the next day to find that Freak died because his heart became too big for his body.

Twisty is based on the infamous real-life killer John Wayne Gacy, who is known as "killer clown". John Carroll Lynch, who portrays Twisty, later portrayed Gacy in American Horror Story: Hotel.

Pepper is originally a part of Elsa Mars' freak show. Elsa eventually reveals to Desiree that Pepper was her first freak. Pepper was abandoned by her sister at an orphanage, and later adopted by Elsa.

Tate Langdon from Murder House

Tate's backstory was based on the Columbine High School shootings - one of the first mass school shootings in America. Two students shot and killed 12 fellow students and one teacher, then killed themselves.

Some of the show's characters are based on real people, like Jimmy Darling (Evan Peters) with Grady “Lobster Boy” Stiles Jr., and Paul “the Illustrated Seal” (Mat Fraser) with Stanley “Sealo” Berent.

What was a Victorian freak show? ›

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. Novelty acts relied a great deal on shock, therefore performers were not revealed in the flesh to audiences until money had changed hands.

The “freak show,” or “sideshow,” rose to prominence in 16th century England. For centuries, cultures around the world had interpreted severe physical deformities as bad omens or evidence that evil spirits were present; by the late 1500s, these stigmas had translated into public curiosity.

These tours were so unsuccessful that the Twins were abandoned by their manager at one drive-in and left without any money or transportation. With little option, The Twins found employment in a grocery store in the town they had been left in. Two years later the Twins were found dead in their home.

With no laws to protect children, this meant they had few rights and were badly treated. Seen as simply the property of their parents, many children were abandoned, abused and even bought and sold. Thought to be born evil, children needed to be corrected, punished and made to become good citizens.

"There's a sucker born every minute" is a phrase closely associated with P. T. Barnum, an American showman of the mid-19th century, although there is no evidence that he actually said it.

Geek was originally an early 20th-century term for a carnival worker who was so unskilled that the only thing the worker could do at the carnival to entice an audience was to bite off the heads of live animals. Essentially, a geek was a socially undesirable person who lacked any skill or ability.