sideshows

Much has been written about P. T. Barnum -- legendary showman, entrepreneur, marketing genius, and one of the most famous nineteenth-century personalities. For those who lived in Barnum's shadow, however, life was complex. P. T. Barnum's two families -- his family at home, including his two wives and his daughters, and his family at work, including Little People, a giantess, an opera singer, and many sideshow entertainers -- suffered greatly from his cruelty and exploitation. Yet, at the same time, some of his performers, such as General Tom Thumb (Charles Stratton), became wealthy celebrities who were admired and feted by presidents and royalty. In this collection of interlinked stories illustrated with archival photographs, Deborah Noyes digs deep into what is known about the people in Barnum's orbit and imagines their personal lives, putting front and center the complicated joy and pain of what it meant to be one of Barnum's "creatures.".

"The story of a bizarre monster and the little bearded girl who guides him through life in the sideshow. Now they have met another misfit--a boy so ugly he hides behind the world's longest bangs!"--.

"Fish Girl, a young mermaid living in a boardwalk aquarium, has never interacted with anyone beyond the walls of her tank until a chance encounter with an ordinary girl, Livia. Their growing friendship inspires Fish Girl's longing for freedom, independence, and a life beyond the aquarium tank"--Provided by publisher.

"Fish Girl, a young mermaid living in a boardwalk aquarium, has never interacted with anyone beyond the walls of her tank until a chance encounter with an ordinary girl, Livia. Their growing friendship inspires Fish Girl's longing for freedom, independence, and a life beyond the aquarium tank"--Provided by publisher.

Fish Girl, a young mermaid living in a boardwalk aquarium, has never interacted with anyone beyond the walls of her tank until a chance encounter with an ordinary girl, Livia. Their growing friendship inspires Fish Girl's longing for freedom, independence, and a life beyond the aquarium tank.

Portia Remini, a normal among the freaks, on the run from McGreavy's Home for Wayward Girls, where Mister watches and waits.

FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are caught in a freak show when they investigate a series of murders that leave the victims with an odd, oval-shaped wound and the trail leads them to a circus retirement community.

After traveling with Mr. Crepsley, the vampire who made him into a half-vampire, Darren returns to the freak show known as the Cirque du Freak and continues to fight his need to drink human blood.

Presents a collection of alphabetically arranged entries that profile a range of America's strangest human curiosities, from Tom Thumb and Chang and Eng, to Myrtle Corbin, the four-legged woman, and Prince Randian, the human torso.

Presents a collection of alphabetically arranged entries that profile a range of America's strangest human curiosities, from Tom Thumb and Chang and Eng, to Myrtle Corbin, the four-legged woman, and Prince Randian, the human torso.