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FREAKS

“I may look crooked and out of style, but I greet the world with a grand old smile”Robert Huddleston “The Pony Boy”



Those who chose to call themselves Freaks— and made a living at it– were, and are just as happy overall as you and me. (Not that that’s saying much.)

As Diane Arbus once said:
“Most people go through life dreading they’ll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They’ve already passed their test in life. They’re aristocrats.”

“Born-Freaks” were the royalty of the sideshow, standing above the “Made-Freaks” and Working-Acts in earning power and status. As performers and people they were a society set apart, a society that earned respect for changing its liabilities into assets. From the texts written in Latin, Ambrose Paré’s Monstres et Prodiges (1573), Licetus Fortunius’ De Monstrorum Caussis, Natura, et Differentiis…(1634), and Ulisse Aldrovandi’s Monstrorum Historia (1642), the classic images of Freaks had jumped from the hidden pages to become in the late 19th and early 20th Century entertainment for the masses. The freakshow amused, educated, and often intentionally horrified.

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Al Tomaini Shoes

Added Aug 3 2025

Delores Pullard, The Amazon Girl

Added Aug 3 2025

Delores Pullard in 1961, Age 14

Added Aug 3 2025

Delores Pullard

Added Aug 3 2025

Susie “Elephant Skinned-Girl” Inside The Sideshow Tent

Added Aug 3 2025

Amos Ruckman, Albino Circassian Sword-Swallower

Added Jul 27 2025

Amos Ruckman, Albino Circassian Sword Swallower

Added Jul 27 2025

Armless Wonder Paul Desmuke and Friends

Added Jul 27 2025

Armless Wonder, Paul Desmuke in Family Portrait

Added Jul 27 2025

Miss Tiny, With The Royal Lilliputians

Added Jul 27 2025

Charlie & Danny Hadley

Added Jul 27 2025

Millie La Mar

Added Jul 27 2025

Joseph Lucasie

Added Jul 27 2025

The Lucasie Family

Added Jul 27 2025

Sketch Of the Life Of The LITTLE RUSSIAN PRINCE (4 Pages)

Added Jul 27 2025

Legless Performer At Hubert’s Museum

Added Jul 27 2025

Madame Fortune Clofullia (16-Pages)

Added Jul 26 2025

Millie Christine Pitchbook (28 Pages)

Added Jul 26 2025

Miss Delina Rose [Rossa]

Added Jul 22 2025

Tintype of Unidentified Midget in Case

Added Jul 20 2025

John Aasen meets Dee Mclain, Midget Bellhop

Added Jul 20 2025

Henry Hite [Mullins]

Added Jul 20 2025

Giant Captain Carl Gulliver (Alfred N. Ingle)

Added Jul 20 2025

Ted Evans

Added Jul 20 2025

Life History of The One and Only LENTINI, The Greatest Medical Wonder Of All Times (24 Pages)

Added Jul 19 2025

Francesco Lentini Pitchbook (8 Pages)

Added Jul 19 2025

The Life History of Francesco A. Lentini (8 Pages)

Added Jul 16 2025

Claude Seurat “The Living Skeleton, Now Exhibiting at the Chinese Saloon” (20-Pages)

Added Jul 15 2025

Francesco Lentini “Life History” (8 Pages)

Added Jul 13 2025

The Adventures of an Australian Traveler (Tom & Hettie)

Added Jul 13 2025

Jack Earle Feeds An Elephant by H.A. Atwell

Added Jul 13 2025

Yours Truly, Kittie Smith (ver. 2)

Added Jul 13 2025

Yours Truly, Kittie Smith (ver. 3)

Added Jul 13 2025

Yours Truly, Kittie Smith (ver. 1)

Added Jul 13 2025

My Life Story, Kittie Smith (ver. 5)

Added Jul 13 2025

Yours Truly, Kittie Smith (ver. 4)

Added Jul 13 2025

Kitty Smith, “My Life Story” (14 Pages)

Added Jul 13 2025

Unidentified Man with Facial Tumors Daguerreotype

Added Jul 12 2025

Life Story of Kitty Smith, Armless Wonder (4 Pages)

Added Jul 12 2025

Life of Chang Pitchbook

Added Jul 12 2025

The Story of My Life By Lionel (4 Pages)

Added Jul 12 2025

History of Commodore Nutt (32 Pages)

Added Jul 12 2025

Murray Triplets: History Of The Three Little Men (20 Pages)

Added Jul 11 2025

Young Daisy and Violet Hilton Eating Breakfast

Added Jul 6 2025

Pete Kortes World’s Fair Museum Sideshow

Added Jul 6 2025

Mr. Ledgwood, No Hands, No Arms, One Leg and Foot

Added Jul 6 2025

Percilla Bejano Pitchbook

Added Jul 6 2025

Tom Thumb Token with Carriage

Added Jul 6 2025

Count & Countess Mrs. Tom Thumb Magri Token

Added Jul 6 2025

Peter Blake “Fat Boy”

Added Jul 6 2025

Elsie John and Joey Martinez (12 Pages) [Herbert Huncke]

Added Jul 5 2025

Schlitze and His Bannerline on The Tom Mix Circus

Added Jul 5 2025

Schlitze and His Bannerline on The Tom Mix Circus

Added Jul 5 2025

Schlitze Bannerline on Tom Mix Circus

Added Jul 5 2025

Schlitze Bannerline on The Tom Mix Circus

Added Jul 5 2025

Pinhead or Cocoanut Head People [Elvira Snow]

Added Jul 4 2025

Mr. Patrick O’Brien “The Irish Giant”

Added Jun 17 2025

Madame Foster, Dream Circus Sideshow

Added Jun 1 2025

Dolly Dutton’s Sheet Music

Added May 31 2025

History of The Burdett Twins (20 Pages)

Added May 31 2025

Life of Daniel Lambert (46 Pages)

Added May 31 2025

Life and History of Leonine, The Lion Faced Lady

Added May 31 2025

Chang Eng, Historical Account of (20 Pages)

Added May 31 2025

There’s Only “1 In A Million” (20 Pages)

Added May 31 2025

The Life Story of Lucio and Simplicio Godino (36 Pages)

Added May 27 2025

History of Annie Jones “Barnum’s Esau Lady” (20 Pages)

Added May 25 2025

Life, History And Travels of Landon Middlecoff (20 Pages)

Added May 25 2025

The Great Double Bodied Boy, Laloo (12 Pages)

Added May 25 2025

Biographical Sketch of Jean Libbera (4 Pages)

Added May 24 2025

History of The Little Fairy, Dolly Dutton (18 Pages)

Added May 24 2025

Life of W.T. Sapp, The World Famous Ossified Man (20 Pages)

Added May 18 2025

A Description of the Madagascar Family (46 Pages)

Added May 18 2025

The Lucasies “Albinos Now Exhibiting” (20 Pages)

Added May 18 2025

Biographical Sketch..George Moore and Fred Howe (20 Pages)

Added May 18 2025

Yvonne & Yvette

Added May 18 2025

Yvonne and Yvette

Added May 18 2025

Baron Paucci At Dreamland

Added May 4 2025

Midget & Fat Man Advertising Meditation Cigars

Added May 4 2025

Worlds Circus Museum Store Show in New York City

Added May 3 2025

Life & History of Che Mah (20 Pages)

Added Mar 19 2025

Life Story of Mr. & Mrs. Al Tomaini (4 Pages)

Added Mar 19 2025

Biography of Capt. Ureck, The German Giant (20 Pages)

Added Mar 19 2025

Four Pages From Ambroise Paré’s work “Prodigies and Monsters”

Added Feb 3 2025
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Sandy With Her Mother In The Travel Trailer

Added Jan 5 2025
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Thelma and Doris Play Instruments

Added Jan 5 2025
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Prince Arthur and Daughter

Added Jan 5 2025
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Elsie-John Composite

Added Jan 5 2025
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Elsie-John with “Coney Island Big Circus Sideshow”

Added Jan 5 2025
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Half-Man, Half Woman, Elsie-John

Added Jan 5 2025
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Al G. Barnes Sideshow with Desmuke & Elsie-John

Added Jan 5 2025
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Kohl & Middleton’s Dime Museum

Added Jan 5 2025
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Madame Hallean “Bearded Woman”

Added Jan 5 2025
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Henriette “Hanka” Kelter (?)

Added Jan 1 2025
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Athelia

Added Jan 1 2025
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Zippo and Flippo (Elvira & Clayton Snow)

Added Jan 1 2025
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Athelia, Smiling

Added Jan 1 2025
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Kiko and Sulu “Pinheads From Zanzibar”

Added Jan 1 2025
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Mrs. Myers & Husband

Added Jan 1 2025
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Amalie “Giant” at Dreamland Circus Sideshow

Added Jan 1 2025
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Crafts Shows Group With Anna-John Budd

Added Dec 31 2024
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Anna John Budd Single-O Show

Added Dec 31 2024
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Anna John Budd Stands In Front Of Her Show

Added Dec 31 2024
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Willy Camper and Sideshow Group At Beach

Added Dec 31 2024
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Anna John Budd With Two Native Women

Added Dec 31 2024
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World’s Museum, 1934 with Anna John Budd

Added Dec 31 2024
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Willie Camper Being Fitted For A Suit

Added Dec 31 2024
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Roberta-Ray “The Imatator of Ann-John Budd”

Added Dec 31 2024
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Unidentified Thin Man Acrobat

Added Dec 31 2024
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Milo “Half-and-Half”

Added Dec 31 2024
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Arthur Loos & Paul Whitaker

Added Dec 30 2024
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“FRANKO” The Elephant Boy

Added Dec 29 2024
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William Parnell “Alligator Boy”

Added Dec 29 2024
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Ralph “The Elephant Skin Man”

Added Dec 29 2024
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Ralph “The Elephant Skin Man”

Added Dec 29 2024
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Prince Tracey “World’s Smallest Sword-Swallower”

Added Dec 29 2024
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History of Esther Blackmon (v. 2)

Added Dec 29 2024
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History of Esther Blackmon (v. 1)

Added Dec 29 2024
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Reptile Man

Added Dec 29 2024
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Hiki “Part Man, Part Fish”

Added Dec 29 2024
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William Roscoe “Alligator Boy”

Added Dec 29 2024
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Unidentified Alligator-Skin Boy and Friend

Added Dec 29 2024
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Lobelo (Emmit Bejano)

Added Dec 29 2024
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Ralph “The Elephant-Skin Boy”

Added Dec 29 2024
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Ralph “The Elephant-Skin Boy”

Added Dec 29 2024
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Ralph, “The Elephant (Skin) Man”

Added Dec 29 2024
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Filipino Hydrocephalic Child

Added Dec 28 2024
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Friedrich Kistler, Limbless Musician

Added Dec 28 2024
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John Williams “Alligator Man”

Added Dec 28 2024
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John Williams (A Study for A Banner Painting)

Added Dec 28 2024
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Fred Walters “The Blue Man”

Added Dec 28 2024
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Fred Walters “Blue Man”

Added Dec 28 2024
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Susi “Elephant Skin Girl”

Added Dec 28 2024
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Christmas Card From Susie “The Elephant-Skinned Girl”

Added Dec 28 2024
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Susi “The Elephant Skinned Girl” With Friends On The Backlot

Added Dec 28 2024
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Susi “The Elephant Skinned Girl”

Added Dec 28 2024
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Susi “The Elephant Skinned Girl”

Added Dec 28 2024
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Susi, Elephant Skin Girl

Added Dec 28 2024
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Susi “Elephant Skin Girl”

Added Dec 28 2024
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Suzy “Nature’s Enigma”

Added Dec 28 2024
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Jolly Bonita

Added Dec 28 2024
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Juan and Martina De La Cruz “The Philippino Midgets”

Added Dec 28 2024
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Grand & Matchless Exhibition (Wax Show)

Added Dec 28 2024
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Paul Desmuke “Armless Wonder”

Added Dec 28 2024
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Seven Sutherland Sisters

Added Dec 27 2024
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Unidentified Young Woman, Truncated Arms

Added Dec 27 2024
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Androgynous Woman Without Arms

Added Dec 27 2024
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Androgynous Woman Without Arms

Added Dec 27 2024
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Unidentified Young Man with Osteogenesis Imperfecta

Added Dec 27 2024
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Daniel Lambert (1806)

Added Dec 25 2024
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John Williams, “Lizard-Boy”

Added Nov 16 2024
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John Williams “Alligator Man”

Added Nov 16 2024
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John “The Alligator Boy”

Added Nov 16 2024
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John and Zola Williams “The Strangest Married Couple”

Added Nov 16 2024
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Eva, “The Snake Girl”

Added Nov 16 2024
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John and Zola Williams

Added Nov 16 2024
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Thomas Goy

Added Nov 4 2024
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Alice “The Alligator Girl”

Added Nov 4 2024
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Aloa “The Alligator Boy”

Added Nov 3 2024
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Aloa “The Alligator Boy”

Added Nov 3 2024
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Alice “The Alligator Skin Girl”

Added Nov 2 2024
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Alice “The Alligator Girl”

Added Nov 2 2024
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Joan Whisnant “Armless Girl”

Added Nov 2 2024
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JEFFREY’S LIVING WONDERS, SEASON 1930

Added Nov 2 2024
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Sealo As A Young Boy

Added Nov 2 2024
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Admiral Dot’s Hotel

Added Nov 1 2024
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Sandy, Jim, and Two Unidentified Midgets

Added Oct 27 2024
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Mrs. Myers “Bearded Woman”

Added Oct 27 2024
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“Log Cabin Lullaby” As Featured By The Hilton Sisters

Added Oct 27 2024
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Unidentified Seven-Fingered Man

Added Oct 27 2024
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Jo-Jo “The Dog Faced Man”

Added Oct 27 2024
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Unidentified “Lilliputian, 26 Inches Tall”

Added Oct 27 2024

Free Images

Robert Ripley Advertises Old Gold Cigarettes

Added August 3, 2025

Dolly Dutton’s Sheet Music

Added May 31, 2025

Wonderland Circus Sideshow, Coney Island

Added December 31, 2024

1893 Newspaper Advertisement For The Tocci Brothers and Chevalier Cliquot

Added March 30, 2024

1893 Newspaper Advertisement For The Tocci Brothers and Chevalier Cliquot

Added March 30, 2024

HORROR STORIES Pulp Cover Two-Headed Girl (December 1940)

Added January 28, 2024

Baby Irene “Fat Lady” Cashes In On Laughs (1950)

Added December 26, 2023

1937 Philadelphia Store Show Facade

Added July 22, 2023

Mr. & Mrs. Chauncy Morlan at Huber’s 14th Street Museum

Added July 21, 2023

Hulett Pest Control Spokesmen, Dwarfs John and Greg Rice

Added January 31, 2023