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Wild Folk

The archetype of the “wildman” goes back to 13th-Century Europe. As early as the late-1700s in America wild men, and some women, have been displayed for profit. Many were African-American performers pretending to be exotic and uncivilized unwittingly perpetrating America’s racist attitudes regarding people of color. Whether wild by association with “savage” non-white cultures, or returned-to-nature primitives who had unlearned civilization, or those who by mental deficiency are unable to display all the niceties of civilized man– the wild man performer was a staple of sideshows up through at least the middle of the 20th-Century. Dressed often in animal skins, loincloth, or faux fuzzy suits, the wild persons of show business were meant to speak a language you couldn’t understand, or only vocalized in gibberish, and was meant to frighten and/or disgust. Sometimes the only wild thing about the wild folks displayed was their performative or supposed visual association with a particular type of animal. Sometimes these performers purposely emulated animals, but often the association was based on a suspiciously contrived construct that had little to do with their non-costumed countenance. (to be continued)

Performers in this category:

Hezekiah Trambles

Amok

Calvin Byrd

Charlene “The Ape Girl”

George Stall

Eko & Iko

Koo Koo “The Bird Girl”

Elizabeth Green “The Stork Woman”

Maximo and Bartola

Waino & Plutano

Julia Pastrana

Zip “What-Is-It”

Ki Ki Blitz

Captain Rudolf Ivanovich

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Kohl & Middleton’s Dime Museum

Added Jan 5 2025

Amok “The Head Hunter”

Added Oct 27 2024

Schlitzie, Koo Koo, and Zip at Kodet’s Harlem Museum

Added Oct 27 2024

Zip, In The Hospital (1926)

Added Oct 27 2024

A Wild Indian Chief with his Wife and Child

Added Oct 26 2024

Mr. Eco and Mr. Ico “Ambassadors From Mars”

Added Oct 20 2024

Amok

Added Oct 20 2024

Koo Koo, Zip & Schlitzie At Coney

Added Oct 6 2024

The Gibb Sisters & Elizabeth Green “Stork Girl”

Added Jun 16 2024

Kee-Bo “The Fire Child”

Added Jun 16 2024

The Human Lizard Pitshow

Added Feb 25 2024

Wild Woman “Florida Demon” Handbill

Added Jan 7 2024

Outcast Mexican Indian Snake Handler and Wildman

Added May 7 2023

Rudolph Ivanovich as a Wildman in Chains

Added Mar 18 2023

Zip Playing The Violin

Added Mar 18 2023

Osca “The Snake Fiend”

Added Jan 15 2023

George Stall “Wildman”

Added Sep 1 2022

Rose “That Strange Creature”

Added Aug 14 2022

Black-Face Midget Wildman

Added Aug 13 2022

Lives of Armond Carloman “The Piebald Youth” and Fortune Clofulia “The Gorilla Boy” (16-Pages)

Added Oct 16 2021

Willie Kelton Limbless Wildman

Added Oct 10 2021

Unidentified African-American Wildman by Eisenmann

Added Oct 9 2021

Elizabeth Green, “The Stork Woman” (or Koo Koo), 1928

Added Oct 4 2020

Elizabeth Green, “The Stork Woman” (or Koo Koo), ca. 1936

Added Oct 4 2020

Koo Koo “The Bird Girl”

Added Oct 4 2020

Koo Koo “The Bird Girl”

Added Oct 4 2020

Elizabeth Green, “The Stork Woman” (or Koo Koo), ca. 1936

Added Oct 4 2020

Elizabeth Green, “The Stork Woman” (or Koo Koo), 1928

Added Oct 4 2020

Signed on the back "Betty, Koo Koo The Bird Girl"

Elizabeth Green, “The Stork Woman” (or Koo Koo), 1936

Added Oct 4 2020

Prohibition Turns Saloon “Globe Cafe” Into A Dime Museum

Added Jul 10 2016

Zip & Ashbury Benjamin

Added Jul 9 2016

Zip & Ashbury Benjamin

Added Jul 8 2016

F.W. Glasier Photo of Ringling Brothers[?] Sideshow

Added Apr 13 2016

World of Wonders Wildman

Added Apr 11 2016

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George Stall “George Mex” Wildman Mugging

Added Mar 19 2016

Fred Defrates “Wild Man From Australia”

Added Aug 24 2015

Zip “What Is it?” at Coney Island

Added Aug 16 2015

Barnum & Bailey’s Sideshow and Museum Bannerline

Added Jul 25 2015

Pinheads from Al G. Barnes Circus

Added Jan 19 2015

Dr. Warner Presents Waino and Plutano “Wild Men Of Borneo

Added Jan 18 2015

Juanita, Wild Girl/Snake Show

Added Oct 12 2014

African Pigmy Show

Added Oct 3 2014

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Chilliwingi Pigmy Woman Handbill

Added Sep 12 2014

George & Willie Muse (Eko & Iko)

Added Aug 13 2014

Kiko “The Girl From Mexico”

Added Aug 11 2014

Waino & Plutano “Wild Men of Borneo”

Added Jul 22 2014

Waino & Plutano “Wild Men of Borneo”

Added Jul 22 2014

Waino & Plutano “Wild Men of Borneo”

Added Jul 22 2014

What We Know About Waino & Plutano (v.1)

Added Jul 22 2014

What We Know About Waino & Plutano (v.2)

Added Jul 22 2014

What We Know About Waino & Plutano (v.3)

Added Jul 21 2014

Waino & Plutano Broadside

Added Jul 21 2014

Waino & Plutano Broadside

Added Jul 21 2014

What We Know About Waino & Plutano (16 Pages)

Added Jul 21 2014

Waino & Plutano “Wild Men of Borneo”

Added Jul 21 2014

Waino & Plutano “Wild Men of Borneo”

Added Jul 21 2014

Waino & Plutano “Wild Men of Borneo”

Added Jul 21 2014

An American Sadhu with Monkey

Added Jul 20 2014

Azora, Wildman “Daughter of Montezuma”

Added Jul 20 2014

Young George Stall

Added Jul 20 2014

George Stall “Mexican Wildman”

Added Jul 20 2014

George Stall “Mexican Wildman”

Added Jul 20 2014

George Stall “Mexican Wildman” with beard

Added Jul 20 2014

“Congo, The Ape Man & Sally, The Woman Ape”

Added Jul 20 2014

Hezekiah Trambles “Congo The Jungle Creep’

Added Jul 20 2014

Maximo und Bartolo

Added Jul 18 2014

Mexican Wildman George Stall

Added Jul 18 2014

Maximo & Bartolo & Albino Friend

Added Jul 17 2014

Maximo & Bartola With Woman Manager

Added Jul 17 2014

Hoomio & Iola “Wild Australian Children”

Added Jul 16 2014

Rudolph Ivanovich as Wildman In Chains

Added Jul 16 2014

Wild Australian Children Tradecard

Added Jul 16 2014

Hoomio and Iola “Wild Australian Children”

Added Jul 16 2014

Maximo Et Bartolo

Added Jul 16 2014

La Femme Barthola “Les Derniers Aztéques”

Added Jul 15 2014

L’homme Maximo “Les Derniers Aztéques”

Added Jul 15 2014

Maximo and Bartola

Added Jul 15 2014

Bartola and Maxima Burgos With Their Manager

Added Jul 15 2014

Bartola and Maximo Burgos

Added Jul 15 2014

The Aztec Children

Added Jul 15 2014

Maximo und Bartolo

Added Jul 15 2014

Maximo and Bartola with manager

Added Jul 15 2014

“Congo, Headhunter and Wildman” [Congo, The Man-Ape]

Added Jul 13 2014

Two African Warriors & Orangutan

Added Jul 13 2014

Eko and Iko

Added Jul 13 2014

Eko and Iko “Ambassadors of Mars”

Added Jul 13 2014

Eko and Iko

Added Jul 13 2014

Young Wildman With Iguana

Added Jul 13 2014

L’Homme Sauvage French Game Litho

Added Jul 13 2014

Ki Ki Blitz at The St. Louis Fair

Added Jul 13 2014

Ki Ki at “The Foolish House”

Added Jul 13 2014

Ki Ki Blitz and Mean Talker

Added Jul 13 2014

Zip “The Monkey Boy”

Added Jul 13 2014

Ki Ki Blitz “The Original Haba-Haba Man”

Added Jul 13 2014

Ki Ki “The Man Monkey”

Added Jul 13 2014

Wolfboy and Wildman (Armond Carloman “The Piebald Youth” and Fortune Clofulla “The Gorilla Boy”)

Added Jun 24 2014

Capture of Bosco Geek Show

Added Apr 13 2014

Wildman, Dwarf, Strongman

Added Apr 13 2014

Interior of Barnum’s Sideshow Tent

Added Apr 6 2014

Free Images

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

Foy Large & Frank Morgner

Added October 24, 2021