Freak show

Many people are thrilled and excited when watching a horror movie or listening to a horror story. Freak shows may have a different spin to them, but very much have the same principle. They create a show that will freak out their audience in a way which that they are  fascinated at the same time.

Many early time circuses weren’t professional and didn’t have many acrobatic, equestrian or juggling acts to show of with. For this reason clowns could come in handy and/or scary or freaky acts.

To start at the beginning; in Ancient Greece there were several different types of these “freaky clowns”. They were known as scurry and were known for showing off their abnormal bodies. This is an example of early freak show entertainments. However, people with abnormal body traits will have always been noticed and looked at differently, whether it was today or a thousand years ago, for entertainment or not. It is likely many people all over the world we will never know of decided to use their body abnormality and often disability to their advantage by turning themselves into a freak show/side show.   

The first ‘real’ freak shows became popular in the 16th century, a time in which gawking at ‘different’ people was acceptable. Side show performers were often forced to join the sideshow, still, many made good money. Freak Shows were well visited, and did not yet have much speculation or a moderator to increase the interest in the freak. In England, even the king viewed a freak show, and also in other places around the world, e.g. Italy, freaks were also making themselves names. Lazarus Colorado for example was a sideshow performer because of his conjoined brother that was hanging upside down from his stomach.

These kind of things fascinated the public and made them curious what this mysterious miracle/curse was.

Over the years, freak/sideshows were never fully dependent or fully a part of the circus, but they often worked together because it worked well and made more money. Especially when money was short and freak shows were ‘out’ like in the late 1800s.

This was when P.T. Barnum became a big star in America. P.T. Barnum, born 1810 is remembered as a politician, showman and businessman. He went around the country (America) looking for performers who would help keep the business going. Amongst others, he had famous performers such as general tom thumb (a growth restricted young boy whom he taught to sing and dance). When he moved to a different area with a new start, Barnum decided to make use of the gullibility of the people of New York and made up stories to impress the public. For example, his first big hit was a blinded old female slave which he sold to the public as a 160 year old lady who was George Washington’s nurse.  

In 1871, he created a circus relating to it as ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’. Later in 1881 he joined forces with another circus in London which later became famous for the elephant Jumbo. (More details in the animal section.)

Barnum is remembered as the symbol for freak shows nowadays, even though freak shows are different as society changes.

Instead of all social classes being curious to see what kind of strange people exist, freak shows have a certain target audience now. Often performing at parties or big public events (e.g. Britain’s got talent) to gain fans and promote themselves, these sideshow groups  are involved in a whole other business than Barnum. Depending on which side show group you are thinking of, they use different methods to approach the audience. The things they mostly do have in common however are:

• Sword swallowing
• A lot of makeup/face painting
• Impressive themed costumes
• Seemingly (or actually??) painful stunts
• People with many tattoos, piercings or body modifications
• Speakers/moderators

There are plenty of people in today's society that have body modifications, but go nowhere near the extremists. Many people say that getting body modifications can be addictive and they don’t want to stop after just one tattoo. Though a high percentage of side show performers made the choice to change their body appearance through body modifications, not all of them have. The reason why people want body modification, especially tattoos, is always a little different from person to person. Often the reasons include wanting to be unique, which I assume is the most common for freak show performers because they want to show of their differences in some sense. Many also do it for the love of art and performance.

The term adrenalin junky is a description of someone that likes to get high on adrenalin by performing mental and dangerous stunts e.g. hanging from one arm from a high construction. What will also create a similar excitement are freak shows, risky circus acts, horror movies or even haunted house rides at fairs. Anything that is a little freaky and releases some adrenalin. This is also the type of audience which attracts sideshows. As mentioned before, a reason for body modifications can also be because customers get addicted to the physical pain and adrenaline flow they get when being modified. So a part of the side show audiences might enjoy the show because of the adrenalin released while there, considering many of them are tattooed or otherwise modified.

Here are some modern sideshow groups:

• Coney island
• Wreckless Freeks
• The Circus of Horrors (http://www.circusofhorrors.co.uk/)  

Bibliography:

http://www.biography.com/people/pt-barnum-9199751

http://info.painfulpleasures.com/blogs/psychology-body-modification

https://priceonomics.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-circus-freakshows/

http://www.thelizardman.com

http://www.circusofhorrors.co.uk/