Ripley's Believe It or Not! Sideshow and Other Carnival Curiosities

Ripley's Believe It or Not! Sideshow and Other Carnival Curiosities PDF Author:
Publisher: Ripley Publishing
ISBN: 9781609913342
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
From displays of the human form—both beautiful and grotesque—to tricks of illusion, and wonders from the far-off world, the sideshow has captivated audiences since its popularity arose in the Victorian Era. It was those featured on the side stages of circuses, fairground midways, and halls of exhibition that still captivate our curiosities today. Ripley's Believe It or Not! Presents Sideshow and Other Carnival Curiosities brings those performers to life. Beyond the oohs and ahhs, readers will learn the true stories behind some of the most fascinating acts in both sideshow history and modern times. Readers will take a deep dive into the Fiji mermaid, one of the most famous sideshow artifacts of all time—an ingenious hoax made from several apes and a fish, cleverly sewn together. They will meet Avelino Perez Matos, one of the earliest known “eye poppers” that could bulge his eyes more than a centimeter out of their sockets at will, and the Seven Sutherland Sisters, who shared 37 ft of hair between them—a length exaggerated later in their career by the famed P.T. Barnum. Stepping into the sideshows of the 21st-century, readers will also be introduced to a new cast of characters, including “half-man” Aaron Wollin aka Short E. Dangerously. Rich in history and full of photography, Ripley's Believe It or Not! Presents Sideshow and Other Carnival Curiosities is a compendium of curiosities not to be missed!

Ripley's Believe It or Not! Sideshow and Other Carnival Curiosities

Ripley's Believe It or Not! Sideshow and Other Carnival Curiosities PDF Author:
Publisher: Ripley Publishing
ISBN: 9781609913342
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 192

Get Book Here

Book Description
From displays of the human form—both beautiful and grotesque—to tricks of illusion, and wonders from the far-off world, the sideshow has captivated audiences since its popularity arose in the Victorian Era. It was those featured on the side stages of circuses, fairground midways, and halls of exhibition that still captivate our curiosities today. Ripley's Believe It or Not! Presents Sideshow and Other Carnival Curiosities brings those performers to life. Beyond the oohs and ahhs, readers will learn the true stories behind some of the most fascinating acts in both sideshow history and modern times. Readers will take a deep dive into the Fiji mermaid, one of the most famous sideshow artifacts of all time—an ingenious hoax made from several apes and a fish, cleverly sewn together. They will meet Avelino Perez Matos, one of the earliest known “eye poppers” that could bulge his eyes more than a centimeter out of their sockets at will, and the Seven Sutherland Sisters, who shared 37 ft of hair between them—a length exaggerated later in their career by the famed P.T. Barnum. Stepping into the sideshows of the 21st-century, readers will also be introduced to a new cast of characters, including “half-man” Aaron Wollin aka Short E. Dangerously. Rich in history and full of photography, Ripley's Believe It or Not! Presents Sideshow and Other Carnival Curiosities is a compendium of curiosities not to be missed!

Secrets of the Sideshows

Secrets of the Sideshows PDF Author: Joe Nickell
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 9780813123585
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
"Joe Nickell - once a carnival pitchman, then a magician, private detective, and investigative writer - has pursued sideshow secrets for years and has worked the famous carnival midway at the Canadian National Exhibition. For this book, he interviewed showmen and performers, collected carnival memorabilia, researched published accounts of sideshows and their lore, and even performed some classic sideshow feats, such as eating fire and lying on a bed of nails as a cinderblock was broken on his chest. The result of these varied efforts, Secrets of the Sideshows tells the captivating story of the magic, tricks - real or illusory - and performers of the world's midway shows."--BOOK JACKET.

American Sideshow

American Sideshow PDF Author: Marc Hartzman
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9781585425303
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
A fascinating look into the history of the American sideshow and its performers. Learn what's real, what's fake, and what's just downright bizarre. You've probably heard of Tom Thumb. The Elephant Man. Perhaps even Chang and Eng, the original Siamese twins. But what about Eli Bowen, the legless acrobat? Or Prince Randian, the human torso? These were just a few of the many stars that shone during the heyday of the American sideshow, from 1840 to 1950. American Sideshow chronicles the lives of truly amazing performers, examining these brave and extraordinary curiosities not just as sideshow performers but as people, delving into the lives they led and the ways they were able to triumph over and even benefit from their abnormalities. American Sideshow discusses the rise and fall of the original sideshows and their subsequent replacement by today's self-made freaks. With the progress of modern medicine, technological advancements, and the wonderful world of body modification, abnormalities are being overcome, treated and even prevented: Siamese twins can now be separated, and in addition to this, tongues can be forked, horns surgically implanted, and earlobes removed. There are also, of course, modern-day giants, fire eaters, sword swallowers, glass eaters, human blockheads, and oh, so much more. These fascinating personalities are celebrated through intimate biographies paired with stunning photographs. Approximately two hundred performers from the past one hundred and sixty years are featured, giving readers a comprehensive and sometimes astonishing look into the history of the American sideshow

Ripley's Believe It Or Not!.

Ripley's Believe It Or Not!. PDF Author: Geoff Tibballs
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Curiosities and wonders
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
A full-color roller-coaster ride of a book combines shocking photography with unbelievable facts, amazing stories, incredible animals and bizarre humans from around the world.

Freakery

Freakery PDF Author: Rosemarie Garland-Thomson
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 9780814782224
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 426

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Book Description
A groundbreaking anthology that probes the disposition towards the visually different Giants. Midgets. Tribal non-Westerners. The very fat. The very thin. Hermaphrodites. Conjoined twins. The disabled. The very hirsute. In American history, all have shared the platform equally, as freaks, human oddities, their only commonality their assigned role of anomalous other to the gathered throngs. For the price of a ticket, freak shows offered spectators an icon of bodily otherness whose difference from them secured their own membership in a common American identity--by comparison ordinary, tractable, normal. Rosemarie Thomson's groundbreaking anthology probes America's disposition toward the visually different. The book's essays fall into four main categories: historical explorations of American freak shows in the era of P.T. Barnum; the articulation of the freak in literary and textual discourses; contemporary relocations of freak shows; and theoretical analyses of freak culture. Essays address such diverse topics as American colonialism and public presentations of natives; laughing gas demonstrations in the 1840's; Shirley Temple and Tom Thumb; Todd Browning's landmark movie Freaks; bodybuilders as postmodern freaks; freaks in Star Trek; Michael Jackson's identification with the Elephant Man; and the modern talk show as a reconfiguration of the freak show. In her introduction, Thomson traces the freak show from antiquity to the modern period and explores the constitutive, political, and textual properties of such exhibits. Freakery is a fresh, insightful exploration of a heretofore neglected aspect of American mass culture.

Freak Show

Freak Show PDF Author: Carl Hammer
Publisher: Chronicle Books (CA)
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 100

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Book Description
Step right up! The show's about to begin with this mesmerizing collection of outrageous banners from the heydey of traveling circus sideshows. From the turn of the century through the 1950s, circus sideshows boasted unbelievable "freaks of nature", incredible transformations and death-defying acts. For collectors and nostalgia buffs, Freak Show celebrates this unique American commercial folk art. 90 full-color photos.

Ripley's Believe it Or Not!

Ripley's Believe it Or Not! PDF Author: Geoff Tibballs
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Curiosities and wonders
Languages : en
Pages : 380

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Book Description
Features tales of strange and unusual people and events with pictures.

Ripley's Believe It Or Not! Enter If You Dare

Ripley's Believe It Or Not! Enter If You Dare PDF Author: Ripley's Believe It Or Not!
Publisher: Ripley Publishing
ISBN: 9781893951631
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The all new 7th title in the successful Ripley’s Believe It or Not! annual series. A compendium of incredible bizarre facts, stories, interviews and features, this year’s book also offers access to a fully-integrated website featuring astounding clips, and two 8-page pull out gatefold sections, one featuring vampires.

100 Years of Ripley's Believe It Or Not!

100 Years of Ripley's Believe It Or Not! PDF Author: Robert Ripley
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781847948489
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Celebrate a century of the weird, the eccentric and the amazing with 100 Years of Ripley's Believe It Or Not! From humble beginnings in 1918, Ripley has become the world's best-known brand when it comes to incredible-but-true facts. Now, the most remarkable stories from 100 years of adventures have been brought together in this colourful compendium. Its pages contain the most fascinating and surprising stories from a century of Ripley, including: - The fascinating true story of the original Mr Ripley, who built a global business from his love of unusual stories - Awe-inspiring fold-out pages that bring the Ripley story alive in three dimensions - Never-before-seen images of the oddest objects from the depths of the Ripley archive Spectacular, surprising and inspiring at turns, 100 Years of Ripley's Believe It Or Not! is a must-have for anyone intrigued by the weirder side of the last century . . .

Ripley's Believe it Or Not!

Ripley's Believe it Or Not! PDF Author: Geoff Tibballs
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Curiosities and wonders
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
"-- Even more all-true weirdness" -- page 4 of cover.