Tim Curry as Alexander Monro!

What fun! Having written about the famous Scottish surgeon in my most recent book, it was a treat to see the characters in the 19th c. bodysnatching scandals brought to life in the 2010 film "Burke and Hare." The dark comedy about the homicidal actions of William Burke and William Hare to serve the city's anatomists gets most of the details right, such as the transporting of bodies in barrels. The lively cast (Tim Curry above) is almost upstaged by the rich details of the sets, from Dr. Robert Knox's dissecting theater to the cobbled streets of Edinburgh. A review by Top 10 Films reads, "The film is...beautifully shot and is one of [John] Landis’ most visually exciting films thanks to its brilliant period production design." The plot necessitates some gore, but at least it's not accompanied by Smell-o-Vision. Many historical characters make an appearance (including poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge), but not naturalist John James Audubon, who was given a tour of the anatomy school by Dr. Knox during his visit from America and is reported to have said, "The sights were extremely disagreeable, many of them shocking beyond all I ever thought could be. I was glad to leave this charnel house and breathe again the salubrious atmosphere of the streets." The movie - which I watched last night on DVD - does not confuse the issue that the Dr. Alexander Monro played by Curry is the 3rd-generation anatomist of that family (distinguished by adding tertius to his name in print). It closes with the authentic information that Burke was hanged, anatomized, and skeletonized, but leaves out the details that his tanned skin was crafted into souvenirs and that during the dissection Monro dipped his quill pen into Burke's blood and wrote, "This is written with the blood of Wm Burke, who was hanged at Edinburgh. This blood was taken from his head." Happy to say that the brevity of "Burke and Hare" (an hour and a half) is matched by its hilarity. Recommended!

Congress of Curious Peoples

Since you are reading Quigley's Cabinet, I assume you are a curious sort, and if you live in the vicinity of New York you have the opportunity to put that curiosity into action and attend the upcoming Congress of Curious Peoples, in whole or in part (tickets here). The 10-day event will be held on Coney Island April 13-22, 2012, at Sideshows by the Seashore - the last permanently housed traditional ten-in-one circus sideshow in the U.S. - and the Coney Island Museum. The celebration and concluding symposium, Congress for Curious People (schedule here), will explore Coney Island's subversive political and artistic power through spectacular performances, exhibitions, and films. Lecturers including Paul Koudounaris will investigate the relationship between education and spectacle in American amusements, the collection of curiosities from the Renaissance to the present, and the display of "freaks" and "primitive peoples" in fairground settings. The series will explore "popular and scholarly assumptions about the importance of Coney Island's legacy, its sordid past, and its titillating present." The opening night event of the Congress is sponsored by Ripley's Believe It or Not!, the keynote speakers at the symposium (schedule here) are the co-producers Aaron Beebe and Joanna Ebenstein - whose blog Morbid Anatomy inspired my own, and my friend James Taylor will help name the 2012 Inductees into the Sideshow Hall of Fame with "Mayor of Coney Island" Dick D. Zigun.

Talker

I gravitated to the images above in a group of color photographs from the 1940s in the Library of Congress. Reproduced by the Denver Post,* they carry the following captions:

1st image) Barker at the grounds at the Vermont State Fair. Rutland, Vermont, September 1941. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.

2nd image) Backstage at the "girlie" show at the Vermont State Fair. Rutland, Vermont, September 1941. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.

3rd image) At the Vermont State Fair. Rutland, Vermont, September 1941. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word "barker" dates back in this sense to before 1859, when it was included in a slang dictionary as meaning "a man employed to cry at the doors of gaffs, shows, and puffing shops, to entice people inside." But my friend James Taylor, sideshow historian and snappy dresser, will tell you that those in the business - and he knows and has known plenty - never use the word "barker" and instead always refer to the person in front of the tent attempting to "turn the tip" as the "talker" and the person addressing the crowd inside the attraction as the "lecturer."

*Thanks, Barbara!

Follow-ups

NATURAL

Rhinoceros: rhino airlift (pictured) | Bears: interrupted safety lecture, electrocuted hunter, punched by pet-owner, woman eaten while on phone, vs. wolves, cows battle bear, bear and bicyclist collide, bear vs. vehicle, killer grizzly allowed to live | Runaway animals: ferret, baboon, another baboon, Czech kangaroo steals undies, rogue kangaroo attacks woman, mountain lion killed on porch, drunken moose, albino ostrich on the loose, zoo wolf loose, herd of cows, wayward wallaby, chimp on the loose, how did a kiwi get to Russia? | Elusive animals: rainbow toad, transparent frog, snow leopard, unshorn sheep, horse caught on speed camera, pony in pub, shark jumps aboard ship, gibbons in Vietnam, "living fossil" mouse, skink saved from extinction, new shark, giant squid, military studies squid camouflage, blind snake rediscovered, rare toads, tree rat reappears | Service animals: kangaroo, rat, unlicensed monkey | Robo-animals: orthodontist fixes turtle, tortoise, wheeled tortoise, elephant, dog's wheelchair stolen, 3-legged dog | Hero animals: dog submerges to survive fire, chihuahua thwarts robbery, Greyfriar's Bobby a scam?, snails survive digestion by birds, hurt dog locates owner after storm, dog and owner survive 200' drop, world's oldest captive orangutan relinquishes record, longest living 2-faced cat | Animal births: aardvark, tortoise hook-up, double-snouted pig, 2-headed calf, albino kiwi, 3 albino raccoons | Spiders: silk-spinning tarantulas, why we fear them, poison pizza, giant web, silk textile travels, supermarket shutdown | Alligator: in the house | Octopus: crawls on dry land | Snakes: in dress shop, charmed, python swallows deer, teenager saves snakebite victim, sanctuary owner killed by one of his snakes, snake-infested house | Tasmanian tiger: more like cat or dog?, strength of jaws, zoo or church? | Elephants: in a pool, on the loose in Germany (photo here) | Birds: cadaver vultures?, eagle dropped dear | Foxes: hydrotherapy | Zebras: zebra thinks it's a horse | Aesop: rude chimp

HISTORICAL

Old eats: bog butter, Washington's whiskey | Disasters: Alaskan volcano, volcano from orbit, meandering Mississippi, tree ring analysis | Accidents: drunk drives through occupied house, SUV crashes through attic, driver crashes into DMV, hit and run (with body), Titanic II sinks on maiden voyage | Mummies: ancient parasite, in Vietnam museum, collecting Social Security, kept Grandma's corpse, father of cryonics movement dies | Archaeology: Utah fires state archaeologists, Blackbeard's ship and anchor, Roman-era shipwreck, decode ancient papyri, clay head effigy, pyramids by satellite | Venus: cache of 1,000s | Skeletons: photos from Empire of Death, bones of witch, slave graveyard, death goes unnoticed for 8 years, repatriated Inuit remains, human heads | Fossils: giant prehistoric birds, "Frankenstein" insects, colorful beetles, sea turtle, man's best friend - fossilized, "Eve" mammal, giant prehistoric wombat | Genealogy: ancestor found on wall of Cracker Barrel | Exhumation: Shakespeare? | Cave art: in Britain, underground passages in Bavaria, rock art at risk, aurochs, Pakistani petroglyphs (pictured) | Teeth: Viking markings | Library books: 200-year-old book returned

UNUSUAL

Progeria: Leon Botha has died (pictured) | Conjoined twins: adults in New Jersey | separated, another separation, 2-headed baby born in China | Polydactyly: 34 digits, Cuban man with 6-fingered hands | Androgyny: Andrej Pejic | Transplant: Charla Nash now | Amputation: police attach ankle monitor to removable limb, hovercraft decapitation, Great Dane bites off nose, regrowth of leg, headless body, beheading, prosthetic demo, severed finger identifies attacker | Impalement: pruning shears | Surgery: exploding eyeball, steering with tongue | Smuggling: leopards, tarantulas, turtle confiscation, trafficking in walrus tusks | Photography: suicide stopped, leopard attack, tiger v. bear, 1st x-rays auctioned, 1st photo of fish using tools, mountain lion and housecat | Deaths: by cow, by meat grinder, bus driver while on duty, spontaneous human combustion, SHC in Ireland, dead owner eaten by pets | Centenarians: prisoner released at 108, Brazilian dies at 114, another alive at 120?, Englishwoman dies at 109, last WWI veteran dies at 110, 100 in New Hampshire, another in Ohio, a third in Oregon, 115-year-old in Georgia, 100-year-old newlywed | Fads: pointy boots, yarn bombs stolen, yarn bombing Wall Street and Astor Place, humans wear flea collars | Sports: freak golfing accident, posthumous cheer, shark jumps surfer, fisherman's tug-of-war with sea lion | Mt. Everest: 21st summit | climber finds body of friend | Xenoglossia: dental surgery bestows British accent, ancient language dictionary | Adventurous eating: cooking the odd bits, Brooklyn bushmeat, live rat in bread, mutton siezed, elk lips, raccoon meat for sale at car wash smuggling dried turtles | Labor: during driving test, twin from each uterus | Gardens: flowers bloom twice in a season, corpse flower, buried alive | Hobbit houses: homemade | Space: diamond planet discovered | Hoarding: chihuahuas, skunks | Captives: another case in Austria | Roadkill: well-traveled mountain lion, neighborhood cockerel murdered, assaults with frozen animals | Popemobile: going green, Wienermobile: riding to the prom | Music: aeolian harp of sorts

PERSONAL

Games: Quigley crossword (no relation) | Mummies: recent contact Maaza Mengiste wrote about Sicily mummies | Mike Rowe: one of my heroes testifies before Senate committee about jobs (transcript here) | Lewis Hine: An anonymous reader pointed out that the photo at the top of this post was not taken by Hine, but by Charles C. Ebbets, and includes his or her great uncle Francis Michael Rafferty (4th from right) and Rafferty's lifelong friend Stretch Donahue (3rd from right). | Illamasqua: Charles Cowling wrote to say, "I was so pleased to see your eyes lit up by the Illamasqua partnership with Levertons – the Royal undertaker," and suggested watching this slideshow of a Harlem funeral home. | Mütter Movie: My friend Deb. pointed out that the Quay Brothers were interviewed on NPR. Designer Laura Lindgren informs me that the 2012 Mütter Calendar is out, and wrote to me after this Quay Brothers post, "If your ears were ringing yesterday afternoon, by the way, it would be because Ken, my husband and publishing partner (when he's not at his day job managing a law firm!), and I were sitting at my computer and reading through your blog and kept on saying how fantastic it is, which is of course to say how fantastic you are. The way you think and write about things and the things that draw your attention is so completely delightful and engaging and smart. Bravo!" | PSA: About the world's greatest public service announcement, marketing coordinator Donna Williams responds, "We understand that our ads are very graphic and may make some viewers uncomfortable, but professional studies show that they are extremely effective in helping at helping motivate people to quit using tobacco and preventing youth from starting to use tobacco. We are glad that you also understand the importance of airing such hard hitting ads. Thank you again and we appreciate your support and recent blog post. Your interest and efforts will help us reach our goal of a Tobacco Free Florida." | Aquaria: Follower L. Lynn Zieber suggested a creative alternative. | Owl imprint: Follower Kimberly K. Walsh shared her photo of a dove imprint (pictured). | Butterfly surgery: Priscilla Moore declares me her favorite blogger and suggests this website that reports on mishaps with glue. | Promession: Follower Michael Smith pointed me to this article about alternative disposal methods. | High altitude: Follower Fiona Richardson sent a link about a WWII pilot found by climbers. | Silly: My friend Sue circulated a poem by Shel Silverstein: "There are kids underneath my bed," / Cried little baby monster Fred. / Momma monster smiled. "Oh, Fred, / There's no such things as kids," she said. Also this candidate for the strangest headline of all time, this video of Capt. Sully landing flight #1549 in the Hudson River, and the news that the rights to the "Frozen Dead Guy Days" festival are for sale. I forgot to mention earlier, with regard to Shakers, that Sue met some of the last surviving members of the Canterbury Shaker Village, and describes: "The last living Eldress was Bertha Lindsay and Ken and I had a chance to meet her one day when we visited the Village. She was blind but looking forward to her lunch of hot dogs and baked beans. I remember her as a tiny lady in traditional Shaker garb. Sister Gertrude Soule was quite reclusive and lived in a private building in the middle of the busy museum grounds. She was not an Elderess, only a lay member of the church. Their cemetery was near the Village and the Shaker tradition was that graves were not marked. That was also true for some Quaker cemeteries." | Little people: When we conferred about the death of another Munchkin, my friend James Taylor asked, "You do know - no? - that Karl once sent me hate mail, making one of the few folks on Planet Earth who ever got hate mail from a Munchkin. Seems that after I got him a gig on Jerry Springer (which treated him very well and paid him some ok money), he blamed me for Springer's people titling the segment 'I Worked as a Sideshow Freak,' and, of course, Karl never did that: He worked in a midget village. On carnivals and world's fairs. Nah, no sideshow there. I should probably frame that letter." | Home sweet silo: My former boss Jim Schaefer sent along this link. And when I thanked him for sending blogworthy information on Spoonerisms, he responded, "You should reap me on a container!" | Blossom: I received a positive response from Dr. Siegel when I contacted him about using his photos: "Dear Chris - Awesome! Thanks for the posting and attribution. I love it....Keep up the good work and best of luck in the future. Poxicologically yours, Robert." | E. Sherman Hayman: The artist writes, "Wow Chris, that was incredible! Thank you so much, you made my day!....Your blog and topics really grabbed me....I wish I had known about it a couple of years ago when I was still working on that series." | Cello passenger: Things have only gotten worse says Robert Bersin, who is quoted: "Thanks for the mention! That article was written for Strings Magazine in 1990. The hassles of flying are much worse now. I drive. That, of course, rules out trips to Europe or the Far East." | Eating rocks: The dog's owner commented, "I can't tell you how or why he did it. He's never eaten rocks before. It was very scary. But he recovered and didn't need surgery. I can't believe how Harley's story has spread all over the internet." | Many of the links follower Chase has sent me have become or will become blog posts. Others were in response to these... Fabergé: royal boxes, Arcimboldo: cabbage girls, Big bugs: little bugs, Rediscovered kitchen: time capsule. | Lastly, a thank you to everyone who regularly reads and comments on Quigley's Cabinet, including my sister Melissa, Deborah McCann, and Kim Hu!

Chinese atavists

At the request of my friend James Taylor, I have done my best to confirm the existence of the "Monkey Man" of China (1st image) discussed on Random Citations and The Blog of Pure Awesome. In the process, I learned the definition of the word "atavism" and identified 2 other Chinese examples. Biological (as opposed to cultural) atavism is the reappearance of ancient traits in a modern individual. In humans, these evolutionary throwbacks may include vestigial tails, large canine teeth, supernumerary nipples, and extra - or webbed - fingers and toes. "Whichever human conditions turn out to be atavisms - and we won't know for sure until the genetics of each of them is unravelled - it's apparent that they are far more common than biologists once believed. They are lurking within all our genomes, ready to emerge if anything goes awry during development. And in some cases, far from being a backward step, they prove to be advantageous and can spread through a species, driving evolution forward by making it go backwards. If humans ever have to return to the trees, our long-lost tails may be returning with us," writes scientist Michael Le Page. While he notes that hypertrichosis does not qualify as atavistic, since apes' faces are more or less bald, hairiness is often pointed to in the press as an ancestral trait. This is how Yu Zhenhuan (3rd image) of Shenyang, Liaoning Province - the "hairiest man in China" whose hair covers all but the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet - is described. But atavism is more appropriately attributed to 4-year-old Jiaxue (2nd image, coincidentally taken exactly 4 years ago) of Changchun, Jilin Province, China, who was born with hairy black moles covering parts of her back, chest, neck, and face.

"Monkey Man" Chen Conghua, of Chenzhou, Hunan Province, China, grew up in a poor rural village with a father who has psychological issues and a mother and brother who have developmental disabilities. Doctors were not aware of Chen's existence until 2007, when they transported him 8 hours to the provincial hospital. Then age 30, he measured 1.1m tall, weighed less than 20kg, and was unable to stand upright or walk. At that time, they had not come to a consensus about his condition, except that his deformed face has atavistic characteristics. This and his need to walk using his hands prompted the villagers' nickname.

Follow-ups

*Don't forget to watch "Saturday Night Live" tonight, hosted by Betty White!*

4/19/10 Oklahoma City Bombing About this photograph, follower Cynthia Chaldekas commented, "I often wonder about the people behind these iconic images. How must they feel as the rest of the world embraces a piece of them, via an image. the person in the image suddenly is no longer theirs in the same way because pictures do take on a life of their own. I think of the Kent State College student who screams out in pain over a fellow...or the child who is running down a road in Vietnam. Most of live anonymously, so to be thrust into the forefront by sheer accident would be disturbing."

4/18/10 Another kind of crittercam Footage of a sea lion gobbling up an octopus.

4/17/10 Xenoglossia A British woman attributes her Foreign Accent Syndrome to her migraine headaches.

4/11/10 We lost another Munchkin James Taylor reports that just a few days before this post, he had a long conversation with the author of this book during which they discussed how many of the Munchkins would survive to celebrate the 75th anniversary of "The Wizard of Oz."

4/6/10 Corpses in strange places On a motorcycle in a funeral home in San Juan, Puerto Rico (pictured).

4/5/10 Ostrich people A Massachusetts woman with no arms is preparing for her black belt in tae kwon do.

3/26/10 Dwarfs on display The shortest woman to give birth in the U.K. is only 7" taller than her now 14-month-old son. A dwarf horse, possibly the world's smallest.

1/24/10 Follow-ups These photos of owls rival the one used to illustrate this post.

1/21/10 Gatorland! Customers were lured to the grand opening of a business in New Mexico with a display of live alligators, but then scared away when the animals were fed live bunnies. An Australian water aerobics class was postponed so a crocodile could be removed from the pool.

1/20/10 Ancient Egyptian finds A Greco-Roman mummy has been found southeast of Cairo.

1/20/10 Bees in the weird news Researchers at the University of London have determined that bees see the world five times faster than humans.

12/27/09 Bushmeat An Indonesian couple was arrested for making and selling meatballs made from the meat of protected monkeys. PETA finds the Banana Derby, an event at St. Mary's Spring Fling in which dogs are raced with monkeys as jockeys, objectionable.

12/20/09 Rats! An island in the Hebrides that spent £600,000 getting rid of its rats is now overrun with rabbits.

12/19/09 Nero's dining room Italian archaeologists have unearthed a small 6th c. B.C. temple with do-it-yourself assembly instructions that they compare to Ikea furniture! Here is a panoramic view of a temporarily drained 19th c. Belgian reservoir.

12/8/09 Hermits - 2 scenarios The death of a 94-year-old loner ends a tradition in Idaho.

12/7/09 Rose round-up British plant biologists have succeeded in developing a polka-dot rose.

11/25/09 Homicidal somnambulism This article warns that sleepwalkers can be violent and shouldn't be awakened.

11/19/09 Stone/house A woman parked her car in Derbyshire, U.K., to run an errand, and when she returned a few minutes later it had been smashed by a 5-ton boulder that had tumbled off a passing truck.

11/13/09 Circus animals on the lam It took 15 people to wrangle a rhinoceros back into its enclosure at the Jacksonville Zoo in Florida. Lemurs were on the loose in Clearwater, Florida. Australian nursing home residents hospitalized after being injured by a rampaging goat.

10/23/09 Trepanation A British countess and friend of Mick Jagger, now 67, trepanned her skull at age 23.

10/22/09 Birds in fable and fact New Zealand researchers have found that crows can use 3 tools in succession to perform a task.

10/3/09 Dinosaur eggs An 11-million-year-old primate fossil has been found in Catalonia. Fossil remains of a newly identified extinct turtle have been discovered in a coal mine in Colombia. An amateur paleontologist has uncovered a rare dinosaur fossil in Colorado.

9/5/09 The biting off of fingers The theft of a newly-purchased iPad stripped part of a man's finger to the bone and necessitated amputation.

8/9/09 Adventurers Club An unemployed man in West Sussex, U.K., is living in a treehouse. Local children in Brisbane, Australia, are fighting to prevent the city council from tearing down their treehouse. Photographs of 6 amazing treehouses.

7/27/09 Hottentot Venus France is repatriating the preserved heads of 15 Maori warriors to New Zealand.

7/16/09 Cemetery scandal A funeral home in Maryland has been closed after 40 bodies were found stacked up awaiting cremation. Unauthorized funeral urns have been discovered at the bottom of a Swiss lake.

6/18/09 Birthing and hoarding bunnies More than 700 animals - half of them dead - have been found in the home of a man in Ocala, Florida.

6/14/09 "Seven Pounds" A 10-year-old Australian girl has stunned doctors by surviving the sting of a deadly box jellyfish. A strange new jellyfish has been discovered in a Tasmanian river.

5/2/09 Chihuahuas in the weird news A mixed-breed dog in China is nursing abandoned red panda cubs.

4/27/09 Mastectomy tattoos I received an e-mail from Lindsey on behalf of the Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation who writes, "Over the past few months, we’ve been working with some artists and young adults who have cancer as well as young adults living with people who have cancer in art workshops, culminating in an exhibition called ‘The C Word’ that will be exhibited in June this year. The aim of the exhibition is to explore questions of identity and issues young adults face when confronted with a cancer diagnosis, as well as to demystify cancer and to celebrate the idea that though we may be diagnosed with cancer, cancer does not define us. The head artist for the project is Rae Leung, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2007 – she is also a voice-over artist and an avid blogger and was keen to share with other young adults who have cancer how they might find writing a good way to deal and process with the issues that they face. Partnering with her is a professional visual artist / sculptor who is working with the participants to create collages and other work that will be on display in the project. We’re currently doing an open call for submission of written work, video or photography by young adults who have cancer to be included in our video installation. As such, I was wondering if maybe it would be possible for you to help us reach out to your community to see if any of them would be interested. The project is a community art project and we would love to be able to include work from around the world. If you can help us to inform your community that would be amazing!" See their website for details on the project and the submission process and contact Patricia Chiu at pat@hkyaf.com for further information.

4/25/09 Prosimians A pair of rare pygmy lorises have been born at a Texas zoo.

4/24/09 Ocean garbage dump Visions of creating a recycled island out of the plastic floating in the ocean garbage patch.

4/24/09 Bears in the news Vermont officials freed a black bear whose head was stuck in a steel milk can. An e-mail circulates stating that this grizzly bear was hit by a man on a motorcycle, but apparently it was killed by a truck.

3/26/09 Centenarians - and then some A 100-year-old tenant in Illinois is being evicted by her niece. A Japanes woman Kama Chinen, the oldest person in the world, has died at 114. A 100-year-old Australian war hero is being denied government compensation.

3/15/09 Kangaroo home invasion James Taylor told me about the phantom kangaroos terrorizing residents of a mountainous area north of Tokyo, Japan.

3/12/09 Shark attack capital A surfer in Hawaii survived a shark attack.

2/17/09 Killer chimpanzees Chimps in a Scottish wildlife park have been observed comforting a dying member of their group and mourning her death.

1/31/09 A morning's work A British family has complained that a woman's rings went missing between the time her arm was severed in an accident and its arrival at the hospital.

1/23/09 Natural mummification Reader Chase alerted me to the story of a mummified baby who spent years above ground before being confiscated by police and buried in Concord, New Hampshire, and has now been stolen from his grave. The death of a man in Bristol, U.K., went unreported by hid roommate for 10 years as his body remained under the couch.

1/6/09 More mammoths Researchers in Canada and Australia have discovered a mutation in a blood protein of woolly mammoths that allowed them to survive in freezin temperatures.

12/24/08 Progeria A West Yorkshire, U.K., schoolboy has a form of atypical progeria so rare that he is the only person in the world with the condition.

12/17/08 First U.S. face transplant! Full face transplant performed in Spain.

11/25/08 Traumatic skull injuries U.S. surgeons donned body armor to remove a highly explosive bullet from the skull of an Afghan soldier.

11/8/08 Raft of the Medusa News reports that the Donner Party may not have practiced cannibalism after all were greatly exaggerated and do not accurately represent the research of Appalachian State University anthropology professor Gwen Robbins.

Dwarfs on display

"In photographing dwarfs, you don't get majesty and beauty. You get dwarfs."--American author and art critic Susan Sontag (1933-2004)

China got a lot of press recently for opening a theme park populated by dwarfs. Announcement of the opening of the so-called Dwarf Village raised questions about the ethics of the attraction and compared it to the human zoos of the past. Here are the 1st few sentences of a review of the book Spectacle of Deformity that I just wrote for Fortean Times:

"During my first conversation many years ago with sideshow historian James Taylor, he disabused me of the notion that the acts – dwarfs, giants, conjoined twins, human skeletons, albinos, leopard boys, and bearded ladies – were exploited. Author Nadja Durbach does the same in the introduction to this volume. 'Posterity,' she writes, 'is condescending.' Mentally competent freaks saw the exhibit of their bodies as a means of self-support and, in some cases, an alternative to institutionalization."

In America and Europe, dwarfs and midget families have a long history of performing at circus sideshows. The dwarf children of the Ovitz family formed the Lilliput Troupe and took the stage throughout eastern Europe. The Doll Family worked for Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey and appeared in several films. Admiral Dot, Commodore Nutt, and General Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren (whose marriage was heavily promoted) all worked for legendary showman P.T. Barnum (1810-1891).

But I also ask you to consider that contemporary Chinese hiring practices discriminate on the basis of height, prompting some average-sized citizens to undergo costly, lengthy, and excruciating limb-lengthening surgery to gain an advantage. The dwarfs at the park are gainfully employed and self-sufficient. They are not shunned or bullied, which in the past has led some to attempt suicide, and instead have found camaraderie and respect. By seeing the dwarfs perform at the park, says its owner, the public will leave impressed by their skills and courage. By living and working together, the dwarfs enjoy being part of a community of people who all face the same challenges.

That said, here are some occupations that dwarfs undertake today, knowing that their physical anomaly will be a big draw that some will find offensive: bullfighting, boxing, dwarf tossing. Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood raised eyebrows when he expressed his desire to hire dwarfs to play tricks on the guests at his daughter's wedding.

In comparison, working at Yunnan Province's Kingdom of the Little People seems like a pretty good gig. The 80 or so dwarfs receive relocation fees, a good weekly salary, and free room and board. They live in dormitories, but during the day act in skits in the performance hall and pretend to live in the 33 fairy-tale cottages. They have access to dance training and English lessons. All between 2' and 4' 3", they are served by an on-site police force and fire brigade.

It is not for us to judge. They have voices of their own.

Follow-ups

Emu oil Follower Carrie Hoggan liked this post. Having lived in Chandler, Arizona, for 7 months, she went to the Ostrich Festival. "It was interesting," she says. "I tried a bite of the ostrich burger, it wasn't bad."
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More than a mishap The subject of this post is a horrific accident that occurred on the Tower of Power ride. Here are "5 Theme Park Rides that Pushed the Limits of Common Sense," compliments of Popular Mechanics.
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Rapid prototyping If this ultrasound is authentic, I'm sure the parents would love to take advantage of the new technology to make a 3D image of their unborn child giving a peace sign.
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Dissection paintings I found out about the 2nd painting in this post, "The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Joan Deyman," by way of this painting with Indonesian comedian Butet Kartaredjasa - a spoof of Rembrandt's "The Night Watch."
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Frogs, deformed and fanciful This post includes a link to the smallest species of frog, newly discovered in Peru. Here is a photo of the smallest species of chameleon, which measures less than 1" in length. Also related to this post is an op-ed piece about chemicals in the environment called endocrine disruptors that cause deformities in the genitals of wildlife, including frogs.
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Believe It or Not! In this post I mention the death of Michael Jackson (1958-2009), which overshadowed the deaths of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Billy Mays. Here is an interesting article about eclipsed celebrity deaths.
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Durer While researching my post about Dali and Disney, I came across this great sculpture in Spain that Dali did in 1956. There is also a wonderful photograph of Dali and rhinoceros here.
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Elusive animals A farmer has spotted the first live specimen of an almiqui to be seen in 4 years. The mysterious creature, native to Cuba, eats worms.
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Memories of machines When my Mom and cousins got together a few years ago, they restaged the photo in which they were sitting on the running board of the "woodie" as children.
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Follow-ups Since the follow-up about speed-cooking, I have come across another unappetizing food preparation video. Watch the authentic preparation of giant African land snails - if you dare!
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Burial shoes As in a previous follow-up to this post, these are not actually burial shoes, but a pair of antique sneakers purchased at an estate sale.
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Chihuahuas in the weird news In this amusing story, a tiny chihuahua named "Little Berry" has come through unscathed after being accidentally stepped on by her buddy "Leroy" - a giant Clydesdale horse!
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Dolly the sheep Sheep have been in the news again. It was just reported that climate change is causing wild sheep in Scotland to shrink in size.
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Rossetti's menagerie This post on the blog Neatorama, "What 'Chu Know 'Bout Wombats?" is a true delight! Fantastic photos of these funny marsupials and some surprises, including the facts that their butts are made of cartilage and their poop is square.
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Frozen baby mammoth A Michigan couple were deepening a pond on their property when they uncovered the skeleton of a prehistoric mastodon. You can read about it here or watch a news report here - and this link describes the difference between a mammoth and a mastodon.
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Animals and lightning In a reversal of cows being killed, here are 2 stories of cows turning the tables. In one instance, a police officer was trampled by a herd of cows when he was walking his dog on the Sussex Downs, U.K. In another recent instance, a woman was walking her dog on the Pennine Way, also in the U.K., when she was charged and killed by cows.
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Giants Here is an article about Tanya Angus, 30, who has acromegaly and grew from 5' 11" (115 lbs.) to 6' 6" (480 lbs.) in the space of 10 years - and is still growing.
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Taxidermy art Artist Reid Peppard has created some unique jewelry that's not for everyone: necklaces, headbands, brooches, bowties, and hair combs featuring taxidermied animals and animal parts including pigeon wings, mice, and rat heads.
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Centenarians - and then some In another example of longevity, Larry Haubner of Fredericksburg, Virginia, has celebrated his 107th birthday.
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Shark attack capital Thanks to James Taylor for linking me to this article about Australian-born "human torso" Nick Vujicic, who learned to surf from one-armed surfer Bethany Hamilton.
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Snake handlers Recently in Oxford, Florida, 2-year-old Shaunia Hare was killed by the family's pet python, which escaped its cage and bit and asphyxiated her in her bed - apparently in a search for food. The parents may be charged with child endangerment.
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Corpse flower In an on-line poll, the corpse flower topped the list of the world's ugliest plants. Second on the list is the "stinky squid" (pictured). I think they're more interesting than ugly, but here is the slideshow to judge for yourself.
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Disturbing decapitations It was reported yesterday that a 30-year-old taxi driver in London committed suicide by driving full-speed into a pillar after tying a rope around his neck and a post, decapitating himself in front of other drivers and patrons of a nearby cafe.
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Gretchen Worden's portrait I get a kick out of the fact that Gretchen is holding an antique surgical instrument in her portrait. Here are some more scary surgical instruments from days gone by.
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Animal accidents Last week, flights at JFK International Airport were delayed 35 minutes as 78 diamondback terrapins crossed the runway. I'm glad they did not become snarge.