The man in the video is Dutch Fakir Mirin Dajo. He was born in 1912 as Arnold Gerrit Henskes and adopted his name, an Esperanto term that translates to mean ‘wonderful’. In 1947, at the Corso Theatre in Zurich, Mirin Dajo allow an assistant to plunge a fencing foil right through his body. The foil [...]
Picked Punks have been a part of every well stocked cabinet of curiosity and perhaps the most controversial of all sideshow exhibits. A ‘Pickled Punk’ is a sideshow term for a preserved human fetus, usually deformed and usually displayed as a specimen in a jar or other vessel.
The practice of preserving and displaying prodigious [...]
A Human Marvel, perhaps?
Oliver was different from all other apes, very different.
During his initial run in the freak shows of the 1970’s Oliver was billed as a missing link, as a hybrid of man and chimpanzee, a ‘humanzee’. This claim was substantiated with a bold medical statement claiming that Oliver possessed 47 chromosomes, one more [...]
Did you know that the word ‘geek’ has its historic foundation in sideshow? Historically, a geek was a sideshow performer who ate bizarre or unexpected things. Waldo’s talent was unique, certainly unique enough to be called ‘Great’.
Waldo was not the typical geek as he didn’t really eat the items he swallowed. Instead he would swallow [...]
In 1930 MGM announced that Tod Browning, the man behind the Universal horror film Dracula, would be a sideshow picture loosely based on the Tod Robbins short story ‘Spurs’. The film was intended to be MGM’s big launch into the horror genre. Few realized the controversy that was to come.
Browning was born Charles Albert [...]
It is somewhat alarming to discover that many individuals born so incredibly different remain relatively unknown to history. Other than the specific nature of their afflictions, old anatomical catalogs make mention of many very special people, describe them in great detail, and yet often names – and other human aspects – are neglected or omitted.
Many [...]
Another form of human marvel is what is commonly referred to as an ‘anatomical wonder’. While some of these marvels are born with unusual physical characteristics that allow them to do astounding feats due to odd bits in their biology – a number of marvels were otherwise normal men and women who trained themselves to [...]
J. Tithonus Pednaud herein presents for your edification and enlightenment a curious collection of human marvels. These portent and exceptionally unique human beings stand as uplifting testaments to human spirit and serve as inspiring examples of human tenacity.
