Unusual As Usual

Migaloo is a humpback whale that was first spotted in 1991 off Byron Bay, Queensland by a group of volunteers conducting a whale count. He was born with Albinism - the absence of any pigmentation or coloration. Researchers estimated that he was born around 1986 making him 5 years old when he was first spotted.  

In 2003 Migaloo was struck by a boat full of people eager to get close for photographs, he survived the encounter but it left him with scars across his back. All humpback whales are protected under Australian law, but since this incident there have been additional laws passed so Migaloo and other humpback whales that are more than 90% white are classed as “special management marine mammals” and have an additional exclusion zone around them.   

Adopt Migaloo here: https://give.pacificwhale.org/animals/187621 

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Alisha Hessler was born in 1993 in Tampa, Florida. She rose to fame in 2014 when she began using the alias Jasmine TriDevil and posting selfies on the internet, Her new found fame divided opinions, with some being amazed and others suspecting that her third breast wasn’t real.   

It all came to a head when it was reported that TriDevil had been found dead in the early hours in her Tampa Apartment after someone had attempted to remove her third breast. 

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Melvin Burkhart was born on 16th February 1907 in Atlanta, Georgia. At the age of 20, he joined a small circus and worked as 'The Anatomical Wonder'. He would inflate one lung at a time, elongate his neck to an incredible degree and could contort his facial muscles in such a way that on one half he was smiling, whilst simultaneously on the other half he was frowning.  

However, had ambitions to become a prize fighter, so he became a boxer. Not a very good boxer but a boxer none the less.He had 6 fights in the ring, and lost every single one of them. With a record 6 losses and 0 wins as you can imagine he spent quite a lot of his time sitting in hospital waiting rooms. It was at one of these frequent visits to the hospital that he had his eureka moment.  

Each time he visited hospital the doctor seemed to remove more and more damaged cartilage from his repeatedly broken nose. He figured the less cartilage in his nasal cavity the more room there will be for an inanimate object - such as ...a 6 inch nail. He got home later that night found a hammer, dug out a nail and the rest as they say is history. When Robert Ripley saw Burkhart's new act he dubbed him a "Human Blockhead” and the name has stuck ever since.  Burkhart retired in 1989 but continued to perform for tourists and journalists right up until his death in 2001 at the age of 94. 

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The Fiji Mermaid was supposedly caught off the coast of the Fiji Islands in the South Pacific. It was often described as hideous and ugly. It was a stuffed specimen, dried or mummified, Its skin was black and Simi translucent. It was around 3 feet long and was posed in an awkward stance. Its mouth was open, its tail turned over, and its arms thrown in the air, giving it the appearance of having died in great agony.  

The Fiji Mermaid was instrumental in Barnum's success. Not only was it hugely popular, but it set the foundation for many of his later tactics for generating interest in his curiosities. So, what exactly is it?  Well, a CT scan of the mermaid on display at Harvard University's Peabody Museum reveals it is made up of wire armature, paper mâché, bone fragments and fish scales.   

You can find out more about where I bought my Fiji Mermaid from by visiting 'All Steamed Up' here; https://www.facebook.com/ianjarrellartist 

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Bruce Snowdon was born on 19th February 1946 in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. At 19 years old, Snowdon weighed nearly 250lbs and by age 23, 350lbs.   

He had piled on a lot of weight and by the time he was 25 he was a bloated behemoth tipping the scales at a whopping 450lbs. He contacted Ward Hall who ran the World of Wonders sideshow and the rest as they say, is history.  Ward would introduce him by saying; "He’s so big it takes four girls to hug him and a box car to lug him. When he dances you’ll swear he must be full of jelly, cause jam don’t shake like that. Ladies! He is single and lookin’ for a wife - he’s so fat, he’ll provide you with a lot of shade in the summer time, he’ll keep you nice and warm in the winter time and give you lots of lovin’ all the time!”   

Ward also gave him his first stage name "Harold Huge” although he also performed under the moniker ' Howard Huge’ and ‘Big Bruno’. In 2002 he retired from show business all together and on 9th November 2009, Harold Huge’s gluttonous lifestyle came to an end, and he passed away at a nursing home in Saint Petersburg, Florida, aged 64. 

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'Three Ball Charlie’, as his friends came to know him, was born in Nebraska, USA. He got his trademark nickname due to his extraordinary ability, His act reportedly involved him fitting a large Appetiser Plate in his mouth but he was most known for stuffing a tennis ball, a golf ball and a billiard ball in his mouth at the same time, side by side - then he would whistle a tune whilst simultaneously juggling several balls.   

He was also immortalised on the cover of the Rolling Stones’ album, 'Exile on Main St’ and various posters and T-shirts. 

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The Muse brothers, George and Willie Muse, were born in Roanoke, Virginia, in the 1890’s. They were born with a congenital disorder characterised by the complete absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes commonly known as Albinism.   

After being kidnapped as young children they ended up working the sideshow circuit for over 60 years, playing music as ‘The Ambassadors from Mars’.   

George Muse died in  in 1971, 10 years after the pair retired. Many expected Willie to quickly follow his brother, but he continued to live until 2001 when he died at the age of 108. 

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Oliver was a chimpanzee born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1957.   

He was acquired by animal trainers Frank and Janet Berger in 1960 and they observed some physical and behavioural evidence which led them to believe Oliver was perhaps a human-chimp hybrid. A ‘Humanzee' if you will.   

When news broke of his discovery officials from a Japanese Television Network, approached him with an offer: they would fund scientific studies to be carried out in Japan, including genetic testing in exchange for the rights to reveal the results live on their national TV show. After his trip to Japan and TV appearance Oliver was sold to the Buckshire Corporation, a Pennsylvania laboratory leasing that leases out animals for scientific and cosmetic testing where his home became a tiny cramped cage.  

 In 1996, Primarily Primates, an animal sanctuary, petitioned to allow Oliver and 13 other chimpanzees to be transferred to them for retirement and after 9 long years in a tiny cage, Oliver ended up at a spacious, open-air habitat at Primarily Primates, Texas. Oliver died in his sleep on 2nd June 2012 at least 55 years old. 

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Horace Ridler, was born in Surrey, England in 1892. After studying at Oxford University he pursued a career in the British Army. At the end of the war Ridler left the military and decided that show business would be his new career path.   

At some point between 1927 and 1934 he visited famed London based tattooist, George Burchett, with a plan that would transform him into the greatest modern tattoo attraction the world had ever seen. After 500 sittings and 150 hours of tattooing Horace Ridler became The Great Omi.   

The Great Omi performed with many sideshows including Robert Ripley’s Oddotorium and the Ringling Bros., Barnum and Bailey Circus. Shortly before his death in 1969 he was quoted saying "underneath it all, I'm just an ordinary man". 

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James Morris was born in 1859 in Copenhagen, New York. From an early age he learned that he was unique, he would amuse his friends with his ability to stretch his skin like that of an elastic band, before letting go and it snapping straight back to its original form - caused by a condition called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.   

He was hired by Jacob Edwin Sackett to perform in his Rhode Island dime museum, before eventually touring throughout North America and Europe  with The Barnum and Bailey Circus billed as ‘The Rubber Skin Man’.   

By 1885, aged 26, it was rumoured that he had become addicted to drinking and gambling, and as a result he had to continue performing long after what would have been considered a respectable retirement age. The elastic skin man mysteriously faded into obscurity sometime after July 1898. 

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Louis Cyr was born in Saint-Cyprien-de-Napierville, Quebec, Canada on 10th October 1863. From the age of 12 he worked as a lumberjack and farm hand. Using his exceptional strength, he impressed his fellow workers with his feats - and stories of his strength soon became legendary.   

His first strongest man competition was at the age of 18 when he stunned the crowd by lifting a horse clear off the ground a few years later and he was facing the ‘World’s Strongest Man’ David Michaud. During the competition, Cyr lifted a 218-pound barbell with one hand. The best Michaud could manage was 158 pounds and with that, Cyr officially won the title of 'the strongest man in in the world’. He went on to make a fortune in the strongman world, attracting audiences of thousands who travelled far and wide to see his unbelievable feats of strength for themselves.   

On 10th November 1912, at the age of 49, ‘The Strongest Man in History’, Louis Cyr died of chronic nephritis. The cause of his natural herculean strength is still unknown. 

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Emoji the Snake is a ball python that was born in 2017 in Toccoa, Georgia by Justin Kobylka’s reptile breeding company, J. Kobylka Reptiles, who specialise in taking relatively common reptile species and creating specimens with striking physical features they they call ‘designer pythons’.  

The unique pattern of Emoji the Snake is caused by recessive gene mutations and left him with three perfectly formed smily face emoji's on his back.   

Stephan Bibrowski was born in 1890 in Bielsk near Warsaw, Poland. He was born with a rare medical condition called congenital terminal hypertrichosis which caused his entire body to be covered in long, thick hair.   

As the story goes, his mother, while heavily pregnant, witnessed his father being attacked and killed by an escaped circus lion - this frightful event his mother experienced caused him to be born with feline features, playing into the wrongful belief at the time that the emotional experiences of a pregnant woman could have a lasting physical effect on their unborn child.   

Lionel the lion faced boy, as he was professionally known, spoke five languages and learned tumbling skills from the acrobats, practicing his handstands and using his quick and nimble physique to perfect his backflips. Lionel passed away in 1932 in Berlin from a heart attack, aged 41. 

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Rick Genest was born on 7th August 1985 in Quebec, Canada. By the time he was 17 he had become fully engrossed into the punk rock scene, and lived on the streets. He and his friends would sleep under bridges, squat in empty houses and generally live a chaotic and care free life - washing cars to earn enough money to get by. When he turned 21 he met a tattoo artist called Frank Lewis.   

According to Rico, Lewis was the mastermind behind the skeletal motif - a skeleton body suit complete with bugs, cobwebs, barbed wire, rotting flesh and tendons. Zombie Boy spent the next few years touring the world appearing at events, performing on stage, DJing, filming music videos, appearing in TV shows and films, as well as walking cat walks at fashion shows. However his career was unfortunately cut short.   

On 1st August 2018, Rick Genest was found dead outside his apartment complex, six days before his 33rd birthday after falling from his 4th floor balcony and landing on the pavement below. 

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Martin Laurello was born in 1885 in Nuremburg, Germany. He was born with a crooked spine that gave him the unique ability to twist his head just enough to complete a full 180 degree turn.   

When he had his head turned, his spine was in the shape of a question mark and while like this he could not breathe, or speak, however he was able to drink. He was also able to walk both forwards and backwards quite naturally while in this is position.  

Laurello was also an accomplished animal trainer. He trained his dog, Frisco, and cat, Lee, to perform acrobatics and circus tricks.  His last public appearance was on the TV show "You Asked For It" on 24th March 1952, where he twisted his head 180 degrees for the last time. He died of a heart attack a few short years later and was cremated in 1955, aged 70. 

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A rare black Greater Flamingo has been spotted among a flock of white and pink flamingos, and its thought to be the only one in the world. It was spotted in Israel in 2013 and again in 2015 this time at a salt lake on the southern coast of Cyprus. It's believed to be the only one of its kind in the world.

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Rossa Richter was born in 1863 in London, England, and rose to fame after meeting William Leonard Hunt, also known as The Great Farini, and becoming “Zazel the Human Cannonball”.   

She was successfully fired out of the cannon hundreds of times until 1881 while performing her signature 'leap for life’ trapeze stunt in Las Vegas, the bracing poles of her apparatus were accidentally left unsecured causing her to fall 50ft to the ground below - she survived, but broke her back in several places, an injury that effectively ended her circus career.   

Rossa Richter died of natural causes on the 8th December 1937, aged 74, at Camberwell House hospital in Peckham, London. 

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Joseph Carey Merrick, often incorrectly called John Merrick, was born on 5th August 1862 in Leicester, England.   

Merrick was born healthy, and had no symptoms of any disorder. However, by the age of 2 he had developed a bony lump on his forehead, swellings on his face and his skin began getting rough and coarse. So much so that in 1884, aged 22, he contacted comedian Sam Torr and persuaded him to exhibit him as a living curiosity.   

The pair travelled to London and met sideshow proprietor Tom Norman who hired Merrick on the spot. It was while working for Norman under the moniker The Elephant Man that Merrick met Dr. Frederick Treves, an expert in anatomy, and renowned surgeon at London Hospital.  Through his connections Dr. Treves managed to get Merrick his very own apartment on the grounds on the hospital where he was allowed t stay for the remainder of his life.   

Joseph Merrick died on 11th April 1890, aged 27. He was found laying on his back with a dislocated neck. It's believed that Merrick had been attempting to sleep lying down to "be like other people.” 

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Elmer McCurdy was born in Maine in 1880. One day in 1911 came up with a genius idea, he was going to rob a train, but not just any train - a train carrying $400,000.  

Unfortunately though McCurdy managed to rob the wrong train before ending up being killed in a shoot out with the sheriff. For the next 66 years, McCurdy's mummified remains made their way around various sideshows, circus', carnivals and film sets before eventually being buried in 1977 under a layer of 2 feet of concrete. Effectively retiring one of the longest working people on the sideshow circuit. 

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The Vacanti Mouse was a laboratory mouse born in 1996 that had a human ear growing out of its back.   

However, the "ear” wasn’t actually an ear at all. It was actually a biodegradable ear-shaped mould which was injected with cow cartilage cells and put in an incubator, after it had been incubated the now-living structure was removed and implanted in the mouse. Then the cartilage then naturally grew by itself within the restricted shape and size.   

As with all scientific experiments the process was then repeated, again and again. Which means that the iconic ear mouse was actually just one of many ear mice. 

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George Costentenus was born on 17th April 1833 in Souli, Greece and was known for his elaborate and extensive red and blue tattoos.   

As the story goes, he was captured while on an expedition in Burma and taken prisoner to be subjected to a three-month-long tattooing session against his will. He had to be held down by four men during this process, and after the tattooing was completed, he eventually managed to escape.  

By 1876, he was under contract with P.T. Barnum and proved to be a very successful attraction eventually commanding a huge weekly salary.   

According to legend after going blind he willed half of his fortune to the Greek Church of London, the other half of his fortune he divided amongst his fellow showmen and friends before fading into obscurity around 1889. 

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Stanley Berent was born on 24th November 1901 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was born with a condition known as Phocomelia, a condition commonly associated with prenatal exposure to the morning-sickness drug Thalidomide.   

Berent performed under the stage name Sealo The Seal Boy for 35 years before passing away in 1980 aged 79. 

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Leo Norman Maurien Murray Stuart Carrington Walters, affectionally shortened to “Murray” was born in 1901 in Melbourne, Australia.  By the age of 25, he had already travelled to Peking, where he successfully performed an escape routine after being chained to a railway track while the Shanghai Express travelled towards him. And Phnom Penh, where the King of Cambodia enjoyed his sleight of hand magic so much, he offered him one of his 30 wives as a reward, Murray politely declined.   

His next stop was Kabul to perform for Amanullah Khan, the Emir of Afghanistan. Rumour has it the Emir set Murray a challenge enough to leave any escapologist shaking in their boots. The Emir showed him the most secure prison cell in his kingdom. If he could escape he could keep the bag of 5,000 silver rupees the Emir had left inside. If he failed, he would remain in the cell for the rest of his life. Allegedly, Murray took up the challenge and won.   

Ill health forced Murray to retire from the road in the 1954 and he settled in Blackpool, England opening a magic shop called “Murray’s Magic Mart” before passing away on 22nd January 1988, aged 87. 

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Harley Quinn and Santa Claws are two very Curious Crustaceans. One is a chimera lobster, meaning he's split directly down the middle - the other is an albino lobster.   

Both are residents of UK Sea Life Centres.  

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Eugen Sandow was born on 2nd April 1867 in what is known today as Kaliningrad, Russia.   

He developed the formula to get what he called ‘The Grecian Ideal’, the exact measurements he classed as the perfect physique. Using this formula he began chiselling away at his own physique down to the exact proportions of the Greek and Roman statues.   

On the 14th September 1901 Sandow held the first ever bodybuilding contest which he dubbed simply ‘The Great Competition’ which paved the way for the Mr Universe and Mr Olympia competitions we have today.   

On the 14th October 1925 aged 58, likely from stroke brought on after single handily lifting his car out of a ditch. 

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Josephine Boisdechene was born in 1829 in Versoix, Switzerland and was America's first famous bearded woman.   

In 1853 Clofullia brought her family to America, joining P.T. Barnum's American Museum in New York. Barnum billed her as ‘The Bearded Lady of Geneva’ had her beard officially measured as 6 inches long in a publicity stunt designed to draw people into his venue.   

Madame Clofullia died in 1875, aged just 54. 

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Rasmus Nielsen was born in 1874 in Denmark. He was tattooed across most of his body and was reportedly able to lift a 25 pound hammer in an act dubbed “The Iron Tongue”.   

Nielsen was known by many names; ‘The Scandinavian Strongman’, ‘The Tattooed Wonderman’ and “The Strongman from Denmark” but to his friends he was simply known as ‘Tough Titty’. Rasmus Nielsen died in 1957 after suffering from acute pericarditis. 

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Frank and Louie was a ragdoll cat born 8th September 1999, and nicknamed Frankenlouie after being born with one brain, two faces, two mouths, one jaw, two noses, one oesophagus, and three eyes.   

He first appeared in the Guinness Book of Records in 2006, followed by a second appearance in the 2012 edition, this time recognising Frank and Louie as "The world's oldest living janus cat" when he was 13 years old.   

In November 2014, Frank and Louie's health began to decline and on 4th December 2014 the difficult decision was made for Frank and Louie to be euthanised. 

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Grady Stiles Jr, was born in Pittsburgh on 18th July 1937. Like his father before him he was born with a birth defect called ectrodactyly, a condition commonly known as ‘Lobster Claw Syndrome’.   

On 29th November 1992 Stiles was shot in the back of the head by a fellow carnival worker, Chris Wyant. Wyant ended up being sentenced to jail along with Chris Wyant's wife and step-son for murder. 

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Hadji Ali was born in 1892 in Egypt. Though out his career Ali was known by many names but famous for only one thing; his ability to hold ungodly quantities of water in his stomach before regurgitating it.   

Medical practitioners were interested in his act and several of the doctors from Johns Hopkins and Maryland University examined Ali to see if there was a possibility of fraud - an examination took place with the final result finding that no trickery was involved.  

On 5th November 1937 Ali died of heart failure due to myocarditis and influenza in Wolverhampton, England. 

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When you think of a unicorn you may conjure up the Hollywood image of a pure white stallion with a flowing main galloping through an enchanted forest. However, it should come as no surprise that Lancelot wasn’t a unicorn at all. He was the brain-child of Oberon Zell-Ravenheart.   

Lancelot toured with the Ringling Bros, and Barnum and Bailey Circus reaching the hight of his fame in 1985 before retiring and eventually dying of old age in 2005. 

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The practice of Foot Binding originated the 10th century in China and required a gruesome, and painful, process to complete.   

It wasn’t until the early 20th century that foot binding was made illegal and began to die out. But it has been estimated that in the 19th century,  around 40-50% of all Chinese women may have had lotus feet. 

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Jeffrey Hudson was born on 14th June 1619 in Rutland, England. His parents, three brothers, and a half-sister were all of regular height. Hudson on the other hand was born with normal proportions but with an abnormally short stature, at his tallest measuring at only 43 inches.   

Sir Jeffrey Hudson died in 1682, aged 63 - on an unknown date, in unknown circumstances, buried in an unmarked grave. 

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Joseph Pujol was born on the 1st of June 1857 in Marseilles, France. His stage name was 'Le Petomane’ a combination of the French verb péter, meaning "to fart" with the suffix “mane” meaning “maniac” creating a literal translation of “fartomaniac”, also known as a Flatulist or Fartiste.   

Joseph Pujol died in 1945, aged 88, and left behind an enduring legacy and inspired countless books, musicals, plays, songs and films. 

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Stumpy is a White Pekin duck born at the Warrawee Duck Farm in Hampshire, England on 7th February 2007. He was born with a rare mutation that left him with four legs - two legs tucked behind the two he walked about on.   

The mutation is down to a condition called Polymelia. Polymelia can occur when an embryo started as conjoined twin, but one twin degenerated completely except for one or more limbs, which end up attached to the other twin. This is what gave Stumpy his extra two legs.   

You can check out more sideshow gaffs at Bloody Bones Curio Shop: https://www.bloodybones.co.uk/the-curios-archive

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Josephine Joesph is thought to have been born on July 4th 1891 in Austria. When she turned 18, she travelled to Ellis Island, New York and in the 1920’s took to the stage and began performing in local sideshows as a human oddity.   

Like many so called "sideshow hermaphrodites" of the early 20th century, she modified her body, presenting herself as strong and masculine on the right, and delicate and feminine on the left. This was achieved by exercising one side of the body to define muscle tone, she was well tanned and and she had her hair on just that side undercut. The other side, the feminine side, would be covered while not performing  to keep it pale and it remained un-exercised.   

Josephine Joesph passed away on 11th July 1966 - one week after her 75th birthday. 

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Claude Louis Delair was born in 1876 in Lyon, France. Very little is known about his early years and there are significant periods of his life where there are no credible sources at all, but what we do know that he officially changed his name to Mac Norton as a young man.   

In 1953, aged 77, Mac Norton, committed suicide, after a long life of solitude. Gassing himself in his home, alone. In recent years magician David Blane has brought Norton's act back into the lime light, swallowing gold fish and live frogs in his 2016 TV special 'Beyond Magic'. 

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In the 19th century, Edward Mordrake was born into one of the most wealthy and noble families in England, and was raised as heir to the family fortune and was set to inherit mountains of money, heirlooms and estates.  

According to the story, Mordrake was plagued by a second face on the back of his head. It's said that the second face would whisper to him through the night and tell him to do evil things. Eventually driving Mordrake to insanity when he took his own life at the age of 23.

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Gemina was a Rothschild's giraffe born on July 16, 1986, at the San Diego Wild Animal Park and was moved to the Santa Barbara Zoo when she was approximately one year old.   

Most newborn calves are over six feet tall, and within half an hour they can stand and walk around on their own however Gemina was seen still stumbling, and occasionally falling over when she was two years old. Although tests and x-rays showed no sign of injury, its possible that her crooked neck was the result of a trip or fall. Slowly, over time, her neck vertebrae began to jut out at an angle.  

Gemina died on 9th January 2008 and her bones are now on display at the Santa Barbra Zoo.  

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Ethel Granger was born in 1905 in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom. In 1939, she was added to The Guinness Book of world Records for 'The smallest waist of a person with normal stature’ after permanently modifying her waist with the extensive use of tight corsets.   

Ethel managed to reduce the natural size of her waist to a staggering 13 inches (33 cm), shaving a whopping 9 inches off her original measurement. She died in 1982 at 77 years old.

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Francesco Lentini was born on 18th May 1889 in Rosolini, Sicily.  In total he had three legs, four feet and sixteen toes.   

Lentini continued touring up until his death on 21st September 1966, when he died of lung failure in Jackson, Tennessee, at the age of 77 - the most advanced age anyone living with his condition is documented to have reached.

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Arnold Gerrit Henskes was born on 6th August 1912 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. But our story actually starts in 1945, when at the age of 33, he claimed he became aware that his body was able to withstand great trauma, mostly with no ill effects. He demonstrated this by plunging swords straight through his body, miraculously missing all major organs.   

Mirin Dajo died of an aortic rupture on 26th May 1948, age 36, after swallowing a 36cm needle.

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Frank ‘Cannonball’ Richards was born on 20th February 1887 in Kansas, USA. His claim to fame was his seemingly iron gut, and his act consisted of little more than being shot with a cannon.   

Frank died of natural causes on 7 February 1969 in Long Beach California, aged 81, after a long and lucrative career from his abs of steel.  

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Daisy and Violet Hilton, were born on 5th February 1908 in Brighton, England. Joined at the hips; they shared a blood circulation and had a fused pelvis bone but shared no major organs between them.  

Most known for starring in 'Freaks' and 'Chained For Life’, they died on 4th January 1969 in their home, aged 60. 

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Alfred Langevin was born in Canada in 1885. To the crowds amazement he would blow up the balloon before their very eyes, then he tied a knot in it, signed it, and handed it out to a lucky member of the audience to take away with them as a sideshow keepsake. Langevin enjoyed a colourful 7 year career with Ripley, from 1933 to 1940, during that time he appeared in several books and printed media - and still continues to to this day.  

Nothing else is heard from him after 1940 and it's likely he returned back to Canada to live out the remainder of his life away from the spotlight.

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Snowflake was a western lowland gorilla born in 1964 with Albinism - the congenital absence of any pigmentation or coloration. Albino animals usually have characteristic pink or red eyes due the lack of pigment in the iris allowing the blood vessels of the retina to be visible, however Snowflake strangely had blue eyes. He presented traits and characteristics of albinism typically seen in humans, including white hair, pinkish skin, light coloured eyes, reduced visual perception and light sensitivity.   

In 2001, Snowflake was diagnosed with an unusual form of skin cancer, almost certainly related to his albinism. And by 2003, his health had begun to deteriorate. After he began losing interest in his usual activities, isolating himself and showing signs of pain, Snowflake's keepers reluctantly made the decision to euthanise him.  The decision was publicly announced in September 2003 before being euthanised just two months later. At the time of his death, Snowflake was thought to be between 38 and 40 years old.    

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Welcome to Unusual As Usual, the show that explores the strange and bizarre. Whether it be Anatomical Oddities such as 'The Gripping Tale of Grady Styles The Lobster Boy’ who was born with claws instead of hands or ‘The Unfortunate Tale of The Hilton Twins’ - conjoined twins chained for life. Or maybe you're more interested in Modified Marvels such as ‘The Macabre World of Rick Genest The Zombie Boy’ who tattooed his entire body from head to toe to look like a rotting corpse, or another body mod extreme, ‘The Graceful Shape of Ethel Granger’ - The Wasp Lady who used corseting to become the woman with the smallest waist in history.   

The animal kingdom also has its fair share of the unusual which we cover in our Abnormal Animal playlist featuring ‘Oliver The Humanzee’ whom scientists believe could have been the missing link in evolution, and P.T. Barnum’s most prized possession ‘Jumbo The Elephant’.   

Speaking of P.T. Barnum, he was well known for showcasing some fantastic and unusual working acts which we cover in our Peculiar People playlist such as ‘The Dangerous Career of Koringa’, La Femme Fakir, who could scale a ladder of swords completely barefoot or ‘The Stomach Churning Act of Mac Norton’, L’homme Aquarium - he swallowed live fish and frogs before regurgitating them unharmed.   

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