he was laughed at, but no one knew...

Top 10 Weirdest Circus Phenomena In History

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10 Weirdest Circus Phenomena in History

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages...prepared to be amazed!

Oh don’t you miss the circus? When was the last time you went? It’s been a while since I went to one, but I always remember having fun. I gotta admit though, not everything at the circus was entertaining. Some shows were a bit boring, and some of others were scary - especially those that featured crazy acts that I would never dare to do at home. But when I look back in time, I realize that circuses in the past had very strange, and perhaps, creepy acts. Today we’ll go down memory lane and look at “10 of the weirdest Circus Phenomena in History.” I must warn you: it’s very likely that you’ll never get to see some of the people and acts featured on this video, or anything that resembles them. A lot of these circus acts were clearly a form of exploitation and mockery, but I’m sure you’ll agree that they are interesting and it’s worth having a look at them. I don’t think anything can prepare you for what’s at the top of the list. It certainly changed the way I look at Circuses and I’m just glad this kind of act doesn’t exist anymore.

The Bearded Lady

We start with someone you might be familiar with, especially if you watched the movie, trailer, poster or anything related to The Greatest Showman. Anny Jones was known all around the world as the “Bearded Lady.” People knew she was different at the young age of five, when she started to grow a mustache and some sideburns that made people call her “The Bearded Girl.” It is believed that Anny was bearing a condition known as Hirsutism, which is when you develop a lot of hair in parts where there’s supposed to be little or no hair at all. But it was this condition and Anny’s amazing musical abilities that made her famous at the Barnum & Bailey Circus. In fact, Anny’s uniqueness was evident since before she turned one! She actually joined the circus when she was only nine months old and her parents received a 150 dollar salary each week, which honestly, was a lot of money back then! I mean, who wouldn’t love 150 dollars each week just for having their baby at the circus! But honestly, that’s a bit too much for a kid and wouldn’t be so easily allowed these days.

Sword Swallowers

Sword Swallowing is not something that started in a circus. This practice began within the early civilizations in Rome and Greece in the first century AD and was later brought to China in the eight century. It was then part of street theatre performances in the Middle Ages and it finally became part of circuses and sideshows in the early 1900s. Now, sword swallowing acts were a bit different in Europe compared to the shows in America. In Europe, sword swallowers were focused on swallowing large numbers of swords, but in America people were looking for the most bizarre things - so they tried all sorts of strange things such as swallowing longer swords, hot swords and sometimes glowing neon tubes, which technically are not swords but the concept is still the same. This practice is not really a weird phenomenon, but instead it’s an acquired skill...one that could cause injury or cause death if performed poorly.

Isaac W. Srague


When Isaac was a child, no one imagined he would end up joining a circus. But things started to change when he turned 12 and hit puberty. The guy began to lose a lot of weight and he was not strong enough to perform his regular tasks. Later on, when he became an adult he joined a circus and soon was known as “the human skeleton.” But his days at the circus didn’t last long as the circus burned down. He then got married, had kids and had to find a way back to the circus in order to make some money - after all, doing other work was almost impossible for him, but showing up as “the skeleton man” resulted in easy money with little physical effort. But poor Isaac had a gambling problem and his financial problems finally caught up to him and he passed away in Chicago in January of 1887. Up until his death, no one was able to figure out what caused Isaac to lose so much weight. However, his legacy lived on. Lots of sideshow attractions began to feature “human skeletons.” And it some sideshows the “living skeleton” would marry the “local fat lady” in quirky and extravagant ceremonies.


El Niño Farini and Mademoiselle Lulu


Samuel Wasgate was the adopted son of the famous acrobat and tightrope walker William Leonard Hunt. On stage, William was known as “The Great Farini”, and that is why his son, Samuel, was known as “El Niño Farini.”