Random Astonishing Human Marvels Throughout History (14 items)

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  (#10) James Morris, The Man With The Rubber Face

  James Morris was born with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a disorder that allowed him to stretch his skin to unbelievable lengths.  Morris took advantage of the malady to tour as the “India Rubber Man,” or the “Elastic Skin Wonder.”

  Morris's skin was so rubbery that he could take the skin around his neck and pulled it over his eyes. As a performer in P.T. Barnum's circus, Morris earned as much as $300 a week. 

  Unfortunately, the disorder was also extremely painful, and welts and scars often formed in the areas that Morris stretched.  After the turn of the century, Morris left show business and his whereabouts became unknown.  Perhaps he finally stretched things a little too far.
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  (#12) Bill Durks, The Three-Eyed Man

  Bill Durks was not actually "three-eyed," but due to a birth defect that caused his face to not form properly, he had a large divot in the middle of his face. Durks would paint a fake eye in the divot to make it look like he had a "third eye."

  Rejected by his family and community, Durks became socially awkward and shy. In his early teens, Durks joined a sideshow and became a successful performer, although he was often taken advantage of since he could not read.

  Durks found joy in the fact that while once he was shunned by society, now people were pay for the right to see him. Durks eventually married another performer, Mildred the Alligator-Skinned woman, and together they were billed as the World’s Strangest Married Couple until Mildred's passing in 1968.
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  (#2) Schlitzie, 'The Last Of The Aztecs'

  Schlitze “Schlitzie” Surtees is perhaps one of the most famous sideshow performer in history when he was immortalized in Tod Browning’s 1932 film classic, Freaks, and was the inspiration for the underground comic book, Zippy the Pinhead. 

  Schlitzie was born with microcephaly, a developmental disorder which causes the skull and brain to be undersized. The affliction left Schlitzie severely mentally disabled.  He could not  perform many basic tasks and was only capable of speaking short words or phrases. He was sometimes billed as female and dressed in loose-fitting women's dresses, in part to make it easier to care for him as he suffered incontinence and wore diapers.

  Schlitzie was cared for by other circus performers, but when his old friends passed, Schlitzie was committed to a Los Angeles hospital.  Hospital authorities eventually determined that the best care for Schlitzie would be to let him return to the sideshow - which he did for another decade, until his passing in 1971. 

  During his retirement, Schlitzie settled in an apartment near MacArthur Park Lake in downtown Los Angeles, where he could be seen feeding pigeons and ducks, and performing for people as they passed by.
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  (#1) General Tom Thumb

  • Dec. at 45 (1838-1883)

  "General Tom Thumb" (né Charles Sherwood Stratton) was a little person who mysteriously stopped growing in height once he reached six months old. Stratton remained 25 inches tall throughout his early childhood, though he began to slowly grow again later in his life, reaching an eventual height of 39 inches.

  In 1842 at age 5, P.T. Barnum brought him into the circus. Stratton would sing, dance, tell jokes, and do celebrity impersonations. He became an international celebrity, who toured Europe and met Queen Victoria, President Abraham Lincoln, and the future King Edward VII.

  In 1863, Stratton married another little person, Lavinia Warren, thereafter known as "Mrs. Tom Thumb." He passed at the age of 45, and the cause of his unusually small size has never been determined.
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  (#8) Ella Harper, 'The Camel Girl'

  Ella Harper was born with an unusual orthopedic condition called congenital genu recurvatum - also known as "back knee deformity" - that allowed her to bend her knees completely backwards. She also preferred to walk on all fours. 

  In the 1880s, Ella was the star of a major sideshow billed as "The Camel Girl," and would appear on stage with alongside a real camel. But Ella herself was modest and not much interested in stardom.  She appears to have left show business around the turn of the century and never returned to the sideshow stage.  She married a school teacher shortly after her retirement and lived quietly with her husband in Nashville, Tennessee.  She passed of cancer in 1921.
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  (#14) Prince Randian, 'The Living Torso'

  "Prince Randian" (who also went by a variety of other stage names, including The Snake Man, The Human Torso, and The Human Caterpillar) was born in British Guyana in 1871. He had no limbs due to tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare genetic condition that is usually fatal. According to legend, P.T. Barnum personally brought him to America.

  Prince Randian (his birth name is unknown) was notable for being able to perform everyday tasks capably despite not having any arms, legs, feet, or hands. and would move himself around the stage by wiggling his hips and shoulders. He could paint, write, shave, eat, and most famously, roll, light, and smoke a cigarette without help (he demonstrated this last ability in the film Freaks). He also spoke Hindi, English, French, and German.

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