Jo Jo the Dog Faced Boy/ Fedor Jefticheff (1868-1903) Jo Jo the Dog Faced Boy is probably the most recognizable circus freak to have ever lived. He was afflicted with the disease hypertrichosis which causes an excess of body hair. He inherited the disease from his father Adrian who also exhibited with various circus' and sideshows. Jo Jo was said to be an intelligent man. He spoke russian, german and english. After being brought to the United States by PT Barnum he gained quite a notoriety. Sadly he passed away young from pneumonia at the age of 35.
Lionel the Lion Faced Man(1890-1932) Lionel was born in Poland as Stefan Bibrowski. He suffered from a condition called hypertrichosis which left him covered from head to toe in a fine 1" long hair. He was a very intelligent man who spoke five different languages. It's rumored that he wanted to be a dentist but figured he'd earn more as a freak. Here are two different cards featuring Lionel in the same seductive pose. The bottom one is from Germany, and I believe states that he was 17 at the time.
Lionette- The Lion Faced Girl/ Dora Gutterman (1903-?) Mike Decay, a not-so-distant relative of Dora's, writes: "The Gutterman family were Russian Jews that descnded from a long line of horse thieves. Dora's family emigrated from Russia by way of London around the turn of the century. Dora was born in 1903 and spent most of her life living in Brighton Beach. She worked at the World Circus Side Show from 1925-1940. The money she made from it supported her family at the time who, as immigrants, were not fully self sufficient yet. My grandfather was her cousin and he used to walk her from work to the street car every night because even though she would wear a veil in public people would taunt her outside of the freak show and try to beat her up. She remained a Coney Island personality for 15 years until her family was able to make their own living." -www.quasi-modo.net
The Sacred Hairy Family of Burma (L-R:Mahphoon, Mah Me, Moung Phoset) This family's hypertrichosis stretched over 5 generations. Mahphoon and her son Moung Phoset belonged to King Theebaw of Burma. They were lavished with riches and shown to guests on special occasions. The king arranged a marriage between Moung Phoset and a maid in his court. The result of that marriage was Mah Me, Moung Phoset's daughter. King Theebaw was eventually overthrown by the British. The Hairy Family was exhibited by PT Barnum for a season in the UK, and a brief tour in the US.
The Seven Sutherland Sisters- Hailing from New York the Sutherland sisters originally toured as "Sutherland Concert of Seven Sisters and One Brother." Despite being a musical family they were better known for their amazing hair. They were said to have had a collective length of 37 feet of hair between them. They toured with the like of WW Cole's as well as Barnum. Some time around 1884 they put out "The Seven Sutherland Sister's Hair Grower" and made a fortune. Over their years of touring 2 of the sisters passed away and were replaced with other women with amazingly long hair.
Jrma Loustau "The Panther Woman" (dates unknown) Don't know much about her aside from the fact that she was marked with random patches of fur.
Moro Monkey boys. (dates unknown) Don't know much about these folks. They seem to have a form of hypertrichosis, not as extensive as in the cases of Jo Jo the Dog Faced Boy or Lionel The Lion Faced Man, but never the less still pretty hairy. One photo reads " A Moro Family with Monkey Features", the other reads "Human Specimen Similar to Monkey".
Alistair MacWilkie (dates unknown)- Don't know much about Mr. MacWilkie aside from what it states on the card. Long bearded men were often popular human curiosities (SG Brinkley, Edwin Smith to name a couple.)
This image is an original print from a 1901 book.
Eleanor Taranto (1924-?) Don't know much about Ms Taranto aside from the fact that she had a mane running down her back.
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