Blog - freaks

Meet Sideshow Star, Koo Koo The Bird Girl!

Koo Koo The Bird Girl,c.1930, from projectb.com Sideshow Stars CollectionLike many vintage photo and ephemera collectors, I am fascinated with images of the 'other' such as circus performers and 'freaks'. Above is a rare 1930 photograph of Koo Koo The Bird Girl. Her real name was 'Minnie Woolsey and she was born in Georgia in 1880. She was born with Virchow-Seckel syndrome, a condition also known as bird-headed dwarfism. In addition to her unusual face, she was blind, mentally handicapped, toothless, and practically hairless. The story goes that she was rescued from a a Georgia insane asylum by an huckster showman and began her stage career as "Minnie Ha-Ha". She was dressed in a phony American Indian costume and spoke jibberish to sideshow audiences. In 1932, Minnie landed a... Read more 3 comments Barbara Levine, freaks, koo koo the bird girl, vintage circus photos

Zoe Zobedia, The Moss-Haired Girl

from Sideshow Stars Collection, projectB.com Among the attractions of early 19th century American carnivals, sideshows and circuses were the so-called “Circassian Beauties,” women with extravagantly fine or mossy hair who supposedly descended from the “purest” peoples of Eurasia’s Caucasus mountains, in the little-known region of Circassia. In fact, many of these beauties were American girls who cleverly teased out and stiffened their hair and adopted exotic names invariably beginning with “Z” – Zalumma, Zribeda, Zoledod, Zeleke. Pictured here is one of P. T. Barnum’s Circassian harem, Zoe Zobedia, a moss-haired and snake charmer! Limited edition print available exclusively on projectB.com   Read more Barbara Levine, Circassian Women, Circus, Freaks, Sideshow Stars, Zoe Zobedia