Download or read book Ripley s Believe It or Not Sideshow and Other Carnival Curiosities written by and published by Ripley Publishing. This book was released on 2020-04-07 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From displays of the human form—both beautiful and grotesque—to tricks of illusion, and wonders from the far-off world, the sideshow has captivated audiences since its popularity arose in the Victorian Era. It was those featured on the side stages of circuses, fairground midways, and halls of exhibition that still captivate our curiosities today. Ripley's Believe It or Not! Presents Sideshow and Other Carnival Curiosities brings those performers to life. Beyond the oohs and ahhs, readers will learn the true stories behind some of the most fascinating acts in both sideshow history and modern times. Readers will take a deep dive into the Fiji mermaid, one of the most famous sideshow artifacts of all time—an ingenious hoax made from several apes and a fish, cleverly sewn together. They will meet Avelino Perez Matos, one of the earliest known “eye poppers” that could bulge his eyes more than a centimeter out of their sockets at will, and the Seven Sutherland Sisters, who shared 37 ft of hair between them—a length exaggerated later in their career by the famed P.T. Barnum. Stepping into the sideshows of the 21st-century, readers will also be introduced to a new cast of characters, including “half-man” Aaron Wollin aka Short E. Dangerously. Rich in history and full of photography, Ripley's Believe It or Not! Presents Sideshow and Other Carnival Curiosities is a compendium of curiosities not to be missed!
Download or read book Secrets of the Sideshows written by Joe Nickell and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2005-09-09 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Joe Nickell - once a carnival pitchman, then a magician, private detective, and investigative writer - has pursued sideshow secrets for years and has worked the famous carnival midway at the Canadian National Exhibition. For this book, he interviewed showmen and performers, collected carnival memorabilia, researched published accounts of sideshows and their lore, and even performed some classic sideshow feats, such as eating fire and lying on a bed of nails as a cinderblock was broken on his chest. The result of these varied efforts, Secrets of the Sideshows tells the captivating story of the magic, tricks - real or illusory - and performers of the world's midway shows."--BOOK JACKET.
Download or read book American Sideshow written by Marc Hartzman and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2006-09-21 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating look into the history of the American sideshow and its performers. Learn what's real, what's fake, and what's just downright bizarre. You've probably heard of Tom Thumb. The Elephant Man. Perhaps even Chang and Eng, the original Siamese twins. But what about Eli Bowen, the legless acrobat? Or Prince Randian, the human torso? These were just a few of the many stars that shone during the heyday of the American sideshow, from 1840 to 1950. American Sideshow chronicles the lives of truly amazing performers, examining these brave and extraordinary curiosities not just as sideshow performers but as people, delving into the lives they led and the ways they were able to triumph over and even benefit from their abnormalities. American Sideshow discusses the rise and fall of the original sideshows and their subsequent replacement by today's self-made freaks. With the progress of modern medicine, technological advancements, and the wonderful world of body modification, abnormalities are being overcome, treated and even prevented: Siamese twins can now be separated, and in addition to this, tongues can be forked, horns surgically implanted, and earlobes removed. There are also, of course, modern-day giants, fire eaters, sword swallowers, glass eaters, human blockheads, and oh, so much more. These fascinating personalities are celebrated through intimate biographies paired with stunning photographs. Approximately two hundred performers from the past one hundred and sixty years are featured, giving readers a comprehensive and sometimes astonishing look into the history of the American sideshow
Download or read book Ripley s Believe It Or Not Seeing Is Believing written by Ripley's Believe It Or Not! and published by Ripley Publishing. This book was released on 2009-08-04 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 6th title in the best selling Ripley’s Believe It or Not! annual series is a compendium of incredible bizarre facts, stories, interviews and features all presented in a stunning bright new design. This year’s book features icons that guide readers to astounding video clips on our new fully-integrated website, where they can see some of our subjects in action. Be amazed at the dentist with no arms, the snake that swallowed a wallaby, an underwater sculptor and a four-eared cat! For the legions of dedicated Ripley’s fans, and anyone else on the planet who loves unbelievable facts and jaw-dropping images, the latest annual in this successful series is a feast of delights. Also, a dramatic eight-page gatefold section presents some extraordinary performers of the past, and additional black and white Ripley archive photographs feature throughout the book.
Download or read book Freak Show written by Carl Hammer and published by Chronicle Books (CA). This book was released on 1996 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Step right up! The show's about to begin with this mesmerizing collection of outrageous banners from the heydey of traveling circus sideshows. From the turn of the century through the 1950s, circus sideshows boasted unbelievable "freaks of nature", incredible transformations and death-defying acts. For collectors and nostalgia buffs, Freak Show celebrates this unique American commercial folk art. 90 full-color photos.
Download or read book Freak Show written by Robert Bogdan and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2014-12-10 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This cultural history of the travelling freak show in America chronicles the rise and fall of the industry as attitudes about disability evolved. From 1840 until 1940, hundreds of freak shows crisscrossed the United States, from the smallest towns to the largest cities, exhibiting their casts of dwarfs, giants, Siamese twins, bearded ladies, savages, snake charmers, fire eaters, and other oddities. By today’s standards such displays would be considered cruel and exploitative—the pornography of disability. Yet for one hundred years the freak show was widely accepted as one of America’s most popular forms of entertainment. Robert Bogdan’s fascinating social history brings to life the world of the freak show and explores the culture that nurtured and, later, abandoned it. In uncovering this neglected chapter of show business, he describes in detail the flimflam artistry behind the shows, the promoters and the audiences, and the gradual evolution of public opinion from awe to embarrassment. Freaks were not born, Bogdan reveals; they were manufactured by the amusement world, usually with the active participation of the freaks themselves. Many of the "human curiosities" found fame and fortune, until the ascent of professional medicine transformed them from marvels into pathological specimens.
Download or read book Ripley s Believe It or Not written by Ripley's Believe It Or Not! and published by Ripley Publishing. This book was released on 2004-10-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Facsimile of the original 1929 book. From the original 1929 promotion, Robert Ripley describes the land where rain has fallen for a million years; here he talks with you about the Ever-Standing Men and the Upside-Down Men of Benares. Sport enthusiasts will prick up their ears at the queer tales told by the man who it is said can answer more questions on sports than any other living man. All these stores, all these marvelous adventuring into the countries of the fantastically true are lavishly illustrated with a multitude of those vivid cartoons which are followed eagerly every night in the New York Evening Post and more than 100 other newspapers. You will find your old favorites-and some new puzzlers which Mr. Ripley has uncorked now for the first time. Believe It Or Not this volume contains a thousand new things under the sun!
Download or read book Ripley s Believe It Or Not Utterly Crazy written by Ripley's Believe It Or Not! and published by Ripley Publishing. This book was released on 2011-03-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ripley fans the world over will love this utterly crazy book! Packed full of fascinating facts and strange tales about incredibly unbelievable but totally true stories, this new book celebrates the remarkable and the bizarre in our world today.
Download or read book Ripley s Believe It Or Not 2022 written by Ripley and published by Century. This book was released on 2021-10-14 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ripley's Believe It or Not! 2022 is sure to amaze and astound children and adults alike with thousands of strange stories, unusual feats and hair-raising oddities from around the world. Meet the man who has made a model of the Empire State Building - in cheese. Marvel at the heart-warming story of the dog that adopted five kittens. Read all about the curse of Ötzi, the five-thousand-year-old iceman mummy. Be amazed by the strange and extraordinary sea creatures that create their own light. Bursting with brilliant facts, fantastic stories and eye-popping photographs, this all-new edition of Ripley's will entertain, inform and flabbergast you. No Christmas is complete without it.
Download or read book Ripley s Believe It or Not Encyclopedia of the Bizarre written by Editors of Ripley's Believe It or Not and published by Black Dog & Leventhal. This book was released on 2005-10-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Black Dog & Leventhal’s bestselling Encyclopedia of the Bizarre is now available in a handier, more reasonably priced edition that retains every word and image of the original. From stupefying stunts to wacky world’s records, all of Ripley’s riveting findings are here, in an easy-to-browse, impossible-to-put-down color volume. Where else could you learn that: • It’s estimated that 10,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000 snowflakes have fallen to the Earth since the Earth was formed! • Queen Isabeau of Bavaria used a mixture of boar’s brains, crocodile glands, and wolf blood as skin lotion! • Anna Bread married John Butter in Leeds, England, April 22, 1926! • Phil Turco of Madison, Wisconsin, swallowed 339 goldfish in two hours! Bizarre and amazing categories include Accidents and Disasters, Animals and Insects, Archaeology, Feats and Stunts, Prophecies, Records, the Unexplained, and more. It’s fascinating fun for the whole family.
Download or read book Ripley s Fun Facts Silly Stories BOXED SET 3 BOOKS written by and published by Ripley Publishing. This book was released on 2014-10-14 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ripley's Believe It or Not has released a TRIPLE THREAT! Get even more amazing pictures and incredible facts with this fantastic three-book box set. Each of these titles is filled with weird and incredible facts and stories that younger Ripley's fans can enjoy. With the large colorful type and entertaining images that made this series popular, kids will love reading through each of the three books. Unbelievable facts and Amazing pictures are supplemented by stories and information throughout.
Download or read book Ripley s Believe It Or Not 100 Years written by and published by Ripley Publishing. This book was released on 2018-11-13 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ripley's Believe It or Not! is globally renowned as the authority on the weird, the eccentric, and the amazing. Ripley's Believe It or Not! provides entertaining books for children of all ages which educates and informs them in a humorous style. The Ripley brand is known around the world as a trend-setting source of family-friendly fun and excitement! Every day the researchers at Ripley's are busy digging up the craziest true stories and the most unbelievable facts. From its inception in 1918 and the days of Robert Ripley’s travels and broadcasts to the creation of the first BION and the company’s proud publishing history through the years after Ripley’s death to the incredible collections and the expansion into a world-class attractions company, fans and friends of the brand will be inspired, awed, and amazed. This book is a spectacular artifact of an American icon that people will want to make a part of their own collection and enjoy again and again.
Download or read book Ripley s Believe It Or Not Remarkable Revealed written by Geoff Tibballs and published by Ripley Publishing. This book was released on 2007-07-01 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents an illustrated collection of unusual phenomena and oddities, grouped into such categories as curious creations, incredible animals, fantastic feats, and unusual tales.
Download or read book Ripley s Believe It Or Not written by Geoff Tibballs and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Ripley s Fun Facts Silly Stories BOXED SET 2 books written by and published by Ripley Publishing. This book was released on 2013-10-22 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Get a double helping of Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Fun Facts & Silly Stories with this fantastic two-book box set. These engaging books feature compilations of weird and wonderful unbelievable facts and stories for younger Ripley's fans. With large, colorful type and entertaining images they give bite-sized nuggets of information in a humorous style. Crazy facts are supplemented by explanatory stories and information throughout.
Download or read book The Strange Case of Dr Couney written by Dawn Raffel and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2019-09-10 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A mosaic mystery told in vignettes, cliffhangers, curious asides, and some surreal plot twists as Raffel investigates the secrets of the man who changed infant care in America.”—NPR, 2018's Great Reads What kind of doctor puts his patients on display? This is the spellbinding tale of a mysterious Coney Island doctor who revolutionized neonatal care more than one hundred years ago and saved some seven thousand babies. Dr. Martin Couney's story is a kaleidoscopic ride through the intersection of ebullient entrepreneurship, enlightened pediatric care, and the wild culture of world's fairs at the beginning of the American Century. As Dawn Raffel recounts, Dr. Couney used incubators and careful nursing to keep previously doomed infants alive, while displaying these babies alongside sword swallowers, bearded ladies, and burlesque shows at Coney Island, Atlantic City, and venues across the nation. How this turn-of-the-twentieth-century émigré became the savior to families with premature infants—known then as “weaklings”—as he ignored the scorn of the medical establishment and fought the rising popularity of eugenics is one of the most astounding stories of modern medicine. Dr. Couney, for all his entrepreneurial gusto, is a surprisingly appealing character, someone who genuinely cared for the well-being of his tiny patients. But he had something to hide... Drawing on historical documents, original reportage, and interviews with surviving patients, Dawn Raffel tells the marvelously eccentric story of Couney's mysterious carnival career, his larger-than-life personality, and his unprecedented success as the savior of the fragile wonders that are tiny, tiny babies. A New York Times Book Review New & Noteworthy Title A Real Simple Best Book of 2018 Christopher Award-winner
Download or read book Fairground Attractions written by Deborah Philips and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2012-01-19 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. The study investigates the cultural production of the visual iconography of popular pleasure grounds from the eighteenth century pleasure garden to the contemporary theme park. Deborah Philips identifies the literary genres, including fairy tale, gothic horror, Egyptiana and the Western which are common to carnival sites, tracing their historical transition across a range of media to become familiar icons of popular culture.Though the bricolage of narratives and imagery found in the contemporary leisure zone has been read by many as emblematic of postmodern culture, the author argues that the clash of genres and stories is less a consequence of postmodern pastiche than it is the result of a history and popular tradition of conventionalised iconography.
