Comprachicos
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Comprachicos are groups in European folklore who were said to physically cripple and deform children to work as beggars or living curiosities. The most common methods said to be used in this practice
Comprachicos, illustrated by Daniel Vierge
Freak show
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A freak show is an exhibition of biological rarities, referred to in popular culture as "freaks of nature". Typical features would be physically unusual humans, such as those uncommonly large or small
Comprachicos
…Europe. The words comprapequeños, cheylas and zaghles are also used. The resulting dwarfed and deformed adults made their living as mountebanks and freak show performers or were sold into bondage as pages, jesters, or court dwarfs. One of the common creations of the comprachicos was supposed to be artificial…
Congress of Freaks at Ringling Brothers, 1924
A freak show in Rutland, Vermont in 1941
Coney Island and its popular ongoing freak show in August 2008.
P.T. Barnum's Own and Only Greatest Show on Earth appearing in Ithaca, New York on July 4, 1878