Sideshow
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In North America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, carnival, fair, or other such attraction. They historically featured human oddity exhibits, preserved specimens
Painting on sideshow truck, firebreather, Florida, 1966
Elly del Sarto, a sideshow performer, in c. 1910
Decaying sideshow advertisement, Florida, 1966
Fiji mermaid
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The Fiji mermaid was an object composed of the torso and head of a juvenile monkey sewn to the back half of a fish. It was a common feature of sideshows where it was presented as the mummified body of
Sideshow
…other such attraction. They historically featured human oddity exhibits (so-called “freak shows”), preserved specimens (real or fabricated, such as the Fiji Mermaid), live animal acts, burlesque or strip shows, actually or ostensibly dangerous stunts, or stunts that appear painful like human blockhead. Most modern…
Another "mermaid", made of papier-mâché, from the same collection of Moses Kimball—Harvard University's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
The Banff Merman, similar to a Fiji mermaid, on display at the Indian Trading Post
A merman constructed out of wood carving, and parts of monkey and fish, Booth Museum, Brighton