Back in the 1950s , Gibsonton was a sleepy little Florida Ithiel Town not far from Tampa . cad slept in the street , and the sportfishing was good in the Alafia River .
But if you looked a slight closer , you ’d notice that the town was n’t quite like any you ’d ever stumbled into before . Gibsontonwas just slightly off — there was something just a picayune bit different about this townspeople . A giant and a woman with no leg ran the eating place . The post post had a modest counter for " little the great unwashed . " Thai twins lean the fruit base . Lions , elephant and rascal lived in back yard pens , and fair ride were parked in driveways all over township .
eff as Gibtown , it was where folks from thefreak showsettled and retired .
Among the occupier were Lobster Boy , who had grown up as a circus freak and whose inherited condition , ectrodactyly , gave his hand a hook - like appearance , with only two fingers confiscate to each articulatio radiocarpea . There was theHuman Blockhead , whose ill-shapen rhinal cavities allowed him to hammer metal spikes up his nose , and the World ’s Fattest Woman , who was said to weigh in at a whopping 600 pound ( 272 kilograms ) .
The Birth of Gibtown
bug out in the belated thirties , Gibsonton became the place they called home when not go with the funfair and by 1967 , about 100 freaky phratry and about 1,000 " carnies " lived there .
" There were many characters , " says David " Doc " Rivera , a retired carnival owner who runs theInternational Independent Showman ’s Museum , which opened in Gibtown in 2012 . " You had to be a fictional character to be in this business . "
" There were two ways to get in the [ carnival ] business , " he says . " You had to be conduct into it or to have a personal ill luck . "
Percilla theMonkey Girlwas deliver withhypertrichosis , a condition in which dark whisker covers the body and facial expression , gums are enlarged and , as in Percilla ’s case , two set of teeth appear , allot to the Showman ’s museum . At theJohnny J. Jones Expositionin the late 1930s she encounter Emmitt the Alligator - Skinned Man , whose condition , calledichthyosis , make a masking of thick , scaly skin all over the torso . Both had been adopted by sideshow operator and parade from an early eld , a not rare practice in the early 1900s for those with physical deformity . The two fell in love and get hitched with and were keystone in Gibtown for the residuum of their lives .
Al and Jeanie Tomaini were the first carnies to root in the country , make it in the former 1930s . He was make love as Al the Giant and is said to have stood more than 8 feet ( 2.4 cadence ) marvellous because of the condition known as gigantism . She was hold without leg and was only 2 feet 6 in ( 0.79 metre ) improbable . The two splice andtoured as The World ’s Strangest Married Couple . They bought acreage on the river and open up a restaurant and Pisces camp they calledGiant ’s Fish Camp , legendary to this day in Gibtown .
" Every summertime my parent would leave and go on the road , make some money , and come back,“wrote their girl Judy Tomaini Rock . Others in the fair line join them and Gibtown became the place where circus citizenry felt at home .
Gibtown was only 45 miles ( 72 kilometers ) from Sarasota , the winter home of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus . Hillsborough County was friendly to the carnies , giving them permit to keep wild animals , trailer and fair drive in their yards . " We can have circus equipment , " says Rivera , because of aspecial residential show business organization zoning permitcreated by the county .
Decline of the Freak Show
Today , few traveling carnivals andcircusesremain . In their peak in the 1920s and 30s , they were one of the few form of amusement that came to small townspeople America .
" The golden age of carnival and circuses is gone , " Rivera says . He say about 200 carnival people still dwell in Gibtown .
monstrosity shows themselves began to decline in the 1940s but some still exist into the 1980s . They fell out of favoras gawp at people with deformities came to be escort as exploitation . The Americans With Disabilities Act provided more task opportunities for people with disabilities , and the freak show was no longer the only employment they could witness .
Fat ladyDotty Blackhall died in 1960at age 53.Lobster Boy Grady Stileswasmurdered in 1992 , bringing ill fame to Gibtown . Giant ’s Fish Camp is gone except for a concrete pedestal with a Brobdingnagian charge on top , amonumentto the store of Al and Jeanie Tomaini .
The town has become a bedroom residential area of Tampa , Rivera says , with what he calls " hipsters " moving in . Rivera ’s museum , however , draws visitors . And theInternational Independent Showmen ’s Association , know as the Showmen ’s Club , is a hive of activity . Among the many events held there was a celebration ofthe fiftieth wedding anniversaryin 1988 of Monkey Girl Percilla and Emmitt the Alligator - Skinned Man . The gild has 5,000 members , Rivera says , and host patronage show , cycle fests and other event .
Learn more about carnival monster and freak shows in " Freak Show : Presenting Human Oddities for Amusement and Profit " by Robert Bogdan . HowStuffWorks pick related to titles free-base on books we think you ’ll like . Should you choose to buy one , we ’ll invite a portion of the sale .
