The ‘Freak’ Show
Aside from animals, another part of the circus spectacle was people. P.T. Barnum, who founded the Barnum & Bailey Circus, had a museum of what he called “living curiosities“. This included people who were what Barnum called “freaks of nature”. This included people with dwarfism, people who were extremely tall, or had hirsutism, people who grow excessive body hair.