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My strange interest with Human oddities
Sep. 28th, 2024 07:24 pmEarlier in the year I was at half price books in Cleveland and a book caught my eye: "The lion boy and other medical curiosities" by Jan Bonderson. It had a painting of Lionel on the cover. It's been years since I had seen a book on this subject! My fasciation with human oddities started back when I was a teen and my mom gave me a book called "Very Special People: The Struggles, Loves and Triumphs of Human Oddities" by Frederick Drimmer. Either before that book or soon after I learned about the elephant man, Joseph Merrick. She also gave me a book about him which I read and I saw the 1980 movie. Over the years I saw the 1932 movie "Freaks" by Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein. And I've collected a few books here and there. All of the exciting and remarkable people I learned about impressed me! Some dealt with such harsh and hateful lives but found themselves overcoming their differences. The world of sideshows and freak shows (as they sadly were mostly referred to back then) are pretty much now a thing of the past. They were all so unique and beautiful in their own way. Over the years I haven't given them and this subject much thought sadly. But now I was excited to learn again. Without a second thought I bought this book and I have been reading it, hopefully I can finish it tonight.
Back to the book: Overall I have been enjoying it, but one chapter I had to skip because it was painful to read. It covered people who supposedly lived back from the 1700's - 1900's up to age 139 and 169 that I skimmed over. I just couldn't stand to read that. But reading about the human oddities was worth the buy since I learned about quite a few I never knew about before. Some of the other medical curiosities were about individuals who grew their nails out very long, those who's head was still reacting after being chopped off, people who have been killed and looking into their eyes after they passed on and seeing their killers, fasting artists, people who's hair suddenly turned white and the final chapter about individuals who have walked around the world. Most of these medical curiosities didn't really do anything for me, they honestly felt like filler. The author, Jan Bonderson has wrote quite a few other books like this that I do plan on reading someday. I'll probably just end up getting them at the library.
So have any of you been interested in this subject? Do you have a favorite person from the past who was considered a human oddity? I think I will write more about this subject in the future!
Back to the book: Overall I have been enjoying it, but one chapter I had to skip because it was painful to read. It covered people who supposedly lived back from the 1700's - 1900's up to age 139 and 169 that I skimmed over. I just couldn't stand to read that. But reading about the human oddities was worth the buy since I learned about quite a few I never knew about before. Some of the other medical curiosities were about individuals who grew their nails out very long, those who's head was still reacting after being chopped off, people who have been killed and looking into their eyes after they passed on and seeing their killers, fasting artists, people who's hair suddenly turned white and the final chapter about individuals who have walked around the world. Most of these medical curiosities didn't really do anything for me, they honestly felt like filler. The author, Jan Bonderson has wrote quite a few other books like this that I do plan on reading someday. I'll probably just end up getting them at the library.
So have any of you been interested in this subject? Do you have a favorite person from the past who was considered a human oddity? I think I will write more about this subject in the future!
