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Monkey Woman
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Alligator Man
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Percilla Bejano The Monkey Girl, was a sideshow favorite.
She was born with thick hair covering her face. She married the Alligator
Man (born with scales on his skin from his neck down), and they were very
happy together, sharing their lives for 51 years.
I first became aware of them while watching a Discovery
Channel documentary that featured their life stories. Percilla had
survived her husband and was the main focus of the program. What
caught my attention was the beauty that came flowing out of this extremely
grotesque looking woman. She spoke of her recently passed mate in
such sweet and loving terms. Her sincerity and obvious devotion to
the memory of her love was both touching and deep.
If every couple were as committed to each other as these
two people were, there would be no such thing as divorce.
In this sense, they were definitely a cut above so many
of us "normal" people.
Love certainly has a way of going beyond the normal bounds
of human comprehension when allowed to do so. |
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Tallest -
Shortest
Married Couple
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Al and Jeanie Tomaini were billed as The World's Strangest
Married Couple. Al was a giant, at 8 feet, 4 inches, and Jeanie was
billed as "The Only Living Half Girl." Both were people whose genetic inheritence
resulted in their being physically unique. |
They started The Giant's Camp in Gibsonton, Florida.
Jeanie Tomaini lived at the Giant's Camp until she died just recently,
and her daughter Rustie was kind enough to send this information about
her parents: "My Mother was born August 23, 1916 in Blufton, Indiana. In
the middle of 7 other children, 5 brothers and one sister. She and her
sister, who is 4 years older than her, are the only ones still living.
She still lives at The Giant's Camp, where she has lived since the late
thirties."
They may have been unusual people but their love for each
other was the same 'stuff' that all loves are made of. |
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The Siamese
Foursome
Chang & Eng
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Chang and Eng, born in 1811 in Melange, Siam, gave a new phase
to the English language. They were the first, the original Siamese Twins,
a term used to describe any two human beings joined at birth by living
tissue. |
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In 1829 they left their country for America, and traveled
over the whole of this continent, England, Frances, and other countries,
exciting the admiration of the crowds and others, who had reported upon
this singular phenomenon in the natural world. Tired from being exhibited
for ten years, the young men decided to settle in a small town in North
Carolina.
This was about the same time they became interested in
the Yates sisters, Sallie and Adelaide. After courting for several years
the foursome were married at the Yates house. Shortly they were off to
their Traphill home and to share a large bed built for the foursome. The
people of the county though surely no children would come from this union,
however, nine months after the wedding Eng and Sallie welcomed their first
born daughter. Six days later Chang and Adelaide welcome their first daughter
also. This continued until Eng and Sallie had produced 11 children. Chang
and Adelaide were almost as productive producing 10 children.
As times grew harder and children increased, problems
became numerous. The two sisters fought, and put Eng and Chang into the
middle of their battles. Soon the brothers turned against each other and
bitter fights erupted. Chang drowning his troubles in whiskey and Eng playing
poker. Therefore two house were needed. These houses were built in Surry
County, White Plains community and were less than a mile separated them.
The wives lived apart, only Eng and Chang shared three days with Sallie
and her children and then three days with Adelaide and her children. This
arrangement continued for the rest of their lives. To support their families,
Chang and Eng would go on exhibit for up to a year. Each taking a child
who also performed in their show. They joined the Barnum American Museum
on Broadway in New York City. After many childhood and adult illness, including
a stroke suffered by Chang, the twins shared their lives until the end
when on a cold January 17, 1874, Eng woke to find his brother cold. When
he realized Chang was dead, Eng began to sweat and feel faint. He died
a short time later. They are buried in the White Plains Church Cemetery
in Surry County, NC. The church they helped to establish and build. |
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Married to a
52 Pound Man
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Isaac Sprague, The Original Thin Man, was
born in Massachusetts in 1841. He was a normal child until around age twelve
when he began to lose weight. He joined the circus in 1865, eventually
hooking up with P.T. Barnum. He married and had three children. At age
forty-eight he was five foot four inches tall and weighed fifty-two pounds. |
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The mission of this not-for-profit website is to promote clear insights
and toleration regarding the many variations of primary relationships that
exist in our world. We ask for neither acceptance or approval but
hope that each visitor who reviews the pages of this site will leave them
with a better understanding of the numerous cultural, historical, preferential,
religious, sexual, and sociological approaches to coupling that have always
existed and will continue to exist as long as there are at least two human
beings living on this planet. If the effort put into creating and
maintaining this site results in others coming to the realization that
the basic human need to love and be loved takes on many forms which are
accepted by those who practice them, whether right or wrong as determined
by the personal belief system of others, then it will have served it's
purpose well. |
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