Unusual As Usual

Migaloo is a humpback whale that was first spotted in 1991 off Byron Bay, Queensland by a group of volunteers conducting a whale count. He was born with Albinism - the absence of any pigmentation or coloration. Researchers estimated that he was born around 1986 making him 5 years old when he was first spotted.  

In 2003 Migaloo was struck by a boat full of people eager to get close for photographs, he survived the encounter but it left him with scars across his back. All humpback whales are protected under Australian law, but since this incident there have been additional laws passed so Migaloo and other humpback whales that are more than 90% white are classed as “special management marine mammals” and have an additional exclusion zone around them.   

Adopt Migaloo here: https://give.pacificwhale.org/animals/187621 

✅ Let's connect: 

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/unusualweekly​

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/unusualweekly​

Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/unusualweekly​

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/unusualasusual

Fact Analysis: Although careful research is implemented to assure accurate and correct information, sometimes it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction (or ‘humbug', as P.T. Barnum would say). If you find any information in this podcast inaccurate, please do let me know via social media.

Alisha Hessler was born in 1993 in Tampa, Florida. She rose to fame in 2014 when she began using the alias Jasmine TriDevil and posting selfies on the internet, Her new found fame divided opinions, with some being amazed and others suspecting that her third breast wasn’t real.   

It all came to a head when it was reported that TriDevil had been found dead in the early hours in her Tampa Apartment after someone had attempted to remove her third breast. 

✅ Let's connect: 

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/unusualweekly​

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/unusualweekly​

Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/unusualweekly​

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/unusualasusual​ 

Fact Analysis: Although careful research is implemented to assure accurate and correct information, sometimes it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction (or ‘humbug', as P.T. Barnum would say). If you find any information in this podcast inaccurate, please do let me know via social media.

Melvin Burkhart was born on 16th February 1907 in Atlanta, Georgia. At the age of 20, he joined a small circus and worked as 'The Anatomical Wonder'. He would inflate one lung at a time, elongate his neck to an incredible degree and could contort his facial muscles in such a way that on one half he was smiling, whilst simultaneously on the other half he was frowning.  

However, had ambitions to become a prize fighter, so he became a boxer. Not a very good boxer but a boxer none the less.He had 6 fights in the ring, and lost every single one of them. With a record 6 losses and 0 wins as you can imagine he spent quite a lot of his time sitting in hospital waiting rooms. It was at one of these frequent visits to the hospital that he had his eureka moment.  

Each time he visited hospital the doctor seemed to remove more and more damaged cartilage from his repeatedly broken nose. He figured the less cartilage in his nasal cavity the more room there will be for an inanimate object - such as ...a 6 inch nail. He got home later that night found a hammer, dug out a nail and the rest as they say is history. When Robert Ripley saw Burkhart's new act he dubbed him a "Human Blockhead” and the name has stuck ever since.  Burkhart retired in 1989 but continued to perform for tourists and journalists right up until his death in 2001 at the age of 94. 

✅ Let's connect: 

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/unusualweekly​

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/unusualweekly​

Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/unusualweekly​

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/unusualasusual​

Fact Analysis: Although careful research is implemented to assure accurate and correct information, sometimes it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction (or ‘humbug', as P.T. Barnum would say). If you find any information in this podcast inaccurate, please do let me know via social media.

The Fiji Mermaid was supposedly caught off the coast of the Fiji Islands in the South Pacific. It was often described as hideous and ugly. It was a stuffed specimen, dried or mummified, Its skin was black and Simi translucent. It was around 3 feet long and was posed in an awkward stance. Its mouth was open, its tail turned over, and its arms thrown in the air, giving it the appearance of having died in great agony.  

The Fiji Mermaid was instrumental in Barnum's success. Not only was it hugely popular, but it set the foundation for many of his later tactics for generating interest in his curiosities. So, what exactly is it?  Well, a CT scan of the mermaid on display at Harvard University's Peabody Museum reveals it is made up of wire armature, paper mâché, bone fragments and fish scales.   

You can find out more about where I bought my Fiji Mermaid from by visiting 'All Steamed Up' here; https://www.facebook.com/ianjarrellartist 

✅ Let's connect: 

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/unusualweekly​

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/unusualweekly​

Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/unusualweekly​

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/unusualasusual​

Fact Analysis: Although careful research is implemented to assure accurate and correct information, sometimes it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction (or ‘humbug', as P.T. Barnum would say). If you find any information in this podcast inaccurate, please do let me know via social media.

Bruce Snowdon was born on 19th February 1946 in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. At 19 years old, Snowdon weighed nearly 250lbs and by age 23, 350lbs.   

He had piled on a lot of weight and by the time he was 25 he was a bloated behemoth tipping the scales at a whopping 450lbs. He contacted Ward Hall who ran the World of Wonders sideshow and the rest as they say, is history.  Ward would introduce him by saying; "He’s so big it takes four girls to hug him and a box car to lug him. When he dances you’ll swear he must be full of jelly, cause jam don’t shake like that. Ladies! He is single and lookin’ for a wife - he’s so fat, he’ll provide you with a lot of shade in the summer time, he’ll keep you nice and warm in the winter time and give you lots of lovin’ all the time!”   

Ward also gave him his first stage name "Harold Huge” although he also performed under the moniker ' Howard Huge’ and ‘Big Bruno’. In 2002 he retired from show business all together and on 9th November 2009, Harold Huge’s gluttonous lifestyle came to an end, and he passed away at a nursing home in Saint Petersburg, Florida, aged 64. 

✅ Let's connect: 

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/unusualweekly​

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/unusualweekly​

Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/unusualweekly​

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/unusualasusual​

Fact Analysis: Although careful research is implemented to assure accurate and correct information, sometimes it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction (or ‘humbug', as P.T. Barnum would say). If you find any information in this podcast inaccurate, please do let me know via social media.

'Three Ball Charlie’, as his friends came to know him, was born in Nebraska, USA. He got his trademark nickname due to his extraordinary ability, His act reportedly involved him fitting a large Appetiser Plate in his mouth but he was most known for stuffing a tennis ball, a golf ball and a billiard ball in his mouth at the same time, side by side - then he would whistle a tune whilst simultaneously juggling several balls.   

He was also immortalised on the cover of the Rolling Stones’ album, 'Exile on Main St’ and various posters and T-shirts. 

✅ Let's connect: 

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/unusualweekly​

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/unusualweekly​

Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/unusualweekly​

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/unusualasusual​

Fact Analysis: Although careful research is implemented to assure accurate and correct information, sometimes it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction (or ‘humbug', as P.T. Barnum would say). If you find any information in this podcast inaccurate, please do let me know via social media.

The Muse brothers, George and Willie Muse, were born in Roanoke, Virginia, in the 1890’s. They were born with a congenital disorder characterised by the complete absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes commonly known as Albinism.   

After being kidnapped as young children they ended up working the sideshow circuit for over 60 years, playing music as ‘The Ambassadors from Mars’.   

George Muse died in  in 1971, 10 years after the pair retired. Many expected Willie to quickly follow his brother, but he continued to live until 2001 when he died at the age of 108. 

✅ Let's connect: 

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/unusualweekly​

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/unusualweekly​

Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/unusualweekly​

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/unusualasusual​

Fact Analysis: Although careful research is implemented to assure accurate and correct information, sometimes it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction (or ‘humbug', as P.T. Barnum would say). If you find any information in this podcast inaccurate, please do let me know via social media.

Oliver was a chimpanzee born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1957.   

He was acquired by animal trainers Frank and Janet Berger in 1960 and they observed some physical and behavioural evidence which led them to believe Oliver was perhaps a human-chimp hybrid. A ‘Humanzee' if you will.   

When news broke of his discovery officials from a Japanese Television Network, approached him with an offer: they would fund scientific studies to be carried out in Japan, including genetic testing in exchange for the rights to reveal the results live on their national TV show. After his trip to Japan and TV appearance Oliver was sold to the Buckshire Corporation, a Pennsylvania laboratory leasing that leases out animals for scientific and cosmetic testing where his home became a tiny cramped cage.  

 In 1996, Primarily Primates, an animal sanctuary, petitioned to allow Oliver and 13 other chimpanzees to be transferred to them for retirement and after 9 long years in a tiny cage, Oliver ended up at a spacious, open-air habitat at Primarily Primates, Texas. Oliver died in his sleep on 2nd June 2012 at least 55 years old. 

✅ Let's connect: 

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/unusualweekly​

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/unusualweekly​

Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/unusualweekly​

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/unusualasusual​

Fact Analysis: Although careful research is implemented to assure accurate and correct information, sometimes it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction (or ‘humbug', as P.T. Barnum would say). If you find any information in this podcast inaccurate, please do let me know via social media.

Horace Ridler, was born in Surrey, England in 1892. After studying at Oxford University he pursued a career in the British Army. At the end of the war Ridler left the military and decided that show business would be his new career path.   

At some point between 1927 and 1934 he visited famed London based tattooist, George Burchett, with a plan that would transform him into the greatest modern tattoo attraction the world had ever seen. After 500 sittings and 150 hours of tattooing Horace Ridler became The Great Omi.   

The Great Omi performed with many sideshows including Robert Ripley’s Oddotorium and the Ringling Bros., Barnum and Bailey Circus. Shortly before his death in 1969 he was quoted saying "underneath it all, I'm just an ordinary man". 

✅ Let's connect: 

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/unusualweekly​

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/unusualweekly​

Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/unusualweekly​

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/unusualasusual​

Fact Analysis: Although careful research is implemented to assure accurate and correct information, sometimes it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction (or ‘humbug', as P.T. Barnum would say). If you find any information in this podcast inaccurate, please do let me know via social media.

James Morris was born in 1859 in Copenhagen, New York. From an early age he learned that he was unique, he would amuse his friends with his ability to stretch his skin like that of an elastic band, before letting go and it snapping straight back to its original form - caused by a condition called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.   

He was hired by Jacob Edwin Sackett to perform in his Rhode Island dime museum, before eventually touring throughout North America and Europe  with The Barnum and Bailey Circus billed as ‘The Rubber Skin Man’.   

By 1885, aged 26, it was rumoured that he had become addicted to drinking and gambling, and as a result he had to continue performing long after what would have been considered a respectable retirement age. The elastic skin man mysteriously faded into obscurity sometime after July 1898. 

✅ Let's connect: 

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/unusualweekly​

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/unusualweekly​

Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/unusualweekly​

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/unusualasusual​

Fact Analysis: Although careful research is implemented to assure accurate and correct information, sometimes it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction (or ‘humbug', as P.T. Barnum would say). If you find any information in this podcast inaccurate, please do let me know via social media.