FREAKS & SIDESHOWS

The Jivaro Indians of the Peru-Ecuador interior have long been renowned for their ferocity and cruelty in warfare; they are also shamanistic, communing with ancient spectres through the ingestion of poisonous hallucinogens. But above all, the Jivaro are known for their unique and macabre brand of death magic - the severing and shrinking of human heads. Learn More

Nightmare Alley begins with an extraordinary description of a freak-show geek—alcoholic and abject and the object of the voyeuristic crowd’s gleeful disgust and derision—going about his work at a county fair. Young Stan Carlisle is working as a carny, and he wonders how a man could fall so low. There’s no way in hell, he vows, that anything like that will ever happen to him. Learn More

Throughout his life, the world’s most famous escapologist strove to expose the methods and tricks of illusionists and sham spiritualists. Learn More

On small-town ballfields and county fairgrounds, the sideshow performers set up their tents and trailers in the shadow of the Ferris wheel. Learn More

That's right, brothers and sisters, it's hot and it's here: Vol.6 of James Taylor's SHOCKED AND AMAZED! On & Off the Midway. It's wild! Learn More

On and off the Midway! Coney Island ain't what it used to be. Can you name me one thing that is? The Funny Place! Learn More

On & Off The Midway! The legendary journal about life on the midway and beyond! Truly incredible! Learn More

On & Off The Midway! Get the point! Learn More

Adams reveals images of the freak show, with its combination of the grotesque, the horrific, and the amusing, and how it stubbornly reappears in literature and the arts. Learn More