Ladies and Gentlemen! Children of ALL AGES! Step right up and amaze at the sights and spectacles that are Circus and Carnival Horror. You will be thrilled! You will be astonished! You will be horrified! There is a special relationship between horror films and the Circus, the Carnival, and the Amusement Park. In days before movies were able to deliver unbelievable visions to the masses. there was a live freak show. a fun house, a hall of mirrors, and a thrill ride. Scary, yes. But Colorful and oddly, creepily, cheerful at the same time.
Whether it was Coney Island or a traveling carnie show with the seven-fingered carnies, people came to see things that would excite them. Sure, the three-headed calf in a jar may make you want to puke, but you know you just have to see it. It’s a FREAK, ladies and gentlemen, A FREAK! And, 100% real. That Feejee Mermaid is the real thing, we got it from real FeeJee mariners. What do you mean FeeJee isn’t a place? (Checks his Atlas) I meant Fiji!
And, lest we forget perhaps the scariest members of this sub-genre: CLOWNS. The exaggerated, distorted, and genuinely frightening visages and oddly behaving performers. Truly, clown horror could be a whole category unto itself, but if they happen to inhabit these carnivals… they count.
This is a special request fulfillment for our Patreon patron, Sharon Yablon, one of our long-time favorite friends of the site. If you too would like to have a special request fulfilled, all you need to do is join our Patreon Group! (For the cost that is less than one lunch a month…)
For more information check out the Big Top Dead List that was dedicated to this very subject! And now, run… don’t walk, to listen to THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH, in Episode 164 of The Scariest Things.
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