The US government has released 2,800 previously classified files related to the assassination of President John F Kennedy in November 1963. As readers, historians and journalists comb through the thousands of pages of documents, here is what we have found - Read more
State health officials say 10 people have died of the flu in North Carolina for the 2018-2019 season so far. The N. C. Division of Public Health reports one person ...
View full coverage on Google News (CLICK HERE TO READ AND SEE MORE)
TYPE 2 diabetes can be controlled by following a healthy diet and cutting down on certain food and drinks. Drinking this type of tea can help prevent blood sugar ...
(CLICK HERE TO READ AND SEE MORE)
Some Maryland residents who received pricey electronics on Christmas morning found they'd been had when the boxes that were supposed to contain ...
(CLICK HERE TO READ AND SEE MORE)
State health officials say 10 people have died of the flu in North Carolina for the 2018-2019 season so far. The N. C. Division of Public Health reports one person ...
View full coverage on Google News (CLICK HERE TO READ AND SEE MORE)
History will be made on Tuesday when Nasa's New Horizons probe sweeps past the icy world known as Ultima Thule. Occurring some 6.5 billion km (4 billion ...
View full coverage on Google News (CLICK HERE TO READ AND SEE MORE)
Driving along U.S. Highway 41 through the state of Florida, just about 20 minutes from the bustling city of Tampa, you are bound to come across an odd little town tucked away by the name of Gibsonton, also simply called Gibtown. It seems very much like any small backwater town at first glance, and one might even be inclined to drive right on by it, yet this is far from any ordinary town, as it may dawn on you as you pass circus decorations, old broken down carnival rides or other miscellaneous circus equipment piled up, and even animals milling about in yards or clearings. The atmosphere may begin to take on a rather surreal appearance as a monkey flits past, or you come face to face with a life-sized clown statue staring back at you, and this is because this is no normal town at all, and you have entered what is affectionately called by the locals “Showtown, USA,” as well as “Freakville.”
Back in the 1920s and 30s, small town America was ground zero for the heyday of traveling carnivals and sideshows, which came through rural areas to provide entertainment for the locals who normally did not have much to do and flocked to such venues. This was the booming golden era of the carnival and circus sideshow, and in the middle of it all we have Gibsonton, originally starting as a camp for a few circus freaks and steadily growing over the years as more carnival performers and managers gravitated towards it. Before long it was known as “Carny Town,” and it became sort of the official place to hang up their hats in the off-season when they weren’t on the road, where they would train, repair equipment, and where freaks could find some sense of belonging when they weren’t being gawked at by throngs of curiosity seekers. It was an anchor for their nomadic carnival lifestyle and a place of community for these people, who were often outcasts from normal society.
The town grew from a temporary camp to a permanent town, its population growing everyday and factories for carnival rides and equipment sprouting up. The town fully embraced its often unusual inhabitants, with a post office with counters specially made for dwarfs, restaurants with customized seats for Fat Ladies and Tall Men, and special zoning laws that allowed the carnies to keep their myriad exotic animals and menageries in their houses or yards. Gibsonton was once home to hundreds of circus sideshow freaks, human oddities, and other performers, including Percilla the Monkey Girl, the Alligator Boy, Penguin Boy, who had feet growing from his hips, Sealo the seal Boy with his stumps for arms and legs, Louise Capps Hill the armless girl, a pair of Siamese Twins who ran a fruit stand here, Poobah the fire-eating dwarf, the infamous Lobster Boy, the Gorilla Girl, the Frog Boy, Grace McDaniels the Mule Faced Woman, bearded ladies, dwarfs, and giants such as Aurelio “Al” Tomaini, once the world’s tallest man and the town’s Fire Chief, whose wife was oddly the tiny Half-Woman, as well as the Icelandic Giant. In addition there was a plethora of weird performers including tattooed men, sword swallowers, fire breathers, human blockheads, contortionists, and knife throwers.
The whole town was a sanctuary for these people, a utopia for the odd, where these people could go about their business out of the public eye. In later years the carnival and sideshows gradually fell out of favor as new forms of entertainment became more widely available and it was increasingly seen as unethical to display people with physical oddities as “freaks.” The town slowly lost its reputation as a beacon for the odd and unusual, and began its decline into obscurity. Most of the freaks and performers this place once teemed with are gone or dead, although some of their descendants still live here, and one carnival historian by the name of David Doc Rivera saying of this decline:
Gibtown today is a sad old lady, in her finery and her makeup, that has seen her better years. It is an anachronism in the sense that it is more a city in someone’s imagination. Everything wears out; everything goes away.
Gibsonton, Florida
However, there is still some life left in this bizarre town yet. In present day Gibsonton boasts a population of nearly 15,000 people, many of them descendants of these carnies and performers, and the town also has an extensive carnival museum, the International Independent Showmen’s Museum, and is home to the International Independent Showmen’s Association, which boasts around 4,500 members from all over the world, as well as the largest annual carnival trade show still in existence. One can still see signs of the town’s roots everywhere, such as retired circus rides and carnival animals, carnival decor everywhere, and even Ward’s World of Wonders, one of the only operating sideshows still in existence. The town has been featured in popular culture for years, including the X-Files episode Humbug, as well as the Dean Koontz novel Twilight Eyes, and an episode of the A&E crime drama The Glades. Everywhere one looks here one can still see evidence of this colorful past as one of the last bastions of carnival and “freak” life, and Gibsonton certainly still stands out as one of the most unique little roadside towns in America.
Brent Swancer (CLICK HERE TO READ AND SEE MORE)
Seven feet tall and hairy only ever means one thing: our good buddy bigfoot is up to his old tricks again. According to an eyewitness report submitted to the Bigfoot Researchers Organization (BFRO) a woman and her husband had a brief encounter with a hairy humanoid creature while driving through Sandy Hook, Kentucky. She described the creature as at least seven feet tall, the “color of a tree” and says that she saw it look straight at their car.
According to the report, the sighting took place in October. As with a lot of bigfoot sightings, the report was submitted anonymously—for obvious reasons—but BFRO investigator Jack Smarr followed up on the report with a phone interview of the witness. According to the submitted report the witness and her husband were driving down a back road near their home just after 7:30 PM. The witness was in the passenger seat and saw what she initially assumed was a deer crossing the road approximately 75 feet in front of them. Just as she was about to alert her husband to the deer, she says it started walking very quickly and she saw that it was far too tall and had half the number of legs deer usually have. From the report:
At some point I started screaming, “Turn on your brights! There’s something in the road!” All the while, I’m looking at this thing which is very big in stature, thick legs, thick abdomen, and (again by my calculations) at least 7 ft tall. It was the color of a tree, specifically the trees in that area, so like a grayish-brown, very earthy-tone. The area where I assume a face would be was lighter in color, but I couldn’t tell what color. I know this because it turned its head and looked straight at our car.
My husband saw movement and he saw what he described as a strange shadow, but he did not see the creature. Only I saw the creature, and in fairly good detail. Again, it happened so quickly though, I didn’t get to see feet, hands or facial details like eyes and mouth.
One thing I thought was interesting was the direction it was coming from. It was coming from a very tall and steep mountain, and when it hurried across the road, it must have gone off a very steep cliff, as that is the only place it could have gone. This cliff drops off onto Pruetts Fork Road, which is also very wooded and secluded.
A strange shadow. Credit: Happybluemo (CC BY-SA 4.0)
It’s strange that her husband only saw a shadowy figure while she saw this thing in great detail. Many bigfoot reports have that sort of weird psychic aspect to them, almost as if the image of the hairy humanoid is only a projection. Or the dude just needs better glasses.
Further on in the report, the witness says that they returned to the area and looked for a sign of the creature but could find none. While their wasn’t any physical evidence left of bigfoot, she says that the encounter didn’t quite end with the creature’s disappearance:
That night, the neighborhood dogs were acting very strange. All of them were barking and howling and could not be consoled or quieted. A stray dog that hangs around the yard, (who is normally very mild mannered and inattentive), displayed signs of stalking something and being very on edge. He was growling and nervous, and took off after something unseen. All of the neighborhood dogs continued to howl and bark throughout the night.
Now, that could be because of deer roaming around the woods. October is an incredibly annoying month for rural dog owners. Deer are on the move all night, every night and it drives dogs out of their minds. But, taken in context with the rest of the encounter it certainly adds to the weirdness and unease.
Look at this idiot.
But that’s assuming bigfoot is up to no good. We don’t know what bigfoot’s doing in Kentucky. Personally, my money’s on an old fashioned bender. He’s wandering around the woods of Kentucky all lit up on bourbon probably singing some of the old songs, leaves and twigs all stuck up in his hair. He’s walking out into the middle of the road and almost causing car accidents. Enough is enough. Bigfoot’s a hot mess and he needs to pull it together.
Sequoyah Kennedy (CLICK HERE TO READ AND SEE MORE)
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. -- Bad humans have struck again in Huntington Beach, California. Last week, waterfowl in Carr Park were recovering from ...
View full coverage on Google News (CLICK HERE TO READ AND SEE MORE)
