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American Morning
Freak Shows Making a Comeback
Aired May 29, 2002 - 09:50 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: As anyone who lives in New York can tell you, you don't need to go further than the city's streets to catch a freak show. They're free in our town. If you're inclined, though, to actually pay money for one, the kind of shows that helped make P.T. Barnum famous are making a comeback.
Keeping some interesting company this morning in Coney Island is CNN's Maria Hinojosa.
She joins us now with the freaks -- Maria.
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, what better place to make a comeback then in the historical Coney Island, where they've been having freak shows since the 1880s. Well, for over a century, this is the Coney Island that has attracted many people, the working class, the immigrants. It's always been a great draw for inexpensive entertainment.
This sideshow, or the freak show has been going on since the 1880s, and back then, they featured the Siamese twins, the pinhead. Of course, those are freaks of nature, the sword-swallowers, the self- inflicted freaks. But here today, they have come back. Since 1985, this sideshow by the seashore has been entertaining people, and our outside talker is going to lead us to our first act.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right this way, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls to Coney Island's sideshow by the seashore. They're here. They're real. They're alive!
He eats fire, breathes fire, spits fire, licks flaming torches, as you would lick an ice cream cone.
HINOJOSA: Tyler, how long have you bee doing this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I've been doing this professionally for about seven years, but I can say, I've been lighting things on fire for all of my life now.
HINOJOSA: I like that distinction, professionally, and then what he was doing as a child.
Over here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Bwah (ph), covered from the top of her head to the tip of her toes in glorious tattoos. Most heavily pierced and tattooed face this side of Madagascar. You are going to see her eat live crickets, slugs, roaches.
Yum, yum, yummy, she's got bugs in her tummy.
HINOJOSA: That's disgusting.
You just started with the sideshow, but you've been eating insects?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Since about 6 years old, for shock value.
HINOJOSA: You knew about shock value when you were 6 years old.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Uh-huh.
HINOJOSA: And over here, we have Serpentina. And this is Casper. What do you do with Casper?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do a dance with him on stage.
HINOJOSA: And you give him a little kiss, is that it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now here's Eke the Geek. Eke the Geek has been enjoying himself by getting people to stand on him, which is what I'm going to do, on a bed of nails.
HINOJOSA: OK, Eke, so how long have you been doing this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been working on this particular sideshow 11 years now, but I've been a crazy guy my whole life, ever since I was a little kid in Mexico City.
HINOJOSA: You really want me to stand on it because it feels good. OK. Oh, my God, and I touched those nails, Paula. I know for a fact that they are real.
Now, Dick runs the sideshow.
Dick, what's so important? What draws people to the sideshow?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, this is the earliest form of American entertainment. In Coney Island, where you still have the immigrants like 100 years ago, it doesn't matter if you speak Italian, or African or are from Pakistan. Every five minutes somebody eats fire, swallows a sword or hammers a nail into their head.
HINOJOSA: They don't walk away from the term "freak," because these days, being a freak is OK.
Back to you, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Maria, thank you very much.
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