Life on Body Modification?

Body modification is losing its novelty and is becoming a casual occurrence. “Self-made” freaks are often the people who are covered in tattoos and piercings from head to toe. They used to be such a big deal, because back then tattooing your body was strange and it made you different from people’s standards of normal. It made them outcasts, and no one would hire a man with tattoos and piercings on his face. So they joined the freakshow. Where people paid to see them and look at the art on their bodies in awe. But that’s all changed. People are embracing tattoos and piercings and it’s becoming less of a novelty. Now when you see a person in the grocery store covered in tattoos and piercings, you might keep to yourself and walk on by. Not criticize and ridicule them.

Body modification seems really weird and scary for people who don’t know what it is. The term “body modification” sounds scary. It means to intentionally change the appearance of your body. People think that it is simply piercings and tattoos, but it spans from bodybuilding to cosmetic surgery to hardcore modification. In every group of humans throughout history regardless of race, religion, culture or gender, there has been some form of body modification.

One type of body modification everyone sees and most people get done is piercings. But “freaks” take it to a whole other level than just piercing their ears or noses; some will pierce every available place on their faces. Nose piercing started in the Middle East up to 4,000 years ago. Enlarged lip piercings or lip disks started in Africa and other forms of lip piercings spread to Southeast Asia, North America, and South America.

Polynesian Tattoo Tapping

Another popular form of body modification is tattooing. Knowledge of tattoos goes as far back as 3300 BCE in Egypt. The practice is believed to have originated over 10,000 years ago. Some cultures tap tattoos by hand with tools while others use a singled needle, then there’s the more modern tattoo machine.

Implantation is becoming more and more popular. Implantation is when you surgically implant a foreign object beneath your skin. It is fairly new in many places, but has been common among the Japanese Yakuza for hundreds of years. Silicone beads and ribs are most often implanted under the skin. In Western culture people get implants every day in the form of breast, calf, chin implants.

subdermal implanting under the skin

I have always found body mod. really intriguing. For many tattooed people the art on their bodies tells their life story, and it’s like looking at a piece of what’s in their heart. Modifying one’s body is a true form of self-expression. And it’s even beautiful.

Life on Blockheads?

The Human Blockhead was an interesting addition to the freakshow circuit. This stunt is where the performer inserts a nail into the nasal cavity. This stunts shocks many people because it looks like you are hammering a nail into your skull. The human blockhead is referred to as a stunt and not a trick because it literally is a stunt. Many people believe it is a trick and it’s false because the performer doesn’t bleed as they hammer the nail into their nose. It’s really interesting because the nostrils appear to make the nasal cavity lead straight upwards, but in reality they run horizontally to the back of your throat, so you think the performer is hammering the nail directly into their skull. This stunt is really tricky because when something strange is in your nose your body’s natural reaction is to sneeze. So in order to not damage yourself, or mess up the stunt you have to suppress you sneeze reflex.

The original human blockhead was Melvin Burkhardt. He was in a boxing match and got is nose broken. When he was being operated on doctors removed bone fragments from his nose and as they were pitting instruments into his nasal cavity it gave him an idea. He decided to start putting things in his nose too. He took a long, thick spike and started hammering it into his head at a sideshow where he was an MC. He has said that it was strange at first but it hasn’t been since, and he’ll stop if it does, but until then he’d keep hammering spikes into his head. He passed away at 94 years old in November, 2001.

I personally love this stunt. I’ve been practicing for a few months now by putting something in my nose for a few hours to get it used to having something in there. Every few weeks I try to put something bigger in my nose to stretch it out in hopes to one day be able to put a meat hook in through my nose and out my mouth, or the other way around. This stunt while it is dangerous, doesn’t “scare” me or make me nervous in ways that fire breathing/eating and sword swallowing do. It’s really exciting seeing people reactions to having something in your nose.

x ray of a meat hook in someones skull

Life on Electricity?

Nikola Tesla

The most shocking act in the freakshow started with Nikola Tesla. Tesla had a dream to provide the nation with wireless electricity. When he partnered up with George Westinghouse who also shared that dream they worked together to design, patent, and create many of Tesla’s inventions. Around 1891 Tesla invented the Tesla coil. A high voltage, low currency electrical resonant transformer. It is used to produce alternating-current electricity. Tesla used these coils to conduct innovative experiments in electrical lighting, phosphorescence, X-ray generation, electrotherapy, and the transmission of electrical energy without wires. Today their main use is for entertainment and education displays.

Another way Tesla coils and AC electrical systems are used is by Electra, the 27,000 volt woman. She can withstand 27,000 volts of electricity passing through her body. She can light up light bulbs, and walk away unharmed. Electra will sit in her electric chair made of brass and copper. She has an assistant strap her in and flip the switch while she is electrocuted. When she is sitting in the chair her hair is sticking out straight in all directions and she has a wild looks in her eyes. She will touch light bulbs and they light up, she touches people’s hands and they feel an electric shock. She can even make pieces of paper burst into flames.

I have had an interest in Tesla coils for quite some time. When I was a kid I literally put a screwdriver in a light socket, and it shocked me. So I did it again. Yes, it hurt. But it was great. Like I said in a previous post, it is that pain that makes me feel most alive. That short burst of excruciating pain makes me aware that yes, I am alive

Life on Sword Swallowing?

Sword swallowing is the most dangerous and under-appreciated of all the sideshow acts. When someone swallows a sword they hyper-extend the neck and force the sword past the esophageal sphincter, down the esophagus, and into the stomach. Sword swallowing is so dangerous because the blade, as it goes down your esophagus, passes within millimeters of the aorta, the heart, and lungs. Swallowing a sword does not get the appreciation it should because many cynical people deem it as “fake” stating that performers use fake swords that retract into the handle. I know from personal experience that sword swallowing is 100% real and it is very dangerous and it should not be tried without proper safety precautions or the help of a trained professional.

He calls himself Morgue because if you did what he does, that is exactly where you would end up. Morgue is a performer at the Venice Beach Freakshow, he is a shock artist who does everything from sword swallowing to body modification. Sword swallowing is already dangerous on its own, but he takes it to a whole other level. He combines regurgitation acts with sword swallowing. Morgue uses performing as a form of self-expression, and he truly turns it into a work of art. He uses it as a metaphor for who he is. There are people who really do not appreciate morgue for who he is because he does not care what people think of his way to express himself.

“Morgue” swallowing a sword

Even though sword swallowing, as well as many other sideshow acts, is making a comeback I believe that it is still not receiving the credit it deserves. Many cynics view sword swallowing as “fake” and just as an act. When you learn how to swallow swords, you would typically use a wire hanger. In my experience it both shocks, and makes the non-believers speechless when you put the hanger down your throat and then bend your neck forward and pull the hanger forward to show them the 90 ̊ angle I just created. The danger behind sword swallowing both excites and terrifies me at the same time. It excites me because the danger and (occasional) pain makes me feel alive. It terrifies me because there is always the fear that something bad could happen, though there are very few people who have died swallowing a sword, the fear of dying is still there.

Life on Ten-in-Ones?

Ten-in-One shows usually have ten acts under one tent. They are partly a freakshow featuring many different types of performances and acts. Many performers would sell the audience their pitch cards, which had a picture of them, and a brief biography, poem, or quote on it. Ten-in-Ones typically end in a “blowoff”.

In a Ten-in-One show you would usually see “made freaks”, “born freaks”, and working acts. “Made freaks” are usually people with many tattoos and/or piercings, fat people, and the “human skeleton”, who is often married to the “fat lady”. “Born freaks” are people such as midgets, giants, deformed people; the lobster boy, mermaid girl, the man with no arms, who were born extremely different from everyone else and often could not find a job besides freakshows. Working acts include shock artists, magicians, and daredevils. Shock artists do many dangerous stunts meant to shock their audience, such as, sword swallowing, regurgitation acts, body piercing, laying on a bed of nails, hammering or drilling something into their nasal cavity, or using a meat hook and inserting it through their nose, and bringing it out through their mouth. Magicians would to typical magic tricks and illusions. Daredevils would do things such as fire breathing, fire eating, laying on a bed of nails, walking up a ladder of swords, and electrical acts. Many people that try to attempt some of these acts without proper training or instruction from a trained professional get seriously injured or could die.

Mister Morgue with a meat hook in his skull.

At the end of a Ten-in-One, there would be a “blowoff”, or a “ding”. They usually feature an extra act that is not advertised but can be viewed for an additional fee. They are usually deemed too strong or graphic for women and children. They are often things like “pickled punks” or other things in jars.

This is a two headed baby in a jar.