They drew the curious and the mocking, and left them entertained and often confused about their attractions. The circus impresario P.T. Barnum earlier had posed Black musicians as from distant Africa, ...

From July 30 to October 4, the American Sign Museum will host a new exhibition displaying banners and signs advertising ...

The American Sign Museum is turning down the neon with its new exhibition — just a little. The Camp Washington museum, best ...

Welcome to the freak show! All summer long, the Coney Island Circus Sideshow is hosting events that embrace what makes Coney Island unique. From burlesque shows to pop-ups, you never know what kind of ...

Step into Coney Island on a summer day and you’ll hear it — screams from the Cyclone, music blasting from boardwalk speakers. Walk down Surf Avenue and you’ll see a different kind of spectacle: ...

Engines Podcast The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2279: Babies in Sideshows Episode: 2279 In which medical people learn how to save babies on the boardwalk. Today, our guest, medical historian Julie ...

Hurry, hurry, hurry, step right up, because one of the last great traveling carnival sideshows is closing for good tomorrow, in Tampa. Ward Hall, the legendary carny impresario, is philosophical about ...

The heyday of the circus sideshow act exists in the 21st century as a distant memory, usually preserved by grainy sepia photos and folklore that rarely impresses today’s historical skeptics. Yet, the ...