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| | Sideshow! Carnival Oddities and Illusions; Investigative Files (Skeptical Briefs December 1999) |
 | | A major type of sideshow, often popularly called a "freak show," since human oddities were usually among the exhibits, was known to insider "carnys" as a "ten-in-one." As its name indicated, it consisted of a number of acts, often arrayed along a platform, with the crowd moving from one to the other in sequence. |
 | | Since such shows were typically continuous, if a spectator entered the tent during, say, the sword swallower's performance, he or she would be led by the "lecturer" through the remaining nine (approximately) acts or features-magician, fat lady, giant, etc.-and when the sword swallower was on again, that was the signal to exit the show. |
 | | Although the sideshow banner depicted a youth with a frog's hindquarters, in actuality "Hoppy" was a grey-bearded man in a wheelchair, having spindly limbs and a distended stomach. |
| www.csicop.org /sb/9912/i-files.html (3070 words) |
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