Rare Earth

The Story of P.T. Barnum's Tattooed Irish Freak

Added 2023-11-25 19:00:19 +0000 UTC

Ah, coming home after being enslaved since your late teens only to have your own society condemn you as satanic for what they did to you and then be forced to headline a traveling freakshow until you died. No matter where you go, the tattoos always speak first.

This is the (self-told, probably exaggerated for circus reasons) story of P.T. Barnum's original freak success story. James O'Connell, America's first tattooed man. The book O'Connell wrote about his adventures is actually pretty short. So if you like this story and want to hear from the Irishman himself, you can read it here: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/the-life-and-adventures-of-james-f-o-connell-the-tattooed-man-1845/

Thank you for watching and supporting!

Love,

Kata and Evan