Living Skeletons
While a living Skeleton can be in perfect health, many aren't the healthiest of people.More commonly, however, A living skeleton is likely to be the victim of some special medical condition. The cause of the extreme visible thinness may be the result of a case of turberculosis that's been arrested (the body is emaciated but continues to function normally). Or the condition may be caused by malfunctioning glands or some other medical problem that makes the normal fatty and muscular tissues waste away. Below, I have listed a few of these infamous "Living Skeletons", as I find this condition most interesting, and I hope you will as well.
Claude Seurat (Was on exihibition in England in the 1920's. Born in 1798 his skin was stretched very tightly over his bones, so that his skeleton stood out. You could see his heart beating within his chest. Seurat kept himself thin by eating a minimum of food, according to reports: just a little wine and a roll the whole day.)
Calvin Edson ( was on exihibition at Tammany Hall in New York City in May of 1929, he was the earliest living skeleton to win fame in the United States. A Native of Stafford, Connecticut, he was forty-three years old and weighed sixty pounds and was five feet three inches tall.)
Issac Sprague ( Can you picture an adult man so thin that his arms look like walking sticks, and his knee bones are the largest diameter of his leg? Such was Issac Sprague. Sprague was born in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts on May 21, 1841. Sprague was a great eater, just never would gain weight. At forty-eight years old and five feet four inches tall, he weighed only fifty-two pounds. He eventually married and had two sons.
Pete Robinson (it has always been a tactic in many Carnivals to try to arrange or stage marriages between their extremes like the giantess and the midget or the living skeleton and the fat lady. When the marriages actual occured they were often times cancelled soon afterwards. In 1924 an authentic and lasting marriage took place between extremes. It united in wedlock Pete Robinson, who weighed fifty-eight pounds, and Bunny Smith an attractive woman whose official recorded weight was 467 pounds. Robinson can be seen live in the film, also in video stores "freaks." Their marriage was a greatly celebrated at Madison Square Gardens.)
Half-Man, Half-Woman
The hermaphrodite(as these people are called or intersex) is an individual born with the sex organs of both a male and a female(and yes, this condition does exist today in this era). An intersex may be a male with small gentilia who develops breasts, it may also be a female or male with male gentilia or a female one over growing the other. In an intersex the origins of ones sex are determined by which of the organs are the better developed. In ancient times the birth of such a person was considered unlucky and because of thet the Greeks and Romans usually drowned them. Today, although not widely open about their condition, many are in their "coming out stages" coming to terms with who they are, and being accepted in all circles of life, because of the person they are "truly" inside.
Billie Christina (during a performance this intersex wore a low-necked gown that revealed a flat breast covered with hair on one side, that was Billie, and a well developed one on the other side, that was Christinia).
Mona Harris ( not her real name, was a woman who had characteristics belonging to the opposite sex. Mona who had red hair possessed enormous breasts, remarkable in the fact that they had no nipples. along side of her female gentilia, she possssed male gentilia about five inches in length).
Stranger Than Fiction...What Do You Believe?
According to the Diamond Information Center, before the diamond ring became the ubiquitous symbol of the engagement, it had an exclusive and mysterious fascination. Until the 15th century, only kings wore diamonds, as a symbol of strength, courage, and invincibility. In India, where it was first discovered, the diamond was valued more for its magic than its beauty and was believed to protect the wearer from fire, snakes, illnesses, theives and great evil.
In the most recent marriage statistics for the State of Alabama, the oldest Groom in the state was 94 and the oldest Bride was 88 years old. The magic number for both youngest Bride and Groom is 13 years old.
According to Anita Diamant- author of: The New Jewish Wedding, there were no laws regarding where a wedding may or may not take place during the Middle Ages. Some weddings were even held in cemeteries, since it was believed the life affirming act of marriage could hault plagues.
As reported in a February 1840 edition of the London Times, Queen Victoria's wedding cake was more than nine feet in circumference. A second tier arosefrom this "plateau," supported by two pedestals. On the second tierwas a sculpture of the mythical heroine Britannia gazing upon the royal pair frozen at the moment of their exchanging vows. At their feet were two turtle doves (a symbol of purity and innocense), and a dog (a symbol of faithful attachment). Completing this scene were various sculptured cupids, one of them writing the date of the wedding with a stylus on a tablet.
A couple of centuries ago, it was a wedding custom in Austria to escort the couple to their bedroom after the reception and strip the Bride naked, as wedding guests looked on (this was done to symbolize that the Bride had been rid of "all" possessions acquired prior to her marriage), she was then allowed to get into bed with her Groom and after many ribald commentaries, left alone.
Eighty-five percent of all Canadian Brides reveive a Diamond engagement ring, giving Canada the "highest" diamond engagement ring acquisition in the world.
If you want to make sure you have plenty of day: To be precise choose Saturday, June 21st the "Longest" day of the year, referred to as Summer Solstice (according to the Farmers Almanac), it officially starts at 3:20 a.m. EST on the 21st. Dawn arrives at 4:15 a.m. and Sunset at 7:55 p.m. giving revellers a grand total of 15 hours and 40 minutes of daytime.
