Before proceeding with the showing of the following HIGHLY UNUSUAL VISUAL ATTRACTION, a few words should be said about the amazing subject matter:
BELIEVE IT OR NOT - - - - STRANGE AS IT SEEMS.
In ancient times anything that deviated from the normal was considered an omen of ill-luck or representative of evil. Gods of misfortune and adversities were invariably cast in the form of monstrosities, and deeds of injustice and hardship have been attributed to the many crippled and deformed tyrants of Europe and Asia. HISTORY, RELIGION, FOLKLORE and LITERATURE abound in tales of misshapen misfits who have altered the world's course. GOLIATH, CALABAN, FRANKENSTEIN, GLOUCESTER, TOM THUMB, and KAISER WILHELM are just a few, whose fame is world wide. The accident of abnormal birth was considered a disgrace and malformed children were placed out in the elements to die. If, perchance, one of these freaks of nature survived, he was always regarded with suspicion. Society shunned him because of his deformity, and a family so hampered was always ashamed of the curse put upon it.
Occasionally one of these unfortunates was taken to court to be jeered at or ridiculed for amusement of the nobles. Others were left to eke out a living by begging, stealing or starving.
For the love of beauty is a deep seated urge which dates back to the beginning of civilization. The revulsion with which we view the abnormal, the malformed and the mutilated is the result of long conditioning by our forefathers. The majority of freaks, themselves, are endowed with normal thoughts and emotions. Their lot is truly a heart- breaking one.
They are forced into the most unnatural of lives. Therefore they have built up among themselves a code of ethics to protect them from the barbs of other people.
Their rules are rigidly adhered to and the hurt of one is the hurt of all; the joy of one is the joy of all. The story about to be retold is a story based on the effect of this code upon their lives.
Never again will such a story be filmed, as modern science and teratology is rapidly eliminating such blunders of nature from the world.
With humility for the many injustices done to such people (they have no power to control their lot) we present the most startling horror story of THE ABNORMAL and THE UNWANTED.
--Disclaimer at the beginning of Freaks, Copyright 1931 MGM.
IF YOU AGREE WITH THIS DISCLAIMER, CLICK ON THE ODIOUS SKELETON TO PROCEED
