Feel like you're stuck in a freak show these days? Same. If we are, let's be the most badass, tattooed freaks around. Because tattooing and the circus have always been connected. In the XIX-XX century tattooed performers were important part of the show — people were ready to pay just to see a person with tattoos. These performers didn't just wear tattoos-they lived them. The circus didn't just showcase tattoos; it made them a cultural phenomenon. To get an extra source of income performers got tattooed head to toe during a slow winter season and by summer they started new life as a „tattooed freak" with no turning back. Nowadays we get offended by random people in supermarkets asking stupid questions about our tatts, so we can only imagine social pressure fully tattooed people had to go through outside of the circus community back in the days. 🎟️Maud Wagner, an aerialist-turned-tattooist, became one of the first known female tattoo artist in the U.S. after meeting sideshow performer Gus Wagner in 1904. She traded a date for tattoo lessons, mastered the hand-poke method, and spent her life tattooing and performing. 🎟️ Gus Wagner, a self-proclaimed "Tattooed Globe Trotter," had over 260 hand-poked tattoos. He learned tattooing from Indigenous communities and refused to switch to a machine, keeping hand-poking alive long after others modernized. Captain George Costentenus was covered in 388 tattoos, claiming he was forcibly inked in Burma. Whatever the truth, his full-body tattoos made him a P.T. Barnum circus headliner. 🎟️Horace Ridler (The Great Omi) took tattooing to the extreme, covering his body in bold, zebra-like black tattoos. Inked mostly in the 1920s, he likely used an early tattoo machine, but his transformation was pure circus history. 🎟️Frank & Emma DeBurgh were a heavily tattooed power couple in 1890s. Frank's tattoos was patriotic, while Emma's featured delicate floral and religious designs. And now? Hand poking is still alive. If we're in the freak show anyway, let's make history. Hit the link in my bio to get your own hand-poked piece of the past
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