Dedicated to my family: Alice, Grennan and Charlotte. To my Mum and Dad, thanks for giving me the freedom to lead an interesting life.

Special thanks to: Wayne N. Keyser and James Taylor, for their amazing resources of carny and sideshow lingo; Aye Jaye, for sharing true stories about his life on the lot with me; also John Robinson and the fantastic resources of SideShowWorld.com.

And of course, much thanks to the many, many sideshow performers I have had the opportunity to meet and work with over the years.