Sideshow Capitol of the World - Showman's Museum

hey you all carpetbagger here coming to you live from the south more specifically Gibsonton Florida it Gibsonton Florida has a fascinating history this is the home of the traveling carnival this city of Florida is where all the performers workers in the carnival would come on the offseason when they weren't traveling the country and then this would be their winter home and of course when they retired they often retired here to the lovely state of Florida and the lovely city of Gibsonton and I am here from the most famous monuments here in Gibsonton this giant boot right here now al Khomeini was a giant it was a circus performer performed as a massive giant man and he was a beloved civic leader here in the city of Gibsonton and when he died his wife Jeanie who but also performed as the half girl she did not have the lower half of her body she would take one of Al's boots and place it on top of a pedestal and marked Gibsonton Florida so when you drove into Gibson - the first thing you saw was house actual giant boot sitting there on that pillow unfortunately the weather here in Florida the heat the rain over the decades that would destroy Al's boon and so he has had this giant decaying smelly boot be the first thing you see when you come into Gibsonton people started complaining I don't know about having a giant dirty food being the first thing that people see when they come to gets attacked and so they reached a compromise and they reconstructed the of concrete so here it's it's to this day now while we're here in Gibsonton I wanted to check out the show men's Museum it that's kind of funny ours I've tried to visit here before but I believe it to be open today so we're gonna go over there and check out the museum so follow me so today we are gonna check out the International independent showman's Museum here in Gibsonton Florida here is an exhibit on the little people that da performed in the carnivals over the years yeah a tiny little lady smoking a cigarette there two little boxers says this waistcoat here belong to John Salley who was a munchkin in The Wizard of Oz these were used in a little person tap-dancing routines [Music] here is a somewhat digital recreation of the Punch and Judy show the famed puppet show this is the show you've heard and read so much about it basically two puppets beating the crap out of each other here's a tribute to father Mac apparently he was known as the carnie priest it's no Maj to so that the girlie shows in the carnival I guess been like four less shows or just general shows that show off sexy ladies on stage Gypsy Rose Lee Broadway sensation sadly ran the world famous fan dancer some dancing lady gear this is the shake rattle and roll oriental dancer to be the slinky outfits that they would wear here's my favorite part of the carnival the sideshow there would be the talker who tried to get people into the sideshow does that say nurses and doctors admitted no charge ah that's a good promotional tactic that he'd be out here telling you how amazing the show was inside come see nature's mistakes freak animals created by God not by the hand of man Oh check this out this shrunken head here was actually donated by Mike and Frank from American Pickers chair gear belonged to little Peter Qian who was a fire eater it was also a dwarf died in 2012 and I think he was performing pretty much up to the very end it's a really cool sideshow gaff Australian little people see a little mummified person we created show off in sideshow two amazed patrons [Music] there's the monkey girl Priscilla she would actually marry the alligator skin man they'd be known as the world's strangest couple this mannequin because it's clearly a homage to the king of freaks Johnny act the famous for not having a lower body here's Warhol king of the sideshow and Ansari owes his Genie toe money the half girl kind of the female equivalent of johniac she also did not have a lower half to her body is actually the four legged girl says that she section alive born in 1972 and does not perform anymore she retired to a quiet life there's Big Jim the fat man of the circus and of course you know when you use your fat to make money you are proud of that fact you had fat man on the back of his car and there is a pair of his pants back there you can see another gaff a Viking giant big towering mummy you want to come in and and see for yourself Viking giant you can see these corresponding banners the Viking giant and it shows a living man right there where you get inside you feel the much different results get a petrified giant and there's a banner for a two-headed princess and here she is princess luxury the two-headed princess she's also comes in mummified form it's gonna closer luck there here's Daisy Mae the two nosed cow presenting a beloved Daisy made it to those cow one star attractor were 17 years died of old age neat trick for a cow meaning most cows do not get to die from old age they get eaten but Daisy was saved by her two noses and check her out Daisy Mae there you can see very clearly has two noses on her face and there is her skull like there you could see the deformation now this is really crazy for me because believe it or not about ten years ago and a carnival the Mountain State Fair I saw I saw Daisy when she was still alive I actually got a chance to see Daisy Mae this is before I was doing videos but I do have a photo I took of the living Daisy Mae the two nose cap there is a Homer Tate gaff right there two-headed baby Homer Tate is pretty much the king of the sideshow gaff Homer Tate would make like different little mummies miniature little men or Fiji mermaid type stuff and you'd see these in carnivals or curiosity shops all over the country hobbies most famous work is the thin the the actual thing he created at the thing attraction in Arizona the Tochi twins can join wonders [Music] and what would the card will be without the food you're some antique hotdog steamers and then down here at big cotton candy machine there's a peanut warmer keeps the peanuts nice and toasty this device be used for making sugar waffles and there's a corn dog cooker for deep-frying corn dogs and get down here some candied apples groves Moxie this would be used for making popcorn [Music] little ice-cream stand they have fiddlesticks this is the fiddle stick maker right there Riverhead a fiddle stick against that is a fiddle stick right there looks pretty tasty it's a milk jug massive milk jug they'll be used in magic tricks you can see it's locked the top famously done by Houdini that was one of his trademark tricks would be to seal himself in a giant milk jug be like a box for a magic show where you'd place your assistant of course in this box take out these saws and then place them back in and they would somehow not die they'd be able to contort their body to be able to fit in there with all those blades it's actually a little section here on minstrel minstrel shows but you know of course this is controversial top deck where you know african-americans may not have been portrayed in the best light there's some of the instruments used in the minstrel show [Music] there's a ride car this off from a ride and is the Spitfire and see some pictures of it down there [Music] it's a little right vehicle from a little kids boat ride and the Swan that's wooden Swan also used in a ride you can see it used to go around in circles here's some medical equipment be used in a patent medicine show that would sell you different medicines and then this machine would be marketed as a cure all the different wands that would electroshock you and cure your ailments says this is Dowell would be one that would be used as a prize for a carnival game some other toys and items that would be one as carnival prizes to little monkeys little liquor bottles shaped like clowns sky fighter that would another rise huge I think that took a plane that would spin around in a circle check this out there some fully constructed carnival rides in here there is the merry-go-round and then a fully constructed ferris wheel because it's actually slowly rotating see they got some mannequins going for a ride there's the right operator and you'd put your ticket in the ducat box see that operate the lever you can see the mechanics of the ferris wheel right there it's the father with his daughter there riding the ferris wheel it's a mummified Viking giant over there but apparently there was a real living breathing Viking giant and this was his real costume right here you can see he is quite large [Music] I love all these old carnival rides that they have in here it's a little boat ride called the hug a tug chair that sideshow banner the Florida monster it's like it was a giant Python says it is 20 feet long [Music] you can actually walk up into this old carnival way again let's check this out wow I guess this would be like traveling office right here they run the books I guess the manager be his private trailer it's a very tiny little Ferris wheel style ride got a clown on it a child would take it in a circle zip it on Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show see some of the props we used in the classic Wild West Show a little bit of a warning because this some of this can be a little disturbing but this is the live shows where the pickled Punk's or reserved babies when they display CA $500 guaranteed real so they were serious about that and here are here are some of the preserved babies I won't get too close because these do look like they are real I think some of I think that one right there probably a fake gaff the two-headed baby right there but sometimes hard to tell which ones are real which ones aren't interesting fact about the pickled punk shows where they had the fake babies was that they would outlaw showing you know showing human remains at a carnival and I mean they try to get around it saying it was an educational exhibit that would get them exempt in some state that some states had strict laws so they would start using fake babies that use rubber babies and jars and then that we get in trouble because they would tell people that these fake babies were real so in some states they would have to claim that the real ones were fake and some states they would have to claim the fake ones were real in order not to be accused of being frauds if that makes any sense it's a sport land on this banner here he's within an archway into the Midway the world's largest stallions alive welcome to nightmare alley featuring the mummy of Marie O'Day preserved after death in the Great Salt Lake $10,000 reward if it's not a real human body wonder where she is now see these classic bumper cars right here sort of Emma take a booth for the tilt-a-whirl and see that tilt-a-whirl logo still on there bunch of classic ride vehicles for various styles and types of rides this would be the tilt awhirl style ride vehicle and these here look like we're probably for a dark ride see the skull they are probably some sort of haunted attraction ancient sacrifices man versus reptile says that sign right there it's actually a sign for me first ever tilt awhirl know that it's impressive here's a cart from a sky wheel a double ferris wheel there there's a helicopter from Center of helicopter ride and underneath it this looks like this would have been for a dark ride looks like a generic version of the doom buggy sure at iOS stands for but it's drippy blood fonts so I'm thinking it's a dark ride some banners up there by the roof this bloody mama here it says see the fantasies of pot how do you do that by smoking it you see the bear wolf boy a boy devil child those have been like Homer Tate gaffes here's some really old carnival games this is a tire spinning target because you fire a rifle into the middle then the blade pops out and you win that prize which could be anything from a plastic harmonica to a dagger these hammers here would be used for like hitting the polls to see how strong you are this game is called a skill Oh or if it is some sort of game of skill this is bump racer you take this little car bounce it off these Springs and then wherever your car stopped you would get that prize it's the wonderful little prizes there they're called scissor buckets where you would throw a baseball underhanded trying to get it in to the basket so our punk rock dolls to be propped up you try to knock them down with a ball still see these varieties of these and in games sometimes I also was popular to throw them at cats spill the milk or she would try to knock over some milk cans with a baseball or try to get a baseball in a giant milk can say full-sized game or I guess you'd compete with others to I don't touch that but I guess you make your bet and try to see who gets their rocket to space first fool the guesser try to guess your weight within three pounds you're gonna prize I guess you'd sit on that chair to see if they had guessed correctly this we throw a nickel on the board trying to win a prize good old-fashioned hoop you throw around a stick and that's something called crazy ball this down here is carnival chalk where you'd win that as a prize back in the day and it is highly collectible to this day she'd spin this wheel of poodles trying to land on a particular number it's called the devil's bowling alley a hand-cranked operated device where you try to get a ball to the top I guess the crank would raise or lower these shoots say tap-dance performer she have a research library up here on top all sorts of good information on the carnival I always got to love the clown mouth trash cans you still see those sometimes in old-style amusement parks oh my gosh look at the size this miniature circus that is like a flume ride that you would write a log to the bottom its noticed there's some unbelievably awesome looking dark ride called Mammoth Cave in the back I would do anything to be able to go to this carnival for real see the roller coaster there so haunted-house dark ride called the devil's joyride back there there's the traveling reptile show and then right next to it is the sideshow you'd see all the traveling sideshow acts that different freaks and then I sort of act we have the beauties on parade where you would go see some sexy ladies all the little people enjoying the sideshow look at that hotdog stand with a hot dog person on top world's largest turtle little people lining out to see the world's largest turtle I just can't believe the detail here how many amazing little pieces to the circus there are America's fattest man 607 pounds I think his record may have been beaten in modern times there's a headless woman and she's still alive oh my gosh world's smallest sisters I seriously if I had a genies lamp I first wish take me to this sideshow take me take me to this this carnival see Phantom of the Opera haunted walk through burlesque show right there yes carnivals used to be the best thing in the world the Gravitron Oh Gravitron about killed me last time I wrote it should be like a horse racing game and he would almost shoot balls like pin balls to make your horse move they're all named after different horse Manowar it was a real horse there's slick chick some old cameras that would be used at the carnival's take photos let's see if you do photo ops like being in jail or being on an airplane almost the precursor to the modern whole tiny photos some old funhouse mirrors this one makes me look fat no I guess that's pretty much how I look all the time it's a motorcycle used in the classic walls of death motorcycle riders would ride up along the sides of the wall of a big cage authentic 1947 popcorn trailers and his gentlemen making some popcorn for the fair goers [Music] [Music] some classic carousel horses and you could see bits of the carve design of the carousel looks like that as a carousel horses foot a billy goat right there the beyond carousel see there's actually really tiny little carousel horses [Music] so this is one of the earliest carnival rides ever made it's built in the late 1800s was a hold by a mule this wood car was pulled by mule through eight circus tent with murals of Ireland painted inside it's like a one I guess the the maybe the original dark ride if you think about it wow that was amazing I had no idea how amazing those gonna be that is an absolute gem that is a day to the top attraction in my book and no idea how much stuff is gonna be in there they had the old rides all right vehicles old games that that full-sized full-sized ferris wheel full-sized carousel all aspects of the carnival of the traveling carnival in this building so definitely check it out here and in Gibsonton Florida I definitely should make sure you you come when it's opened there the hours are limited but it is an absolute treasure in here so appreciate you guys watching if you like the other museums I've been to other attractions other amusement parks check the interactive map in the description will tell you where I've been and you can make recommendations on where I should go next if you'd like to help support the channel consider buying a t-shirt consider buying a pressed penny and consider donating to patreon a $3 more donation will get you a postcard once a month but for now this one's in the bag

Channel: The Carpetbagger

Views: 141,891

Rating: 4.9242988 out of 5

Keywords: the, carpetbagger, showman's museum, gibsonton, fl, florida, ride vehicles, sideshow, freak show, bigtown, ferris wheel, carousel, rides, miniatures, circus, carnival, international independant showman's museum, museum, food, games, antique, vintage

Id: E0AD4NMlsLM

Length: 26min 16sec (1576 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 26 2019