Weird History

Gibsonton, Florida | A Circus Freak Retirement Community (2019x56)

: 14, 2019

Imagine a town where everyone has run away to join the circus. That's what it's like to live in Gibsonton, Florida, home to all manner of circus sideshow performers since the 1940s. During the town's heyday, its population included some of the most renowned sideshow acts in history: Al "The Giant" Tomiani, and his wife, Jeanie, "The Half-Woman;" Melvin "The Rubber Faced Man" Burkhart; Grady "The Lobster Boy" Stiles; Percilla, "The Monkey Girl;" and the conjoined Hilton sisters. Even today, with the town's better days well in the past, Gibsonton is full of circus performers who are just going about their daily lives.