Heng and Chang
They were perhaps the most famous of all congenital freaks to be displayed in America. Born in Siam in May 1811, discovered by Robert Hunter in 1824 and described scientifically by Prof. J.C. Warren at Harvard University in 1829, they were both natural and non-Western freaks, which made them particularly freakish in the eyes of a public willing to pay to see them. They both married two English sisters. They toured in with their wives and children, and their Family Book, wherein was written the names of their 22 children, "presents an ambiguity about who really fathered whom". Theuy died January 17, 1874 at the age of 44.

Johnny Eck
Johnny was born in 1911 without legs along with a normal twin brother, Rob. Despite the doctor's fears that he wouldn't survive the week, Johnny did live and was walking on his hands by his first birthday. He began making public appearances at age fourteen with traveling shows. He often appeared with his twin, and the two were famous for a trick in which Rob was sawed in half, producing a half-boy, Johnny. Eck appeared in several movies, including Tarzan and Freaks. He made miniatures of the circus where he was exhibited.

Simon Metz aka Schlitzie
He suffered from microcephalus (his mental age was 3). His vast array of talents included singing, dancing and counting to ten. He was usually dressed in girls' clothes and starred in the film Freaks at forty followed by few appearances in other films.

I thought twice about using the term "freaks", but it is the Halloween issue and I wanted to catch your attention. Most of these people featured here were suffering from rare medical disorders. Not to say that all sideshow performers were, a lot of the sideshow performers were hoaxes. These unfortunate people were exploited because of their deformities. Which in some cases, at least they had the opportunity to socialize and make a living.

Some of the medical disorders that these sideshow performers were born with are dominant gene disorders. There's a 50-50 chance a child will inherit the gene from the affected parent and have the disorder. Dominant gene disorders include: achondroplasia, a rare abnormality of the skeleton causing shorter-than-normal arms and legs.

Because there are so many genes in each cell, everyone carries some abnormal recessive genes, but most people don't have a defect because the normal gene overrules the abnormal one. But if a fetus has a pair of abnormal recessive genes (one from each parent), the child will have the disorder. It's more likely for this to happen in children born to certain ethnic groups or to parents who are blood relatives.

Now with Pre-natal testing, 250 birth defects can be diagnosed in an unborn fetus - many more than can be treated or cured. This raises the question of what a parent will do once a defect or problem is detected.