Myrtle's Four Legs: A Life of Exploitation and Resilience

Myrtle's life was unique in many ways, as she was born with a rare condition called dipygus that resulted in her having four legs. Her story is significant because it sheds light on how people with physical differences were treated in the past and how they were often used for entertainment purposes. Despite the challenges she faced, Myrtle's life also highlights the resilience and strength of the human spirit.

The girl was born with four legs. Her name is Myrtle. She had a condition called dipygus. She had no other difficulty or difficulty in the body. But she had four legs, not two. The other two legs, which were smaller and stronger, were inside the normal legs. One of her legs had a slight curvature that made her walk difficult. She could control the other two legs. But could not walk with them. Because they were so weak. There were two pairs of healthy genitals between the two pairs of legs. The two pairs of legs were very different. She was born in 1868 in Tennessee. Myrtle was a healthy child. She had a good resemblance to seeing her parents. That is why the doctors said that they may have been relatives. However, none of their other children had such problems.

In those days, people who felt physically abnormal like this were part of freak shows and circuses everywhere. So she was invited by such companies because she was born with four legs. Thus, at the age of thirteen, he began participating in circuses as part of the Myrtle Freak Show at the age of thirteen Through that she quickly became famous and made huge sums of money. There was also the situation where the Myrtle Show was a huge success and others were trying to imitate her. When she found out about her popularity, people who had been doing other shows started looking for women with more than two legs like Myrtle to attract people. But at the age of nineteen, she married James Bicknell and left the circus. A year later she saw a doctor and was told she had pain in the left side of her body. The doctors who examined her said she was pregnant and it was on the left side. She told the doctor in disbelief that I would have come closer to believing if she had been told it was on the right. During the subsequent interrogation, Myrtle testified that he had sex with her on the right side. Anyway, the pregnancy made her very, very paralyzed. In addition, there were diseases. So the doctors decided to have an abortion in the eighth week. However, a few years later she became pregnant again and gave birth. She gave birth to four more children. They grew up healthy.

Years later Myrtle returned to the circus. Worked there for another six years. In 1928 she developed an infection in the skin of her right leg. It was a little serious. There was no cure for it then. She died within a week of being diagnosed with the disease. Her grave was visited by her family from time to time, making sure no one else was coming. Because there was nothing else. Many in the medical field and others had promised money for her remains. But the household was not willing to pay for it. So the family had a good fear that someone would steal her body.