Strange shows provided people with a non-standard appearance a shelter and an opportunity to earn money. However, the story of the "living skeleton" shows that not all ...
Isaac W. Spraque was born on May 21, 1841 in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts. During the first dozen or so years of his life, the boy did not stand out from his peers. He was healthy and developed normally. Everything changed after my 12th birthday. Isaac started to complain of contractions (especially after swimming). In addition - despite the appetite of the wolf - began to drastically lose weight . Concerned parents began wandering through state doctors in search of an answer to the question:what bothers their son? Unfortunately, the medicine of the time was not able to make a diagnosis . One of the doctors even suggested that Isaac's problems might be caused by… swimming too much.
Lean life
As an adult, when he was 168 cm tall, Isaac weighed about 19-19.5 kg . Due to the disease, the man was unable to undertake any work involving even the slightest physical effort . But he had to take care of his livelihood somehow. Therefore, he began to learn the profession from his father - a shoemaker. Besides, he helped with running a grocery store. However, both of these classes turned out to be too tiring and he could not devote himself fully to them.
Already as an adult, with a height of 168 cm Isaac weighed about 19-19.5 kg.
His situation worsened even more when he lost his parents in the early 1860s. It was the final blow that forced Isaac to seek an alternative livelihood. It was the performances in the so-called sideshows - circus performances and freak shows organized, among others during fairs.
Skeleton attraction
Isaac Spraque began to be promoted as a "living skeleton" or "original thin man" . His illness distinguished him from other emaciated "freaks" whose uniqueness was due to deliberate starvation. Sprague's disease very quickly caught the attention of the famous P.T. Barnum . He invited the man to perform at the Barnum's American Museum in downtown New York. In return, he offered a fairly generous salary. Isaac was going to be earning $ 80 a week (currently about $ 1,500).
Ringling Brothers the composition of the "Congress of Freaks" in 1924
This is how Sprague took his place among bearded ladies and giants, attracting curious onlookers eager to see the "living skeleton". His career at the Barnum Museum lasted until March 1868. Then the building of this extraordinary attraction was consumed by a fire. Isaac himself barely made it alive. After these events, he decided to take a break from show business.
Family happiness
He returned to Massachusetts where he met Tamar Moore. Soon the couple got married. Their married life was initially successful and peaceful. They even had three healthy sons. Isaac then stated that "a life that at times seemed so little worth preserving has now become more precious."
It seemed as though Sprague had found happiness at last. It was, however, a very deceptive feeling. Problems of everyday life returned to him quickly, the most important of which was the inability to take up normal work. Each activity required an energy that his 19-kilogram body could not summon. The need to support his family forced him to return to Barnum. This time, the impresario invited him to join the door-to-door shows . Isaac began to delight audiences with his performances not only in the United States, but also in Canada, Great Britain and the rest of Europe.
Harmful success
Although his popularity continued to be unflagging, Sprague did not like circus life. He looked for a job in other places many times. Unfortunately, the disease was having an increasingly debilitating effect on his body, making it difficult for him to consume even minimal amounts of nutrients. Isaac was getting tired quickly. He fainted more and more. To avoid them, the man began to wear a bottle of sweetened milk around his neck. This allowed him to keep his body nourished throughout the day.
In 1882, after numerous medical examinations, Isaac was finally diagnosed with muscular atrophy. She suffered from the same disease, visible in the photo. Rosa Lee Plemons.
Bad health was accompanied by a deteriorating financial situation. Spraque ran away from gambling before his troubles. However, he was not lucky with the games, which he paid off with large debts. These sealed his fate. He had to work in a circus because only as a bizarre attraction was he able to earn decent money and make ends meet.
Diagnosis
However, the years passed, bringing further changes in various areas of life - including medicine. In 1882, Isaac was finally diagnosed with muscular atrophy after numerous medical examinations, manifested by aggressive atrophy of muscle tissue. Unfortunately, diagnosis did not equal cure. All the doctors at Harvard Medical School were able to offer the man $ 1,000 (now about $ 30,000) in exchange for donating the body to research after death. Anyway, as time was to show - Isaac's end was really near.
Permanent stress and the lack of proper nutrition soon led to Sprague's death. He died in Chicago on January 5, 1887. He passed away in deep poverty. It is unclear whether his body actually ended up in Harvard Medical School. His grave can be visited today in his wife's hometown of Hanson, Massachusetts.