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Ever heard of Ella Harper, a.k.a. the Camel Girl
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No, no, no, not that Camel Girl. This one. Yeah, there she is. Hey, here's something weird you should know about one of the most popular circus performers of all time
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Ella Harper was a circus performer who was born with a rare condition called congenital genu recurvitum
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which loosely translates to backwards bending knees, like a camel. Her preference was to walk on all fours
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as opposed to hanging in there and standing up on two legs like a champion, which earned her the nickname The Camel Girl
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and her own circus act. Harper was the main act in W.H. Harris' Nickel Plate Circus
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earning $200 a week in 1886, roughly five grand in today's dollars
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Her act became one of the most popular circus acts in its day, which is especially cool because she was just a teenager at the time
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Harper hung up her cleats and retired some years later, reportedly moving to Tennessee where she married a man
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and they were never heard from again. She then died in 1921, one of the most memorable circus artists
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of the 19th century. Circus artists? Is that right? Okay. Anyway, Ella Harper, the camel girl, that's something weird you should know
