History’s Tragic Four-Legged Girl

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Myrtle Corbin was an American sideshow performer who shocked audiences with her four legs. In 1887, she started feeling pain in her left side. Corbin was pregnant, and that’s when her doctors came to a chilling realization. When the Bee Gees wrote their hit song “More Than a Woman,” they weren’t thinking about Victorian-era Myrtle Corbin, but they certainly could have been. From the waist down, Corbin was actually two women. Through a very rare birth defect, she had grown two sets of everything in the lower half of her body. What followed was a degrading career in circuses and freak shows, but don’t get your tissues just yet.

Josephine Myrtle Corbin was born on May 12th, 1868, in Lincoln County, Tennessee. Even before her mother delivered her, doctors noted something unsettling about the parents: they both had the same blue eyes, fair complexion, and striking auburn hair. The doctors prepared themselves for a potentially unusual delivery, but nothing could have prepared them for what happened next. Corbin’s mother’s delivery of the baby was absolutely normal, but when they looked at the newborn child, the doctors were in for a shock. Due to a rare condition called dipygus, Corbin had two pelvises. These started at the waist and continued down the rest of her body. Of course, two pelvises also meant four legs.

Corbin’s parents had never seen a baby like this, and they anxiously turned to the doctors for an explanation. The doctors had originally thought that the mother and father were relatives, but they soon found evidence that this wasn’t the case. They came up with a second theory that was also about the parents: you see, the mother was almost a decade older than the father. Today, this would mean nothing, but these doctors were grasping at straws for any reasonable explanation. Eventually, a new and even more outrageous theory emerged. Instead of seeing Corbin as a baby with two extra legs, some doctors saw it a very different way. They said that it wasn’t that her body had separated into two parts; no, they thought that Corbin started out as twins. What had happened was that Corbin’s twin sister only developed from the waist down.

Clearly, no one really knew what had happened, but they did agree on one strange thing. Doctors assured Corbin’s mother that even though she had a baby with a major deformity, the truth was that if the baby had had a breech presentation, the situation could have turned very tragic. With a baby of these proportions, a breech birth would have been fatal for the child and maybe for the mother too. There was another surprising reason for mom and dad to feel happy about their new baby girl: in spite of her physical abnormality, Corbin was quite a healthy child. In fact, she was more than healthy. After an examination by a few local doctors, they said she was thriving and nursing well. She was a good size at the three-week mark, weighing in at 4.5 kg, about 10 lbs. Everything from the waist up, at least, was perfectly normal.

Sadly, there was something about her four legs that was going to be a major hardship for Corbin. As it turned out, Corbin didn’t have four regular-sized legs. She had two strong legs on the outside and two smaller, weaker ones that hung between them. Unfortunately, the way the legs paired up didn’t quite make sense. Instead of the strong and weak legs pairing together, each strong leg’s partner leg was one of the weaker ones. If this wasn’t bad enough, one of Corbin’s so-called strong legs had a problem of its own. Corbin’s two smaller, weaker legs did not develop enough to help Corbin walk. In fact, they were both much shorter than the strong ones and had only three toes. To add to her difficulties, Corbin had another problem: her right strong leg had a club foot, which meant that it pointed inwards. For Corbin, walking was going to be a major challenge, but there was another, even more daunting obstacle: dealing with people’s prejudice.

Doctors and scientists wasted no time in writing about Corbin and her unusual condition. Sadly, they were not kind in their descriptions. In one article, Dr. Brooks H. Wells said she belonged to the “class of monsters by fusion.” Dr. Joseph Jones cut the description short and just called her “a living monstrosity.” But name-calling wasn’t enough; they were also guilty of a severe invasion of her privacy in the name of science. Some doctors began to write about things that were very private. They described in detail exactly what it looked like between Corbin’s legs and even how she went to the washroom. The public was soon very knowledgeable about all things Corbin, and all this attention was turning her into a public figure. This gave her father an idea, one that would alter Corbin’s life forever.

The Corbins had to put food on the table and soon were looking at their daughter as a source of income. A baby earning money—it sounds like a disaster in the making. When Corbin was just five weeks old, her parents saw a way to earn some more money for their struggling family. They invited neighbors to pay a small fee and then exposed Corbin’s legs for their inquisitive eyes. To his surprise, William Corbin saw that his daughter could bring in some serious cash. Once all the neighbors had paid and gawked, the money tree dried up. That’s when William took his idea to the next level. In an effort to make more money, William put ads in the newspaper to attract even more people. The ads showed a drawing of Corbin in her high chair with her mother standing beside her. Corbin is wearing a short dress, which allows easy visual access to her four legs. The newspaper-reading public went absolutely crazy, and Corbin was now a national celebrity.

William had the public where he wanted them, and now he had to deliver the goods. William Corbin moved the family to Blount County, Tennessee, and then packed up his daughter and left. Together, they embarked on a tour where he showed off his four-legged daughter in sideshows and fairs across the country. It couldn’t have been easy carting his daughter from place to place, but their need for money was paramount. The weeks soon turned into years, and there was no end in sight. Corbin then attracted the attention of a very important man, one who could change the course of her life forever. P.T. Barnum was a showman, a philanthropist, and a politician, but he was also a scammer. In fact, some say he was the original user of the phrase, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” Part of Barnum’s nefarious business model was putting freaks on display, and Barnum wanted to meet Corbin.

This meeting had “big break” written all over it, but Barnum was a scary man that they could not trust. Barnum later earned the reputation as the greatest showman, but his methods were far from ethical. Barnum would do anything for a buck, and it was clear that Corbin would not be safe in his greedy hands. Barnum met Corbin and her father, and he could not resist the money-making prospect of a girl with four legs. There was something more to her, though: rather than being a shy, sad child with a deformity, she had a very upbeat and positive personality. Barnum was very pleased and saw great potential for Corbin. Next, it was time for negotiations. I’m not sure how much luck Corbin’s naive father would have against the very shrewd Barnum. All those years on the road had apparently made William Corbin into a wise negotiator. After the meeting, Corbin walked away with a very healthy contract. Her weekly salary would be $250, equivalent to $7,000 today. Sure, the money was good, but now Corbin would be left in the hands of this very unscrupulous man.

Corbin’s performance for Barnum was really quite simple. She would appear on stage looking quite normal in her long skirt; the only suggestion of anything different was that her hips looked wide for her body, and of course, her slight limp. Corbin would then sit down and slowly and dramatically pull up her skirt. When the audience saw her four legs, they were awestruck. Sounds like a pretty easy way to make a buck, until you factor in the horrible world that Corbin had to live in. Life as one of Barnum’s freaks had the potential to be a nightmare for Corbin. Barnum used torturous methods to train his animal performers; in fact, his minions literally burned elephants to make them behave. To earn her weekly salary, Corbin had to spend her time within the cruel world of P.T. Barnum. Unfortunately, Barnum’s horrible treatment didn’t stop with the animals.

Barnum wasn’t all that kind to his human performers either. One freak that Barnum employed was a man suffering from microcephaly, which meant that his head was smaller at the top. Barnum gave him the name “Zip the Pinhead” and billed him as the “What Is It?” Barnum heartlessly displayed Zip in a cage with monkeys and suggested he was the missing link. Corbin somehow survived the humiliation of working for Barnum, but she soon came to a depressing realization. Corbin soon grew tired of being a person who the public just liked to gawk at. To make matters worse, she had to stand by as her younger sister, Willie Ann, did normal things like go on dates and then plan a wedding. For Corbin, the dating world would present another challenge. As a woman with four legs, she would be facing an uphill battle.

Due to Corbin’s extensive travel with Barnum, she was actually quite a cultured young lady. She was also pleasant to look at and had musical abilities. When you add her whopping salary to this, Corbin was actually quite a catch. Various men—at least the ones willing to overlook her extra limbs—made romantic advances towards her. There was one big problem: Corbin didn’t know if she could trust any of them. You see, Corbin’s colossal salary turned many men into scoundrels. They saw the money and falsely showed romantic interest in her. Sure, some of them may have been sincere, but the Corbins had no way to tell the honest ones from those trying to take advantage of her. Luckily, fate had a twist in store for her.

In 1885, Corbin’s younger sister was about to walk down the aisle. Willie Ann’s groom was Hezekiah Bignell, and there was something about Bignell that interested Corbin: he had a brother. Corbin assumed that she could trust James Clinton Bicknell and perhaps hoped that a romance would begin. Choosing Bicknell was the easy part; figuring out how to engage with him romantically was something she’d never done before. As it turned out, Corbin didn’t have to use any of her charms to lure in Bicknell; he was already interested. What made Bicknell perfect was that he was about to be a doctor and clearly not in need of her freak show salary. Six months after her sister’s marriage, Corbin and Bicknell walked down the aisle, and Corbin said goodbye to her work in freak shows. It was the end of an era, but something strange happened as soon as she quit.

Corbin had retired from being a sideshow performer, which left a gaping hole in the industry. Her condition was very rare, so it wasn’t like anyone would be filling her four shoes in the near future. And then the impossible happened: there was another four-legged woman, and then another, and then another. It appeared to be an epidemic of women who had Corbin’s same deformity. Clearly, something fishy was going on here. As it turned out, this new group of four-legged women all had one thing in common: they were all fakes. They shamelessly attached bony, smaller limbs that hung between their real legs. Corbin was still the original and only four-legged woman. Well, you know what they say: imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Corbin didn’t have time to worry about these fakes; she had a new crisis on her hands.

About a year after her wedding, Corbin’s health began to suffer. She had a fever, headaches, and a pain on her left side. Dr. Lewis Whaley examined Corbin and discovered something that most women eventually encounter: Corbin was pregnant. Because she had two of everything from the waist down, the pregnancy was only on one side: the left. When Whaley told Corbin she was pregnant on the left side, her reply shocked everyone. What surprised Corbin was that her pregnancy was on her left side. The doctor was initially confused by Corbin’s comment. Corbin didn’t have to be indelicate and spell it out, as the truth suddenly dawned on the doctor. When it came to bedroom times with her husband, she had a choice of sides, and it was the right. No one with Corbin’s condition had ever given birth before. She had no choice but to go bravely forward with no idea what the outcome would be.

Sadly, Corbin’s pregnancy soon took a turn for the worst. She was now feeling very ill, and they summoned the doctor once again. Whaley examined Corbin, and they nervously awaited his professional opinion. When the doctor told them what he thought, Corbin and her husband realized it was the last thing they ever wanted to hear. A woman giving birth with Corbin’s unusual condition was completely new territory, and the doctor had to rely on his knowledge, but also on instinct. Corbin was still very ill, so Dr. Whaley felt forced to make a tragic judgment call. Eight weeks after he examined her, he decided they had to terminate her pregnancy. Corbin likely wanted to mourn the loss quietly with her husband. Sadly, this is not what happened. The public had pretty much forgotten about Corbin, but when news of her pregnancy got out, there was a revival of interest. Doctors in the US and even abroad were once again writing about her condition in medical journals. It looked like Corbin was heading back to the humiliation and the name-calling that she so despised.

The renewed interest in Corbin had the potential to once again put her on display as a freak. In fact, it was the opposite that happened. These new articles about her focused on what was normal about Corbin. They said she was attractive, intelligent, and capable of maintaining a household. Corbin was finally getting the respect that every woman deserved. After her loss, Corbin continued to try to get pregnant. It could be that she tried too hard: over the next few years, she delivered seven children. Sadly, only four of the children lived beyond infancy, but she eventually had a full house and was a successful parent. It was time for Corbin to forget about her days as a circus freak and focus on her family. You’d think this would be your happy ending. Nope. Corbin still had some surprises left.

The next years of her life Corbin spent raising her children. The family made a move from Tennessee to Texas, and there the children slowly reached maturity. It was a quiet life for Corbin, living far from the spotlight and fame. Maybe it was too quiet, because Corbin’s next move was rather unexpected. Some speculate that Corbin and her husband had fallen on hard financial times, but no one seems to know for sure. Whatever the reason, 20 years after the last time she’d put her four limbs out for public appearance, Corbin was ready to lift her skirt again. Wait a minute, this doesn’t sound like the happily ever after that we all expected. But there was something very different this time around. Corbin was now in her 40s and, like a modern-day pop star, she was ready to take complete control over her act. This time, there was no Barnum breathing down her neck. She was independent and even made her own decisions about her wardrobe. What she did worked, and her public performances were instantly popular, but Corbin was just getting started.

The rebooted Corbin show was a big success, and she wanted to make it even more so. Corbin was soon lifting her skirt in places like Coney Island in New York, Riverview Park in Chicago, and even the Ringling Brothers Circus. Her weekly salary went from $250 when she was a young woman to a whopping $450 as an adult. Corbin was once again at the top of the game, but there was some serious competition coming her way. Francesco Lentini was almost 20 years younger than Corbin. He came from Italy to America and immediately started to wow audiences. Lentini’s claim to fame was having three legs, and they were all of different sizes. Even more astonishing was that he could kick a soccer ball with one leg and use another as a stool to sit on. Lentini was young, athletic, and charming. It was time for Corbin to take a second retirement.

Sadly, it would not be a peaceful one. After years of her second spot of fame, Corbin started to slowly remove herself from the spotlight. After only a couple of years of rest and relaxation, Corbin was once again facing a very scary situation. Out of the blue, her right leg had developed a rash. She quickly called the doctor and fearfully awaited a diagnosis. Today, doctors could quite easily cure the skin infection on Corbin’s leg with antibiotics. Sadly, back in 1928, they could not. A week after the doctor gave his diagnosis, Corbin was gone. It was May 6th, 1928, and she was just 59 years old. The good news was that now she would be able to finally rest in peace, away from the public eye.

Corbin’s family was ready to lay her body to rest, but it could not be a conventional burial. They had to take the unusual step of covering her coffin in solid concrete. Even more surprising was that they had to have family members keep watch over the coffin until the concrete had become completely solid. It seemed like the family had become strangely paranoid. As it turned out, there was one very good reason for their concern. The family’s concern was about something very macabre: they assumed that grave robbers would be chomping at the bit to get their hands on Corbin’s very unique remains. In fact, some scientists and collectors had offered the family money to purchase her skeleton. It was, after all, certainly one of a kind. Well, it was one of a kind at least until the 1990s.

In the 1990s, a shocking wedding picture of Ashley Braissell hit the tabloids. In it, Ashley was in her wedding dress with her four legs on display. When the headlines later pronounced that a skiing accident had taken her life, it became clear that this was just a hoax. Corbin’s reign as the original four-legged woman still remained. In 2015, poet Diane Seuss released a collection of poetry that she called “Four-Legged Girl.” The book used an image of Corbin on the cover, and Seuss says this was because she took inspiration from her. Seuss often thought that her life, like Corbin’s, was an exhibit. It seemed surprising that a Victorian-era four-legged woman could inspire a modern-day poet. As it turned out, Corbin also inspired modern-day freaks.

Corbin’s second era in the spotlight had been as an independent performer, and this inspired some modern-day freaks. Places like Coney Island and Venice Beach have recently seen a revival of freak shows. Like Corbin, these freaks are the ones controlling the power of their uniqueness. They’ve even formed a union that offers them something unheard of in Corbin’s day: retirement benefits. This advancement would have made Corbin insanely proud. In 2021, a shopper in Waterloo, Canada, came across what he thought was a heartless find. He was shopping in a craft store when he discovered images of Corbin used as a Halloween decoration. The photo showed Corbin sitting pretty in her carefully matched socks and shoes. I guess to some backward thinkers, Corbin’s image belonged with the ghosts and goblins of Halloween.

That is going to bring us to the end of the video on Myrtle Corbin. If you enjoyed the video, leave a like rating, subscribe for more, comment below, and we’ll be back with a brand new video very soon. Okay.