Abnormal deformity of Grace McDanel (7 photos)

“In a minute she’ll show you her face and you’ll thank God that he didn’t make you like her.”





This is how the entertainer introduced this participant in the circus program. Which every time before throwing the veil from her face, she went through all the circles of hell. Then... The men froze, the women screamed, and some even fainted.



Grace

Mule woman With this nickname, farmer's daughter Grace McDanel went down in history. The girl was born in Iowa in 1888. And until adolescence I was an ordinary child. Then strange things started happening to her face. The parents thought that the birthmark was growing. And they began to take their daughter to medical luminaries across the continent. But to no avail... The girl became more and more uglier.



Grace was diagnosed with Sturge-Weber syndrome. The disease is a rare congenital neurological and skin disease. However, more often such patients have mental retardation, and they understand little. But McDanel retained her intelligence. The disease took its toll on her appearance, turning the young woman’s face into something like a piece of raw meat.



The skin acquired a painful purple hue. The chin was deformed to such an extent that the poor thing could hardly open her mouth. The nose swelled to enormous size, the eyes disappeared into the inflamed folds of the skin.

In 1935, she won the “Ugliest Woman” competition and accepted a job offer from the owner of the Freak Circus, F.A. Miller. However, what else could she do? I had to live somehow. And people gladly paid for the opportunity to gawk at something that deviated so much from the norm.

Even after entering the arena dozens and hundreds of times, Grace was never able to finally come to terms with humiliation and suffering. What is it like to constantly hear that you are the ugliest and look like a mule? After the performance, like any other woman, she tried to preen herself, carefully powdering the bumps and potholes.



Wax figure of Grace

It is not known for certain whether this is true, but there were rumors that the ugly artist was popular with men and was married three times. Whether these were sincere feelings on their part or a desire to try an exotic relationship is, of course, a question.



With son

There is another version that Grace never entered into marriage. But she gave birth to a son from a stage worker. The boy was completely healthy and handsome. When Elmer grew up, he became his mother's manager.

According to contemporaries, McDanel was a pleasant, kind and sympathetic woman. She was a wonderful housewife and caring mother, she was an excellent cook and a good sewer. The Mule Woman passed away in 1958, having lived it honestly, with dignity and fortitude.