Weird History
Ella Harper: The "Camel Girl" Who Became The Biggest Circus Act of the 19th Century
2017 • E10 Jun 29, 2017 1m
Ella Harper was a circus performer who was born with a rare condition called congenital genu recurvatum … which caused her knees to bend backwards … like a camel. Her preference to walk on all fours, opposed to hanging in there and standing up like a champion, which earned her the nickname “The Camel Girl”… and her own circus act.
Harper was the main act in W. H. Harris’s Nickel Plate Circus, earning 200 dollars a week in 1886, roughly 5 grand in today’s dollars. Her act became one of the most popular circus acts in its day, especially as she was just a teenager at the time.
Harper hung up her cleats and retired some years later, reportedly moving to Tennessee where she married a man … and was never heard from again. She then died in 1921. One of the most memorable circus artists of the 19th century.
Harper was the main act in W. H. Harris’s Nickel Plate Circus, earning 200 dollars a week in 1886, roughly 5 grand in today’s dollars. Her act became one of the most popular circus acts in its day, especially as she was just a teenager at the time.
Harper hung up her cleats and retired some years later, reportedly moving to Tennessee where she married a man … and was never heard from again. She then died in 1921. One of the most memorable circus artists of the 19th century.