From the moment she was born in Hendersonville, Tennessee on January 5, 1870, Ella Harper stood out

 From the moment she was born in Hendersonville, Tennessee on January 5, 1870, Ella Harper stood out.  

Born with a rare condition known as congenital genu recuvatum, her knees bent backward, making her more comfortable walking on four legs than two.

In 1882, 12-year-old Harper finally found some semblance of home in traveling sideshows, where she was known as the "Camel Girl" and touted as "the most wonderful freak of nature since the creation of the world."

 Showmen would put her on stage next to a camel so that audiences could gawk at the similarities.

But by 1887, Harper left the circus and attempted to live a "normal" life. She married before giving birth to a girl named Mabel in 1906. 

But within a year and a half, Mabel was dead for reasons the family never disclosed. And when Harper tried again ten years later and adopted a girl named Jewel, she died within three months.

 Three years after that, Harper herself died at just 51 and was buried in a grave right next to Mabel and Jewel.

From the tragic to the astounding, discover more about the sideshow performers who graced circus stages more than a century ago: https://bit.ly/2XpMaKM