BEFORE THE FREE FREAK SHOW ON THE CAMPUS QUADRANGLE.

Oh, I could get in trouble for that!  "The fever swamps of the Perpetually Aggrieved are perpetually entertaining, and you don't even have to toss the barker a quarter whenever you want a look, there are curiosities only a click away."  Indeed, even calling attention could get me in trouble!  "It's the ultimate post-modern sideshow, in which all of the words on the bannerline are triggering, or micro-aggressive."

In any event, once upon a time the itinerant circus brought the curiosities to town, for you to gawk at, and all for a quarter.  "On a purchasing-power adjusted basis, is a ticket to a Britney Spears ticket cheaper than a ticket to the late nineteenth century P. T. Barnum sideshow?"

Not too long ago, though, the Winnebago County Fair set up for its weekend run, and along the paths leading to the grandstand for the rodeo or tractor pull there was an honest-to-Clyde Beatty bannerline!

No extra charge to wander in and have a look.

Exotic, fossilized life form, perhaps from outer space, or stone idol carved with primitive tools?  You decide.

For years, P. T. Barnum's Fejee Mermaid was thought to have been lost in the fire at his Coney Island Hall of Curiosities.  Well, no, he had sold that to an east coast collector, and it now tours with this exhibit.  Or not.  That furry fish behind?  Apparently insulating scales confer evolutionary advantage in polar water, although if fish are cold-blooded, well, this is a sideshow exhibit.