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2/28/09

Carny Lingo. . . Moss Haired Girl


I've been looking through some old collectibles and came across this interesting lady. I was drawn to her because she obviously suffers from my condition . . . bad hair. I couldn't imagine a proper Victorian lady wearing this style. Upon further web surfing, I found this explaination:


Moss-Haired Girl — A "made" human oddity from the 19th century, also known as a "Circassian girl" (the Circassians are a Caucasian people living in the Caucasus but not speaking an Indo-European language). A white woman would stiffen and bush her hair, much in the style of the 'Afro' hairdo. The pitch which usually accompanied the act involved kidnapping by 'Arabs' and being forced into harem life, followed by a harrowing escape culminating in refuge there in the show.


Here is another site listing a photo (with snake and I'm sure that makes it more valuable) of Miss Zelick http://pages.maidensmemoirs.com/11571/PictPage/1922274917.html

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