page_title: Pig-faced women
section_title: Fair exhibits in the 19th century
hierarchical_section_title: Pig-faced women / Fair exhibits in the 19th century
caption_attribution_description: Ursus americanus English: A black bear sitting
context_page_description: Legends featuring pig-faced women originated roughly simultaneously in Holland, England and France in the late 1630s. The stories told of a wealthy woman whose body was of normal human appearance, but whose face was that of a pig.
  In the earliest forms of the story, the woman's pig-like appearance was the result of witchcraft. Following her wedding day, the pig-faced woman's new husband was granted the choice of having her appear beautiful to him but pig-like to others, or pig-like to him and beautiful to others. When her husband told her that the choice was hers, the enchantment was broken and her pig-like appearance vanished. These stories became particularly popular in England, and later in Ireland.
  The magical elements gradually vanished from the story, and the existence of pig-faced women began to be treated as fact. The story became particularly widespread in Dublin in the early 19th century, where it became widely believed that reclusive 18th-century philanthropist Griselda Steevens had kept herself hidden from view because she had the face of a pig. In late 1814 and early 1815, rumour swept London that a pig-faced woman was living in Marylebone.
context_section_description: In the wake of the Pig-faced Lady scare of 1814–15, exhibits on the subject of pig-faced women became popular at fairs. William Wilde records that a print of The Wonderful Mrs Atkinson was a popular exhibit at an early 19th century Irish fair, while larger fairs included exhibits of pig-faced women moulded in papier-mâché or wax. There is some evidence that a living pig-faced woman was exhibited at Bartholomew Fair in 1828, and possibly also in previous years. (The pig-faced woman exhibited in Wakefield in 1828–29, recalled by George Lloyd in 1861, may have been the same one shown at Bartholomew Fair in 1828.) At an 1843 fair in Hyde Park, "Madam Steevens, the Wonderful Pig-faced Lady" was exhibited, and would grunt to give replies to questions from the audience.
  The pig-faced women exhibited at fairs were not genuine. Showmen would drug a bear into a stupor by feeding it large amounts of strong beer, and then shave it. Once shaved, the drunken bear would be fitted with padded artificial breasts, and dressed in women's clothing and a wig. Shoes would be attached to the bear's hind paws, and stuffed gloves to the front paws. The bear would then be placed in a chair with a hole in the back, and securely tied to the chair.
  Once the bear was dressed and in the chair, the audience would be allowed into the tent. The showman would tell the audience that the Pig-faced Lady could not speak, but would answer questions put to her, with one grunt for "yes" and two for "no". The audience would ask her questions, and a member of the crew would poke the bear with a stick to make it grunt in reply. The Pig-faced Lady would then eat a meal of gruel, beer and apples, served in a silver trough. The display of "pig-faced ladies" became extremely popular, to the extent that by 1861 Charles Dickens remarked that "no fair was complete without one". Exhibitions of this type were particularly popular in Dublin; an exhibition in Plymouth in the 1880s was less successful, and a disbelieving mob pulled the wig and hat from a "Pig-faced Lady" in her tent and proceeded to attack the showmen. The fate of the bear is not recorded.
caption: Bears stand and sit with postures similar to humans'.
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