Josephine Myrtle Corbin was born on May 12, 1868, in Lincoln County, Tennessee. Even before her mother gave birth, doctors had noticed something unusual about her parents. Both had the same blue eyes, fair skin, and strikingly auburn hair.
Doctors prepared for a potentially unusual birth, but nothing could have prepared them for what followed. Corbin's mother delivered normally. When the doctors looked at the newborn, they were stunned.
Because of a rare condition, Corbin had two pelvises. These began at her waist and extended down through the lower half of her body. Two pelvises also meant four legs.
Corbin's parents had never seen a child like this and turned anxiously to doctors for an explanation. The doctors first suspected the mother and father were blood relatives, but they soon found evidence to the contrary. A second theory also concerned the parents: the mother was nearly ten years older than the father. Today that might mean little, but these doctors were searching for any logical explanation.
Eventually a stranger theory emerged. Rather than viewing Corbin as a child with extra legs, some doctors saw things differently. They believed Corbin had been a twin from birth. What happened, they argued, was that her twin never developed beyond the lower half of the body.
No one knew the truth for certain, but they agreed on something strange. The doctors reassured Corbin's mother that although her child had a major deformity, the situation could have been far more tragic. With a baby of this size, a breech birth would likely have been fatal to the child and possibly to the mother as well.
There was another surprising reason for the family to be grateful. Despite her physical deformity, Corbin was a healthy baby. After examinations by several local doctors, they said she was growing well and nursing properly. At three weeks old she weighed 4.5 kilograms, about 10 pounds. Everything from the waist up, at least, was entirely normal.
Unfortunately, something about her four legs would pose a major difficulty. It turned out that Corbin did not have four legs of normal size. She had two strong legs on the sides and two smaller, weaker legs hanging between them. The arrangement of the legs was not logical. Instead of a strong leg pairing with a weak one, each strong leg was matched with a weak one.
As if that were not enough, one of Corbin's strong legs had its own problem. Her smaller, weaker legs had not grown enough to help her walk. In fact, they were much shorter than the strong legs, and each had only three toes. Adding to her difficulties, Corbin's strong right foot was twisted, meaning it turned inward. For Corbin, walking was a major challenge.
But there was another, heavier obstacle: dealing with people's prejudice. Doctors and scientists did not hesitate to write about Corbin and her unusual condition. Unfortunately, their descriptions were not kind. In one article, Dr. Brooks H. Wells described her as belonging to a class of monsters produced by fusion. Dr. Joseph Jones put it more bluntly, simply calling her a living monster.
The insults were not enough. They also flagrantly violated her privacy. In the name of science, some doctors began writing about highly private matters, detailing what lay between Corbin's legs and even how she relieved herself. The public soon became widely familiar with everything about Corbin, and this attention turned her into a public figure.
That gave her father an idea that would change her life forever. The Corbin family needed to put food on the table, and they soon came to see their daughter as a source of income, a child who earned money. It seemed like a disaster waiting to happen.
When Corbin was only five years old, her parents found a way to earn more money for their struggling family. They invited neighbors to pay a small fee, then revealed Corbin's legs to their curious eyes. To his surprise, William Corbin saw that his daughter could bring in substantial money. But once the neighbors had paid and been amazed, the money dried up.
William then decided to develop his idea. Seeking to increase his income, he placed advertisements in newspapers to attract more people. The ads included a drawing of Corbin sitting in her high chair, with her mother standing beside her. Corbin wore a short dress that clearly showed her four legs. The advertisement caused a sensation among newspaper readers, and Corbin became famous nationwide.
William had attracted an audience, and now he had to prove himself. He moved his family to Blount County, Tennessee, then packed his bags and his daughter and left. Together they set off on a tour, exhibiting his four-legged daughter in side shows and exhibitions across the country. It was not easy. He had to move his daughter from place to place, but their urgent need for money was pressing.
Weeks soon turned into years, with no end in sight. Then Corbin caught the attention of a man of great importance, a man capable of changing the course of her life forever. P.T. Barnum was a showman, a philanthropist, and a politician. But he was also a fraud. Some even say he was the first to use the phrase "there's a sucker born every minute."
Part of Barnum's dubious business model was exhibiting people with unusual conditions, and Barnum wanted to meet Corbin. The meeting held golden opportunities, but Barnum was a frightening man who could not be trusted. Barnum later gained a reputation as the greatest showman, but his methods were far from ethical. He was willing to do anything for money, and it was clear Corbin would not be safe in his greedy hands.
Barnum met Corbin and her father and could not resist the temptation of making money from a girl with four legs. But there was more to it than that. Instead of being a shy, sad child suffering from a congenital deformity, she had a very optimistic and positive personality. Barnum was delighted and saw great potential in Corbin.
Then came the negotiations. It is unclear how Corbin's naive father fared against Barnum's cunning. It seems the long years of touring had honed William Corbin into a skilled negotiator. After the meeting, Corbin secured a very lucrative contract. Her weekly salary would be 250 dollars, equivalent to about 7,000 dollars today. The money was good, but Corbin would now be left in the hands of this unscrupulous man.
Corbin's act for Barnum was very simple. She appeared on stage looking entirely normal in her long skirt. The only hint of anything different was that her hips seemed broad for her body, and of course her slight limp. Then Corbin would sit down and slowly, dramatically lift her skirt. When the audience saw her legs, they were stunned.
It sounds like an easy way to make money, until we realize the miserable world Corbin lived in. Life as one of Barnum's oddities was liable to become a nightmare. Barnum used torture-like methods to train his performing animals. In fact, his handlers literally burned elephants to force them into discipline. To earn her weekly salary, Corbin had to spend her time in Barnum's harsh world.
Unfortunately, Barnum's mistreatment did not stop with animals. He was not kind to his human performers either. One of the oddities Barnum employed was a man with an unusually small head. Barnum called him "Zip the Pinhead" and exhibited him ruthlessly in a cage with monkeys, implying he was the missing link.
Corbin somehow survived the humiliation of working for Barnum, but she soon realized a frustrating truth. She quickly grew tired of being a public spectacle. To make matters worse, she had to stand by while her younger sister, Willie Ann, lived a normal life of dating and planning her wedding.
For Corbin, the world of dating would be another challenge. As a woman with four legs, she would face enormous difficulty. Thanks to her extensive travels with Barnum, Corbin was an educated and cultured young woman. She was also attractive and musically talented. Add her substantial salary, and Corbin became a prized target. Many men proposed to her, at least those who overlooked her disability.
But there was a major problem: Corbin was not sure she could trust any of them. Her huge salary turned many men into opportunists. They saw the money and showed false interest in her. Some may have been sincere, but Corbin had no way to tell the honest from those trying to exploit her.
Fortunately, fate had a surprise in store. In 1885, Corbin's younger sister was about to marry. Willie Ann's groom was Hiram Locke Bicknell, and something about Bicknell caught Corbin's interest. He had a brother. Corbin assumed she could trust James Clinton Bicknell, and perhaps hoped a romance would develop between them.
Choosing Bicknell was the easy part. Figuring out how to approach him emotionally was something she had never done. As it turned out, Corbin did not need to use any of her charm to attract Bicknell. He was already interested in her. What made Bicknell ideal was that he was about to become a doctor, and clearly did not need her salary from her oddity shows.
Six months after her sister's wedding, Corbin and Bicknell walked down the aisle, and Corbin said goodbye to her career and her oddity shows. It was the end of an era, but something strange happened once she left the business. Corbin retired as a performer, leaving a large void in the field. Her condition was so rare that no one was expected to replace her anytime soon.
Then the unbelievable happened. Another four-legged woman appeared, then another, then another. It seemed like an epidemic of women with Corbin's same deformity. Clearly something suspicious was going on. As it turned out, this new group of four-legged women shared one thing: they were all fakes. They were brazenly attaching smaller prosthetic limbs dangling between their real legs. Corbin remained the original and the only genuine four-legged woman. Well, as they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Corbin had no time to worry about these fakes. She was facing a new crisis. About a year after her marriage, Corbin's health began to deteriorate. She suffered fever, headaches, and pain in her left side. Dr. Lewis Whaley examined Corbin and discovered something most women eventually face. Corbin was pregnant.
Because she carried two of everything from the waist down, the pregnancy was in only one side, the left side. When Corbin was told she was pregnant on the left side, everyone was shocked by her reaction. What amazed Corbin was that her pregnancy was on her left side. At first the doctor was puzzled by Corbin's comment. Corbin did not have to be blunt and explain clearly. The doctor suddenly realized the truth. When it came to intimacy with her husband, she had a choice of side, and the right side was the one.
No woman in Corbin's condition had ever given birth before. She had no choice but to bravely move forward without knowing the outcome. Unfortunately, Corbin's pregnancy soon worsened. She became very ill, and the doctor was called again. He examined her, and they waited anxiously for his medical opinion. When the doctor gave his opinion, Corbin and her husband realized it was the last thing they wanted to hear.
Childbirth for a woman with Corbin's rare condition was entirely new, and the doctor had to rely on his experience but also on his intuition. Corbin was still very ill, so Dr. Whaley felt compelled to make a tragic decision. Eight weeks after examining her, he decided her pregnancy had to be terminated. Corbin most likely wanted to grieve her loss quietly with her husband. Unfortunately, that did not happen.
People had nearly forgotten Corbin. But when news of her pregnancy spread, interest in her returned. Doctors in the United States and even abroad began writing about her condition in medical journals. It seemed Corbin was returning to the humiliation and insults she had deeply hated.
The renewed interest in Corbin could have revived her career as an oddity. In fact, the opposite happened. These new articles about her focused on what was normal about Corbin. They said she was attractive, intelligent, and capable of managing a household. Finally, Corbin began to receive the respect every woman deserves.
After her loss, Corbin continued trying to conceive. Perhaps she overdid it. Over the next few years, she gave birth to seven children. Unfortunately, only four survived infancy, but she eventually had a house full of children and became a successful mother. It was time for Corbin to forget her days as a circus oddity and focus on her family.
One might think this would be her happy ending. No. More surprises awaited Corbin. She spent the following years raising her children. The family moved from Tennessee to Texas, and there the children gradually grew up. Corbin's life was quiet, far from the spotlight and fame. Perhaps her quiet was excessive, because her next step was unexpected.
Some speculate that Corbin and her husband went through financial hardship, but no one knows the reason for certain. Whatever the reason, twenty years after she last appeared, Corbin was ready to lift her skirt again. Wait a moment. This does not sound like the happy ending we all expected, but there was something entirely different this time.
Corbin was in her forties, and like a modern pop star, she was ready to take full control of her show. This time, no one was watching her closely. She was independent, even making her own decisions about her clothing. What she did worked, and her public performances achieved immediate popularity, but Corbin was just getting started.
Corbin's relaunched show was a great success, and she wanted to make it even more successful. She soon began lifting her skirt at places like Coney Island in New York, Riverview Park in Chicago, and even the Ringling Brothers circus. Her weekly salary rose from 250 dollars when she was young to 450 dollars as an adult.
Corbin returned to the top of success, but fierce competition was on its way. Francesco Lentini was about 20 years younger than Corbin. He came from Italy to America and immediately began dazzling audiences. Lentini was famous for having three legs, each of a different size. Most astonishingly, he could kick a soccer ball with one leg and use another as a chair to sit on. Lentini was athletic and charming.
It was time for Corbin to retire for the second time. Unfortunately, it was not a quiet retirement. After years of her second fame, Corbin gradually began to withdraw from the spotlight. After only two years of rest and relaxation, Corbin faced a very worrying situation. Suddenly, a rash appeared on her right leg. She quickly called the doctor and waited anxiously for the diagnosis.
Today, doctors can easily treat a skin infection on Corbin's leg with antibiotics. Unfortunately, in 1928, that was not possible. A week after the doctor's diagnosis, Corbin passed away. It was May 6, 1928, and she was only 59 years old. The good news is that she could finally rest in peace, away from prying eyes.
Corbin's family prepared to bury her body, but she could not be buried in the traditional way. They had to take the unusual step of covering her coffin with solid concrete. Even more astonishing, they had to assign family members to watch the coffin until the concrete fully hardened. It seemed the family had become paranoid. As it turned out, there was a very good reason for their concern.
The family's worry centered on something terrifying. They assumed grave robbers would covet Corbin's unique remains. In fact, some scientists and collectors had offered the family money to buy her skeleton. It was, after all, one of a kind. Well, it was, at least until the 1990s.
In the 1990s, a shocking wedding photo of Ashley Brasel spread through the tabloids. In the photo, Ashley wore her wedding dress and showed her four legs. When headlines later claimed a skiing accident had killed her, it turned out to be a hoax. But Corbin's status as the first four-legged woman remained firmly established.
In 2015, poet Diane Seuss published a poetry collection titled "Four-Legged Girl." The book used Corbin's image on the cover, and Seuss says she drew inspiration from her. Seuss had long believed that her life, like Corbin's, was something like an exhibition.
It seems surprising that a Victorian woman with four legs would inspire a contemporary poet. But it turns out Corbin also inspired a group of people with disabilities in the modern era. Corbin's second period in the spotlight as an independent performer inspired some of them. Places like Coney Island and Venice Beach have recently seen a revival of performances by people with disabilities. Like Corbin, these performers control the power of their uniqueness. They have even formed a union that provides them with something unknown in Corbin's time: retirement benefits. This development would have made Corbin very proud.
In 2021, a shopper in Waterloo, Canada, found what he considered a disgusting discovery. He was shopping in a craft store when he discovered images of Corbin being used as Halloween decorations. The image showed Corbin sitting elegantly in her carefully coordinated socks and shoes. Some people apparently considered Corbin's image a symbol of Halloween ghosts and goblins.