Midget-Town in Vienna, Va.
Ted Frank
<From alt.president.clinton,alt.politics.clinton,alt.impeach.clinton>
(and with a newsgroup list like that, you know it's got to be true)
In article <353F9D...@global.net>, HOOVER <ho...@global.net> wrote:
>There is a neighborhood in Vienna, Va, located about 30 miles west of
>Washington, DC that is designated for small people. It's been designated
>"Midget-Town". Many people in the DC area are questioning how this was
>organized, and whether the government originally funded this to enable
>midgets, dwarves, and other small people could live together. This is not a
>joke. The residents have built an entire community of small houses equipped
>with everything right down to junior sized mailboxes.
>Midget-Town has become well-known to Fairfax County residents, many of
>whom drive thru the neighborhood to see this for themselves. The small
>people have become angry at the fact that they have become tourist
>attractions, and they have been known to throw rocks at the "sightseers".
>Write your Congressmen and ask how this all got started.
I've never heard of this, either as a legend or as a fact, even when I
was dating someone in Vienna, VA.
Nor did I see an unusual number of differently sized people in the
Washington DC area, where you'd presume a substantial portion of them
would work.
Nothing turns up in Dejanews or Hotbot, or the last two weeks of the
Washington Post.
Anyone?
(Crossposted to dc.general and alt.folklore.urban; followups to afu.)
--
http://www.radix,net/~moe
"Policy makers, like the president, do not have time to read all
the other countries' newspapers. There are just too many of them."
-- http://www.odci.gov/cia/ciakids
Sky King
Where can I go visit this town? I work in Alexandria at King St and 395.
Perhaps I can go see it after work if its not to far.
D.E. Franks
m...@Radix.Net (Ted Frank) wrote:
>><From alt.president.clinton,alt.politics.clinton,alt.impeach.clinton>
>>
>>(and with a newsgroup list like that, you know it's got to be true)
>>
>>In article <353F9D...@global.net>, HOOVER <ho...@global.net> >wrote:
everything>
I don't know about a town, but I've been to a pub in Manila that is entirely
owned and operated by hobbits, dwarves, midgets, and other small people.
Called the "Hobbit House", I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is not
some kind of freak show at all. Excellent live music, probably some of the
best in SE Asia. Avoid the deep fried cheese whiz.
-D.E. Franks
Michael Doelle
D.E. Franks wrote:
> I don't know about a town, but I've been to a pub in Manila that is entirely
> owned and operated by hobbits, dwarves, midgets, and other small people.
> Called the "Hobbit House", I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is not
> some kind of freak show at all. Excellent live music, probably some of the
> best in SE Asia. Avoid the deep fried cheese whiz.
>
Glad to hear it still exists. Does Freddie Aguilar still appear
regularly?
michael
Doktor Technologicus
WHOOMP! There it is:
><From alt.president.clinton,alt.politics.clinton,alt.impeach.clinton>
>
>(and with a newsgroup list like that, you know it's got to be true)
>
>I've never heard of this, either as a legend or as a fact, even when I
>was dating someone in Vienna, VA.
>
>Nor did I see an unusual number of differently sized people in the
>Washington DC area, where you'd presume a substantial portion of them
>would work.
>
>Nothing turns up in Dejanews or Hotbot, or the last two weeks of the
>Washington Post.
>
>Anyone?
>
according to the newsletter "Weird NJ". The one I have visited, in
West Paterson, does have small houses, but no midgets. Although I
swear I saw a man dressed as Abe Lincoln cleaning his guns in one of
the houses.
--
Aboard the Good Ship Venus
You really should have seen us
With a figurehead of a whore in bed
And a mast of a phallic genus
che...@evansville.net
On Fri, 24 Apr 1998 14:15:59 +0800, "D.E. Franks"
<shi...@ms1.hinet.net> wrote:
>m...@Radix.Net (Ted Frank) wrote:
>>><From alt.president.clinton,alt.politics.clinton,alt.impeach.clinton>
>>>
>>>(and with a newsgroup list like that, you know it's got to be true)
>>>
>>>In article <353F9D...@global.net>, HOOVER <ho...@global.net> >wrote:
><SNIP Post about an entire town of midgets, complete with scaled down
>everything>
>
>I don't know about a town, but I've been to a pub in Manila that is entirely
>owned and operated by hobbits, dwarves, midgets, and other small people.
>Called the "Hobbit House", I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is not
>some kind of freak show at all. Excellent live music, probably some of the
>best in SE Asia. Avoid the deep fried cheese whiz.
>
I understand the difference between a dwarf and a midget, medically
speaking, but what the hell is a "hobbit"?
Yes, yes, Tolkien and all, but I assume the poster is referring to
real people, noa mystical land of fairies....
Phillip Rodrigues
Well, well..
In the 10 years I lived in Vienna, I have never heard, seen or smelled of this
midget area. And Vienna, with its 35,000 population isn't really a metropolis. I
can tell you. But hey, perhaps they life under the metro-station. between the
platform and the Insterstate 66...
PhiRo
> <From alt.president.clinton,alt.politics.clinton,alt.impeach.clinton>
>
> (and with a newsgroup list like that, you know it's got to be true)
>
> In article <353F9D...@global.net>, HOOVER <ho...@global.net> wrote:
> >There is a neighborhood in Vienna, Va, located about 30 miles west of
> >Washington, DC that is designated for small people. It's been designated
> >"Midget-Town". Many people in the DC area are questioning how this was
> >organized, and whether the government originally funded this to enable
> >midgets, dwarves, and other small people could live together. This is not a
> >joke. The residents have built an entire community of small houses equipped
> >with everything right down to junior sized mailboxes.
> >Midget-Town has become well-known to Fairfax County residents, many of
> >whom drive thru the neighborhood to see this for themselves. The small
> >people have become angry at the fact that they have become tourist
> >attractions, and they have been known to throw rocks at the "sightseers".
> >Write your Congressmen and ask how this all got started.
>
> I've never heard of this, either as a legend or as a fact, even when I
> was dating someone in Vienna, VA.
>
> Nor did I see an unusual number of differently sized people in the
> Washington DC area, where you'd presume a substantial portion of them
> would work.
>
> Nothing turns up in Dejanews or Hotbot, or the last two weeks of the
> Washington Post.
>
> Anyone?
>
girl guitarist libertine
>m...@Radix.Net (Ted Frank) wrote:
>><From alt.president.clinton,alt.politics.clinton,alt.impeach.clinton>
>>
>>(and with a newsgroup list like that, you know it's got to be true)
>>
>>In article <353F9D...@global.net>, HOOVER <ho...@global.net> wrote:
>>>There is a neighborhood in Vienna, Va, located about 30 miles west of
>>>Washington, DC that is designated for small people. It's been designated
>>>"Midget-Town". Many people in the DC area are questioning how this was
>>
>>I've never heard of this, either as a legend or as a fact, even when I
>>was dating someone in Vienna, VA.
I lived in Vienna, VA for two years, and I have friends who still
live there (~10 years). I never heard of any such thing, so I called
them up, and they said they've never heard of it either. (And one of
them used to work for Lawn Doctor and knows the entire city inside
and out -- if he's never heard of it, it probably isn't there.)
m
--
it's got a good beat and you can angst to it http://www.merde.org
Joseph Michael Bay
BeneathForn...@ASekritLab.com (Doktor Technologicus) writes:
>There are at least two stories of midget neighborhoods in New Jersey,
>according to the newsletter "Weird NJ". The one I have visited, in
>West Paterson, does have small houses, but no midgets. Although I
>swear I saw a man dressed as Abe Lincoln cleaning his guns in one of
>the houses.
I don't remember this, and I lived in the next town over for about
twenty years. Hmm.
>Aboard the Good Ship Venus
>You really should have seen us
>With a figurehead of a whore in bed
>And a mast of a phallic genus
The first mate was the Gipper,
A rotten little nipper
He filled his ass with broken glass
And circumcised the Skipper.
--
Joe Bay Leland Stanford Junior University
Forensic Proctology Laboratory, S. U. School of Medicine
Putting the "harm" in "Molecular Pharmacology" since 1998
Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting- http://www.fair.org/
Joseph Michael Bay
"D.E. Franks" <shi...@ms1.hinet.net> writes:
>I don't know about a town, but I've been to a pub in Manila that is entirely
>owned and operated by hobbits, dwarves, midgets, and other small people.
^^^^^^^
*ahem* You must mean "public domain halfling".
Joe "RR" Bay
Doktor Technologicus
WHOOMP! There it is:
>BeneathForn...@ASekritLab.com (Doktor Technologicus) writes:
>
>>There are at least two stories of midget neighborhoods in New Jersey,
>>according to the newsletter "Weird NJ". The one I have visited, in
>>West Paterson, does have small houses, but no midgets. Although I
>>swear I saw a man dressed as Abe Lincoln cleaning his guns in one of
>>the houses.
>
>I don't remember this, and I lived in the next town over for about
>twenty years. Hmm.
I'm afraid I can't recall the other supposed location of Midget-ville.
The West Paterson one is on Norwood Road, next to the Passaic River,
off rt 3, near the Ramada Inn. Maybe that should have gone in an
e-mail. But then I wouldn't be able to bring another verse along.
>
>>Aboard the Good Ship Venus
>>You really should have seen us
>>With a figurehead of a whore in bed
>>And a mast of a phallic genus
>
>The first mate was the Gipper,
>A rotten little nipper
>He filled his ass with broken glass
>And circumcised the Skipper.
The captain's youngest daughter
was washed into the water
Her plaintive squeals announced that eels
Had found her sexual quarter.
>
>--
>Joe Bay Leland Stanford Junior University
>Forensic Proctology Laboratory, S. U. School of Medicine
>Putting the "harm" in "Molecular Pharmacology" since 1998
>Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting- http://www.fair.org/
--
GrapeApe
Isnt there a Clown Town or similar full of carnies and the like (midgets
included) near Ringling Brothers HQ in FLA?
Mike Holmans
Ted Frank <m...@Radix.Net> felt like saying:
><From alt.president.clinton,alt.politics.clinton,alt.impeach.clinton>
>
>(and with a newsgroup list like that, you know it's got to be true)
>
>In article <353F9D...@global.net>, HOOVER <ho...@global.net> wrote:
>>There is a neighborhood in Vienna, Va, located about 30 miles west of
>>Washington, DC that is designated for small people. It's been designated
>>"Midget-Town".
>I've never heard of this, either as a legend or as a fact, even when I
>was dating someone in Vienna, VA.
>
OK, there's been a bunch of follow-ups which indicate that this is a
load of old cobblers, as Ted suggested when giving the source.
Now then, the general reason why someone concocted this story is obvious
from the newsgroup list. The only Vienna (apart from the awful Ultravox
song) I know is the one in Australia, but this, I presume, is a fairly
small town near Washington DC. I guess most USAans don't know anyone
from there (whereas almost every merkin knows someone from NYC, I'd
hazard), so spreading it amongst the people who believe that Bill eats
babies shouldn't be too hard.
But what is the point of spreading this particular rumour? Is it
supposed to be an example of political correctness gone mad? Or are
people supposed to have some other fears about hostile midgets attacking
them? (You can tell that we saw Tod Browning's "Freaks" on TV a couple
of nights ago, can't you?) In other words, what public dread does it
feed off?
Mike "Bob Marley?" Holmans
El Sig thought Legoland was a joint of meat
The exciting AFU FAQ, and many other things, may be found at
http://www.urbanlegends.com
mz...@interport.net
There is supposedly a midget neighborhood in New Jersey just off the
palisades parkway about 20 minutes from the George Washington Bridge. I
havent seen it myself, but Ive heard about it from a few people...Mike
mz...@interport.net
In article <6hr0qm$fhe$1...@shell11.ba.best.com>, m...@best.com (girl
guitarist libertine) wrote:
> >>
> >>In article <353F9D...@global.net>, HOOVER <ho...@global.net> wrote:
> >>>There is a neighborhood in Vienna, Va, located about 30 miles west of
> >>>Washington, DC that is designated for small people. It's been designated
> >>>"Midget-Town". Many people in the DC area are questioning how this was
> [...]
> >>
> >>I've never heard of this, either as a legend or as a fact, even when I
> >>was dating someone in Vienna, VA.
>
Phil Edwards
Mike Holmans <pos...@jackalope.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>But what is the point of spreading this particular rumour? Is it
>supposed to be an example of political correctness gone mad?
Heard on BBC political discussion programme:
Questioner from audience: "...is this another example of political
correctness gone mad?"
Panellist 1: "Absolutely. This is, quite simply, political correctness
gone mad. [Expatiates at length]"
<Applause>
Host: "[Panellist 2], what do you think? Is this political correctness
gone mad?"
Panellist 2: "Yes, clearly this is political correctness gone mad..."
Funny how PC never seems to be observed in a sane and rational form.
Phil "this is just another example of cool-headed, sensible political
correctness, and as such it's fine, actually" Edwards
--
Phil Edwards http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/amroth
"I've been searching for the dolphins in the sea
Sometimes I wonder, do you ever think of me?" - Fred O'Neill
Ted Frank
In article <3542c58c...@news.zetnet.co.uk>,
Phil Edwards <amr...@zetnet.co.uk.NOJUNK> wrote:
>Funny how PC never seems to be observed in a sane and rational form.
Because rarely is a politician so stupid as to say something that
would violate sane, rational, political correctness. No one doubts
that an American politician would be hounded out of office for a
derogatory use of the n-word on national television; such a result
would be because the language was not politically correct.
Speaking of political correctness, why haven't more people spoken out
about the lunacy that persuades a widow to eulogize the man who
indisputably murdered her famous husband in cold blood? Is it because
Coretta King is African-American and journalists are paternalistically
holding her to a double standard, or has Oliver Stone-ism utterly
permeated the American psyche to the exclusion of rational thought?
Mike Holmans
Phil Edwards <amr...@zetnet.co.uk.NOJUNK> felt like saying:
>Mike Holmans <pos...@jackalope.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>But what is the point of spreading this particular rumour? Is it
>>supposed to be an example of political correctness gone mad?
"politicalcorrectnessgonemad" has now become a single word>
>
>Funny how PC never seems to be observed in a sane and rational form.
>
mad, and the polite don't comment.
>Phil "this is just another example of cool-headed, sensible political
>correctness, and as such it's fine, actually" Edwards
What it really is is neither here nor there. Those spreading the story
must think it's an example of something, and will portray it as such to
their target audience, who must be primed to lap it up as such. I'm just
asking what the value of "something" is in the above.
Mike "gone mad" Holmans
mitcho
Ted Frank wrote:
> No one doubts
> that an American politician would be hounded out of office for a
> derogatory use of the n-word on national television;
ObUL: Does anyone doubt whether Mark Twain was hounded out of the
nation's high school libraries because of the use of the n-word in
_Huckleberry Finn?_
> Speaking of political correctness, why haven't more people spoken out
> about the lunacy that persuades a widow to eulogize the man who
> indisputably murdered her famous husband in cold blood? Is it because
> Coretta King is African-American and journalists are paternalistically
Could be someone has observed her late husband was in fact a Christian
minister, and as everyone knows the New Testament is chock full of crazy
ideas about forgiveness, reconciliation, other cheek-turning, etc.
Those wacky Christians, what will they think of next?
Mitcho
--------------------------------------------------------------------
mit...@netcom.com Urban Redneck of Goat Hill, California TR15 2BU
http://www.employees.org/~ozyman o http://www.urbanlegends.com
Lee Rudolph
m...@Radix.Net (Ted Frank) writes:
>Speaking of political correctness, why haven't more people spoken out
>about the lunacy that persuades a widow to eulogize the man who
>indisputably murdered her famous husband in cold blood? Is it because
>Coretta King is African-American and journalists are paternalistically
>holding her to a double standard, or has Oliver Stone-ism utterly
>permeated the American psyche to the exclusion of rational thought?
The latter, I think (though OS-ism is hardly the only psyche
permeator presently exluding rationality, cf. item 4 in the April
24 edition of "What's New" at http://www.aps.org/WN/index.html ,
it does seem likely to be the relevant one in this instance).
Lee Rudolph
Lars Eighner
In our last episode <3542c58c...@news.zetnet.co.uk>,
the lovely and talented amr...@zetnet.co.uk.NOJUNK (Phil Edwards)
broadcast on alt.folklore.urban:
|Funny how PC never seems to be observed in a sane and rational form.
I think it is because PC's new tradename is not gaining much acceptance.
People didn't say these things when it was called by its old name:
"The Right Thing to Do."
--
Lars Eighner 700 Hearn #101 Austin TX 78703 eig...@io.com
(512) 474-1920 (FAX answers 6th ring) http://www.io.com/%7Eeighner.html
Please visit my web bookstore: http://www.io.com/%7Eeighner/bookstor.html
* "Don't you hate it when your boogers freeze?" -- Calvin
Edward Rice
In article <6hos42$s...@saltmine.radix.net>,
m...@Radix.Net (Ted Frank) wrote:
> <From alt.president.clinton,alt.politics.clinton,alt.impeach.clinton>
>
> (and with a newsgroup list like that, you know it's got to be true)
>
> In article <353F9D...@global.net>, HOOVER <ho...@global.net> wrote:
> >There is a neighborhood in Vienna, Va, located about 30 miles west of
> >Washington, DC that is designated for small people. It's been
designated
> >"Midget-Town". Many people in the DC area are questioning how this was
> >organized, and whether the government originally funded this to enable
> >midgets, dwarves, and other small people could live together. This is
not a
> >joke. The residents have built an entire community of small houses
equipped
> >with everything right down to junior sized mailboxes.
> >Midget-Town has become well-known to Fairfax County residents, many of
> >whom drive thru the neighborhood to see this for themselves. The small
> >people have become angry at the fact that they have become tourist
> >attractions, and they have been known to throw rocks at the
"sightseers".
> >Write your Congressmen and ask how this all got started.
>
> <snip Ted's unfounded skepticism with this>
>
> Anyone?
It's pure bullshit.
Edward Rice
Midget-town^WVienna, Virginia
P.S. I've lived in this area since about 1971. There's no "Midget-town" or
anything like this, in the region. Not even in an amusement park. And
Vienna's only about nine miles, crow-wise, from the nearest part of the
District of Columbia, so it sounds like the writer hadn't even been to this
part of the world.
Did you think there was any real chance this was /true/, Ted? Really?
Dan Hartung
Sky King <sk...@erols.com> wrote in article
<6hov3p$6jt$1...@winter.news.erols.com>...
> m...@Radix.Net (Ted Frank) propagated:
> >>There is a neighborhood in Vienna, Va, located about 30 miles west of
> >>Washington, DC that is designated for small people. It's been
designated
> >>"Midget-Town".
> Where can I go visit this town? I work in Alexandria at King St and 395.
> Perhaps I can go see it after work if its not to far.
Don't forget to look high AND low.
Dan "No, really, I'm trying to buy an MG ..." Hartung
Dan Hartung
Edward Rice <ehr...@his.com> wrote in article
<B16847B49...@0.0.0.0>...[vectoring strange Midget-Town story]
>
> It's pure bullshit.
>
> Edward Rice
> Midget-town^WVienna, Virginia
>
> P.S. I've lived in this area since about 1971. There's no "Midget-town"
or
> anything like this, in the region. Not even in an amusement park. And
> Vienna's only about nine miles, crow-wise, from the nearest part of the
> District of Columbia, so it sounds like the writer hadn't even been to
this
> part of the world.
Besides, Robert Reich is at Brandeis now ....
Ted Frank
In article <B16847B49...@0.0.0.0>, Edward Rice <ehr...@his.com> wrote:
>Did you think there was any real chance this was /true/, Ted? Really?
Well, I would've been very surprised if it were true, having seen no
midgets on any of my excursions on the Orange Line, but Jorn Barger
tells me that I'm too quick to assume that fantastic stories (especially
those involving the very short) are not true. And why would anyone make
something this ludicrous up?
Strange, strange.
H McAllister
Mike Holmans wrote in message ...
<snip>
>OK, there's been a bunch of follow-ups which indicate that this is a
>load of old cobblers, as Ted suggested when giving the source.
>
>Now then, the general reason why someone concocted this story is obvious
>from the newsgroup list. The only Vienna (apart from the awful Ultravox
>song) I know is the one in Australia, but this, I presume, is a fairly
>small town near Washington DC. I guess most USAans don't know anyone
>from there (whereas almost every merkin knows someone from NYC, I'd
>hazard), so spreading it amongst the people who believe that Bill eats
>babies shouldn't be too hard.
>
>people supposed to have some other fears about hostile midgets attacking
>them? (You can tell that we saw Tod Browning's "Freaks" on TV a couple
>of nights ago, can't you?) In other words, what public dread does it
>feed off?
A variant that clearly indicates the "hostile midgets attacking them" can be
found in my hometown.
When I was in middle school in Corinth, Mississippi (population 15,000), I
heard many rumors about a "midget farm" located outside the city limits
which supposedly consisted of a few trailers. Most of the stories were
FOAF-of-an-older-sibling tales. I never heard them repeated by adults or
written up in the local newspaper, however, I met a few people in college
who had heard about the midget farm from some of my classmates.
Typical example:
Bubba went out with some friends last night. They had been drinking and
riding around for a little while and decided to drive out to the midget
farm. When they drove past the first time, somebody turned off the lights
in the trailers. The second time around, someone shot at them a few times.
All of the stories I remember hearing involved violence from the midget
farm, with the exception of "The Midget Farm Burned to the Ground and
*They* Found Satanic Stuff (pentagram drawn with goat's blood, etc)".
>
>Mike "Bob Marley?" Holmans
>
>El Sig thought Legoland was a joint of meat
>
jo...@mcs.com
In article <6i06th$c...@saltmine.radix.net>,
m...@Radix.Net (Ted Frank) wrote:
> .... Jorn Barger
> tells me that I'm too quick to assume that fantastic stories (especially
> those involving the very short) are not true.
Kia's not _that_ short, Ted...
j
-----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==-----
http://www.dejanews.com/ Now offering spam-free web-based newsreading
Ted Frank
In article <6i25gh$kil$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>, <jo...@mcs.com> wrote:
>In article <6i06th$c...@saltmine.radix.net>,
> m...@Radix.Net (Ted Frank) wrote:
>> .... Jorn Barger
>> tells me that I'm too quick to assume that fantastic stories (especially
>> those involving the very short) are not true.
>
>Kia's not _that_ short, Ted...
No, she's not; indeed, she's four inches taller than her movie-star
doppleganger. And probably a better silversmith to boot.
I still, however, maintain that there is no worldwide conspiracy of
dwarves living in Pepsi machines, despite any argument of yours to the
contrary.
ObUL: Thomas Pynchon is really J.D. Salinger and vice versa.
ObUL2: J.D. Salinger would've been forgotten a long time ago if he
wasn't trying so hard to accomplish precisely that.
Curtis Cameron
In the early 80's, when Fantasy Island was a popular TV show, I heard
that the midget actor on that show had built an apartment complex which
was completely scaled down to better accommodate his dwarf friends.
Everything was scaled down; the doors were shorter, the ceilings lower,
counter tops lower, and on and on.
Further, this generous man used his TV show royalties to pay for the
apartments himself, and he allowed all the guests to stay there for no
rent.
Listener: Really? What is the name of the apartments?
Stay-free mini pads!
--
-Curtis Cameron
WGS-84 33.033N, 96.724W
Andrew Welsh
mz...@interport.net ( ) wrote:
: There is supposedly a midget neighborhood in New Jersey just off the
: palisades parkway about 20 minutes from the George Washington Bridge. I
: havent seen it myself, but Ive heard about it from a few people...Mike
I feel obliged to point out here that I am led to believe (in part by a
story in yesterday's NY Times - which can be found by searching the nytimes.com
site with the string "houston dwarf council") that the appropriate term for
persons of this nature is "Dwarf".
andrew "they'll thank you for it" Welsh
--
Andrew Welsh (and...@panix.com|http://www.panix.com/~andreww)
Opinions expressed above are not necessarily endorsed by my employers.
"I'm bigger and bolder and rougher and tougher" - Dominator, Human Resource
Bob McQueer
Alameda, CA has a neighborhood with houses that seem
about 3/4 size, too. Don't know the story behind it.
> >>Aboard the Good Ship Venus
> >>You really should have seen us
> >>With a figurehead of a whore in bed
> >>And a mast of a phallic genus
> >
> >The first mate was the Gipper,
> >A rotten little nipper
> >He filled his ass with broken glass
> >And circumcised the Skipper.
>
> The captain's youngest daughter
> was washed into the water
> Her plaintive squeals announced that eels
> Had found her sexual quarter.
The ship's dog's name was Rover,
We rolled that poor dog over
and ground and ground that faithful hound
from Cape Cod back to Dover
This could be a long cascade. My copy has
10 verses. Who's going to start "The Bastard
King of England"?
--
| and with these words
Bob McQueer | we parted each feeling
bo...@akamail.com | superior to the other and is not that
| feeling after all one of the great
| desiderata of social intercourse
| archy
Doktor Technologicus
WHOOMP! There it is:
<midgets>
>
>A variant that clearly indicates the "hostile midgets attacking them" can be
>found in my hometown.
>
>When I was in middle school in Corinth, Mississippi (population 15,000), I
>heard many rumors about a "midget farm" located outside the city limits
>which supposedly consisted of a few trailers. Most of the stories were
>FOAF-of-an-older-sibling tales. I never heard them repeated by adults or
>written up in the local newspaper, however, I met a few people in college
>who had heard about the midget farm from some of my classmates.
>
>Typical example:
>
>Bubba went out with some friends last night. They had been drinking and
>riding around for a little while and decided to drive out to the midget
>farm. When they drove past the first time, somebody turned off the lights
>in the trailers. The second time around, someone shot at them a few times.
The local New Jersey version is that if you go there and honk your
horn late at night, they will come out and...look at you. Sometimes
it's said the midgets will jump on the car for invading their space.
Once I had a Hispanic child throw a rock at me while I was there,
without related honking. The child was not a midget. He yelled at me
to "Get the heck out."
--
Tony Sweeney
Bob McQueer wrote:
> Alameda, CA has a neighborhood with houses that seem
> about 3/4 size, too. Don't know the story behind it.
Really? Where in Alameda?
Tony "exingres" Sweeney.
Maggie Newman
In article <6i29i7$d...@panix.com>, Andrew Welsh <and...@panix.com> wrote:
>
>I feel obliged to point out here that I am led to believe (in part by a
>story in yesterday's NY Times - which can be found by searching the nytimes.com
>site with the string "houston dwarf council") that the appropriate term for
>persons of this nature is "Dwarf".
>
They are two separate things. A midget is perfectly proportioned, but
small. A dwarf has a large trunk but very short arms and legs. There
are certain cranial anomalies associated with dwarfs, too, I believe.
Also their fingers are shaped smaller. I believe that all these people
now prefer the sobriquet "little people."
Maggie "no reason to live" Newman <-- no relation
Timothy A. McDaniel
In article <6i06th$c...@saltmine.radix.net>, Ted Frank <m...@Radix.Net> wrote:
>And why would anyone make something this ludicrous up?
The m*tt* contest is closed.
--
Tim McDaniel. Reply to tm...@crl.com; if that fail, tm...@austin.ibm.com
is work account. tm...@tmcd.austin.tx.us ... is wrong tool. Never use this.
mitcho
Maggie Newman wrote:
> They are two separate things. A midget is perfectly proportioned, but
> small. A dwarf has a large trunk but very short arms and legs. There
> are certain cranial anomalies associated with dwarfs, too, I believe.
> Also their fingers are shaped smaller. I believe that all these people
> now prefer the sobriquet "little people."
It's difficult to keep up.
I did a little search on the Web, looking for the Official Position on
this, but I couldn't find anything. A DejaNews search revealed some
controversy. A Jamal Mazrui posted the following advice among many
other suggestions in bit.listserv.easi:
'Do not refer to people under 4'10" as dwarfs or midgets. Use person of
small (or short) stature. Dwarfism is an accepted medical term, but it
should not be used
as general terminology. Some groups prefer "little people." However,
that implies a less than full, adult status in society.'[1]
But then I found this from an account of a sort of little persons'
convention:
'But most of the bickering here didn't concern the hotel. Some
attendees, critical of the clownish roles Hollywood typically awards
dwarfs, resented the presence of a Walt Disney Co. booth recruiting for
theme-park actors. Others, finding the term "little people" nearly as
offensive as "midgets," lobbied to change the organization's name to
"short-statured people" or "dwarfs." At a booth offering T-shirts,
Danny Black sold about 300 that proclaimed: "Real Live Dwarf."'[2]
Mitcho
At damn near two meters, I guess I'm the Antidwarf
[1] <960807152716_74...@CompuServe.COM> (96/08/07 050
Disability language tips, bit.listserv.easi, Jamal Mazrui)
[2] <Pine.SV4.3.91.96091...@golden.ripco.com> (96/09/20
hotels welcome disabled, misc.handicap, Kelly Pierce)
Don Whittington
> I did a little search on the Web, looking for the Official Position on
> this, but I couldn't find anything.
Story of my life. I've been looking for data since this thread started and
have come up empty. I clearly remember reading an article within the last
three years or so about a town whose population largely consists of retired
freak show attractions and carnies. (Or large numbers of each group prefer
to retire to this community.)
The focus of the article was a man with deformed hands who was once billed
as either Lobster Boy or Lobster Man. (This was not a tabloid story, by
the way, though it sure sounds like one.) He had slain his wife (perhaps
she threatened him with butter) and ended up in a shootout which he lost.
(Not surprising. I remember trying to reconcile the descriptions of his
hands with his ability to pull a trigger.)
I thought perhaps this community might have been the genesis behind the
tiny town of the story. I believe the town was in Florida, but I may be
confusing it with the community near the circus school down there.
Perhaps Mr. Bradham's research assistant who is so wise in the ways of the
web could find it, but I and Alta Vista have failed.
Don "I can find Yahoo all right" Whittington
axel heyst
In article <3544c40...@news.erols.com>,
BeneathForn...@ASekritLab.com (Doktor Technologicus) wrote:
>The local New Jersey version is that if you go there and honk your
>horn late at night, they will come out and...look at you.
I knew there was something about those midgets I didn't like! Is anyone
looking into this?
axel heyst
Christine Malcom
Maggie Newman <smne...@gsbkma.uchicago.edu> wrote:
>They are two separate things. A midget is perfectly proportioned, but
>small. A dwarf has a large trunk but very short arms and legs. There
>are certain cranial anomalies associated with dwarfs, too, I believe.
>Also their fingers are shaped smaller. I believe that all these people
>now prefer the sobriquet "little people."
Dwarfism is most commonly caused by an autosomal dominant condition called
achondroplasia. It affects all bones that are ossified in cartilage: limb
bones, including finger and toe bones, etc. Bones that are ossified in
membrane are not affected. This includes the bones of the vault of the
skull and the trunk. This means that the 'little people' have trunks and
heads that develop 'normally' but growth is stunted elsewhere.
Christine "Lo Ho!" Malcom-Dept. of Anthropology
____________________________________________________________________________
The depiction of nasal discharges in prominent public contexts is alien to
Western religious traditions. - RL Burger
Doktor Technologicus
WHOOMP! There it is:
>Alameda, CA has a neighborhood with houses that seem
>about 3/4 size, too. Don't know the story behind it.
A married couple of midgets retired, basking in wealth, and had a
mini-castle built in New Jersey. Info can be found at Weird NJ, the
address of which escapes me. If you want to know more, hunt down the
link at www.nutley.com.
>> >>Aboard the Good Ship Venus
>> >>You really should have seen us
>> >>With a figurehead of a whore in bed
>> >>And a mast of a phallic genus
>> >
>> >The first mate was the Gipper,
>> >A rotten little nipper
>> >He filled his ass with broken glass
>> >And circumcised the Skipper.
>>
>> The captain's youngest daughter
>> was washed into the water
>> Her plaintive squeals announced that eels
>> Had found her sexual quarter.
>
>The ship's dog's name was Rover,
>We rolled that poor dog over
>and ground and ground that faithful hound
>from Cape Cod back to Dover
>
The captain of the lugger
Was known as a filthy bugger
Declared unfit to shovel grit
From one ship to another.
>This could be a long cascade. My copy has
>10 verses. Who's going to start "The Bastard
>King of England"?
I prefer "Boom Boom Boom"...since I know it. It's difficult learning
sea shanties when you're a land-locked youth.
Ulo Melton
Don Whittington wrote:
>Story of my life. I've been looking for data since this thread started and
>have come up empty. I clearly remember reading an article within the last
>three years or so about a town whose population largely consists of retired
>freak show attractions and carnies. (Or large numbers of each group prefer
>to retire to this community.)
>The focus of the article was a man with deformed hands who was once billed
>as either Lobster Boy or Lobster Man. (This was not a tabloid story, by
>the way, though it sure sounds like one.) He had slain his wife (perhaps
>she threatened him with butter) and ended up in a shootout which he lost.
>(Not surprising. I remember trying to reconcile the descriptions of his
>hands with his ability to pull a trigger.)
I sent the Sewergator Enterprises Research Fellow out to have a look at
the web, and he wonders if you might be thinking of Gibsonton, Florida.
From <http://www.roadsideamerica.com/feednew.html>:
[RA: Gibsonton was famous as a Sideshow Wintering town, home to
Percilla the Monkey girl, the Anatomical Wonder, and the late Lobster
Boy, who was murdered. The Siamese twin Hilton sisters ran a fruit
stand here. It's got the only post office with a counter for midgets.
Aside from the agreeable winter climate, Gibsonton offered unique
circus zoning laws that allowed residents to keep elephants and circus
trailers on their front lawns. The Giant's Boot shown here is just
down the street from Giant's Camp.]
See also <http://www.gibtown.com/>. To find more info, the Reseach Fellow
advises an AltaVista search string such as:
gibsonton AND (circus OR carnival) AND NOT x-files
Ulo "don't forget that last part" Melton
Don Whittington
In article <Es3y...@midway.uchicago.edu>, cm...@midway.uchicago.edu
(Christine Malcom) wrote:
> Don Whittington <donc...@flash.net> wrote:
> >The focus of the article was a man with deformed hands who was once billed
> >as either Lobster Boy or Lobster Man. (This was not a tabloid story, by
> >the way, though it sure sounds like one.) He had slain his wife (perhaps
> >she threatened him with butter) and ended up in a shootout which he lost.
> >(Not surprising. I remember trying to reconcile the descriptions of his
> >hands with his ability to pull a trigger.)
>
> See? This is why we don't cite the author's of fiction. Don, allow me to
> be the first to say that you're wrong wrong wrongitty wrong wrong wrong.
> Nana boo boo.
Sigh.
At least Ulo found the town. See, this is why I tried to look it up first.
I didn't do too badly, though. I only had the murders backward and an
imaginary shootout. I skipped the part about the high speed chase that
didn't happen.
You guys are so persnickety.
Don "got to get one of them Dummies books" Whittington
Christine Malcom
Don Whittington <donc...@flash.net> wrote:
>three years or so about a town whose population largely consists of retired
>freak show attractions and carnies. (Or large numbers of each group prefer
>to retire to this community.)
>
>as either Lobster Boy or Lobster Man. (This was not a tabloid story, by
>the way, though it sure sounds like one.) He had slain his wife (perhaps
>she threatened him with butter) and ended up in a shootout which he lost.
>(Not surprising. I remember trying to reconcile the descriptions of his
>hands with his ability to pull a trigger.)
>
>tiny town of the story. I believe the town was in Florida, but I may be
>confusing it with the community near the circus school down there.
Don, you heinous author of fiction, may you never be cited as an
authoritative source because you're wrong wrong, wrongitty wrong wrong
wrong.
The odd tale of Lobster Boy's murder * The sideshow performer with
genetic deformities was killed by a hit man his wife hired.
The Fresno Bee
Fresno, Calif.
Jan 12, 1995
Authors: James Martinez Associated Press
ISSN: 08896070
Dateline: GIBSONTON, Fla.
Copyright McClatchy Newspapers, Inc. Jan 12, 1995
His destiny was clear from the moment he emerged from the womb
with pincerlike hands and flipper legs. As the fourth generation of his
family born with the deformities, and the son of the 1930s sideshow
performer Lobster Man, it was only natural when a smiling Grady Stiles
Jr. took the stage as Lobster Boy at age 7.
For nearly half a century, he traveled from town to town on the carnival
circuit, hoisting himself atop a cushioned platform in a sweltering
tent."Good evening ladies and gentlemen, I am the Lobster Boy," he would
say. "This condition is not caused by drugs or diseases. It runs in the
family."
As the boy grew into a bald, barrel-chested man, he remained
seemingly unfazed by the stares and the jeers and the taunts. It was the
only life Stiles ever knew.
Plotting
And this was all the public would know of him until a cold November
night two years ago when his wife arranged to have him killed.
It was a case of kill or be killed, she said, the only way to put an end
to
his drunken beatings and threats, to protect herself and her daughter and
stepson, both born with the same deformities.
So one night while Lobster Boy watched television in their
trailer in Gibsonton, a ragged community south of Tampa for an aging
collection of carnival folk, his wife slipped out for a quick visit with
relatives nearby.
"Hurry back," Stiles called to her, sitting there in his underwear with a
glass of iced tea.
With that, a hit man who had been paid $1,500 crept out of a back room
where he had been hiding and fired two .32-caliber bullets into the
55-year-old carnival attraction's brain.He was buried in a showman's
cemetery. A bouquet of flowers adorned his coffin with a banner:
"From your loving wife."
Prison bound
Mary Teresa Stiles, 56, was sentenced on Aug. 29 to 12 years in prison
for manslaughter. She was later freed on bond while she appeals her
case.
She is still puzzled that jurors didn't fully buy her argument that
she was battered by a powerfully built, bottle-a-day drunk who vented
his rage on the whole family. She said she had no alternative but to
have him killed.
"My husband was going to kill my family -- I believe
that from the bottom of my heart," she told the judge through tears at
her sentencing.
And in this close-knit community of present and former carnival workers,
which clings to the moniker "Showtown U.S.A.," there is little sympathy
for Mrs. Stiles.
Many knew and respected Lobster Boy. They remember him as a smart
businessman who went from working in multifreak caravans to owning
his own shows. When people were down on their luck, he would lend them
money.
Though he often was disagreeable and drank to excess -- Seagrams
7 doubles with a splash of Coke -- most carnies agreed with prosecutors,
who called the slaying a murder of convenience.
"All she had to do was walk away," said Jeanie Tomaini, 77,
a white-haired woman with wire-rimmed glasses who was once billed as
"The World's Oldest Living Half-Lady."
"I don't have any legs or much of anything going for me," Tomaini said,
"but if anybody gives me a hard time you better know I'll be out of
there."
Tomaini, who is 2-foot-6, was born without legs and performed with
her late husband Al, 8-foot-4, before she retired in 1949. Now she sells
bait at her Giants Fish Camp on the nearby Alafia River.
Bad memoriesTwo of Lobster Boy's children, Cathy Stiles, 25, and
Grady Stiles III, 18, can't say enough bad things about the father who
sometimes pulled them on stage to show how they inherited the lobster
claw syndrome that's been in the family since the 1840s.
The syndrome is known medically as ectrodactyly. The middle digits
on the foot and hand are missing and the remaining ones fuse into two
parts.Cathy described her father as "Satan himself." She said he refused
to allow them to venture out on the carnival midways unless they wore
large leather gloves so that carnivalgoers -- "marks" -- wouldn't get a
free peek at their condition.
Cathy said that a few years ago, when she was seven months pregnant,
her drunken father knocked her out of her wheelchair when she tried to
stop him from swatting her mother.The next morning she was rushed to
the hospital for an emergency Caesarean section. Her daughter, Misty,
now 4, was born prematurely. She has the same lobster-claw deformities.
The sixth generation.
Mary Teresa claims that at age 19 she ran away from an abusive home to
join the carnival. She and Stiles were married in 1958 and had two
children.
One, Donna, had no deformities. The other was Cathy, the fifth
generation.
Only a few years into the marriage, Mrs. Stiles said, whiskey transformed
her
husband from a caring family man into a battering brute. The marriage
ended in 1973.
But Mrs. Stiles said her love for Lobster Boy drove her back into his
arms.
They remarried in 1989 after he divorced his second wife and assured
her his drinking days were over.
"Two weeks later," she said, "he was back to the same old Grady."
Christine "But did he scream when they buried him?" Malcom-Dept. of
Don Whittington
In article <Es40x...@midway.uchicago.edu>, cm...@midway.uchicago.edu
(Christine Malcom) wrote:
> Don, you heinous author of fiction, may you never be cited as an
> authoritative source because you're wrong wrong, wrongitty wrong wrong
> wrong.
From my new mystery: "Stop Peking at Me" due spring of '99 from Random House.
It was just after four-thirty when the perky, yet wizened, professor of
anthropology, Carrotine Morecombe surprised her associates with the theory
that *homo eructus*, the so-called "gassy man" of the preprandial Cadbury
period survived entirely on a diet of grouse throats and Cheetos. Once
delivered of her theory she swept from the room leaving her astounded
brethren to ponder.
"What the hell was that all about?" asked Ted.
"Who knows. The woman's a lunatic," answered Jeffrey.
"Perky, though."
"Shame she's so wizened with it."
"Very wizened I'd say." Ted raised his brows in question. "Shall I?"
"Shall you what?"
"Oh come on, Mary, you know you want it."
Before Jeffrey could respond to this extraordinary gesture an
undergraduate burst into the room.
"Come quick. Professor Morecombe's been run over by a bus in the library."
"Oh, my," said Jeffrey. "Is she hurt?"
"Dead, I expect. Bus rather flattened her."
"Greyhound bus? Aye they do that."
"Pity," the student said, then sidled quickly beyond the reach of Ted
who was creeping up from behind him. "Still she's less wizened than she
was, so that's something."
Jeffrey investigates how the bus got into the library without a parking
sticker, and uncovers the history of bizarre love...
Well, you get the idea.
Don "or maybe she survives the bus, and buys a new place setting" Whittington
Joanna Hillman
Don Whittington <donc...@flash.net> wrote in article
<doncopra-ya0240800...@news.flash.net>...
> [...] I clearly remember reading an article within the last
> three years or so about a town whose population largely consists of
retired
> freak show attractions and carnies. (Or large numbers of each group
prefer
> to retire to this community.)
>
> The focus of the article was a man with deformed hands who was once
billed
>
> I thought perhaps this community might have been the genesis behind the
> tiny town of the story. I believe the town was in Florida, but I may be
> confusing it with the community near the circus school down there.
>
the
> web could find it, but I and Alta Vista have failed.
For the sake of Mr. Bradham's long-suffering assistant, wading through
heroin mocha java possets and whatnot, I thought I'd take a whack at this
one.
Your post brought to mind a news story that occupied local (i.e., Tampa)
headlines during one of my school vacations. In 1992, Mary Teresa Stiles
and one of her children paid a hitman US$1500 to shoot her abusive husband
Grady Stiles Jr., aka the Lobster Boy, while he sat watching TV in his
trailer in Gibsonton, Florida [1]. Mary was charged and convicted of
manslaughter and conspiracy to commit first degree murder, although, as of
February 1997, the case was being appealed.
From http://www.chairpage.com/timeline/1997/02/sc970220.html --
Grady Stiles II (aka "The Lobster Boy") was born in Pittsburgh, USA in
1937. Like many other members of his family, his hands and legs were
malformed. He was raised as a 'freak', travelling around the United States
in some of the biggest travelling carnivals from the 1940s through until
the 1980s.
During his life he married and had four children. When one of his daughters
tried to elope with a boyfriend of whom he did not approve, Grady shot him
dead at point blank range. Amazingly, the courts did not jail him for
committing this murder, so for the rest of his life the Lobster Boy
physically abused his family. He would tell them "I killed once and got
away with it. I can do it again".
[end quote]
You're correct in recalling that carnies have established a community in
Gibsonton. Apparently, both you and I missed the July 1997 episode of the
Jerry Springer Show filmed there. Jerry interviewed residents such as
"Jeanie 'The Only Living Half Girl' Tomaini; Perscilla 'The Monkey Girl'
Bejano; woman with a beard--not bearded lady--Jennifer Miller; Melvin 'The
Anatomical Wonder' Burkhart; Karl Slover, the last of Singer’s Midgets and
one of the Munchkins from the Wizard of Oz; [and] Lobster Kids, Cathy and
Grady Stiles" [2].
A (not terribly serious) review of "Lobster Boy: The Bizarre and Brutal
Death of Grady Stiles Jr." from the Dallas Observer's site claims that the
Lobster Boy tale inspired an episode of "The X-Files." This episode, set
in a small Florida town replete with geeks, blockheads, Siamese twins and
other carny folk, aired at least a couple of years ago, and I wonder
whether the vectorious nature of the program (as with "Law & Order") might
cause a resurgence of sightings (or recollections of sightings) of
midget-towns and the like.
Joanna "former long-suffering research flunky -- no, wait, I mean 'The Only
Living Former Long-Suffering Research Flunky!'" Hillman
1. Gibsonton is in west central Florida, a little south and east of Tampa.
If memory serves, the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey circus community
winters in or near Venice, FL, while the clown college is located with the
rest of the Ringling aggregate (museum, mansion, art school) in Sarasota.
2. Grady Stiles III has inherited the genetic fusion of extremities that
gives his hands a "lobster"-like appearance. However, he has quit
performing and taken a job as night manager at a Long John Silver's
restaurant. My cites for these bits are
http://www.atomicbooks.com/shocked/june97/jun97update.html and
http://www.joebates.com/joesfreakshow/freak8.htm [3]
3. It's not the AP; I know. Access to Lexis-Nexis may be the one thing I
really miss about my old job.
Doktor Technologicus
WHOOMP! There it is:
>Doktor Technologicus writnologicus:
>
>>>Once I had a Hispanic child throw a rock at me while
>>>I was there, without related honking. The child was
>>>not a midget. He yelled at me to "Get the heck out."
>
>
I was not even a glimmer in the eye of the malformed subhuman who
fathered me in those days of old.
girl guitarist libertine
>convention:
>
>'But most of the bickering here didn't concern the hotel. Some
>attendees, critical of the clownish roles Hollywood typically awards
>dwarfs, resented the presence of a Walt Disney Co. booth recruiting for
>theme-park actors. Others, finding the term "little people" nearly as
>offensive as "midgets," lobbied to change the organization's name to
>"short-statured people" or "dwarfs." At a booth offering T-shirts,
>Danny Black sold about 300 that proclaimed: "Real Live Dwarf."'[2]
well, sure. some people take themselves less seriously than
others, and that includes people of all ethnicities, sizes,
and configurations. in high school, a friend of mine tooled
around in her wheelchair wearing a t-shirt that said, "I'm
not disabled, I'm just lazy."
in general, i don't think it's safe to assume that whatever
term is currently in vogue for a given person's ethnicity/
size/configuration will please them, but of course when you
are actually talking to such a person, the issue rarely comes
up. unless you're in the habit of saying things like, "so,
Maxwell, what is your perspective on the world economy,
speaking as a developmentally challenged, short-statured
african-american alopecia sufferer of size?" of course, if
you're in the habit of saying things like that, you probably
don't have many friends anyway.
m
whose father chooses to identify himself as a "blind, crippled nerd".
--
it's got a good beat and you can angst to it http://www.merde.org
GrapeApe
>(lobster boy) a job as night manager at a Long John Silver's
>restaurant.
We may not serve lobster, but that wont keep a lobster from serving you! Shiver
Me timbers Mateys!
Steve Caskey
Don Whittington <donc...@flash.net> wrote:
> (Christine Malcom) wrote:
> > Don, you heinous author of fiction, may you never be cited as an
> > authoritative source because you're wrong wrong, wrongitty wrong wrong
> > wrong.
>
House.
>
Don, Don, Don, Don, Don. You didn't _need_ to share that with us. Christine
said "heinous author of fiction", not "author of heinous fiction". Now we all
know.
Steve "author of 'I Was A Chinese Werewolf,
Or Beijing At The Moon'" Caskey
--
Just another mindless public servant at the Ministry of Education
"I'd like to challenge that assertion, but I have even less data to support
my challenge than Mr. Fife has to support his assertion." -- Ray Depew
See the alt.folklore.urban FAQ and archive at http://www.urbanlegends.com
Don Whittington
In article <doncopra-ya0240800...@news.flash.net>,
donc...@flash.net (Don Whittington) wrote:
> My apologizes.
Oh, good grief! I need a long rest.
Don Whittington
Keith Lynch
In article <353F9D...@global.net>, HOOVER <ho...@global.net> wrote:
> There is a neighborhood in Vienna, Va, located about 30 miles west
> of Washington, DC that is designated for small people. It's been
> designated "Midget-Town".
I've never heard of this, and I've lived here in Vienna for 23 of the
past 25 years. I also shop, walk, bike, and use the library here, and
am a member of various community organizations.
Also, Vienna's only about half that distance from DC.
(Posted and mailed.)
--
Keith Lynch, k...@clark.net
http://www.clark.net/pub/kfl/
I boycott all spammers.
Quixote Digital Typography
In article <6i6eme$6sv$1...@clarknet.clark.net>,
Keith Lynch <k...@clark.net> wrote:
>In article <353F9D...@global.net>, HOOVER <ho...@global.net> wrote:
>> There is a neighborhood in Vienna, Va, located about 30 miles west
>> of Washington, DC that is designated for small people. It's been
>> designated "Midget-Town".
>I've never heard of this, and I've lived here in Vienna for 23 of the
>past 25 years. I also shop, walk, bike, and use the library here, and
>am a member of various community organizations.
>Also, Vienna's only about half that distance from DC.
Must be a different Vienna that he's talking about then, no?
-dh
--
Don Hosek dho...@quixote.com Quixote Digital Typography
312/953-3679 fax: 312/803-0698 orders: 800-810-3311
For information about SERIF: THE MAGAZINE OF TYPE & TYPOGRAPHY,
http://www.quixote.com/serif/ or mail serif...@quixote.com
Mike Holmans
On 29 Apr 1998 07:18:08 -0700, qui...@shell2.bayarea.net (Quixote
Digital Typography) wrote:
>In article <6i6eme$6sv$1...@clarknet.clark.net>,
>Keith Lynch <k...@clark.net> wrote:
>>In article <353F9D...@global.net>, HOOVER <ho...@global.net> wrote:
>>> There is a neighborhood in Vienna, Va, located about 30 miles west
>>> of Washington, DC that is designated for small people. It's been
>>> designated "Midget-Town".
>
>>I've never heard of this, and I've lived here in Vienna for 23 of the
>>past 25 years. I also shop, walk, bike, and use the library here, and
>>am a member of various community organizations.
>
>>Also, Vienna's only about half that distance from DC.
>
>Must be a different Vienna that he's talking about then, no?
>
Yeah. Prolly the one in Australia.
Mike "Schnitzel Waltz" Holmans
El Sig heard Signors singing. He Canberra when she does that
--
The exciting AFU FAQ, and many other things, can be found at
http://www.urbanlegends.com
pat
Mike Holmans wrote:
> On 29 Apr 1998 07:18:08 -0700, qui...@shell2.bayarea.net (Quixote
> Digital Typography) wrote:
>
> >In article <6i6eme$6sv$1...@clarknet.clark.net>,
> >Keith Lynch <k...@clark.net> wrote:
> >>In article <353F9D...@global.net>, HOOVER <ho...@global.net> wrote:
> >>> There is a neighborhood in Vienna, Va, located about 30 miles west
> >>> of Washington, DC that is designated for small people. It's been
> >>> designated "Midget-Town".
> >
> >>I've never heard of this, and I've lived here in Vienna for 23 of the
> >>.
> >
> >Must be a different Vienna that he's talking about then, no?
> >
> Yeah. Prolly the one in Australia.
well it might be a town for small minds, not small people.
;-)
.
JoAnne Schmitz
On Mon, 27 Apr 1998 23:06:31 -0600, donc...@flash.net (Don Whittington)
wrote:
>Story of my life. I've been looking for data since this thread started and
>have come up empty. I clearly remember reading an article within the last
>three years or so about a town whose population largely consists of retired
>freak show attractions and carnies. (Or large numbers of each group prefer
>to retire to this community.)
>
>The focus of the article was a man with deformed hands who was once billed
>as either Lobster Boy or Lobster Man. (This was not a tabloid story, by
>the way, though it sure sounds like one.) He had slain his wife (perhaps
>she threatened him with butter) and ended up in a shootout which he lost.
>(Not surprising. I remember trying to reconcile the descriptions of his
>hands with his ability to pull a trigger.)
>
>I thought perhaps this community might have been the genesis behind the
>tiny town of the story. I believe the town was in Florida, but I may be
>confusing it with the community near the circus school down there.
I have heard somewhere, though never seen conclusive evidence, that the
northern circus grounds were in Virginia. Tyson's Corner? Hampton Roads?
Though I live only a state away I'm not at all sure if this is anywhere
near Vienna, Virginia.
The source for this may have been a Discovery/Learning Channel special
about "freaks" narrated by Jason Alexander.
JoAnne "person of average stature with no Virginia map at hand" Schmitz
Alice Faber
>On Mon, 27 Apr 1998 23:06:31 -0600, donc...@flash.net (Don Whittington)
>wrote:
>>Story of my life. I've been looking for data since this thread started and
>>have come up empty. I clearly remember reading an article within the last
>>three years or so about a town whose population largely consists of retired
>>freak show attractions and carnies. (Or large numbers of each group prefer
>>to retire to this community.)
>>
>>The focus of the article was a man with deformed hands who was once billed
>>as either Lobster Boy or Lobster Man. (This was not a tabloid story, by
>>the way, though it sure sounds like one.) He had slain his wife (perhaps
>>she threatened him with butter) and ended up in a shootout which he lost.
>>(Not surprising. I remember trying to reconcile the descriptions of his
>>hands with his ability to pull a trigger.)
>>
>>I thought perhaps this community might have been the genesis behind the
>>tiny town of the story. I believe the town was in Florida, but I may be
>>confusing it with the community near the circus school down there.
>I have heard somewhere, though never seen conclusive evidence, that the
>northern circus grounds were in Virginia. Tyson's Corner? Hampton Roads?
>Though I live only a state away I'm not at all sure if this is anywhere
>near Vienna, Virginia.
For reasons that I can't fathom, I was able to lay hands on a AAA map of
Washington, DC and its environs that I last used, oh, about 6 years ago
(and to do so within 2 minutes). Tysons Corner looks to be about 2 miles
up the road from Vienna (on state route 123.
Alice "pack rat" Faber
kjpc...@earthlink.net
> >>>
> >>>In article <353F9D...@global.net>, HOOVER <ho...@global.net> >wrote:
> ><SNIP Post about an entire town of midgets, complete with scaled down
> >everything>
> >
> >I don't know about a town, but I've been to a pub in Manila that is entirely
> >owned and operated by hobbits, dwarves, midgets, and other small people.
> >Called the "Hobbit House", I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is not
> >some kind of freak show at all. Excellent live music, probably some of the
> >best in SE Asia. Avoid the deep fried cheese whiz.
> >
>
> I understand the difference between a dwarf and a midget, medically
> speaking, but what the hell is a "hobbit"?
>
> Yes, yes, Tolkien and all, but I assume the poster is referring to
> real people,
Yes, I am referring to a real town
near Washington DC, inhabited by
no one other than midgets. They
throw rocks at the passers by..
>
>
-----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==-----
http://www.dejanews.com/ Now offering spam-free web-based newsreading
Doktor Technologicus
WHOOMP! There it is:
<dwarven broadpost +2 snipped>
>
>Yes, I am referring to a real town
>near Washington DC, inhabited by
>no one other than midgets. They
>throw rocks at the passers by..
>>
>>
That sounds more like the work of millenially-challenged youth,
embittered by the lures and baits of society, than the work of
midgets.
Whenever I ride my bicycle in Passaic, NJ, children throw rocks at me.
I ask, "Why? Why hurl stones and rocks and pebbles, you midgets?" and
the reply, "We are children, not midgets!"
So I know the freakin' difference.
Edward Rice
In article <3553faa1...@news.clark.net>,
jsch...@qis.net (JoAnne Schmitz) wrote:
> I have heard somewhere, though never seen conclusive evidence, that the
> northern circus grounds were in Virginia. Tyson's Corner? Hampton
Roads?
> Though I live only a state away I'm not at all sure if this is anywhere
> near Vienna, Virginia.
Baileys Crossroads. Six or eight miles east-southeast of Midget-town.
-- Ed
Midget-town, Virginia
A.K. Masters, Frumious Bandersnatch
Bailey's Crossroads, in VA, was originally where a bunch of the little
people and regular-sized people from the Barnum & Bailey Circus lived,
in little stone houses. One or two of those houses are still there.
This may be what you're thinking of.
Arielle
--
Arielle K. Masters: Permission Denied Manager; Our Lady of Infinite Loops
ari...@bigfoot.com http://adams.patriot.net/~arielle
%:->Iooo|===| genealogy: http://adams.patriot.net/~arielle/air/geneal.html
I:->-8-===| Bad Movie Night: http://adams.patriot.net/~arielle/badmovie.html
The Cult of The Lamp: http://adams.patriot.net/~arielle/lamp.html
JoAnne Schmitz
On 4 May 1998 20:53:41 GMT, ari...@adams.patriot.net (A.K. Masters,
Frumious Bandersnatch) wrote:
>Bailey's Crossroads, in VA, was originally where a bunch of the little
>people and regular-sized people from the Barnum & Bailey Circus lived,
>in little stone houses. One or two of those houses are still there.
>
>This may be what you're thinking of.
Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Frumious. Do you have an
address, or street, or directions to that general area in Bailey's
Crossroads, so that Ed^H^HVirginia-based people can go have a look, and
maybe have things thrown at them?
JoAnne "thank you" Schmitz
Johnr Roberts
> In article <6i29i7$d...@panix.com>, Andrew Welsh <and...@panix.com> wrote:
> >
> >I feel obliged to point out here that I am led to believe (in part by a
> >story in yesterday's NY Times - which can be found by searching the nytimes.com
> >site with the string "houston dwarf council") that the appropriate term for
> >persons of this nature is "Dwarf".
> They are two separate things. A midget is perfectly proportioned, but
> small. A dwarf has a large trunk but very short arms and legs. There
> are certain cranial anomalies associated with dwarfs, too, I believe.
> Also their fingers are shaped smaller. I believe that all these people
> now prefer the sobriquet "little people."
I agree 100%. This is what I was taught growing up, and I would feel obliged to angrily correct someone who called me a dwarf, as I am in absolute proportion, just shrunk in the wash - like the pocket-sized MG Midget sports car.
Tim McDaniel
>On Monday, April 27, 1998 at 5:00:00 PM UTC+10, Maggie Newman wrote:
>I agree 100%.
Almost 25 years -- wow!
--
Tim McDaniel, tm...@panix.com
danny burstein
>In article <6ea7a48a-1a4f-4865...@googlegroups.com>,
>Johnr Roberts <johnr_...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>On Monday, April 27, 1998 at 5:00:00 PM UTC+10, Maggie Newman wrote:
>...
>>I agree 100%.
>Almost 25 years -- wow!
--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dan...@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]