The misshapen man-monkey
Barnum repeatedly presented the public with curiosities that he advertised as missing links in the evolutionary chain. One of the first of these freaks of nature was the ‘man-monkey’, which he brought to Piccadilly’s Egyptian Hall in 1844. Barnum claimed the creature had been captured in the forests of California. In fact, it was a seasoned circus performer by the name of Harvey Leech. By blacking Leech up and covering his muscular and misshapen body with matted hair, Barnum expected his Wild Man to appeal to thousands of Londoners. And it did – despite being exposed as a hoax by The Times.