The Girl Newspapers Called “Part-Camel-Part-Human”
The life of Ella Harper, AKA the “Camel Girl.”
Ella Harper was born on January 5, 1870, in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Since birth, doctors diagnosed that she had an extremely rare orthopaedic condition called congenital genu recuvatum that caused her knees to bend backwards. Because of this condition, she preferred moving around on four limbs instead of two.
Circus Life
Historical records show that Ella started her gig at the circus around October of 1882. She mostly did shows around New Orleans and St. Louis but began travelling to different states towards the latter years of her career.
Ella Harper caught the eye of the showman W.H. Harris who immediately invited her to join his “Nickel Plate Circus” in 1886. During her performances, Ella would be accompanied by a camel when presented to the audience to demonstrate their backwards-bending-knee similarities.
Nicknamed “The Camel Girl” in Harris’s show, newspapers would often claim her as “the most wonderful freak of nature since the creation of the world” and that she was half-human-half-camel.
Before Ella’s performances, pitch cards explaining her condition were distributed to audience members. The cards stated:
