Alice Elizabeth Doherty
Alice Doherty | |
|---|---|
 Doherty as a child | |
| Born | Alice Elizabeth Doherty March 14, 1887 Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Died | June 13, 1933 (aged 46) Dallas, Texas, U.S. |
| Other names | "The Minnesota Woolly Girl" |
Alice Elizabeth Doherty (March 14, 1887 – June 13, 1933) was an American woman born with the condition hypertrichosis lanuginosa.[1][2][3][4]
Biography
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Doherty was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with approximately 2-inch-long (5.1 cm) blonde hair all over her body. None of her relatives are known to have had a similar condition. She had blue eyes. Doherty had hypertrichosis lanuginosa.[2] Although this condition is very rare, other individuals were known for their similar appearances: Fedor Jeftichew ("Jo-Jo the Dog-faced Man"), Stephan Bibrowski ("Lionel the Lion-faced Man"), Jesús "Chuy" Aceves ("Wolfman"), and Annie Jones ("the bearded woman"). Hypertrichosis has many different variations, including differences in causation.
She was exhibited by her parents as a sideshow attraction from as early as the age of two. Later she was presented commercially by her mother and Professor Weller's One-Man Band throughout the Midwestern United States. She was consistently shown as a standalone exhibit in store front exhibitions. By the time she was five years old, her hair grew to about 5 inches (130 mm), eventually increasing to about 9 inches (230 mm) by the time she was a teenager. Doherty was never interested in entertainment, but continued to perform to support her family, anxiously awaiting retirement.
She retired from the entertainment business in 1915 and died of bronchial pneumonia in Dallas, Texas, on June 13, 1933, aged 46.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ "Sideshow World, Sideshow Performers from around the world". Retrieved 2016-11-16.
- ^ a b "Alice Doherty - The Minnesota Woolly Girl". Circus Freaks and Human Oddities. 2011-10-02. Retrieved 2016-11-16.
- ^ "Alice Doherty | Show History". showhistory.com. Archived from the original on 2016-11-17. Retrieved 2016-11-16.
- ^ "Prodigies by James G. Mundie - Symphony in Hair, No. 1: The Minnesota Woolly Girl". Missioncreep.com. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
- ^ Death certificate, Texas Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics. Elizabeth Alice Doherty, 26960. June 13, 1933. Rec'd June 17, 1933.