Julia Pastrana

In a dusty corner at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Norway lie the remains of Julia Pastrana , half hidden in a black plastic sack, all but forgotten. Yet in the middle of the nineteenth century, this 'ape woman' was renowned, visited by scientists of international repute, and drawing the populace of three continents to the freakshows in which she starred. Just 4ft 6in tall, she was covered in hair, with a protruding jaw; but she also spoke several languages, married, had a child, made mo