If you roll down Highway 41 all the way to Hillsborough County, you will find yourself in the middle of a most unusual place!
Gibsonton was famous as a sideshow wintering town, where various people in the carnival and circus businesses would spend the off season.
It was home to Percilla the Monkey Girl, the Anatomical Wonder, the Alligator Man, the Mule-Faced Woman, and the infamous Lobster Boy. Siamese twin sisters ran a fruit stand here. At one time, it was the only post office with a counter for dwarfs.
Aside from the agreeable winter climate, Gibsonton offered unique circus zoning laws that allowed residents to keep elephants, monkeys, and circus trailers on their front lawns.
In other places these strange circus people would have often met with social rejection, but in Gibtown they were treated as average people bonded by the nomadic lifestyle of the traveling show.
The town began its decline over the decades as carnivals and freakshows became less popular. Another blow to the town’s reputation came in 1992, when the long-suffering wife of Lobster Boy paid her 17-year-old neighbor $1500 to kill her abusive husband.
Gibsonton is not the same as it was during the days of the Big Shows. Most of the famous “freaks” have died, but a few of their descendents still live in Gibtown. Driving through on Highway 41, it looks like any other place, with a grocery store, gas station, library, and even a tattoo shop.
But if you take the time to drive through the neighborhood the evidence is still there in the form of rusty parts to an amusement ride, a concession trailer, or perhaps an exotic animal here and there.
It is also home to the International Independent Showmen’s Museum, a treasure trove of banners, costumes, and memorabilia preserving the strange, glorious history of the midway.
Al the Giant is long gone, the Lobster Boy was killed, Jeanie the Half-Girl died at age 82 in 1999, and you’ll never hear the Fat Lady sing again. However, there is a strange nostalgia to Gibtown, especially if you like cotton candy, amusement rides, and weird exhibits.
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