She told friends she knew something was desperately wrong, but the disappearance of two little boys was of no interest to the local police and she was left to make her own inquiries. When her sons had failed to come home by sunset, their mother panicked. Within seconds they were gone, kidnapped into a life of subjugation as sideshow freaks. Stokes had only to offer them sweets to persuade them into his horse-drawn carriage. When they complained that their stomachs were rumbling, she sometimes gave them tobacco leaves, an appetite suppressant, to chew. Harriett, struggling to bring them up alone, barely had enough to feed them and they were always hungry. The two brothers (pictured in 1929 at the bottom, second right) were forced by Candy Shelton to wear their hair in long, white dreadlocks to make them look even more exoticīut there was no hiding the fact that the brothers were different - and Stokes, who ran a touring freak show, saw instant profit in their colouring and features. The Muse brothers were, indeed, the centre of attention at the annual lunch Mills held to give the great and good of London society a preview of that season's circus attractions. A newspaper claimed their wild locks grew so woolly and so quickly the trimmings could make the equivalent of three woollen shirts a year. In their early 30s when they arrived in London, they had been forced by Candy Shelton to wear their hair in long, white dreadlocks to make them look even more exotic. #Muse brothers skinTheir bodies were unable to produce skin pigment, giving them the features of their African-American parents but white skin, golden hair and pink-tinged blue eyes. Variously known as The Sheep-Headed Cannibals, The Ambassadors From Mars or the Ecuadorian Savages, their real names were George and Willie Muse and they had been born albinos. freak show operator, to send over two brothers who were among the biggest sensations of their day. So, in 1928, Mills asked James 'Candy' Shelton, a U.S. But those who packed his 6,000-seater big-top always wanted something new. Wonders such as Paul Leinert, the Human Cannonball, and Koringa, a 'female fakir' who hypnotised alligators, were popular. No wonder the celebrated showman was under pressure to find ever more unusual circus acts with which to titillate the crowds each year. George V and Winston Churchill were among a legion of VIP fans. The extravaganzas staged by Bertram Mills at London's Olympia every Christmas were events to see - and be seen at. George and Willie Muse had been born albinos and were known as the Sheep-Headed Cannibals
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