Ella Harper was born in Hendersonville, Tennessee in 1873. Born with an extremely rare defect (a severe case of congenital genu recurvatum) that caused her knees to bend backwards, she could only comfortably walk on all fours. She became known to sideshow crowds as The Camel Girl. Ella was the star attraction of W.H. Harris’ Nickel Plate Circus. It’s reported that at the height of her popularity she commanded a salary of $200 a week, the average Amercian laborer made roughly $129 a year by comparison.
