Headline about Ezekiel Eads from the Morning Union, April 14, 1892.
From Charles Tripp the Armless Wonder and Eli Bowen the Legless Acrobat to Violetta the Trunk Woman and Prince Randian the Living Torso, sideshows have provided wealth, fame and friendships for people born without arms, legs, or no limbs whatsoever. But the Man Without Ears was one act that never took the stage.
Ezekiel Eads of Athens, New York, was born in the early 19th century with no ears. Not even an opening where the ears should’ve been. An 1892 article described the unusual character:
His deformity, sad as it was, may be said to have been partly alleviated by the curious construction of the inner portion of his head, which enabled him to hear common conversation through his mouth. When addressed he would instantly open his mouth and readily give answers to interrogations put to him in an ordinary tone of voice. But Ezekiel’s lack of ears was not his only distinction. He had a heavy crop of black hair spotted with white, the spots themselves being in the exact shape of human ears, feet, hands, etc. When he was quite a small baby it was noticed that his black hair was interspersed with oddly-shaped spots of white, which, however, did not take on their distinctive shapes until after he had passed his fifteenth year. When Mr. Eads died he left one son, aged forty-five, whose hair was as black as coal, not a single gray hair being discernable, and another son, thirteen years of age, whose hair was as gray as that of a man of seventy.”
Eads passed away in 1884 at the age of 65. Little else is known about him. Although he never joined sideshow or exhibited himself in a dime museum, his story did catch the attention of Robert Ripley. The Believe It Or Not! cartoonist featured him in one of his books, giving the earless man a sliver of immortality.
