Curiosity
Now to be seen at the Masonic Hall, Chestnut st.
The Living Skeleton
CALVIN EDSON, THE LIVING SKELETON.
The public are respecfuly informed that this Wonderful Curiosity has returned from Europe, where he has been visited by Sir Astley Cooper, Sir Anthony Carlile, and most of the medical men, nobility and gentry of London; and has also been introduced to the College of Surgeons and Physicians in Paris and all pronounce him the most extraordinary man the world ever beheld. He has a wife and three children.
Mr. Edson was born in Stafford, Connecticut; is 43 years of age, and weighs but 58lbs. His former weight was 135 lbs. His former height was 5 feet 6 inches - he is now but 5 feet 3 inches. He can ride on horseback, and lift 150 lbs. Eats, drinks, and sleeps as well as any man. He attributes the cause of his wasting, to his having slept on the damp ground, the night after the battle of Plattsburgh, at which time he was serving in the American Army. He describes his sensations on awakening as being those of extreme numbness and coldness. From that moment he began to waste away, until he became the extraordinary MEMENTO he is at present. There is nothing in his dress or appearance to alarm the most delicate.
He will receive visitors for a few days only.
Admittance 25 cents - Children under 10 years of age, half price. Hours of admission, from 2 to 4, and from 6 to 9 o'clock, P.M.
(Philadelphia) Daily Chronicle 18 Jan 1832