Charles Blondin

popular name: Daisy and Violet Hilton

date_of_death: January 4, 1969

age: 60

cause_of_death: Hong Kong flu

claim_to_fame: The Odd and the Interesting

best_know_for: Daisy and Violet Hilton, born in the early 1900s in Brighton, England, were conjoined twins joined at the hip and buttocks. Their lives were a blend of exploitation and fame, marked by challenges and achievements. Born to an unmarried barmaid, Kate Skinner, the twins were sold to her employer, Mary Hilton, who saw their potential as a spectacle. Under Mary Hilton's care, they were trained as performers and toured extensively, particularly in the U.S., where they were exhibited as "freaks" in sideshows and carnivals. After Mary's death, the twins became the wards of her daughter and son-in-law, Edith and Meyer Myers, who continued exploiting them financially and refusing to allow them out in public unless they were performing. They later gained legal independence in 1931 after suing the Myers family, receiving $100,000 in restitution (far below what they earned). The Hiltons became vaudeville stars, captivating their audiences with their talents including dancing, singing and playing instruments. Despite their fame, the Hilton sisters faced significant personal challenges. Exploitation in their early years left them unprepared to manage their finances and lives independently. They attempted romantic relationships, but societal prejudice and legal barriers prevented marriage. Their brief appearance in Tod Browning's 1932 cult classic film Freaks and the 1951 biopic Chained for Life showcased their lives but didn't lead to lasting success. As vaudeville declined, the sisters struggled financially. They ended up working in a grocery store in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 1969, they died of the Hong Kong flu, passing within days of each other due to their physical connection. After their passing, they were laid to rest at Forest Lawn West in Charlotte, NC.

popular name: Quinta Maggia McDonald

date_of_death: December 7, 1929

age: 29

cause_of_death: Radium sarcoma, industrial poisoning

claim_to_fame: The Odd and the Interesting

best_know_for: Quinta Maggia McDonald was the middle child of seven Maggia sisters; listed in order of age: Louise, Clara, Albina, Mollie, Quinta, Irma and Josephine. Children of Italian immigrants, Albina, Mollie, Quinta and Irma all worked in the radium-dial factory. Quinta was recruited to work at the United States Radium Corporation in Orange, New Jersey as a dial-painter. Like her sisters she would end up paying the price. The initial effects of radium seemed harmless, and the substance was popular amongst the younger girls in the factory. They would go home from a day of painting with their clothes glowing from the radium exposure. Some would even paint the buttons on their dresses or their nails, but the joy of the radium glow was short lived. Long-term radiation sickness symptoms soon became present among many of the women who worked with radium paint. Common issues included bone cancer, anemia, lesions, and sores. These problems were exhibited in Amelia Maggia, the first dial painter to die from radiation sickness. After Amelia's death, Quinta initially went to the doctor complaining of dental pain where her teeth began to just drop out of her mouth. Unlike her sister before her, she received a diagnoses of radium poisoning and was told there was no cure. Sometime later she noticed pain in her ankles, legs and hips and was put into plaster casts to keep her immobile in the chance this might bring some relieve. Upon her final hospitalization the doctors noticed a large sarcoma on her leg - the kind of bone tumor that killed a fellow Radium Girl a year before. She eventually lapsed into a coma and died at the age of 29 leaving behind two young children.

popular name: Elizabeth Glaser

date_of_death: December 3, 1994

age: 47

cause_of_death: Complications from AIDS

claim_to_fame: The Odd and the Interesting

best_know_for: Elizabeth Glaser was an actress, educator, activist, author, and founder of the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Elizabeth Glaser. In fact, it was Elizabeth Glaser’s fight to save her HIV-positive children led to her creation of the Pediatric AIDS Foundation to save children worldwide from the devastation of AIDS. Shortly after her marriage to actor Paul Michael Glaser, while giving birth to Ariel, Elizabeth hemorrhaged and was transfused with seven pints of blood. It wasn't until four years later that Elizabeth found out that she had been infected with the AIDS virus through the blood transfusion, and passed it on through her breastmilk to Ariel, who later died at the age of seven years old. The couple also had a son, Jake, who was infected with the virus in utero. Upon the death of her daughter, Glaser raised awareness of pediatric AIDS and pushed to extend availability of the drug AZT to children. In 1988, Glaser founded the Pediatric AIDS Association. In 1992, she spoke at the Democratic National Convention, criticizing the government’s failure to address the AIDS crisis. Her 1991 book, In the Absence of Angels, was praised for its honest discussion of losing a child. Glaser lost her battle with AIDS in 1994.