Myrtle Corbin

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Myrtle Corbin was born in Lincoln County, Tennessee, to William H. Corbin (age 25) and Nancy Corbin (née Sullins, age 34). Both parents were described by physicians as having auburn hair, blue eyes, and very fair complexion—so similar that doctors felt compelled to note they were not "blood kin." Her birth was not marked by anything "peculiar about the labour or delivery" according to her mother. Three weeks after birth, Corbin weighed 10 lb (4.5 kg) and was reported to "nurse healthily" and be "thriving well."

At age 13, Corbin entered the sideshow circuit as the "Four-Legged Girl from Texas." One of her first promotional pamphlets described her as being as "gentle of disposition as the summer sunshine and as happy as the day is long." Her popularity was such that other showmen turned to exhibiting four-legged gaffs (falsified performances), and after she stopped performing, several phony four-legged women appeared. Corbin married James Clinton Bicknell in 1886, when she was 18. The couple remained married for 42 years and had five children: four daughters and one son. In spring 1887, about a year after marriage, she became pregnant for the first time. She developed pain in her left side, fever, headache, loss of appetite, persistent vomiting, and missed menstrual periods. Dr. Lewis Whaley examined her and discovered she was pregnant. She became gravely ill, and Whaley performed a therapeutic abortion approximately eight weeks after his initial examination, when she was estimated to be between three and four months pregnant. Corbin made a full recovery and later carried additional pregnancies to term. Physicians determined the pregnancy was developing in her left uterus. According to Whaley, upon being told she was pregnant, she replied, "If it had been in my right side I would come nearer believing you are correct," from which physicians inferred she preferred intercourse on the right side—a fact commented upon in subsequent reports. In early 1928, Corbin developed a skin infection on her right leg. When it failed to heal, she sought treatment in Cleburne, Texas, where she was diagnosed with erysipelas, a streptococcal skin infection. She died on May 6, 1928, six days before her 60th birthday. Fearing her body would be stolen due to medical interest, her family encased her casket in concrete and kept watch over the grave until the concrete had fully hardened. Several medical practitioners and private collectors reportedly offered financial compensation for her corpse.

Reader's Guide

Myrtle Corbin's life sits at the crossroads of medical history and sideshow entertainment. Her condition, dipygus, was extensively documented: 19th-century physicians classified her using terms like "dipygus dibrachius tetrapus" and "posterior dichotomy, subvariety schizorachis." Medical examinations found the duplication extended internally—she had two sets of external genitalia and two reproductive tracts, each with its own uterus. Contemporary physicians described her as being in good health despite her unusual anatomy. Dr. Lewis Whaley, who had known her since childhood, described her as "about five feet high," with "fair skin, blue eyes, and curly hair," noting that "a stranger, to see her in company, would only think her unusually broad across her hips." Another physician characterized her as "a refined woman, of some musical taste."

Her career as a sideshow performer reflects the era's fascination with human anomalies. She entered the circuit at 13, and her popularity spawned imitators—both fake performers and, after her retirement, phony four-legged women. Despite the spectacle, Corbin was described by one medical report as "attractive in face, physically well, and able to attend to all her household duties." Her legacy includes a cultural reference: the 2015 poetry collection "Four-Legged Girl" by Diane Seuss, an 88-page collection that was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. The extraordinary precautions her family took to protect her grave—concrete encasement and a vigil until it hardened—underscore the enduring medical and commercial interest in her remains.

Did You Know?

• Myrtle Corbin weighed 10 lb (4.5 kg) three weeks after birth and was reported to 'nurse healthily' and be 'thriving well.'
• During her first pregnancy, physicians determined the pregnancy was developing in her left uterus; Corbin reportedly said, 'If it had been in my right side I would come nearer believing you are correct,' leading doctors to infer she preferred intercourse on the right side.
• Her family encased her casket in concrete and guarded the grave until it hardened to prevent grave robbers from stealing her remains for medical interest.
• Nineteenth-century physicians classified her condition using terms like 'dipygus dibrachius tetrapus' and 'posterior dichotomy, subvariety schizorachis.'
• The 2015 poetry collection 'Four-Legged Girl' by Diane Seuss, which was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, references Corbin.