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The circus of today would generally be considered a lighthearted place.

Fun, polite, family-oriented.

I've always wanted to go to the circus.

But historically, there was another aspect to this spectacle, a more secretive and

sometimes darker story.

Through the back curtain, past the posters and carnival bark.

For a few extra sense, you could gain admittance to a space that

question the very nature of reality. The sideshow. The sideshow, as we know it, as this

brick and mortar, golden era of entertainment, certainly had a heyday and certainly had a decline,

but it didn't just appear in a vacuum.

In actuality, the Sighto itself is an institution that goes back hundreds of years and is continuously evolving and shape-shifting.

I'm Robin Minter, and I am a senior producer over at Grimm and Mild.

And I'm Taylor Haggardorne and I am an associate producer at Grim and Mild.

Robin and Taylor are the minds behind sideshow.

Season one of the podcast Grim and Mild presents, hosted by Aaron Manky,

which just wrapped its 13-episode run.

I've always thought of the sideshow as a foil for American anxiety.

This feeling of getting so close to the subversive, like close enough to be able to touch it,

to be titillated by it, but also to be able to walk away at the end of the day.

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