Otto Tolpefer – The Man with Two Mouths
In the late 1880s, New York’s Bowery featured an unusual attraction alongside its armless wonder, two-headed cow, and other oddities: Otto Tolpefer, the Man with Two Mouths.
Tolpefer was born with the superfluous mouth, which was located just below the chin. The blonde, smooth-faced Tolpefer sat on a platform drinking water with one mouth and simultaneously smoking a cigarette with the other. When speaking, he used the top mouth and closed the second one with his fingers. A New York Times reporter covering the act described his speech as poor, because “the tracheal bellows gives his voice a strange and unreal whispering sound like that of a sexton at a funeral.” The second mouth was unable to speak or eat and was fitted with brass lips.
The reporter further remarked that “Otto is not a pleasant object to gaze at excessively, and as a wall decoration he would not succeed.”
The above information was found in an article from the Nov. 23, 1887 edition of the New York Times.
Tolpefer was born with the superfluous mouth, which was located just below the chin. The blonde, smooth-faced Tolpefer sat on a platform drinking water with one mouth and simultaneously smoking a cigarette with the other. When speaking, he used the top mouth and closed the second one with his fingers. A New York Times reporter covering the act described his speech as poor, because “the tracheal bellows gives his voice a strange and unreal whispering sound like that of a sexton at a funeral.” The second mouth was unable to speak or eat and was fitted with brass lips.
The reporter further remarked that “Otto is not a pleasant object to gaze at excessively, and as a wall decoration he would not succeed.”
The above information was found in an article from the Nov. 23, 1887 edition of the New York Times.
posted by Marc Hartzman at 2:27 PM
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