Stephan Bibrowski the Lion-Faced Boy

Although Halloween has just past us, there are some misfortunate people in the world who cannot come out of their costumes. Stephen Bibrowski was born with a condition called hypertrichosis – his body was covered in long mangled hair that resembles the coat of Chewbacca. Despite his somewhat fearful appearance, Stephen, who eventually went by his stage name of Lionel the Lion-Faced Boy, was rather pleasant and intelligent. His face may have bene intimating and could easily been mistaken as a costume of some sort, but in fact, Lionel was merely harmless and only had a few teeth in his mouth because of his condition. He was discovered at age four by a showman from Germany. His backstory consists of his mother allegedly witnessing his father being viciously mauled by a lion thus the reason for his four-inch long fur was born (thehumanmarvels.com). Stephen’s mother abominated him and decided to give him up to the German showman in the mid 1890’s.

It is no secret that Lionel’s appearance could make the hair stand up on your back. His eyes were hidden amongst inches of long tangled hair, but he stood to only be about five feet three inches. It could be assumed by taking one glance at Lionel that he would perform some sort of barbaric act or let out a ferocious howl. However, his career revolved around gymnastics routines and simply speaking to people about his gentle side. He fluently spoke five languages and had dreams of becoming a dentist. When first timers appeared at the circus and fixed eyes on Lionel, their eyes almost fooled them when they heard his soft, gentle voice speaking to them. His voice resembled a small child who was going door to door greeting people while trick-or-treating.

Halloween gives people of all ages the opportunity to dress up as something they are not just for the night, and then they resume their normal daily activities the day after. This is exactly the opposite of what Lionel wanted out of life. He adored being considered a freak of nature and felt that if he were to ever lose all of his hair, he would lose his career. There was an occurrence that took place around 1904 where a hotel Stephen was staying at caught on fire and he was the first person to escape the blazes in fear of his hair burning off (odditiesbizarre.com). According to records, it isn’t 100% sure how Stephen passed away. Some say his cause of death was a heart attack at age forty-one. He was rumored to have settled in the United States in New York City where he became a public fixture at Coney Island. Despite his considerably early death, Stephen lived a meaningful life fascinating the many who observed him – his ferocious looking outside and gentle core on the inside was and still is hard to imitate without a mask.

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