TESSA FONTAINE is the author of The Electric Woman: A Story in Death Defying Acts. She tells of her days spent on the road with a traveling carnival sideshow.
Tessa talks with host Frank Silverstein about how she learned to eat fire, hypnotize snakes and charm the money from the pockets of total strangers. She also explains how the carnival sideshow provides a haven to a community of social misfits. It’s a safe place where performers can earn a living throwing knives at each other among other spectacles, for 14 hours a day.
Tessa learned to conquer some of her own fears by working with people who face physical danger every single day.
These are dramatic stories from an adventurous life.