How a 5-Foot-3 New York Girl Became the Deepest Throat in Coney Island
HUSTLER: Have you always been a sideshow freak?
HEATHER HOLLIDAY: Yes! Coney Island is one of the last places in America that has a traditional sideshow. Growing up in New York, it was always the cheapest kind of amusement park that you could get to by train. At that time tickets to get into the show were only $3, so I made all of my friends go. It was unreal, but also it just seemed really cool that all of these people had these jobs that were so surreal. I didn’t think that it was going to be a career. I thought it was going to be a fun summer job to say that I worked at the freak show last summer. Then it just took off. I really didn’t expect that to happen.
How did it happen?
It started so many ages ago. Back in 2003 or 2004 I was a high school intern at the sideshow there. They had me start working for completely free. I didn’t really have any skills at the time. I was just doing like the “girl who went into the blade box,” magic assistant kind of stuff. Then they groomed me to be the sword swallower, which actually happened the next year because the sword swallower left.
How long did it take you to learn?