Lucius Norval Monroe was born into slavery on January 29, 1847 on a plantation in Virginia. A normal child at first, he began to suffer a "strange disease" of the left leg when he was eight years old. Within two years his condition "took possession of his right foot" as well. The disease was probably what we now call fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva; to this day, there remains no cure for it. Fully grown, the ossified man weighed but sixty-seven pounds and it was said that his limbs "ring like metal when struck".
It's unclear exactly when Lucius entered showbusiness, but his condition surely would have made him useless as a laborer. By 1889, however, he'd already made a career for himself as a dime museum freak, competing directly with New York-born ossified man Jonathan Bass. Accompanying Lucius on exhibition were his faithful valet Mose, with whom he is shown in these photos, and his manager Charles Smith. Mose and Smith were charged with carrying the bedridden celebrity either in arms or on a litter. In 1891, while appearing at a museum in New York, Lucius was accidentally dropped by his companions and fell down two flights of stairs. He sustained fractures to his right femur and index finger, though because he couldn't walk anyway his doctors elected not to splint either of the breaks. During his six-week recovery, he was confined to a hospital and his competitor Bass pulled ahead of him in dime museum earnings.
A photograph of Lucius is identified in Jack Hunter's Inside Teradome as "Seip"; having not seen this name elsewhere, I believe it's possible that Hunter confused him with Sapp. I've also seen Lucius identified as James Vanderhoo of Patterson, New Jersey. If you know anything about the history of either of these two names or about Lucius Monroe's life in general, please email me.
Left: Cabinet card by Charles Eisenmann, ca. 1890.
Updated 10.8.06.