Homer Tate was born in Texas in 1884

He died in 1975

 

I can't believe I finally found the only known picture this family has of Grandpa Tate's museum.  I remember going there in the early 1950s, and I remember asking my Dad if the stuffed 2 headed calf was real.  There was stuff in the center and around the sides and his shop was in the back, but that's about all I remember, except there was too much in there to take in.  This was in Apache Junction, before he moved to Van Buren in Phoenix.  Vada Tate

 

 

Homer and his Curiosities have long since gone

The Catalog offered here is of Historical interest and has been posted

for educational research and for the interest of Sideshow History

 

 The text on this page was taken from the first page of one of his Curiosity Shop Circular

and offers information about who and what the Curiosity Shop sold

 

His contribution to the Sideshow World is legendry. 

Many Showmen displayed his creations in their sideshows

and many more people paid to see them.

 

Homer has since passed, but today his gaffs have become highly collectable.

 

           THIS IS NOT A CURRENT SALES CIRCULAR TATE'S CURIOSITY SHOP IS NO LONGER IN BUSINESS          

 

 STRANGEST ATTRACTIONS WE MAKE THE WONDERS OF THE WORLD

THIS IS OUR LATEST CIRCULAR AND PRICE  LIST.  ALL OTHER CIRCULARS AND PRICES ARE CANCELLED BY THIS ONE,
We have been in Mail Order Business many years making and selling  the  world's  best  manufactured  attractions, and we claim we have made and sold more gruesome weird looking attractions than any other

firm on earth. We have made thousands of them.   

We have sold our attractions to gamblers,  preachers,  saloons,  churches,   lawyers,  doctors,  mayors,  mechanics, sailors,  soldiers,  farmers   merchants  in fact to people in ail walks of life;  we have shipped to all parts of the United States, to many foreign lands as far away as Australia.

 

More Images from Tate Circular No. 7

 

OUR AIM

  Is to make up such attractions that will assure your success.   We use the best materials we can get and all of them are made up true to life so far as we are able to do so.

 

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Devil Child - Wolf Boy & Pigmy Bird Man Tate Creations

 

 

Tate Creature Mistaken for Alien Mummy

   

Ralph Lael was a shop owner near Brown Mountain, NC, site of the famous Brown Mountain Lights. Lael believed the lights were created by space aliens, and claimed he’d been abducted by them on numerous occasions. In his shop, Lael kept an “alien mummy” on display. Mysteriously, after his death, the mummy disappeared. click here or on above image to learn more

 

 

The above photograph taken of the creature by acclaimed UFO researcher Tim Beckley on the LEMUR website.  After first viewing it, I remember how I remarked that it resembled “Kermit the Frog” draped in a loin cloth lying in a small coffin, hence the name I came to give it: “Ralph Lael’s Alien Muppet.” Micah A Hanks  click here to read more about the "Alien Muppet"

 

 

Update 10-29-2008 In all likelihood, it appears that Ralph’s “alien mummy” was actually a sideshow attraction designed by a famous creator of curiosities named Homer Tate.

Micah A Hanks

 

 

SHRUNKEN  BODIES  & MERMAIDS  

  

We specialize in Shrunken Bodies and there are no greater attractions anywhere than are our Shrunken Bodies.

 

 Click on the Images Below to View

Tate Crocodile Boy

Tate Crocodile Boy

Tate Wolf Boy

Tate Wolf Boy

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Tate Devil Child in Coffin

Tate Devil Child

Tate Devil Child in Coffin

Tate Devil Child in Coffin

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Tate Wolf Boy Display

Tate Devil Child Ad on Coffin top States Wolf Boy

Tate Shrunken Body

Tate Shrunken Body

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Tate Jungle Pinhead

Tate Jungle Pinhead

Tate Jungle Pinhead

Tate Two Headed Mummy

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Tate Two Headed Mummy

Tate Two Headed Mummy

Tate Mummy

Tate Mummy

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Tate Mummy

Tate Fish Girl

Tate Fish Girl Display

Clahuchu & His Bride

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Devil Boy Shrunken Heads Close-up Tate Mummy  Tate Mummy Devil Boy

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Front Tate Mummy

Back Tate Mummy

Siamese Babies

Devil & Wolf Boy Sideshow Display

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Tate Mummy

Tate Mummy

Tate Mummy

Tate Mummy

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Tate Mummy

Tate Devil Child

Two Shrunken Bodies

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Tate Mummy

Tate Devil Child

Tate Devil Child

Tate Mummy Tate Devil Child

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Wolf Boy

Tate Mummies

Female Mummy

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Mud Man

Mud Man

Mud Man

Mud Man

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Mummified Pygmy Princes - Shrunken Body

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Female Mummy

Ubangi

Male Mummy

Male Mummy

Female Mummy

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Mummified Pygmy - Shrunken Body - with Original Packaging Crate

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Cannibal Tom the Jungle Giant

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AA Gift from John Strong to the collection of John Robinson

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Anatomy of a Tate Creation

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Anatomy of a Tate Creation

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OUR SHRUNKEN HEADS    

  
     Made up like the Jungle Head Hunter.   Prepare them eye lashes, brows, human hair, lips sealed shut, just as the Cannibals do them. We send  lectures with all  Heads explaining  how the  Human  Head is prepared and shrunken 

by the Cannibal Head  Hunters of the Jungle.

 

 Click on the Images Below to View

PAP SHRUNKEN HEADS About one half size of normal head TATE CURIOSITY SHOP SAFFORD ARIZONA

 

Tate Shrunken Heads

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Tate Shrunken Heads

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Tate Shrunken Heads

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Tate Shrunken Heads

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Tate Shrunken Head

I Remember Grandpa   When Grandpa lived in Apache Junction and Safford, he used to scour the desert for dead animals and recover any bones, fur, teeth and claws for his creatures.   From what I remember he used this dried powder type glue and soaked newspaper in water and then added the glue until it was the right consistency. He would use what ever he could find for the color, hair, etc.   He used to get stuff for hair from friends, barbershops, salons, and even the old horse glue factory.   Vada - a Granddaughter     Shrunken Heads - Mummy - Siamese Twins Vada and her Grandfathers Creations Mermaid My Uncle  George left me his Devil Baby, I also received the Siamese Twins that were in the cache we found.  Uncle George only remembered having the Devil Baby but we found about 20 pieces.   17 Shrunken Heads, which were passed out to family members, and my cousin got the Fiji Mermaid since I already had one.  But I was happy with the three pieces I acquired.    The other Shrunken heads I bought from a guy who brought them into my old shop to see if they were real.  I told him, heck no they aren't real, but I would buy them!                                                                                                                                                    VADA        Photograph courtesy of Vada copyright © 2006 all rights reserved

 

We have  listed  our Special  Combination Offer of Shrunken  Bodies  and  Shrunken   Heads  consisting  of  male  and  female  Shrunken Bodies, two male and two female Shrunken Heads

 

 

Click photos below to listen to Ward Hall share stories about his Tate figures

Hall Show Front 1963

Ward far left, Pete second from right

Hall Show Front

 

LECTURE FOR TATE CREATIONS

 

Click on the Images Below to View

 

Shrunken Head

Pigmy Bodies

 

ADS FOR TATE CREATIONS

 

 Click on the Images Below to View

Ad from Johnson Smith Co.

Ad from the back cover of True Professions Magazine 1964

Ad from Billboard Magazine

 

 

 

Click Here to Visit Homer Tate's Studio

 

Click Image Below to View

 

Click Image Below to Hear about the Thing  

 

 

Click Image below to Read

 

JUST SAY SEND US
COMBINATION OFFER OF
SHRUNKEN  BODIES AND HEADS
 

COMBINATION OF SHRUNKEN BODIES AND HEADS

ALL OF OUR BODIES ARE MADE UP TO REPRESENT A MUMMIFIED OR DEAD BODY WHICH BY SOME WAY HAS BEEN PRESERVED AND IS NOW EXHIBITED IN IT'S PRESENT STATE

 

Photograph courtesy of:

John Robinson, Mark Frierson, Vada Tate, Shad Kvetko, John & Tammy Strong , Mark Kosh, James Mundie, Jeff Murray, Mary Miller, Ricky Kale