The Lobster Boy: More than just a circus act

Grady Stiles Jr. was born with etrodactyly, a condition where the hands and feet of a person resemble claws similar to those of a lobster. He started life as a ‘freakshow’ of a circus but continued to lead a life of alcoholism and family abuse.

PHOTO: YOUTUBE

Grady Stiles Jr., the Lobster Boy, was the sixth generation in his family to inherit etrodactyly. The condition was a rare congenital disorder which made the hands and feet of a person to look like claw-like appendages. The three fingers in the middle are absent or fused with the thumb and pinky finger, similar to lobster claws.

The Stiles family took advantage of this physical deformity and marketed themselves as attractions in carnivals in their own circus: The Lobster Family. Stiles Jr. who was born in 1973, became part of this circus with his deformed siblings under the charge of his father. However, Stiles Jr. also had deformed claw-like feet and was unable to walk. He used a wheelchair but developed great upper body strength to drag himself across the floor.

Stiles Jr. spent most of his childhood touring with The Lobster Family which was hugely profitable for his family. For every season, the family made up to USD80,000. Furthermore, their acts only consisted of displaying themselves to visitors, hardly physical.

After spending his childhood in the circus, Stiles Jr. married a staff of the circus. Her name was Mary Teresa and she ran away as a teenager to join the circus. Their matrimony signalled for darker times ahead, unbeknownst to both of them.

They had two daughters, Donna and Cathy. Cathy was born without the disorder which led to Stiles Jr. showering her with more affection. On the other hand, Donna joined the circus as an act. As his children grew up, Stiles Jr. veered towards alcoholism.

“Stiles Jr. regularly abused his wife and children and used his immense upper body strength to cause hurt to his wife. He choked her using his claw-like hands and reportedly even ripped a birth control device (IUD) from her body using his ‘claws’.”

His rage and violence spiralled out of control even further. Donna became engaged to a man that Stiles Jr. was not fond of when she was a teenager. In 1978, on the eve of their wedding, Stiles Jr. murdered Donna’s fiance using a shotgun.

In 1979, he was charged for murder and openly confessed to it. Prisons at that time could not accommodate to his disability and it was deemed too cruel to imprison him. His ailing condition as a result of liver cirrhosis and emphysema was also considered. As a result, he was given 15 years probation and walked home a free man.

After the incident, he divorced Teresa and remarried another. He had two more children who fell victim to his abuse. His second wife then divorced him subsequently. Surprisingly, his first wife, Teresa, decided to remarry him in 1989.

Stiles Jr. became more arrogant having escaped prison time which led to worse beatings of Teresa and their children. Teresa reached her limit and plotted to get back at her husband.

In 1992, Teresa paid USD1,500 to Chris Wyant, her 17-year old neighbour, to kill Stiles Jr. Glenn Newman, Teresa’s son from another marriage, came up with the idea. Wyant killed Stiles Jr. with an automatic rifle at point-blank range.

According to Stiles III, the incident happened slightly differently than what was reported. According to him, Stiles Jr. and Teresa were fighting and Teresa commented that something needed to be done. Newman overhead his mother’s words and went to his neighbour with the idea of intimidating Stiles Jr. However, his intention was only to scare Stiles Jr. for him to be more aware of his actions. Soon after, Wyant shot him dead.

In court, Teresa did not hide her intention to kill Stiles Jr., justifying the murder with his constant abuse. She framed his abuse as possibly killing her family one day. Wyant was charged with second-degree murder and was sentenced to 27 years in jail. Newman was sentenced with life imprisonment for first-degree murder while Teresa was given 12 years for manslaughter.

Lobster Boy met his end in the most tragic way. After his death, the funeral home with his body could not find any willing pallbearers due to people’s sheer loathing towards him.