Lies My Father Told Me

My father's side of the family helped found my home town.  Naturally my dad has story after story of all the eccentrics that once occupied the town.  There was Waxy and High Crotch and of course John Eck's dad.  John was a classmate of my father's and lived nearby.  John's father earned a living by training monkeys in his front yard then renting them out to circuses and parades and whoever else had monkey needs.  As any one who ever worked in the monkey industry will tell you,it's an incredibly fickle mistress.  Eventually the area's monkey needs ran dry and John Eck's dad moved to Miami Beach to become a hotel detective.  This is one of the stories my dad has been telling me since I was a kid.  It's a great story filled with monkeys and hotel detectives. It's never really been far from my thoughts when I reminisce about my home town.  Flash back ten or so years.  I was reading David J. Skal's fantastic book The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror, which ties the history of horror films in with what was happening with the world at the time they were released.  John Eck's dad kept coming to mind.  There were many pages written about Tod Browning's 1932 film Freaks, starring a menagerie of actual side show performers, including one half-boy Johhny Eck.  I wondered if he was in any way related to the John Eck of my dad's childhood.  I mean how many Ecks are there out there, plus the circus trained monkeys seemed like a major clue.  So when my dad was visiting for a weekend I asked if John Eck's dad had legs.  "No," my dad says "why?"  I explain the book I read and Johnny Eck.  I show him a picture of the famous 'King of the Freaks.' 
 

"That sure looks like John Eck's dad!" he says.  I'm incredulous.  "You mean to tell me you have a story you tell about a guy who raises monkeys and becomes a hotel detective and you fail to mention he has no legs!!!!"  He casually replies"I don't like to discuss other people's shortcomings."  For the next year or so I tell everyone who would be mildly interested the tale of the legless monkey wrangling hotel detective from my hometown.  Eventually my father confesses- John Eck's dad had legs.  It was a lie.  Which is one of the many things I love about my dad.  Why lie about that?  People lie to cover up embarrasments or for financial gain.  To make others feel better or for themselves to seem more important.  My dad lied for no other reason than that I could go around with thoughts of monkeys and leglessness and Miami Beach in my head.