It depends on the carnival. Some show owners are very astute about making sure their employees were straight when they were working. What they did in their own time was their business unless it affected the business. The show owner when I was a kid was great about that, and there were a lot of families on the show. But when I got older, the show was sold to someone else who did indeed hire the likes of what's being reported. Not all of them are bad; some are just people who made some bad decisions. There are a few who are just so accustomed to the lifestyle, they don't know what else to do.

Yep, I'm a carny kid. My parents owned a bumper cars, an arcade, and a dark ride. They didn't get the dark ride til I was in MS.

Pics from when I was a kid.

bahknee: Pics from when I was a kid.

I think you just woke Chris Hanson up from a deep slumber.

The only Carney that matters.

/my fiance made me do it.

FTA: Amazingly, at one point during the day, Bob abandoned his post at the bumper cars to pick up marijuana at a funnel cake stand. He then came back and offered to sell the drugs to INSIDE EDITION's undercover producer.

After examining the bag, our producer immediately gave it back.

Thanks for letting us know you didn't take the weed. I just assumed your producer bought the bag and smoked with Bob.

I just finished working security for the CNE (big Canadian thing, eh) and I can confirm this. At 4-5am I always did a patrol around the grounds picking up all the passed out carnies and making sure they were just passed out drunk, not worse.

/Also, I'm getting a kick out of these replies.

Not to be a Debbie downer, but this reminds me of a woman I knew.When she was about 12 she was taken into the system but she told me about a time when she was 9. Her Mom was working with a traveling carnival and momma needed a fix, so some of the carnies lent her some cash and the 4 of them said they'd watch her daughter. You know where this is going, just one of many times I've felt physically ill after hearing the details of something that seems to happen way too much.

my sister was a carny and it's totally true, except they left out skanky

And all their games are rigged to boot.

so....out of the THOUSANDS the article claims are injured

how many are actually by the stoned operators and how much by the riders stupidity?

mesmer242: Small hands. Smells like cabbage.

/just getting that out of the way.

Horsebolt, you didn't exactly defend yourself with that photo


but anyway

is this "expose" not even more amusing when you realize that most traveling carnival gigs are for Churches?

bahknee: It depends on the carnival. Some show owners are very astute about making sure their employees were straight when they were working. What they did in their own time was their business unless it affected the business. The show owner when I was a kid was great about that, and there were a lot of families on the show. But when I got older, the show was sold to someone else who did indeed hire the likes of what's being reported. Not all of them are bad; some are just people who made some bad decisions. There are a few who are just so accustomed to the lifestyle, they don't know what else to do.

Yep, I'm a carny kid. My parents owned a bumper cars, an arcade, and a dark ride. They didn't get the dark ride til I was in MS.

Pics from when I was a kid.

old photos from REAL cameras are always depressing to me

*shudder* I remember showing horses/rabbits/goats/ etc. in 4-H so at the fair the carnies were just part of our daily routine. One year we put our names on the back of our 4-H club t-shirts. It was so creepy to hear the carnies address you by your first name to lure you into the goldfish toss or "basketball" thingy.

/Uh, so this is what it's like to post all drunky munky on the internet. Too much effort. Boo. I'm going to sleep.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716981/



it's Tales from the Dark side, not Night Gallery

I've never met a carni that I didn't not trust.

lasercannon: As the son of a former Carnie I must inform everyone that; You stay the hell away from my cousin she is going to bare my childeren one day.

She's becoming a schoolteacher?

Carnies remind me of Walmart shoppers.

not sure if it's already been said but to me, that's actually PART of the attraction of carnivals over watered down corporate theme parks


sure the food is pure deep fried lard, the games are as crooked as a street in san fransisco, the rides are held together by duct tape, chewing gum and hope, and the workers there will probably shiv you, it adds a little more adrenaline knowing that you probably wont walk out of there alive

Woohoo! I'm officially carnie trash!

Birmingham Zoo, Halloween 2006!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/70368367@N00/284428387/

Hot stuff.....

Beaver1224: Hey, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa...Whoa!

What about the nutrition of funnel cakes and corn dogs?

It would be safer to just eat the Ferris Wheel.

bahknee 2008-09-13 01:16:19 AM
"It depends on the carnival. Some show owners are very astute about making sure their employees were straight when they were working. What they did in their own time was their business unless it affected the business. The show owner when I was a kid was great about that, and there were a lot of families on the show. But when I got older, the show was sold to someone else who did indeed hire the likes of what's being reported. Not all of them are bad; some are just people who made some bad decisions. There are a few who are just so accustomed to the lifestyle, they don't know what else to do.

Yep, I'm a carny kid. My parents owned a bumper cars, an arcade, and a dark ride. They didn't get the dark ride til I was in MS."


I too remember things like this. My life on the road ended almost 14 years ago.The pictures were great,I should post some of mine from the showbiz days.

Whenlasercannon: You stay the hell away from my cousin she is going to bare my childeren one day.

When my children's cousin tried to bare them, I called DCFS.

Hmmm.
Around here, there's typically two or three outfits that make an annual stop. Two are of the stoner/mental hospital escapee/jail parolee persuaion, and their rides are pretty crappy, and the carnies are pretty creepy.
The other one is manned by about 2/3 russian and about 1/3 mexican. THOSE rides are well maintained clean, and seem to be perfectly functional.

Call me crazy, but I've never been hot on the idea of jumping on a contraption that spins, tilts, and throws you around, all while looking like a stiff breeze could knocking em down, covered in grease, rusting at the seams, and designed back in 1971 to be PORTABLE. I don't know....it's just something that scares me silly. I've been on carnival rides, and the way those things creak....makes me want to shimmy down the ferris wheel to get off the damn thing.

I actually really like carnivals. Fun drunken carnie story - We were at an Oktoberfest, and the tilt-a-whirl operator was drunk and distracted by another ride patron. He let the ride go three or four times as long as it should have. I have perfectly fine, but my much younger sister and cousin got sick within minutes of getting off the ride. *whee!*. Ha.

Oh, and fark the casbah, keep your small hands away from my boobies! Lol.

FTFA: "most carnival ride operators are drunk and stoned ex-cons on parole"


You got a problem with that, Rube?

/God, I miss that show

I spent a day as a carnie when I got out of college, so I'm getting a kick out of these replies. Some of you farkers think you know what you're talking about, but, well, ok, you're right; carnies are all drunk and stoned. I was scared as hell, and left in the middle of the night...

Single White Male: smells_like_meat: I worked as a carnnie in the 70's. Let me assure you that there are not a more bookish & responsible group of people on the planet.

The safety and education of your minor children are paramont in their minds,always.

I remember many nights discussing, Aristotle, Satre, and Rand with my fellow carnnies.

But the small hands and the smell of cabbage was too much to bear, so I left.

How much meth did you go through a night?

meth wasnt invented yet in the 70's

Did INSIDE EDITION provide the drugs?

Most people who GO to carnivals are drunk and stoned ex cons on parole.

wargarbl: Single White Male: smells_like_meat: I worked as a carnnie in the 70's. Let me assure you that there are not a more bookish & responsible group of people on the planet.

The safety and education of your minor children are paramont in their minds,always.

I remember many nights discussing, Aristotle, Satre, and Rand with my fellow carnnies.

But the small hands and the smell of cabbage was too much to bear, so I left.

How much meth did you go through a night?

meth wasnt invented yet in the 70's

Actually Hell's Angels dudes were cooking that stuff up around the late 60's...

There's one thing that's for sure, INSIDE EDITION wants you to be sure that INSIDE EDITION lets you know that INSIDE EDITION was there and that INSIDE EDITION is the one telling you, the INSIDE EDITION reader that INSIDE EDITION cares.

Javacrucian: The entire undercover camera crew should be slapped in the face with cocks until they turn gay, then made to spend the rest of their miserable, busybody lives in a room with only a naked Rosie O'Donnell impersonator to play with.

Have you ever been to a country fair? Come on over to western PA sometime and check out the crowds that come through. I doubt the operators are even half as messed up as the people in the crowd. If these bottom feeding reporters think that anyone in their right mind is going to be willing to stand in the same spot all day pulling a lever and shuttling screaming redneck crotchfruit on and off some pointless ride all day while totally sober, they're farking nuts.

...I had the same/similar thought.

Aren't carnies' and carnival attendees' two different but similar "fish" swiming in the same gene-pool?

"Go AWAY! BATIN'!!"

Nowhereman: Not to be a Debbie downer, but this reminds me of a woman I knew.When she was about 12 she was taken into the system but she told me about a time when she was 9. Her Mom was working with a traveling carnival and momma needed a fix, so some of the carnies lent her some cash and the 4 of them said they'd watch her daughter. You know where this is going, just one of many times I've felt physically ill after hearing the details of something that seems to happen way too much.

Damn....Thanks for the "fun cyphon", Debbie.

/that is why I only leave my kids with "castmembers" @ Disney. =(

Funnel cakes, deep fried twinkies, etc. will only give you a heart attack if you look at the nutrition info. RLY.

"Do you guys have *hic* any band-aids?"
"They're called adhesive strips."
"Well, do *hic* you have any adhesive strips?"
"No"
"Well then how are we supposed to fix the tilt *hic* O'whirl?"

Javacrucian: The entire undercover camera crew should be slapped in the face with cocks until they turn gay, then made to spend the rest of their miserable, busybody lives in a room with only a naked Rosie O'Donnell impersonator to play with.

Have you ever been to a country fair? Come on over to western PA sometime and check out the crowds that come through. I doubt the operators are even half as messed up as the people in the crowd. If these bottom feeding reporters think that anyone in their right mind is going to be willing to stand in the same spot all day pulling a lever and shuttling screaming redneck crotchfruit on and off some pointless ride all day while totally sober, they're farking nuts.

Amen. Most townmarks were mouth-breathing artards that make even the grungiest showman look like a king. Especially in the OH, PA, WV border area. Holy christ, you would think half the town could trace their heritage back to one set of parents.

// ex-showman of 10 years, smoked lots of weed after hours, but never while open.
// Gravitron after-hours parties for the win

So, can any of you "carnie kids" like, throw knives or something really cool like that?

Kiddo Young: The only Carney that matters.

/my fiance made me do it.

bravo Kiddo Young. you just made my day.

One just came through my town recently and a family member of mine knew someone working there and said they were all high on meth while operating the rides.

Combustion 2008-09-13 02:04:51 PM
So, can any of you "carnie kids" like, throw knives or something really cool like that?


Your thinking circus,not carnival.To quote Barbara Stanwyck in Roustabout,"theres a big difference!"