Biomedical Ephemera, or: A Frog for Your Boils

"Come one, come all! See the Bearded Lady and Werewolf Boy!"

Excess hair, especially on women, has a long history of sideshow exploitation (and legitimate employment) and has several possible causes.

Congenital hypertrichosis Meaning "extra hair growth from birth", congenital hypertrichosis is a very rare condition, but is also X-linked dominant, in several cases. When an affected female has a child, there's a 50/50 chance they'll be affected, and when an affected male has a child, they'll be affected by the mutation 100% of the time. Interestingly, there are several mutations known to cause congenital hypertrichosis, but they're all X-linked.

Acquired hypertrichosis

These forms of hypertrichosis appear after birth, and are most often caused by a reaction to medication, eating disorders, and internal malignancies (cancer). The most common form of acquired hypertrichosis is the coating of lanugo (soft insulating hair most often found on preterm infants) in anorexia nervosa patients. This extra hair will fall off naturally once the body begins to receive regular proper nutrition again.

Hirsutism

This is not a form of hypertrichosis, but some "bearded ladies" have had the condition known as "hirsutism". Hirsutism is not a disease in and of itself, but is a symptom, where increased androgen sensitivity in women causes terminal hair growth in areas where vellus hairs normally grow - most notably the face and chest.

Polycystic ovarian syndrome is the most common cause of hirsutism, and is what the sideshow lady Annie Jones had. Obesity, Cushing's disease, acromegaly, ovarian tumors, and type 2 diabetes can also cause excess androgenic hair. Of course, treating the underlying condition is the optimal way to reduce hirsutism, but many conditions that cause it can only be treated.

There are several medications that can be taken to reduce the levels of this hair growth, but as they're all hormone-based and somewhat riddled with side-effects, most women who have hirsutism will opt for hair removal, instead. Or they'll embrace it, like Harnaam Kaur!

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Anatomy of the coccyx and sacrum

In reference to this question, here is the anatomy of the coccyx and sacrum. As can be seen, the sacral portion of the spinal column is still significantly important, in terms of both structural importance and nervous integration/protection. However, the coccygeal spine does little more than anchor two pelvic muscle pairs, and a few ligaments.

In terms of "having a tail", the closest humans tend to come to that is being born with a tiny, flesh-covered tail (when the coccyx is malformed), which is almost always removed straight after birth, or being born with spina bifida occulta, which can often present with a birthmark over the site of the malformed vertebrae, which has a tendency to grow hair. This hair has occasionally grown long enough to warrant a person inclusion in a "freak show" as a "tailed man/woman" in the recent past.

Dude. I found this advertisement inside an 1866 Catalogue of seal and whale specimens in the collection of the British Museum.

Talking fish and Piccadilly Square freak shows! Whoo!

The Wonderful Albino family from Barnum's Museum

"The Maned Woman"- A woman with hair growing between her shoulder blades. Her condition was probably due to naevus pilosus, aka congenital nevomelanocytic nevus, aka "hairy nevus". These form with the same ways that Port Wine Stain birthmarks form, but extend into the lower third of the reticular dermis (which the port wine stains don't).