The Pig Face Ladies

Stories of pig-faced women originated roughly simultaneously in Holland, England and France in the late 1630s. The stories told of a wealthy woman whose body was of normal human appearance, but who had the face of a pig.
In the earliest telling of the tales, the ladie's piggy appearance was the result of witchcraft. Following her wedding day, the pig-faced woman's new (and probably confused) hubby was granted the choice of having her appear beautiful to him but pig-like to others, or pig-like to him and beautiful to others. Got that? When her husband told her that the choice was hers, the enchantment was broken and her Miss Piggy looks vanished. These stories became particularly popular in England, and later in Ireland.


The Pig Lady of Manchester Square

There a few different stories about the Pig Faced Ladies. One went that pregnant noble woman was approached by a beggar accompanied by her children but she would dismiss the beggar and not only that but would compare the beggar's children to pigs. The beggar would then curse the stupid noble woman and then the fun would begin because come the birth of the child it would be healthy and perfectly formed in every way apart from having the face of a pig. The child would remain healthy throughout childhood but with some of the behaviours of a porker.
In 1861 that crafty storyteller Charles Dickens remarked on the longevity of the belief in pig~faced women in Britain, commenting that "In every age, I suppose, there has been a pig~faced lady". So there.
In 1814 a rumour swept London that a pig~faced lady was living in Marylebone. Rumoured to be the daughter of an anonymous noblewoman, she was supposedly young, wealthy and living in posh Manchester Square. It was claimed that she would occasionally venture out of the house in a horse drawn carriage, hidden by a veil. This didn't go unnoticed and a few letters to London newspapers reported sightings of a snout protruding from a window, or a veiled, silhouetted swine's head in a passing carriage.
Now this rumour soon became the talk of the city and one woman even put an advirtisement in The Times newspaper offering to be the pig~lady's companion. Here it is:

For the attention of GENTLEMEN and LADIES.—A young Gentlewoman having heard of an advertisement for a person to undertake the care of a Lady who is heavily afflicted in the face, whose friends have offered a handsome income yearly, and a premium for residing with her 7 years, would do all in her power to render her life most comfortable, and undeniable character can be obtained, from a respectable circle of friends: an answer to this advertisement is requested, as the advertiser will keep herself disengaged. Address, post paid, to X. Y. at Mr. Ford's, baker, 12 Judd-street, Brunswick-square.

The Times, 9 February 1815

The display of 'pig~faced ladies' became extremely popular in fairs thanks to the story in London, to the extent that by 1861 the great goatee one Charles Dickens remarked that "no fair was complete without one". Exhibitions of this type were particularly popular in Dublin. But these were never real ladies. What would happen is fair owners would shave bears and get them drunk and put them in wigs and fake breasts then put these on show to a seemingly believing public.
The 1814 pig~faced lady craze was one of the last occasions in which the mainstream press reported the existence of pig~faced women as fact and by the 1860s exhibiting these 'women' at fairs was losing popularity. (However they did continue to be shown until the 1880s.)
Today sadly the legend is almost forgotten to us. But look more closely at those ladies who like to cover up their features. You just might see a snout.