We've all heard the werewolf legends: When the moon grows full,
so goes the legend, a man is transformed into a beast ? he grows
hair, and acquires awesome powers. But what if it weren't the light
of the moon but rather genetics that gave the werewolves of legend
all that hair? The powers, though, remain the stuff of myth. For
Danny Ramos Gomez, 23, genetics is the reason people call him "the
wolf man." Danny has a condition called hypertrichosis, which
causes his body to produce an abnormal amount of hair
everywhere.Danny's 26-year-old brother, Larry, also has
hypertrichosis. The brothers are known for their daredevil feats in
a Mexican circus. But when they were little, it was different. They
were both part of a freak show, exhibited like animals and called
"wolf children.""They kept them locked up, and they wouldn't let
them come out until show time," said Betty Tampa, a circus
performer partner of Danny's. "They were locked up inside a
trailer. They couldn't even go near the curtains."
Danny said he was too young to remember how it felt being in the
circus. But Mundo Campo, whose father owns the circus in which
Danny now performs, will never forget. "So [the brothers] were in a
cage inside, and they were sitting in two chairs," Campo said. "I
told my father about it and said, 'You know, the saddest part of
this is they're never going to be out of this cage, right? They are
going to be in the cages forever.'" Campo convinced his father to
hire the boys and train them in the circus arts. "We began working
as magicians. Then I started on the trampoline, and from the
trampoline I went to become a trapeze artist," Danny said. "Someday
I want to work in the large circuses in order to be more popular,
not with the public but with the circus people."
