From the famous Elephant Man to the Lakshimi, the little Indian girl with 8 limbs that just recently successfully underwent surgery to have the extra limbs removed, people have always been fascinated by strange medical oddities. In days past these medical oddities were often displayed in traveling carnivals. Later, we were introduced to Robert Ripley's famous "Ripley's Believe or Not" which was a hit show in the early 1980s. Mr. Ripley opened a chain of museums with wax representations of these people who have awed people in the United States. These displays are so life-like that I almost got sick at a display in Gatlinburg, TN. Now one can see these medical oddities in museums across the world. One specific museum is the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia. Within its halls there are medical oddities never made public along with a few well-known artifacts. There is now even a book out with photos of the oddities from Mutter Museum. Read about it here:

About Ripley's:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripley's_Believe_It_or_Not

8-limb girl:
http://hitsusa.com/blog/279/girl-with-8-limbs/