Something Wicked

By Kris Ketonen

Be careful near the Community Auditorium Saturday night, for something wicked this way comes.
The stage will be hosting Canada's own Sideshow Carnival Diablo, and if the words of evil mastermind Scott McClelland are to be believed, its not a show you'll want to miss.

"This is actually one of the largest sideshows in the world today," McClelland said from his Toronto home recently. "You're going to see over 21 feats in the course of 2 hours."

Feats like swordswallowing, a human dartboard, bugeating and glass walking. There's even an electric chair - a real penitentiary chair allegedly used in the execution of nine people - that pumps 200,000 volts through the strongmans body.
They light a torch off of the lightening arching off of his tongue!

Carnival Diablo first appeared 12 years ago. It was originally inspired by the life of McClelland's grandfather, who ran the Largest Travelling Sideshow in Canada from 1920 thru 1968 under the name Professor N.P.Lewchuk.
It was there McClelland learned the tricks of the trade. In fact, he trains his performers, something made necessary since there simply aren't a lot of proffesional sideshows out there.

Its not easy. Take swordswallowing, which McClelland said is one of the most dangerous sideshow feats a performer can do.

"It takes a good two or three years to actually get a sword down," McClelland, 39, said. "Your gag reflex has to be completely dead.

"Its a Dangerous, dangerous act, because once you have gotten your gag reflex down to nothing, if you ever were eating a piece of steak and you swallowed it wrong, you can't choke it back up...".
Plus if the sword goes to far and punctures the bottom wall of the stomach, the stomach will digest itself and the performer will die. That may explain why there are onlt about 13 working swordswallowers in the world today, McClelland said, Carnival Diablo has two of them.
But they are professionals, and mishaps in any act are very, very rare, he said.

The show is all tied together with a 1920's paranormal motif. The show opens with some good old fashioned paranormal happenings, including an on-stage seance.
The whole building will be made uplike a 1920's sideshow - complete with robots - and the performers boast names like Countess Vanessa and the Amamzing Strongman SINN, who is also a NWA/TNA Wrestler.

Then there's McClelland himself, who can spell HELL with the last four digits of his phone number, and no, its not a coincidence. He plays "Ringmonster" Nikolai Diablo.

"We are the creepiest show in Canada." he said with a laugh.