As part of the Bram Stoker Festival a good old fashioned, dark and scary “freak show” will take over the historic Pillar Room at the Rotunda Hospital.

With the brilliantly Dublinese name “Bleedin' Deadly,” the spectacular invites the audience to travel back in time to a time when gentlemen wore top hats, ladies wore corsets and the freak show dominated in all its odd and shocking glory.

The public is invited to some and squirm in their seats as the orchestra of oddities thrill, shock, and entertain in equal measure. The show is the Dublin Halloween festivities, the Bram Stoker Festival’s flagship event and will run for four night (Oct 18 to 31) and, of course, is over 18s.

Read more: Gothic adventures in ghoulish locales – The Bram Stoker Festival takes over Dublin

Bleedin' Deadly will be hosted by The Space Cowboy – an extreme performance artist and 44-time world record holder. The audience is sure to gasp and turn away as the Australian sword swallower performs some of his death-defying stunts including ingesting a 2000v neon lightbulb, catching a flaming arrow while blindfolded, and his unmissable weight lifting eyelids.

The rest of the lineup for the show include the world’s most pierced woman Elaine Davidson, Coney Island’s sideshow impresario Donny Vomit, snake charmer and burlesque reptile queen Kitty LeRoux and local bizarrio Grim Squeaker.

Ireland's sizzling sideshow couple - burlesque snake charmer Miss Kitty Le Roux and local bizarrio Grim Squeaker – make quite a pair. The striking green-haired belle Kitty Le Roux is known as the Reptile Queen with her menagerie of 12 exotic reptilian beauties - 7 snakes, 3 lizards, 1 gecko and 1 tortoise. Beautiful, deadly and cold blooded, this cabaret snake charmer extraordinaire is not to be missed. The audience will also witness Kitty's boyfriend, Ireland's premier sideshow performer Grim Squeaker, as eats broken glass and sharpened razor blades and is smashed with sledgehammers as he lays upon a bed of nails.

The human pincushion, Elaine Davidson, has adorned her body with over 9,000 piercings, which weigh in excess of 3kgs. This Brazilian born, performing nurse is not only the world record holder for body piercing but has now achieved a new Guinness Record for 'The person holding the piercing record for the longest time' (since 2000). With over 192 piercings on her facial area alone, Elaine says "People often just want to look at me or touch me - some even want to kiss me!"

Alongside Elaine is Coney Island's freak show frontman Donny Vomit who has made a living by hammering nails into his skull.  His tattoo - "A hard way to make an easy living" - pays homage to the long tradition of Human Blockhead at Coney Island which was created in 1930. Donny is also an escapologist and his Dublin performance will feature some heavy hardware - chainsaws, a straitjacket, a mouse trap and a bed of nails.

Tickets available at www.bramstokerfestival.com.