Suddenly, the room will be aflame with scholars each advancing their own theory as to what afflicted Byron’s limb. I’ve heard everything from infantile paralysis, dysplasia, and a persistent inflammation of the Achilles tendon–alongside the more widely talked of clubfoot deformation.
Despite of whatever his disability actually was, Byron was quite athletic and noted as a fantastic swimmer. Actually, it might be more accurate to say that he was physically fit in spite of his medical condition; as John Galt noted, Byron would exercise ”violently” perhaps to compensate for his emasculating limp.
But what if Byron’s strange limb and notable swimming prowess had a far more disturbing link? What if the same tainted blood that resulted in the dreadful ”Innsmouth look” also flowed through Byron’s veins? Byron’s scandalous relationship with his half-sister August Leigh seems almost natural in light of the inbreeding practiced in that horrid Massachusetts port.
Byron’s deformity wasn’t a clubfoot...it was a flipper.