Man Who Ate A Plane?

What did the man who ate a plane eat

The man who ate metal: Monsieur Mangetout’s strange diet Share Michel Lotito (b.1950 – d.2007), aka ‘Monsieur Mangetout’ (Mr Eat All), was a French performer who truly earned his nickname. Metal, rubber, glass; you name it, he ate it. For his efforts, he was awarded the record for the world’s strangest diet, although we acknowledge that ‘strangeness’ is neither objective nor measurable, thus the record title has now been rested.

1. Lotito is perhaps best known as the man who ate an entire airplane, however, he also enjoyed feasting on bicycles, razor blades and other seemingly inedible objects.
2. He prepared each item for consumption by cutting it up with an electric power saw to create bite-sized chunks.
3. Instead of chewing the pieces, he swallowed them like a pill – something that would prove fatal to most people.

To help wash it all down, Lotito drank mineral oil and large quantities of water, which acted as lubricant. Fortunately, he didn’t experience any significant problems excreting his ‘food’. “I would always ask for a doctor’s assistance. They would give me all sorts of advice, such as to eat artichokes or paraffin oils together with metal to make things easier, but I soon realized that I was better off simply drinking several litres of water.” – Michel Lotito

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• When we interviewed Lotito for Guinness World Records 2006, he revealed that he started to develop a tolerance for pain at the age of eight, when he began practising sophrology, a combination of self-hypnosis and other relaxation techniques that can assist pain control.
• Several years later, at the age of 16, Lotito discovered his ability to consume strange objects, which he soon developed a taste for.

“I accidentally broke a glass while drinking, and I had a piece in my mouth. I knew other people had eaten glass in the past and decided that I could do it as well. Then I moved on to razor blades, plates and small pieces of metal such as nuts and bolts.” – Michel Lotito What started as a simple party trick soon turned into a lucrative career.

People started to ask me if I wanted to eat something bigger and so I said, ‘OK, I think I can eat a bicycle.’ It was a great success – they called me for TV shows in South America and Canada.” In addition to eating unusual objects, his high pain threshold meant that Lotito also allowed audiences to light matches under his fingernails and throw darts into his back.

He was paid nearly $1,000 per day, as reported by in 1980. Lotito’s first appearance in our annals came in 1979, where he was recognized for consuming a bicycle in record time (15 days between 17 March – 2 April 1977). A year later, he broke his own record, taking 12 days to eat over 15 lb (6.8 kg) of bicycle. Lotito’s bicycle-eating achievement was listed in our 1979 book alongside other speed-eating records, or gluttony records as they were called at the time. Despite not publishing potentially dangerous records, such as those involving the “consumption of live ants, chewing gum or raw eggs with shells”, an exception was made for the eating of a bicycle because it was “unlikely to attract competition.” Lotito famously went on to eat a small plane next, taking two years in total to do so.

Piece by piece, Lotito ate an entire Cessna 150 airplane between 1978-80. A few years on, in Guinness Book of Records 1984, Lotito was noted to have consumed a supermarket trolley and seven TV sets, in addition to the bicycles and “low-calorie Cessna” he had previously been recognized for. By 1999, Lotito had eaten 18 bicycles.

Furthermore, he had now consumed 15 supermarket trolleys, six chandeliers, two beds, a pair of skis, a computer and a coffin (including the handles). It is estimated that Lotito ate over nine tons of metal during his lifetime, including the commemorative Guinness World Records brass plaque that we awarded to him.

Who was the first man to eat a plane

We at Academy of Aviation have agreed that if you do eat one of our airplanes in full, as described below, then you will not be charged for the damages. – (Yes, we’re joking!) Don’t try this at home, and please, don’t try this at our Academy. Michel Lotito, a French artist, decided early on that a “normal” diet was not enough. “Over the course of Monsieur Mangetout’s career, his diet included 18 bicycles, seven TV sets, two beds, 15 supermarket trolleys, a computer, a coffin (handles and all), a pair of skis and six chandeliers. That’s pretty dang impressive by anybody’s standards, but the pinnacle of his entertainment career was the time he ate a whole dang airplane.

Who was the French man who ate an Aeroplane

Monsieur Mangetout eats a plane – While Monsieur Mangetout may not have eaten a Boeing 747 or any gigantic passenger plane, he did still eat a whopping 9 tons of metal. The plane of choice was a Cessna 150 airplane, pictured below. He was able to consume the aircraft over a period of two years between 1978-1980. Monsieur Mangetout / Michael Lotito sadly died of natural causes in 2007, It seems that his eating habits never actually impacted his health. However, following in the footsteps of this consuming crusader are not recommended. RIP Monsieur Mangetout, the first person to have a coffin inside, rather than the other way around.

Who ate a plane in 2 years

Entertainment – A Cessna 150, one of the more famous items Lotito ate over his lifetime. Michel Lotito began eating unusual material at 9 years of age, and he performed publicly beginning in 1966, around the age of 16. He had an eating disorder known as, which is a psychological disorder characterised by an for substances that are largely non-nutritive.

• Doctors determined that Lotito also had a thick lining in his stomach and intestines which allowed his consumption of sharp metal without suffering injury.
• Lotito also had digestive juices that were unusually powerful, meaning that he could digest the unusual materials.
• However, it also meant that soft foods, such as bananas and hard-boiled eggs, made him sick.

Lotito’s performances involved the of,, and other materials. He disassembled, cut up, and consumed items such as,,, and a, among other items. The Cessna 150 took roughly two years to be eaten, from 1978 to 1980. Lotito claimed not to suffer ill effects from his consumption of substances typically considered poisonous.

• When performing, he ingested approximately 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) of material daily, preceding it with and drinking considerable quantities of water during the meal.
• It is estimated that between 1959 and 1997, Lotito “had eaten nearly nine tons of metal.” Lotito’s method for eating all of this metal was to break it into small pieces before attempting to eat it.

He then drank mineral oil and continued to drink water while swallowing the metal bits. This acted as a lubricant to help the metal slide down his throat. Lotito did not have any digestive problems as a result of his unusual diet. In 2022, Madison Dapcevich of, the fact-checking website, investigated Lotito’s claim that he ate an entire airplane.

What did Tarrare eat?

Early life – Tarrare was born near Lyon, around 1772. His date of birth is unrecorded and it is not even known if Tarrare was his real name or a nickname. As a child, Tarrare had a huge appetite and by his teens could eat a quarter of a bullock, weighing as much as Tarrare himself, in a single day.

• By this time, his parents could not provide for him and had forced him to leave home.
• For some years after this, he toured the country with a roaming band of thieves and prostitutes, stealing and begging for food, before gaining employment as a warm-up act to a travelling charlatan,
• Tarrare drew a crowd by eating corks, stones and live animals, and by swallowing an entire basketful of apples one after the other.

He ate ravenously and was particularly fond of snake meat, In 1788, Tarrare moved to Paris to work as a street performer. He appears to have been successful in general, but on one occasion, the act went wrong and he suffered severe intestinal obstruction,

How many calories are in a plane?

Skip to content Home • How Many Calories Are You Really Consuming Mid-Flight? Plane foodit doesn’t look very appealing and it rarely tastes any better. It’s usually either too mushy, too dry or seemingly impossible to cut with the plastic cutlery provided. Now, just when you thought plane food couldn’t get any worse, research proves otherwise.

According to Oxford University Professor Charles Spence, who wrote, Gastrophysics: The New Science of Eating, the average passenger consumes 3400 calories between take-off and landing. Professor Spence says that our sense of taste is significantly diminished at a high altitude, where engine sounds and other background noises suppress our ability to taste sweet and salty flavours.

As a result, airline meals contain about 15 to 20 per cent more sugar to the foods we eat on the ground. While adding additional sugar and salt to meals is one method used to make food taste more appealing, another tactic used by airlines has been to enlist the services of celebrity chefs.

• Professor Spence says there is no evidence to support the claim that celebrity chef interventions have led to increased passenger satisfaction.
• Gordon Ramsay seems to agree, in an interview with Refinery 29, Ramsay revealed his serious distaste for airplane food.
• There’s no f—ing way I eat on planes,” Ramsay said.

“I worked for airlines for ten years, so I know where this food’s been and where it goes, and how long it took before it got on board.” While the added salt and sugar in airline meals contribute to the excessive calorie count, Spence says that people tend to eat more on flights due to boredom and stress.

• Even the in-flight entertainment can affect our consumption, by distracting us from our full stomachs.
• According to Spence, It is not uncommon to find people eating as much a third more food with the TV on.
• Unfortunately for passengers travelling on a long haul flight, there aren’t many options other than to eat the calorie-rich meals the airline has prepared.

Despite this, there are many other ways in which you can stay healthy on a flight.

Is there a book about the man who eats a airplane

From the Inside Flap – This is a story of the greatest love, ever. An outlandish claim, outrageous perhaps, but trust me- And so begin the enchanting, unforgettable tale of J.J. Smith, Keeper of the Records for The Book of Records, an ordinary man searching for the extraordinary.J.J.

• Has clocked the world’s longest continuous kiss, 30 hours and 45 minutes.
• He has verified the lengthiest single unbroken apple peel, 172 feet and 4 inches.
• He has measured the farthest flight of a champagne cork from an untreated, unheated bottle 177 feet 9 inches.
• He has tasted the world’s largest menu item, whole-roasted Bedouin camel.

But in all his adventure from Australia to Zanzibar, J.J. has never witnessed great love until he comes upon a tiny windswept town in the heartland of America, where folks still talk about family, faith, and crops. Here, where he last expects it, J.J. discovers a world record attempt like no other: Piece by piece, a farmer is eating a Boeing 747 to prove his love for a woman.

1. In this vast landscape of cornfields and lightning storms, J.J.
2. Is doubly astounded to be struck by love from the same woman, Willa Wyatt of the honey eyes and wild blond hair.
3. It is a feeling beyond measure, throwing J.J.’s carefully ordered world upside down, proving that hears, like world records, can be broken, and the greatest wonders in life can not be qualified.

Richly romantic, whimsical, and uplifting, The Man Who Ate the 747 is a flight of fancy from start to finish. It stretches imagination, bends physics and biology, but believe it just a little and you may find yourself reaching for your own records, the kind that really count.

Who was the first person to fly in

In 1903, Americans Orville and Wilbur Wright completed the world’s first successful controlled powered flight at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. This British Pathé film clip shows the Wright Brothers flying in 1908.

Who was the man who lived in a plane?

Bruce Campbell : Ussery inspired Oregon man Bruce Campbell to convert a Boeing 727 into his home in the woods outside Portland. Here he is in 2014. Two decades: Campbell has now lived in his 727 for more than 20 years.

When did humans first fly planes

Near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first successful flight in history of a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft on December 17, 1903. Orville piloted the gasoline-powered, propeller-driven biplane, which stayed aloft for 12 seconds and covered 120 feet on its inaugural flight.

1. Orville and Wilbur Wright grew up in Dayton, Ohio, and developed an interest in aviation after learning of the glider flights of the German engineer Otto Lilienthal in the 1890s.
2. Unlike their older brothers, Orville and Wilbur did not attend college, but they possessed extraordinary technical ability and a sophisticated approach to solving problems in mechanical design.

They built printing presses and in 1892 opened a bicycle sales and repair shop. Soon, they were building their own bicycles, and this experience, combined with profits from their various businesses, allowed them to pursue actively their dream of building the world’s first airplane.

• READ MORE: 10 Things You May Not Know About the Wright Brothers After exhaustively researching other engineers’ efforts to build a heavier-than-air, controlled aircraft, the Wright brothers wrote the U.S.
• Weather Bureau inquiring about a suitable place to conduct glider tests.
• They settled on Kitty Hawk, an isolated village on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, which offered steady winds and sand dunes from which to glide and land softly.

Their first glider, tested in 1900, performed poorly, but a new design, tested in 1901, was more successful. Later that year, they built a wind tunnel where they tested nearly 200 wings and airframes of different shapes and designs. The brothers’ systematic experimentations paid off–they flew hundreds of successful flights in their 1902 glider at Kill Devils Hills near Kitty Hawk.

Their biplane glider featured a steering system, based on a movable rudder, that solved the problem of controlled flight. They were now ready for powered flight. In Dayton, they designed a 12-horsepower internal combustion engine with the assistance of machinist Charles Taylor and built a new aircraft to house it.

They transported their aircraft in pieces to Kitty Hawk in the autumn of 1903, assembled it, made a few further tests, and on December 14 Orville made the first attempt at powered flight. The engine stalled during take-off and the plane was damaged, and they spent three days repairing it.

1. Then at 10:35 a.m.
2. On December 17, in front of five witnesses, the aircraft ran down a monorail track and into the air, staying aloft for 12 seconds and flying 120 feet.
3. The modern aviation age was born.
4. Three more tests were made that day, with Wilbur and Orville alternately flying the airplane.
5. Wilbur flew the last flight, covering 852 feet in 59 seconds.

During the next few years, the Wright brothers further developed their airplanes but kept a low profile about their successes in order to secure patents and contracts for their flying machines. By 1905, their aircraft could perform complex maneuvers and remain aloft for up to 39 minutes at a time.

In 1908, they traveled to France and made their first public flights, arousing widespread public excitement. In 1909, the U.S. Army’s Signal Corps purchased a specially constructed plane, and the brothers founded the Wright Company to build and market their aircraft. Wilbur Wright died of typhoid fever in 1912; Orville lived until 1948.

The historic Wright brothers’ aircraft of 1903 is on permanent display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. READ MORE: 6 Little-Known Pioneers of Aviation

Who was the French man who ate a child?

A very hungry Frenchman from the 18th century left behind a very mysterious and bizarre legacy – We’ve all had moments where we feel like we are so hungry that our appetite is insatiable. However, at some point after beginning to eat, our bodies finally inform us that we are full. A notable exception to this common human trait in history appears to be a mysterious 18th century Frenchman named Tarrare, who not only could never get full, he ate everything he could find, including possibly a baby.

• Very little is known about Tarrare.
• This includes if that was even his real name.
• Born around 1772 in Lyon, France, he had a ravenous appetite even as a small child.
• By the time he reached his teen years, he was capable of eating a full quarter of a cow in one day; the size of which was roughly the same weight as him.

Coming from a modest family, he was forced to leave when his food needs overwhelmed them. Tarrare did about the only thing he could do to survive and have access to a large amount of sustenance. He joined a ragtag traveling gang of pickpockets and prostitutes that survived by begging and stealing.

After a time, the young man was able to slightly improve his lot in life by finding employment as a side act for a scam artist, who used him to draw crowds to sell whatever snake oils he had at the time. Tarrare warmed up the crowds by dazzling with his eating ability. In front of terrified, if not mesmerized, groups, he downed vast quantities of food, and also unusual items like live animals, stones, and corks, all like they were bon bons.

One of his popular tricks was rapidly consuming a large basket of apples one by one until they were gone to the astonishment of those watching. Part of what made Tarrare so watchable was his appearance. As of the age of 17, he was believed to only weigh around 100 pounds.

Who were the brothers who took flight

The Wright Brothers The Wright Brothers The Wright Brothers The Wright brothers—you may have heard of them. But who exactly were they and what did they do? The invention of the airplane by Wilbur and Orville Wright is one of the great stories in American history. The Wright brothers’ invention not only solved a long-studied technical problem, but helped create an entirely new world.

Who was the guy who could eat anything?

The Nauseating, Baffling Autopsy Of Tarrare – Wikimedia Commons Jacques de Falaise, another man with polyphagia who drew many comparisons to Tarrare.1820. Four years later, though, Baron Percy received word that Tarrare had turned up in a hospital in Versailles. The man who could eat anything was dying, Percy learned.

This would be his last chance to see this medical anomaly alive. Baron Percy was with Tarrare when he died of tuberculosis in 1798. For all the horrible smells that had drifted out of Tarrare while he was alive, nothing compared to the stench that poured out when he died. The doctors with him struggled to breathe through the noxious odors that filled every inch of the room.

The description of the autopsy is nothing short of disgusting: “The entrails were putrefied, confounded together, and immersed in pus; the liver was excessively large, void of consistence, and in a putrescent state; the gall-bladder was of considerable magnitude; the stomach, in a lax state, and having ulcerated patches dispersed about it, covered almost the whole of the abdominal region.” His stomach, they found, was so massive that it very nearly filled his entire abdominal cavity.

His gullet, likewise, was unusually wide, and his jaw could stretch so wide open that, as the reports put it: “a cylinder of a foot in circumference could be introduced without touching the palate.” Perhaps they could have learned more about Tarrare’s strange condition – but the stench became so overpowering that even Baron Percy gave up.

The doctors stopped the autopsy midway through, unable to bear a single second more of his stench. They’d learned one thing, though: Tarrare’s condition wasn’t in his mind. Every strange thing that he’d done had started with a genuine, constant biological need to eat.

Who is 73 year old living in a plane?

Bruce Campbell, 73, lives in a Boeing 727 200-passenger jetliner that is 1,066 square feet and weighs around 70,000 pounds. He bought the plane for $100,000 in 1999 and spends $370/month on property taxes and electricity. As an electrical engineer, Campbell feels fulfilled by living in an airplane,

How old is the oldest plane flying?

Airworthy aircraft –

• 14 – Bleriot XI airworthy at the Shuttleworth Collection in Old Warden, Bedfordshire, Built in 1909 and now with the British civil registration G-AANG, this is the world’s oldest airworthy aircraft. It is powered by a three-cylinder “W form” Anzani engine.
• 56 – Bleriot XI airworthy at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in Red Hook, New York, It is powered by a 120°-angle regular “radial” Anzani three-cylinder engine and bears U.S. civil registration N60094. The front and back thirds of the fuselage are original.
• 1381 – Bleriot XI-2 bis on display at the Swedish National Museum of Science and Technology in Stockholm, A Blériot XI, the oldest airworthy museum aircraft in Sweden, manufactured in 1918 under licence by AETA, Enoch Thulins Aeroplane Works, in Landskrona, Sweden, as type Thulin A, has been owned by the museum since 1928. Following a two-year restoration by Mikael Carlson, the Blériot XI made what was probably its maiden flight to celebrate the Centenary of Flight in Sweden, at the Stockholm Festival of Flight on 20–22 August 2010. Registered with the Swedish Civil Air Traffic Authority in 2010 as SE-AEC, the Blériot uses its original rotary engine, a Thulin -built copy of the Gnome Omega,
• Reproduction – Bleriot XI airworthy at the Montreal Aviation Museum in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, It is a reproduction of the Blériot XI “Le Scarabée”, flown over Montreal by Count Jacques de Lesseps in 1910, built by volunteers at the museum. They spent nearly 15 years building this exacting reproduction from original blueprints; its first flight took place in September 2014.
• Reproduction – Bleriot IX airworthy with Eric A. Presten in Vineburg, California,

How long can a plane fly years

AMARG: The World’s Biggest Boneyard – On average, an aircraft is operable for about 30 years before it has to be retired. A Boeing 747 can endure about 35,000 pressurization cycles and flights—roughly 135,000 to 165,000 flight hours—before metal fatigue sets in.747s are retired after approximately 27 years of service.

• Early wide-body planes, like the Lockheed Tri-Star, have shorter lifespans, lasting an average of 24 years.
• Grounded American airplanes, be it temporarily or permanently, go to the southwestern American desert : California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.
• The arid climate of these states slows down rusting.

These boneyards are open-air storage sites for all sorts of aircraft, from retired commercial carriers to nuclear-capable B-52 bombers. The world’s largest aircraft boneyard is the 209th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base close to Tucson, Arizona.

Its 2,600 acres are littered with more than $32 billion worth of outdated planes (as measured by their original purchase price), including all of the U.S. government’s out-of-service aircrafts. A total of 4,400 jets are parked here. While some planes are stored at the base between deployments, more than 80 percent of AMARG’s fleet is kept to provide spare parts to active government and military planes.

Each plane has more than 350,000 individual components, such as an engine, munitions, wiring, and electronics. Many of them can be harvested for parts in other aircrafts. When an aircraft arrives at AMARG, it’s thoroughly washed to rid the exterior of any salt that may cause corrosion.

• Technicians drain fuel tanks and flush them with lubricant.
• They cover tires in Mylar to prevent the sun from deteriorating the rubber.
• They remove explosive devices, such as guns and ejection seat activators.
• Finally, they paint the top coat in white to deflect the scorching desert sunrays.
• At AMARG, aircraft are kept at various levels of restoration by a staff of 550 including engineers and inspectors, almost all whom are civilian personnel.

Some jets are kept in near-ready conditions for flight, receiving heavy maintenance three times annually in case they’re called back to service or sold to U.S. allies looking to upgrade or expand their own fleets. (Davis Monthan Air Force Base, via Creative Commons ) The technicians pay special attention to the retired B-52 bombers, which are capable of carrying thermonuclear weapons. To comply with treaties forged between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union, the B-52 Stratofortresses are stored with wings removed so that foreign satellites can verify their non-activity.

Permanently retired aircrafts are slowly dismantled over time. The pace of their decommissioning fluctuates with the demand for working spare parts. (When parts are cheap, harvesting slows.) AMARG has a smelter onsite, where some of the surplus aircraft and their shells are shredded and recycled. The decommissioning process is largely the same for commercial jets.

California’s Mojave Air and Space Port keeps fleets of old Boeing, Airbus, and Lockheed aircrafts. The carcasses are picked apart for usable parts, and when there’s nothing of value left, the remains are melted for scrap metal.

Has a plane ever fallen?

How many planes fall down? Roughly, there are between 70-90 plane crashes per year worldwide, including both commercial planes and privately-owned ones. Human error, mechanical failure, and poor weather conditions are some of the most common factors that contribute to plane crashes.

Is there a book about the man who eats a airplane

From the Inside Flap – This is a story of the greatest love, ever. An outlandish claim, outrageous perhaps, but trust me- And so begin the enchanting, unforgettable tale of J.J. Smith, Keeper of the Records for The Book of Records, an ordinary man searching for the extraordinary.J.J.

• Has clocked the world’s longest continuous kiss, 30 hours and 45 minutes.
• He has verified the lengthiest single unbroken apple peel, 172 feet and 4 inches.
• He has measured the farthest flight of a champagne cork from an untreated, unheated bottle 177 feet 9 inches.
• He has tasted the world’s largest menu item, whole-roasted Bedouin camel.

But in all his adventure from Australia to Zanzibar, J.J. has never witnessed great love until he comes upon a tiny windswept town in the heartland of America, where folks still talk about family, faith, and crops. Here, where he last expects it, J.J. discovers a world record attempt like no other: Piece by piece, a farmer is eating a Boeing 747 to prove his love for a woman.

1. In this vast landscape of cornfields and lightning storms, J.J.
2. Is doubly astounded to be struck by love from the same woman, Willa Wyatt of the honey eyes and wild blond hair.
3. It is a feeling beyond measure, throwing J.J.’s carefully ordered world upside down, proving that hears, like world records, can be broken, and the greatest wonders in life can not be qualified.

Richly romantic, whimsical, and uplifting, The Man Who Ate the 747 is a flight of fancy from start to finish. It stretches imagination, bends physics and biology, but believe it just a little and you may find yourself reaching for your own records, the kind that really count.

Who was the man who lived in a plane?

Bruce Campbell : Ussery inspired Oregon man Bruce Campbell to convert a Boeing 727 into his home in the woods outside Portland. Here he is in 2014. Two decades: Campbell has now lived in his 727 for more than 20 years.

Has a plane ever fallen?

How many planes fall down? Roughly, there are between 70-90 plane crashes per year worldwide, including both commercial planes and privately-owned ones. Human error, mechanical failure, and poor weather conditions are some of the most common factors that contribute to plane crashes.

Who was the guy who could eat anything

The Nauseating, Baffling Autopsy Of Tarrare – Wikimedia Commons Jacques de Falaise, another man with polyphagia who drew many comparisons to Tarrare.1820. Four years later, though, Baron Percy received word that Tarrare had turned up in a hospital in Versailles. The man who could eat anything was dying, Percy learned.

This would be his last chance to see this medical anomaly alive. Baron Percy was with Tarrare when he died of tuberculosis in 1798. For all the horrible smells that had drifted out of Tarrare while he was alive, nothing compared to the stench that poured out when he died. The doctors with him struggled to breathe through the noxious odors that filled every inch of the room.

The description of the autopsy is nothing short of disgusting: “The entrails were putrefied, confounded together, and immersed in pus; the liver was excessively large, void of consistence, and in a putrescent state; the gall-bladder was of considerable magnitude; the stomach, in a lax state, and having ulcerated patches dispersed about it, covered almost the whole of the abdominal region.” His stomach, they found, was so massive that it very nearly filled his entire abdominal cavity.

His gullet, likewise, was unusually wide, and his jaw could stretch so wide open that, as the reports put it: “a cylinder of a foot in circumference could be introduced without touching the palate.” Perhaps they could have learned more about Tarrare’s strange condition – but the stench became so overpowering that even Baron Percy gave up.

The doctors stopped the autopsy midway through, unable to bear a single second more of his stench. They’d learned one thing, though: Tarrare’s condition wasn’t in his mind. Every strange thing that he’d done had started with a genuine, constant biological need to eat.