Category:
World Records
World Records
Happy Humphrey, Heaviest Pro Wrestler of All Time
His Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Jan 18, 2020 -
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Category: Body, Dieting and Weight Loss, Differently Abled, Handicapped, Challenged, and Otherwise Atypical, Enlargements, Miniatures, and Other Matters of Scale, Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, World Records, Wrestling, Twentieth Century
Edmund Love and His Restaurant Quest
In 1964, THE SATURDAY EVENING POST profiled Edmund G. Love, who intended to eat his way through approximately 5000 NYC restaurants.
By 1973, when THE NEW YORK TIMES took notice, his quest had ballooned to 6000.
His 1990 obituary in the NYT says he managed to hit 1750 of them.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Nov 07, 2019 -
Comments (4)
Category: Addictions, Bums, Hobos, Tramps, Beggars, Panhandlers and Other Streetpeople, Eccentrics, Food, Restaurants, World Records, Twentieth Century
Champion Chicken Picker Ernest Hausen
Ernie Hausen, of Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, had one great talent. He could pick the feathers off of chickens really, really fast.When he started picking chickens, in 1904, it took him a full half hour to defeather one. Since he was paid 5 cents per chicken, he wasn't making much money. Over the years he sped up. By 1922, he won a Chicken Picking Championship by picking his chicken clean in 6 seconds. He topped this in 1939, upping his time to 3.5 seconds. As far as I know, that record stands to this day.
His technique:
Hausen dips the chickens in 164-degree water, quickly runs his large, powerful fingers across the wings, from the tips inward; does the same with the legs, finally peels the feathers from the back and breast. Suddenly the bird is as bare as a billiard ball.... He tells of picking 1,472 birds in 7 hours and 45 minutes in a contest.
-Ithaca Journal - Feb 7, 1946
-Ithaca Journal - Feb 7, 1946
More info: Hoard Museum
Wisconsin State Journal - Jan 2, 1946
Appleton Post-Crescent - Jul 28, 1936
McAllen Monitor - Oct 28, 1946
Posted By: Alex - Fri Sep 27, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Animals, Farming, Human Marvels, World Records
Vasectomy World Record
As far as I can tell, the world record for the most voluntary vasectomies performed in a single day (and at a single event) was set on December 5, 1987 in Bangkok, when 1214 men received the operation. This beat the previous record of 1202, set in 1983.Interesting how the article specifies these were voluntary vasectomies. Is there a separate record for involuntary ones?
Anyway, 'most vasectomies' appears to be a category that Guinness doesn't bother to cover.
Des Moines Register - Dec 6, 1987
Posted By: Alex - Mon Aug 19, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: World Records, Surgery
Thirteen Daughters, Then a Boy
I wonder if this 1953 record has ever been broken?Story here.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Jul 23, 2019 -
Comments (2)
Category: Family, Children, World Records, 1950s
Avengers: Endgame, 200 times
Back in April, I posted about a guy who had set a world record for “most cinema productions attended - same film.” Specifically, he had watched Captain Marvel in a movie theater 116 times.Since Marvel films have, for some reason, inspired these super-fan stunts, I speculated that the then imminent release of Avengers: Endgame would lead to a new attempt at a record. And sure enough, Agustin Alanis of Riverview, Florida is going for it. I believe he's already set a new record, but since Avengers: Endgame is still in theaters, he's still watching it, and is shooting for a total of 200 viewings. This is especially impressive since the movie clocks in at around 3 hours.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Jun 23, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Movies, World Records
World record for most severed hands reattached in one week
As far as I can tell, their claim to this record remains unchallenged.
Palm Beach Post - Nov 1, 1997
Posted By: Alex - Sun May 26, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: World Records, Surgery, 1990s
Shortest Commercial Flight
Odd Trivia: The shortest scheduled commercial flight in the world takes a mere 90 seconds. It's the Loganair flight between the Scottish islands of Westray and Papa Westray. From cntraveler.com:In good conditions, Loganair’s 1.7-mile jaunt between the Scottish islands of Westray (population: 640) and Papa Westray (population: 72) in the Orkneys, off the north coast of the mainland, can take under a minute. Headwinds can make the flight a whopping two-and-a-half minutes. Retired police officer Graham Maben is one of the route’s regulars; the 70-year-old Orkney native now runs a tour business on the islands, and estimates he has taken the flight around 40 times over the past 15 years.
Posted By: Alex - Sat May 11, 2019 -
Comments (2)
Category: World Records, Air Travel and Airlines
Captain Marvel, 116 times
It’s not official yet, but Steve Ruppel appears to have gained the Guinness world record for “most cinema productions attended - same film.” Put more clearly, that’s the record for watching the same film, again and again, in a cinema. Ruppel has watched Captain Marvel 116 times since its release on March 7.Ruppel said that when he first heard Guinness kept such a category "I thought it was the most insane thing ever, I thought it was impossible. I wasn't even sure why it was even a record, but I thought after a while, 'I should probably do that.'" I like how his thought process progressed from 'it's insane' to "I should do that."
The previous (and officially still current) holder of this record was Anthony ‘Nem’ Mitchell who watched Avengers: Infinity War 103 times when it came out in 2018. With Avengers: Endgame coming out this weekend, I wonder if Mitchell will take the opportunity to regain his title.
More details: wsaw.com
Steve Ruppel (via syfy.com)
Posted By: Alex - Thu Apr 25, 2019 -
Comments (3)
Category: Movies, World Records
Most eye tests performed in 8 hours
While at the eye doctor yesterday for a routine check-up, I noticed a plaque on the wall of the lobby. It was the word 'Guinness' that happened to catch my eye, and looking closer I realized it was a certificate from Guinness World Records recognizing the ophthalmology department I was in for performing the most eye tests in an 8-hour period: a total of 1,109 tests!I hadn't known that speed eye testing was a thing.
However, some googling reveals that their record has subsequently been shattered. The Guinness website lists the current record holder as "V Senthilbalaji" of Karur, India, which performed 25,355 eye tests in 8 hours on April 4, 2015. (I'm assuming V Senthilbalaji must be the name of a hospital).
But what are the rules for gaining this record? Is there no limit on how many doctors can participate? In which case, speed isn't as important as just collecting a whole bunch of eye doctors in one place. And what exactly counts as an 'eye test'?
(My apologies for the lousy quality of the picture below. I'm blaming it on my phone's lousy camera. Or maybe I just need my eyes checked...)
Posted By: Alex - Tue Apr 23, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: World Records
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |