History’s Hungriest Man: Tarrare
In 18th-century France, a man was born with an insatiable appetite. The man known as Tarrare later became a soldier, a street performer and a spy but his life was mainly defined by the medical mystery that was his agonizing hunger.
Early Life and Appearance
He was born near Lyon around 1772, and from a young age Tarrare’s appetite was apparent as by his teens he could reportedly eat a quarter of a cow in a single day. You might think that with all this eating Tarrare’s appearance would be quite obese but surprisingly he only weighed in at around 45 kg at 17 years old. Witnesses described him as having an abnormally wide mouth and that the skin on his stomach was so loose that it could be wrapped around his waist like a belt when his stomach was empty. After a meal however, his abdomen would swell up like a massive balloon. He was also said to have a very bad body odor described as smelling “to such a degree that that he could not be endured within the distance of 20 paces”.
From Street Performer to Spy
After being kicked out by his parents as they were unable to afford the massive amounts of food he required, he briefly lived off the streets before finding work as a travelling showman in Paris. Crowds would pay to see him devour baskets full of eggs, apples and even wine corks. Later he enlisted in the French Revolutionary Army but even with the increased rations his hunger could not be satiated and he was eventually sent to a military hospital after collapsing from exhaustion.
After conducting some experiments on him including feeding him enough food for 15 people and a live eel, the military decided to take advantage of his condition to use him as a spy. The plan was for Tarrare to swallow a wooden box containing a secret message, enter enemy lines and wait for the box to “pass through”. Unfortunately, Tarrare could not speak German and his condition drew plenty of attention to him so he made a poor spy and was captured by Prussian forces. They tortured him and subjected him to a mock execution before finally releasing him back to French lines.
Tragic Life and Death
Tarrare returned from his experience as a spy back to hospital to try and find a cure for his condition but after the doctors tried various treatments including wine vinegar and tobacco pills Tarrare was not fixed. His hunger grew so desperate that he was caught searching for scraps in the trash, drinking the blood of other hospital patients and allegedly attempting to eat bodies in the mortuary. The doctors finally drew the line when a 14-month-old baby disappeared from the hospital. Suspected of eating the child, Tarrare was kicked out of the hospital and lived as a vagabond until he returned to hospital with tuberculosis shortly before dying four years later.
Most of the information about Tarrare comes from Dr. Pierre-François Percy who examined Tarrare briefly before he died and who cited the experiences of the various doctors Tarrare had over the years. During the autopsy, surgeons found his abdominal region was largely deformed and his esophagus was so wide they could look directly down into his stomach. Percy theorized that Tarrare’s hunger was a type of “polyphagia” (extreme hunger), potentially caused by a damaged hypothalamus or an extreme thyroid condition.
Ultimately, Tarrare’s story is a tragic example of a man “cursed” by his condition but perhaps if he was born today he could come to notoriety as a famous mukbanger or competitive eater.
Written by Sean Furniss