We can all get very hungry from time to time. Sometimes we even eat a meal for two or three people and fill our stomachs. Well, can you eat for 15 people, in one sitting! These questions may sound silly to you, but for a man named Tarrare who lived in the 18th century, a meal for 15 was an ordinary meal. In fact, Tarrare ate this meal and soon became hungry again because he could not get enough of it.
Tarrare’s problem was not overeating, he was never full. So much so that he drank the blood drawn from the patients and even cut and ate pieces from the dead in the morgue. He even ate live cats and dogs until their bones were left for show. No, he was perfectly sane; He just had a very strange body. He even tried to act as a spy for the French army for this reason. Let’s take a closer look at the extraordinary story of this man named Tarrare.
A child expelled from home because he is not satisfied:
Although it is not known for certain, it is not known whether Tarrare, who is thought to have been born in France in 1792, has another name and surname. All records refer to him only as Tarrare. At a time when it was extremely difficult for even one person to be satisfied, this young man’s eating for at least four people upset his family and he was eventually kicked out of the house.
Tarrare participated in one of the then famous freak shows as an entertainer. The demonstration was simple; The man who eats everything. He really could eat anything. He opened his jaw so wide that a basketful of apples could fit comfortably. Just like a squirrel, he easily ate these apples, which he put in his mouth by widening his cheeks. The things he ate on the show started to get more and more disgusting.
Tarrare: the man who ate cats, dogs, eels alive!
The target audience of Tarrare’s show was often street prostitutes, drunks and vagrants. Different tricks were needed to attract the attention of this not-so-naive audience. According to one of the audience, Tarrare once mouthed a passing cat, gutted it, sucked its blood, and ate it until all the bones were left.
It is said that another day he performed the same demonstration on a much larger dog. In another performance, he swallowed a huge eel alive without even bothering to kill it. According to the records of the doctor who examined Tarrare in the following years, it was as if all the animals were running away because they felt what was going to happen to them when they saw him.
Tarrare wasn’t too fat, but he was really gross:
You might think that this man, who ate the sustenance of dozens of people in one bite, weighed hundreds of kilograms, but he only weighed 100 kilograms. This man, who is known to eat handfuls of garbage when hungry and can be seen doing things even to live animals, was completely sane. So Tarrare wasn’t crazy, he was just hungry.
Tarrare’s normal-weight body was downright disgusting because it was deformed to endure what he had done. His jaw opened incredibly wide. His throat skin hung on his chest, and his stomach skin, which was constantly stretched to accept so much, hung down to his knees. Her cheeks were like elephant ears.
Tarrare emitted such a foul odor that it bothered people even meters away. The smell of sweat was described as sewage. It is even mentioned that there is a visible vapor layer around it. So Tarrare was a man with sagging skin, stinking and eating whatever he could find. But he also loved his country very much.
Tarrare joins the French army:
The 18th century, in which Tarrare lived, was one of the most intense periods of war for France. Despite his extraordinary appearance and actions, Tarrare, a true patriot, left the show business and enlisted in the military. Unfortunately, it was not considered appropriate for such a person to be at the forefront, so he stepped into the background.
This strange soldier is accompanied by army doctors Baron Percy and Dr. It did not go unnoticed by Courville. They did test after test on the Tarrare. Of course, when we think about the medical conditions of that period, it was not understood what was going on. Then an idea occurred to General Alexandre de Beauharnais. France, at war with Prussia, needed a courier. What exactly did Tarrare eat and extract?
The world’s hungriest man becomes a French agent:
The general conducted an experiment on Tarrare. He put a piece of paper in a wooden box and had Tarrare swallow it. When time passed and Tarrare took it out, the paper in the dirt was found. The writings on the paper were almost intact. Tarrare was to send word to the Prussian ranks.
The plan has been made. Tarrare disguised as a Prussian peasant, swallowed his box, and set out to deliver a secret message to a captive French colonel. Of course, this saggy and smelly man was caught, unable to escape the attention of the Prussian soldiers. After long torture, he confessed and took out what was inside. The general had written a note asking only if the message had arrived, as he had anticipated Tarrare’s capture.
Tarrare was sentenced to death for spying. Saddened by the deplorable condition of Tarrare, who was taken to the gallows for tears, the Prussian general forgave him and allowed him to return to the French ranks. Returning to his army, Tarrare’s condition began to deteriorate.
Tarrare began to drink blood, to eat the corpses in the morgue:
Returning to his army, Tarrare tearfully said that he did not want to do such a thing again. Baron Percy tried some treatments for Tarrare. Wine vinegar, tobacco pills, and more hadn’t dampened Tarrare’s appetite in the least. Tarrare, who was not satisfied with the limited supplies of his army, which was in the middle of the war, began to try different methods.
Tarrare was trying to feed himself by eating even trash, but it wasn’t enough. He was caught drinking blood taken from patients in the infirmary and even cutting and eating parts of dead bodies in the morgue. Finally, the disappearance of a 14-month-old baby was the last straw. It is unknown whether Tarrare ate the baby, but because of this latest incident, he was fired and abandoned to his fate.
Tarrare died of tuberculosis:
In 1798, Baron Percy, who was informed that Tarrare was dying in a hospital, went to observe the death of this extraordinary case. The cause of death of Tarrare, who died in a short time, was tuberculosis.
During the autopsy, it was found that Tarrare’s intestines were completely rotten, covered in pus, his liver was very large, and his stomach was full of ulcer wounds, large enough to cover his entire abdomen. His already unbearable smell only increased when he died. The doctors left before they could complete the autopsy. The mystery of why Tarrare suffers from an unsatisfied biological hunger remains unsolved.
We told the extraordinary story of Tarrare, the world’s hungriest man, who could eat cats and dogs alive and even ate human flesh for his fill. You can share your thoughts about Tarrare and his story in the comments.
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