Tarrare: The Man Who Could Eat Anything

Tarrare was an 18th-century French showman and soldier with an insatiable appetite and bizarre ability to consume vast quantities of food—and non-food items. Despite eating enormous meals, he remained thin and complained of constant hunger. He could eat a quarter of a bullock in a single day, live cats, snakes, lizards, and puppies. His body temperature was unusually high, he sweated constantly, and he emitted a foul stench that could be smelled from a distance. During the War of the First Coalition, French commanders attempted to use him as a spy by having him swallow documents in a wooden box, cross enemy lines, and retrieve them from his stool. The mission failed when he was captured. After the war, doctors tried to cure his condition, but nothing worked. He was eventually ejected from a hospital for suspected cannibalism after a 14-month-old child went missing. He died at age 26, likely from tuberculosis. His autopsy revealed a massive esophagus, stomach, and digestive tract.