Life of giants: the tragic story of the tallest couple in the world

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Anna and Martin met when Martin came to Anna's town for work. This could be a completely ordinary love story, if not for one "but": both husband and wife were an order of magnitude higher than the rest of the inhabitants. Martin was 2 meters 41 cm, and his wife, they say, was even taller.

Anna Hainin Swan (Anna Haining Swan) was born in 1846 in Canada and was the third of 13 children. All of Anna's brothers and sisters were of quite normal height, but Anna stood out a lot - already at the age of 15 she was 210 cm tall and weighed 100 kg. The length of Anna's feet at that time was 34 cm. Despite this, the proportions of the girl's body were quite normal.

By the age of 17, Anna had grown even more, and now she was 2 meters 30 cm. However, unfortunately, there is no data on what her final growth was. Of course, later it grew a little more, but there is no exact figure left. All that is known is that Anna was slightly taller than her husband. Martin van Buuren Bates, which was 241 cm tall. Martin didn't really like that his wife was taller than him, so he insisted that Anna was 220 cm tall.

Martin Van Buren Bates himself was born in 1837 in Kentucky, his parents were quite normal in height, and Martin himself was born an ordinary child. And he usually grew up to six or seven years old, when he suddenly began to grow vigorously. By the age of 14, Martin was already 210 cm and weighed 140 kg. As an adult, there was a lot of controversy about how tall he was. Many claimed that Martin is 241 cm, while in the Guinness Book of Records his height is 232 cm and a weight of 176 kg. He worked as a school teacher, but after the outbreak of the Civil War, he joined the Confederate army.

In the Army, Martin received the rank of captain, and his fame quickly spread among the employees. Stories were told about him that "there is a giant in the Confederate army, and he is about the size of five men, but as strong as fifty." After the war, Martin decided that working on stage would be more profitable than working as a teacher, and joined the performances of one of the traveling circuses.

Meanwhile, Anna excelled in literature and music and was known in the area as a very educated girl. She was also good at acting, playing the piano and singing. When she was 19, she was rescued from a fire at the Barnum Museum: the stairs were on fire and the windows were too small for Anna's size. As a result, to get out of the house, more than 18 people helped Anna, pulling the girl out of the burning house.

When the circus where Martin worked came to Canada and drove into the city where Anna lived, the two tall people first met and instantly fell in love. In 1871, when Anna was 25 and Martin was 34, they got married. The following year, they bought a 52-hectare piece of land and built a house on it that was perfect for their sizeable size. Martin and Anna had two children. The first was born the next year after the wedding, but died a few hours after birth. After 7 years, Anna became pregnant again. Her labor lasted 36 hours. The child lived for only 11 hours. He was the largest child in history - he weighed 10 kg, was 76 cm long, and his feet were 15 cm. Anna was presented with an award for making such a record in the Guinness Book, but to console a mother who has lost her child is, of course, not could.

Anna and Martin lived quietly, no longer trying to have children. in 1888, at the age of 42, Anna suddenly died in her sleep from a heart attack. Martin ordered a statue for her from Europe, he put this statue on the grave of his wife, sold his house and moved to live in another city. After 17 years, he again married a woman of ordinary size and they lived together peacefully until his death in 1919. At that time he was 82 years old.

And the most famous dwarf in the world, General Tom-Tam, worked in the circus almost all his life - you can read about him in our article " Small and daring: the world's most famous dwarf, loved on both sides of the ocean."