Giants Among Us

Throughout history, some individuals have grown to heights so extraordinary that they've become legends in their own right. Most of these remarkable cases were caused by a condition called gigantism, where the pituitary gland produces excess growth hormone, allowing the body to keep growing well beyond the typical range. While some of these individuals became household names and traveled the world as performers, others preferred private lives, and a few were never even able to stand upright. Here are 20 of the tallest people ever recorded.

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1. Robert Wadlow — 8 ft 11.1 in (2.72 m)

Robert Wadlow of the United States is the tallest person in recorded history, measuring 8 ft 11.1 in at the time of his death in 1940. Born in Alton, Illinois, in 1918, he was a remarkably normal baby who simply never stopped growing, a result of a hypertrophic pituitary gland that doctors advised the family not to attempt to remove surgically. When asked in a radio interview if he was annoyed when people stared at him, he calmly replied that he just overlooked them, a reflection of the quiet, good-natured character that endeared him to everyone he met.

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2. John Rogan — 8 ft 9 in (2.67 m)

John William Rogan, born in Hendersonville, Tennessee, was recorded as the tallest non-mobile person ever and the second-tallest person in history at 8 ft 9 in, behind Robert Wadlow. His rapid growth began at age 13 and led to ankylosis, a severe stiffening of the joints that eventually left him unable to stand or walk; he got around using a goat-pulled cart. He continued to grow until his death, and his exact height was only measured after he passed away in 1905.

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3. John F. Carroll — 8 ft 7.75 in (2.63 m)

John Carroll was born in Buffalo, New York, and stood nearly 8 ft 8 in tall as a fully grown adult, earning him the nickname the Buffalo Giant in both media and medical literature. His height was complicated by two competing conditions: acromegalic gigantism, which caused continuous growth, and kyphoscoliosis, an abnormal curvature of the spine, which robbed him of inches he would otherwise have measured. Despite those significant challenges, Carroll tried to live a normal life and even ran, unsuccessfully, for public office before dying in 1969 at the age of 37.

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4. Trijntje Keever — approx. 8 ft 4 in (2.54 m)

Trijntje Cornelisdochter Keever, born in Edam in the Netherlands in 1616, is alleged to be the tallest female in recorded history, measuring approximately 2.54 meters tall at the time of her death at age 17. She was already 6 ft 7 in by the age of nine, which made her a sensation throughout Europe, and her parents took her to carnivals where even foreign royalty came to see her. Her original shoes, measuring 36 cm in length and equivalent to European size 54, are preserved and displayed at the Edam Museum, providing some of the most tangible evidence of her extraordinary proportions.

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5. Väinö Myllyrinne — 8 ft 3 in (2.51 m)

Following the death of Robert Wadlow in 1940, the record for the world's tallest living person passed to Finnish giant Väinö Myllyrinne, who had been living in Wadlow's shadow for nearly a decade. What makes Myllyrinne especially unusual in this list is that he experienced not one but two separate phases of growth; he reached 7 ft 4 in by his early twenties, then underwent a second growth spurt in his thirties that ultimately brought him to 8 ft 1.5 in. Myllyrinne served in the Finnish Defence Forces and is widely recognized as the tallest soldier in the world, with a hand span of 15.7 inches acknowledged as the largest ever recorded.

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6. Édouard Beaupré — 8 ft 3 in (2.52 m)

Édouard Beaupré was born in the southern Saskatchewan town of Willow Bunch on January 9, 1881, and was the first of 20 children born to Gaspard Beaupré and Florestine Piché, a Métis woman. Known as the Willow Bunch Giant, he toured as a strongman and circus performer, wowing audiences by bending iron bars and hoisting horses onto his shoulders, but his health was steadily undermined by tuberculosis. He died at age 23 of a pulmonary hemorrhage while performing at the St. Louis World's Fair, and after a long and troubling saga involving his mummified remains being put on public display, his ashes were finally returned to Willow Bunch for a proper burial in 1990.

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7. Sultan Kösen — 8 ft 2.8 in (2.51 m)

Sultan Kösen took the title of the world's tallest living man from China's Bao Xishun in 2009 and has held it for over 16 years. Born in Turkey in 1982, his exceptional growth didn't begin until he was 10 years old, when a tumor on his pituitary gland triggered gigantism and acromegaly, and he continued to grow until gamma-knife surgery in 2010 finally halted the process. In addition to his towering height, Kösen holds the record for the largest hands on any living person, with hands measuring 28.5 cm from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger.

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8. Leonid Stadnyk — approx. 8 ft 5 in (2.57 m)

Leonid Stadnyk was a Ukrainian man whose rapid growth began after brain surgery he underwent at the age of 13, which triggered a tumor that released abnormal amounts of growth hormone. He trained and worked as a veterinary surgeon for a time, but eventually had to give it up due to his size, and continued life as a farmer instead. Guinness World Records ultimately removed him from their official listings because he consistently refused to be measured under their strict verification protocol, which requires multiple sessions over several days, meaning his height remained informally estimated rather than certified.

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9. Bernard Coyne — 8 ft 2 in (2.49 m)

Bernard A. Coyne lived from July 27, 1897, to May 20, 1921, and at the time of his death may have reached 8 ft 4 in in height, though he was still growing, much like Robert Wadlow. He was one of the very few people in medical history to have verifiably reached the 8-foot mark, and he held the distinction of being the tallest person in the world at the time of his death. He is buried in Anthon, Iowa, in a specially made extra-large coffin.

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10. Don Koehler — 8 ft 2 in (2.49 m)

Don Koehler was born on September 1, 1925, and died on February 26, 1981; because of gigantism, he was once 8 ft 2 in tall, though later in life a condition called kyphosis caused his spine to curve significantly. He grew up on the north side of Chicago and is noted as one of the more public-facing tall individuals of his era, raising awareness about pituitary disorders throughout his life. He held the title of the world's tallest living person from 1969 to 1981, making him one of the longer-reigning holders of that distinction in the 20th century.

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11. Zeng Jinlian — 8 ft 1.75 in (2.48 m)

Zeng Jinlian, from Yujiang village in China's Hunan Province, is the tallest woman in modern recorded history, and Guinness World Records reports that she started growing at an unusual speed when she was just four months old. By the time she was four years old she was already over 5 feet tall, and she reached 7 feet by the age of 13, accompanied by serious complications including scoliosis and diabetes. She died in 1982 at just 18 years old, and remains the only woman in verified modern records to have exceeded the eight-foot mark.

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12. Patrick Cotter O'Brien — 8 ft 1 in (2.46 m)

Patrick Cotter O'Brien was born in Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland, in 1760, and became the first person in history to be verifiably documented standing over eight feet tall. He adopted the stage name O'Brien to evoke a connection to Irish royalty, toured extensively in England as the Bristol Giant, and earned enough money to retire comfortably before his death in 1806. No hearse could be found to accommodate his 8 ft 4 in casket, and his remains were carried to the grave by relays of 14 men.

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13. Angus MacAskill — 7 ft 9 in (2.36 m)

What sets Angus MacAskill apart from nearly everyone else on this list is that his extraordinary height wasn't caused by gigantism or any other medical condition; he was simply, by all accounts, a naturally enormous human being. Guinness World Records officially recognized MacAskill as the tallest true non-pathological giant in recorded history, measuring 7 ft 9 in tall with a fully proportionate build. Born in Scotland in 1825 and raised in Nova Scotia after his family emigrated, he stood 7 ft 9 in tall and weighed 475 lbs, with shoulders measuring 44 inches wide.

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14. Anna Haining Bates (Anna Swan) — 7 ft 11 in (2.41 m)

Anna Swan was born in 1846 in Nova Scotia, Canada, and grew to a height of 7 ft 11 in, making her one of the tallest women in recorded history whose measurements are well documented. She went on to have a notable career as a performer, eventually joining Barnum & Bailey's circus, where she met and married fellow giant Martin Van Buren Bates of Kentucky, himself standing over 7 ft 11 in. The couple became a celebrated pair in the entertainment world of the 19th century and settled in Seville, Ohio, where a life-size statue of Anna can still be found today.

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15. Vikas Uppal — 8 ft 3 in (2.51 m)

Vikas Uppal was born in India in 1986 and reportedly reached a height of approximately 8 ft 3 in, though his measurements were never officially verified by Guinness World Records under their standardized protocol. He grew up in Haryana, India, and was widely reported by Indian media as potentially the world's tallest person during his lifetime. Uppal died in 2007 at just 21 years old following brain surgery, and his case remains one of the more debated entries in discussions of the tallest people in history due to the lack of certified measurements.

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16. Gabriel Estêvão Monjane — 8 ft 0.75 in (2.45 m)

Gabriel Estêvão Monjane was born in Mozambique and became the tallest person ever documented from Africa, with his height of just over 8 feet resulting from gigantism caused by an overproduction of growth hormone. He was recognized by Guinness World Records during his lifetime, making him one of the more officially verified cases outside of North America and Europe on this list. His life was marked by the health challenges that accompany extreme height, and his story remains less thoroughly documented than those of his counterparts from wealthier countries, a reminder of how unevenly historical records have been kept.

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17. Julius Koch — 8 ft 1 in (2.46 m)

Julius Koch was born in Reutlingen, Germany, in 1872, and toured Europe under the stage name "Le Géant Constantin," performing at venues including the London Pavilion and the Folies Bergère in Paris. His height was ultimately based on an estimate, as both his legs had to be amputated after a series of falls caused injuries that developed into gangrene. His femurs, measuring 76 cm, are the longest bones ever recorded in a human being, edging out even those of Robert Wadlow, and his skeleton is preserved at the Museum of Natural History in Mons, Belgium, where it can still be seen today.

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18. Albert Johan Kramer — 7 ft 9.5 in (2.37 m)

Albert Johan Kramer was a Dutch giant born in 1897 who held the title of the world's tallest living person for a period in the 1920s and early 1930s, a distinction that isn't widely known outside dedicated histories of the subject. He reached a height of approximately 7 ft 9.5 in and, like many of the individuals on this list, was the product of a pituitary disorder that drove his growth well beyond normal limits. His record was eventually surpassed as Robert Wadlow continued his extraordinary growth through the 1930s, and Kramer's story has largely been overshadowed by his more famous successor.

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19. Suleiman Ali Nashnush — 8 ft 0.4 in (2.45 m)

Suleiman Ali Nashnush was a Libyan man who reportedly grew to over 8 feet tall before undergoing surgery in Rome in 1960 that successfully halted his pituitary growth, making his case one of the earlier documented instances of medical intervention stopping gigantism. Though a basketball player, he also had an unlikely career stint, appearing as an actor in the 1969 Italian film Fellini Satyricon. His story is a relatively rare example of an extremely tall person from the 20th century who benefited from surgical treatment and lived well into adulthood as a result.

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20. Brahim Takioullah — 8 ft 1 in (2.46 m)

Brahim Takioullah is a Moroccan man born in 1982 who stands at approximately 8 ft 1 in and has been verified by Guinness World Records, making him one of the tallest living people in the world alongside Sultan Kösen. He also holds a separate record: his feet, measuring 38.1 cm, are officially recognized as the largest feet on a living person. Unlike many of the historical figures on this list, Takioullah is alive today, a living reminder that the remarkable story of human height extremes is still being written.

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