25 Real Life Giants You Won’t Believe Exist

Bernard Coyne’s WWI draft card listed his height at 8′ even, but when he died, it’s suspected he reached up to 8’4”. He was born in the late 1890’s in Iowa and is buried there as well.

Sultan Kösen of Turkey current holds the record as the tallest living man in the world. He reached a height of 8′ 2.8″ before having surgery to have his pituitary gland removed in 2010, when his growth stopped.

MacAskill is the tallest “natural giant” ever recorded, meaning there was no known medical reason for his great height, no odd or unnatural proportions, he was just big. He was also, according to the Guinness book of world records, the strongest man who ever lived. He was able to single-handedly lift boat anchors over 2,000 lbs to chest height. He also had the largest chest circumference of any non-obese man at 80 inches. He also was supposedly very handsome and had a gentle demeanor along with a deep, soothing “musical” voice.

Yao Defen was a Chinese woman who, like many who grow incredibly tall, had a tumor in her pituitary gland. She was 7’8” tall and lived to be 40 years old.

Jinlian was the tallest female ever recorded in medical history at a height of 7′ 11″. Unfortunately, this meant that she was unable to stand up straight because of her deformed spine. She was born in China in 1964 and died at the age of 17 from complications of diabetes. Had she been able to stand up straight, she would have stood around 8′ 2″.

Ella was born in Missouri in 1872 and was the tallest woman of her generation. She was known as the Missouri Giantess and was an only child. Though she was often hurt by people gawking at her, she choose to become a tourist attraction at a Chicago museum and later Barnum & Bailey’s in order to help her parents financially. At 8′ 4″, her regular dresses required a whopping 24 yards of fabric to make. Eventually, she used her earnings from the circus to buy a small farm and have a house built to her measurements and bought one for her parents within walking distance.

Rogan is the tallest African American ever recorded. Born in 1868 in Tennessee, he was of normal height, and his growth was normal until age 13 when he hit a massive growth spurt. His recorded height at his death was 8’8″.

The only Roman Emperor never to enter Rome was also a giant. Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus Augustus aka Maximinus Thrax aka emperor Maximinus I was born in Thrace, ruled 235-238, and stood at 8′ 1.7″

Basketball player and actor Shaquille O’Neal is possibly the most well know “Giant” of the century. He’s 7’1″, and also, supposedly, a really nice dude.

Sandy Allen was the tallest woman in US history, at just a bit over 7’7″ tall. She was a very nice person who died in a convalescent home in her 50’s due to health problems. She told NYT writer Arianne Cohen during an interview that if she hadn’t grown so tall, “I probably would have gotten married, settled down, and had umpteen million kids.”

In 2014, Guinness officially named Rumeysa Gelgi of Turkey the tallest teenager in the world at 7ft tall. It was one of her life goals to make it into the record books with her height, and she is very pleased to have done so. The reason for her height is a condition called Weaver Syndrome, which causes rapid growth, starting at birth.

Edouard Beaupré was born in Canada in 1881. He grew to 8’3″, and when he was 17, discovered he could lift an 800 lb horse. Sadly, the pituitary gland which caused his exponential growth also caused his premature death at just 23 years old.

Anton de Franckenpoint was the first person in recorded history to reach 8′ in height. He was a personal guard to the Duke of Braunschweig in the early 1600’s, and his skeleton currently belongs to Museum Anatomicum in Marburg where it is on display. That just doesn’t seem very nice, to gawk at people in death for things they couldn’t help. Jeez Germany…

Koehler was born in Montana in 1925. He reached a high of 8′ 2″ before his spine started to curve from disease, making him shorter. He had a twin sister, who was a normal height of 5′ 9″. He died at 55 years old, reportedly of a heart condition.

Matthew was the world’s tallest actor when he played in Tim Burton’s masterpiece “Big Fish” as Karl the Giant. He also had roles in the movies “Bubble Boy,” “MIB II,” and “The Devil’s Rejects.” He was 7′ 6″ tall, and died of natural causes in 2005. He was only 32.

John Carroll was known as The Giant of South Buffalo, measuring in at just over 8 feet tall. When you took into account his curved spine, he was over 8’7″ tall. He also had a pituitary gland disorder, and was known as a “wonderful, happy person” despite his handicaps. He worked as a park superintendent, and due to his red hair, his local nickname was Big Red. It was said of him, “He should be remembered for the way he handled his challenging medical condition with dignity.”

Vikas Uppal was the tallest man in India. He was still growing through his adult years, and his last reported height in 2005 was 8′ 9″. He was not measured by the Guinness Book of World Records. He died in 2007 during a failed brain tumor operation.

Yao Ming is a professional basketball player from China who’s actually taller than Shaq at 7′ 6″. He retired in 2011 due to joint and foot injuries. In the US, he played for the Houston Rockets, and in Shanghai, he played for the Shanghai Sharks.

“Thor” plays The Mountain on Game of Thrones and is 6’9″, weighing over 400lbs. He’s a Strongman and can dead-lift nearly 1,000 pounds.

Väinö Myllyrinne was 8′ 4″ tall at the time of his death in 1963 and at one point was considered the world’s tallest man. He was in the Finnish army for a time and is still considered to be the tallest solider in recorded history.

Polish basketball player Margo Dydek was the tallest female basketball player in history at 7’2” before she suffered a heart attack and died in 2011.

Known as the Giant of Illinois, the tallest man who ever lived was born in 1918, and died at only 22 years old. His name was Robert Pershing Wadlow, and he was diagnosed with gigantism just a few months after his birth. He was taller than both of his parents by the time he was six. In 1936, he went on tour with Ringling Brothers Circus. By the time he died, he needed special leg braces just to walk and had lost all feeling in his feet. His final height was 8’11”.

Broc is a Michigan teenager with a rare genetic disorder called Sotos Syndrome, which causes him to grow six inches a year. He’s currently 7′ 8” and still growing. Clothing and shoes for Broc have actually become a serious financial strain on the family since everything has to be custom made.

Brahim Takioullah of Morocco is the second tallest person in the world at 8’1″, but he has the LARGEST feet in the world – his shoe size is a European size 58, which no shoe store actually stocks. He, like many on this list, has a pituitary gland disorder called acromegaly.

Andre the Giant was perhaps known to most for his role in The Princess Bride; however, he was a wrestler long before that. In 1987, he drew the largest crowd for a wrestling match to date with 90,000 people in attendance when he wrestled Hulk Hogan at the Silver Dome. He was 7′ 4″ tall and weighed 500 lbs.