The Tragic Life of Robert Wadlow, The World’s Tallest Man Ever

On February 22nd, 1918, Addie Wadlow from Alton, Illinois gave birth to an 8.7lb baby named Robert Pershing Wadlow. Robert was born happy, healthy, and, for all intents purposes, “normal”. Like most babies, Robert started to grow over the course of his first year of life but soon enough, it became apparent that he was also growing exceptionally fast and at an alarming rate.

Within 6 months he already weighed 30lb, and on his first birthday he was up to 45lb, and he was 3 feet 3.5 inches tall, too. Little did anyone know, Robert Wadlow’s baffling growth spurt wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. In fact, it would eventually make him a household name.

Although it was apparent that their son wasn’t quite like other kids, Robert’s parents tried to make his childhood as normal as possible. As the eldest of two younger brothers and two sisters, he was expected to participate in the same activities as his siblings, no matter how difficult it seemed.

By his 5th birthday, Robert had reached 5 feet 4 inches and was already wearing clothes that were intended for teenagers. When he turned 8-years-old, he had exceeded his father Harold F. Wadlow’s height of 5 feet, 11 inches by an additional 3 inches.

To accommodate his beanstalk-like stature at elementary school, a special desk had to be made to support his frame. As far as the other kids in class could tell Robert was already a real-life giant, but he still had a whole lot more growing to do.

At home, he towered over his four younger siblings. When most children were still being carried around by their parents, Robert was able to lift his 150lb father up the stairs of their family home like a puppy. At age 13, he officially became the world’s tallest Boy Scout at an incredible 7 feet 4 inches. To take part in activities with the rest of the boys, Robert was provided with a custom-made uniform, tent and sleeping bag.

At the time, he was already consuming five times as many calories as typical boys his age, in fact, his daily calorie consumption is said to have peaked at 8000 calories! A typical breakfast during his teen years consisted of 8 eggs, 12 slices of toast, several glasses of orange juice, five cups of coffee and plenty of cereal. If anyone was allowed to use the “growing lad” excuse while scoffing down seconds, it was Robert Wadlow.

When he turned 17 in 1935, Wadlow had amazingly surpassed the 8ft mark, making him, unsurprisingly, the tallest teenager ever; the first of many titles he would officially be awarded in his extraordinary life.

But what caused this otherwise regular boy from Alton, Illinois to soar sky-high within so few years? A team of Doctors at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis who examined Wadlow in 1929 were able to diagnose him with hyperplasia of the pituitary gland.

This rare condition causes rapid an excessive growth due to an abnormally high level of human growth hormones aka HGH in the body. The most common cause of an overactive pituitary gland is a benign tumor known as an ‘adenoma’ which forces excess growth hormone to be secreted.

Thanks to significant advances in medical technology and treatment in the years since Wadlow’s death, people who now suffer from Pituitary giantism, like Sultan Kösen, the current tallest living man as of 2017, are able to have surgery to halt the production of the growth hormone.

But times were different when Wadlow was alive, and, as Dr Donald Rau, a Medical Consultant from the Guinness World Records, has explained, many surgeons simply weren’t confident enough to operate on him. Even at the time of his death, it was reported that Wadlow’s body was continuing to grow and had showed no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Apparently, Robert was sick of being asked “hey, how’s the weather up there?”. In fact, when he was 18, Robert remarked that he hadn’t heard a new joke about his height in three years. Although he was a relatively healthy child who enjoyed all the things most normal children did, Robert did have to deal with some major drawbacks as a result of his condition.

Due to his extreme height, he suffered from a general lack of feeling in his lower legs and feet, if he did feel anything, it was nothing more than a constant tingling, like pins and needles. This is because his heart also had trouble circulating blood to the ends of his long limbs.

By age 10, Robert’s feet were deemed ‘cyanotic’ meaning they had an unnatural blue color due to his poor circulation. But Robert was determined not to let his condition get the better of him, and he never once used a wheelchair to get around despite how sensitive his limbs were. When he was 14, Robert stumbled only slightly while pushing a boy on a tricycle and ended up breaking two bones in his foot.

As a result, he wore specially-made iron leg braces for a while, which he would sometimes opt for throughout his later life. Although the braces offered much-needed support for Robert’s extraordinary legs, little did he know they would later be his downfall, but more on that later.

Shortly after Robert Wadlow graduated from Alton High School in 1936, he landed himself in the Guinness World Records book as the tallest living man in the world, measuring 8ft 7inches at just 19-years-old.

Still, Robert had dreams just like anyone else, and he enrolled himself in Shurtleff college on a scholarship with the intention of studying law. But he lasted only one semester. Roberts enormous hands, which measured 32.3cm from the wrist to the tip of his middle finger, the world’s biggest on record, could barely hold a pencil for note taking in lectures, and the realities of campus life became too hard to bear.

Robert’s dream of becoming a lawyer may have withered and died on the vine, but little did he know his life was about to take a rather unexpected turn. Thanks to the publicity his story received throughout childhood, Robert had been noticed by the famous Ringling Brothers and their traveling circus.

They knew he would make an excellent addition to their show, particularly when he was showcased alongside the troupe of ‘little people’ they already had employed by the circus. And now that Robert was an adult, they wanted to be the first to seal a deal.

At the time, traveling carnivals like the Ringling Bros, P.T. Barnum’s Circus, and the Dobritsch International Circus were a pretty big deal. The main show would be accompanied by a smaller “sideshow” which usually saw a bunch of “freaks” performing under the same tent according to a nightly program. The performers could be anything from bearded ladies to conjoined twins, dwarves, and contortionists.

For these people, who had been born "different" and would inevitably be denied the respect they deserved in the real world, joining the circus was one of their very few ways of making any money. Circus owners were always looking for new ways to wow their audiences, and Robert Wadlow, a walking, talking giant, certainly fit the bill.

World's Tallest Man, Robert Wadlow - RARE COLOR FOOTAGE! by Warren Moulton

During his time at the circus, Robert was marketed at ‘The Alton Giant’ or the ‘Giant of Illinois’ and became so wildly popular that he appeared in the center ring rather than the sideshow almost immediately.

Although he was a huge hit with audiences and drew crowds from all over the country, Robert wasn’t a natural born performer and didn’t care much for the colorful and extravagant world of the carnival. He only accepted their offer under a specific set of terms: the circus would provide a hotel suite for Robert and his father and pay all their expenses.

During his performances, he dressed in a conservative business suit and refused the circus’ request to be dressed in a top hat and tails that would accentuate his figure.

Thanks to the fame he had achieved while traveling with the circus, Robert also came to the attention of Peters Shoe Company in 1938, who offered him a job as a spokesperson on a promotional tour.

This was a blessing in disguise for Robert, who had whopping 47cm feet, which is the equivalent of a US size 37AA, unsurprisingly earning him the title of largest feet ever. The company promised to provide Robert with free shoes for as long as he worked with them.

This was a welcome bonus, because his shoes, which had to be specially made and reinforced with metal parts, usually cost him $100 a pop, which is almost $2000 today! It seemed like a no brainer, besides, Robert could see himself working in advertising rather than exhibiting himself as a “freak” for punters down at the circus.

Now that his son was getting booked for appearances all over the country, Henry Wadlow modified the family car by removing the passenger seat so that Robert could sit in the back and stretch out his legs. Together, the father-and-son visited over 800 towns in 41 states to promote the Missouri-based shoe company, traveling over 500,000km in the process.

Soon, other companies around the U.S. followed suit and offered Robert various gigs promoting their own products. An advertisement for a store called ‘Gately’s’ gave away a free $7.98 electric clock lamp to every customer Robert greeted, with the promise: “Let the World’s Biggest Boy give you the biggest free gift we’ve ever offered!”

When Robert wasn’t performing in the center ring of America’s biggest circuses or touring the country promoting shoes, he enjoyed a quiet family life with his parents and siblings. His friends and family described him as mild-mannered and polite, earning him the nickname "Gentle Giant", which was a spin on one of his circus monikers "The Gentleman Giant".

Although he had an exciting and vibrant career thanks to his unique build, it still made doing even the most basic things incredibly difficult. Like Gulliver in the land of the Lilliputians, Robert lived in a world where everything had been designed for people much smaller than him.

Homes, public spaces, and basic household items weren’t well-equipped for his height, and he had to make concessions and adjustments just to be able to perform the simplest of tasks. When sitting down at tables, for example, Robert couldn’t bend his legs for fear of knocking everything off. Instead, he had to keep them straight, which meant he was at risk of easily tripping people up.

Almost everything he owned was custom-made: from his clothes, which required about three times as much material as normal adult clothes, to his 9.5ft bedframe at home. When he stayed at hotels, multiple beds had to be pushed together to accommodate him. Meanwhile, normal leisure activities like going to the movies were totally out of the question, it ain’t easy being a real-life giant!

In 1937, Robert’s parents had made plans to build their son a house that was scaled perfectly for his tremendous size. The doors would be 9ft high, the ceilings 11ft and even the stairs themselves would be 2ft each. All the furniture would be specially made and fitted, including a 10ft bathtub which would’ve cost a hefty $1000 on its own.

Unfortunately, because of the extortionate costs involved in the project and the complications of actually building it, the house never came to fruition.

Although Robert had hung up his showbiz hat long ago, crowds still gathered around him wherever he went, it seemed everyone wanted to get a piece of the world’s tallest man.

On June 2nd, 1936, a medical doctor named Charles Humberd visited Robert and his family at their home. According to the Wadlows, the doctor was very rude and intrusive, and Robert ultimately refused to co-operate with Humberd or be examined by him.

In a bid to get back at the family, Humberd chose to trash Robert in a paper he published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The write-up, which claimed to be about the giant’s mental processes, painted Robert as a moody, surly introvert who was bitter about his condition.

What’s worse, Humberd openly challenged praise from Robert’s teachers regarding his intelligence, and instead insisted that he had “defective attention”, stating that “all functions that we attribute to the highest centers of in the frontal lobes are languid and blurred”. It’s safe to say the Wadlows were not pleased, so they decided to sue the scathing doctor for libel to the tune of $100,000.

The trial, which was held in St. Joseph, Missouri, became quite a media event, and thousands of people waited outside the courthouse to catch a glimpse of the world’s tallest man in the flesh. Unfortunately, the Wadlow’s lost the suit after the judge concluded that it couldn’t be proven that Humberd’s description wasn’t accurate on the day he met him.

By 1940, 22-year-old Robert usually walked with a cane and had been fitted with permanent iron leg braces to support his height and keep him upright. But, because of the general lack of feeling in his lower legs, Robert didn’t notice that one of the braces was dangerously rubbing against his ankle.

While making an appearance at Michigan’s Manistee National Forest Festival on behalf of the shoe company he represented, a blister formed and quickly became infected. Hospitals in the local area refused to treat Robert because their amenities couldn’t accommodate his immense size, so the infection was left to linger.

Thanks to his condition, Robert also had a weakened immune system. As things worsened, he developed a fever of 106 degrees, and doctors were finally forced to perform a minor surgery to give him a blood transfusion, but it was to no avail.

On July 15th, the news broke: the world’s tallest man was dead. Just 18 days before Robert Wadlow succumbed to the fatal infection and passed away in his sleep, he had been measured for the final time and clocked in at a colossal 8 feet 11.1 inches, weighing 439lb.

If it hadn’t been for the ill-fitting brace, he would’ve been the first living man to surpass the 9 foot mark. He was laid to rest in his hometown of Alton, Illinois in Oakwood Cemetery in Madison County.

At his funeral, he was placed in a custom-made casket that reached a total length of 10 feet 9 inches, 32 inches wide, and weighed 1000lbs. The mahoosive casket stuck out the back of the hearse that carried it, so a black cloth had to be draped over the doors to cover the remainder.

It took a dozen men and 8 assistants to carry the casket during the procession, and a staggering 46,000 people showed up to pay their final respects to the gentle giant who walked among them.

Robert Wadlow may have died young, but he left behind an incredible legacy. In 1985, a life-size bronze statue was erected in Alton on the campus of the Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine.

Three other Wadlow statues have since been placed in Guinness World Records museums around North America, while several wax models of the Alton Giant reside in Ripley’s ‘Believe it or Not’ museums, some in ginormous caskets, others towering over crowds of tourists.

There’s even an exhibit dedicated to celebrating Wadlow’s life at the Alton Museum of History and Art, which features photographs as well as a few pairs of his custom shoes, his third-grade school desk and his graduation cap and gown.

But these commemorative exhibits are the only physical reminders of Robert’s extraordinary life. To preserve his image and discourage collectors from profiting off of his incredible disability as simply “freak memorabilia” Robert’s mother had nearly all of his personal belongings destroyed after his death.

The Wadlows also feared that Robert’s body might be dug up, possibly by doctors hoping to examine him, so his coffin was placed in a solid concrete vault, where he has remained ever since.

Robert Wadlow funeral (1940) 22 years old (272cm) colourized by 2B_059_Bayu Kusuma

To this day, no one has beaten Robert Wadlow’s record as the World’s Tallest Man to ever live. The story of how this gentle young man overcame his unique condition and lived his life to the fullest continues to be told through the decades.

I hope you were amazed at the story of Robert Perching Wadlow, the tallest man ever! Thanks for reading.