Humans are a unique bunch. We walked on the Moon, invented the Internet, and even mapped the human genome. We’ve accomplished some truly remarkable things in our relatively short time on this planet as Homo sapiens. But flip the coin, and you’ll find we have our fair share of weirdest world records.
From the time humans first started walking upright, we’ve been trying to devise new ways to test the limits of our bodies and minds. It’s not always pretty, but it sure is entertaining and has allowed us to evolve in ways other species can only dream of.
Guinness World Records has been around since 1955, and they’ve made it their mission to keep track of the most impressive, extreme, and craziest world records humanity has achieved. They’ve got weird world records for everything, from the longest fingernails to the most tattooed person — and you’ll get plenty of them on our list of the dumbest world records!
Collecting this data requires sharp attention to detail, thorough research, and stringent standards. But sometimes, world record breakers don’t get enough recognition, and we think it’s a good time to bring them back from oblivion. You’ll find that some of the weirdest Guinness World Records are arguably great feats, while others are borderline absurd. May they give you the bravery to break a world record yourself!
#1 When The World Gets Seriously Weird
Most children delivered at a single birth to survive.
In 2021, Halima Cisse (Mali) delivered 9 children in the Ain Borja clinic in Casablanca, Morocco.
Nonuplets are extremely rare, and until the arrival of the Cisse children, no cases had been recorded of nine babies from a single birth surviving for more than a few hours.
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#2
Longest time breath held voluntarily.
In 2021, Croatian Budimir Šobat voluntarily held his breath for astonishing 24 min 37.36 sec.
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#3
Heaviest train pulled with beard.
In 2001, Ismael Rivas Falcon of Spain with his beard pulled a train weighing 2,753.1 kg (6,069 lbs) over a distance of 10 m (32.8 ft).
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#4
Strangest diet.
During his lifetime, Michel Lotito (France), known as Monsieur Mangetout, ate metal and glass throughout his lifetime, beginning in 1959. Gastroenterologists X-rayed his stomach and described his ability to consume 900 g (2 lb) of metal per day as unique.
His diet since 1966 included 18 bicycles, 15 supermarket trolleys, seven TV sets, six chandeliers, two beds, a pair of skis, a low-calorie Cessna light aircraft and a computer. He is said to have provided the only example in history of a coffin (handles and all) ending up inside a man.
Mr Lotito died of natural causes on June 25, 2007.
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#5
Longest stand-up comedy show by an individual.
In 2013, The Midnight Swinger aka David Scott (USA) performed the longest stand-up comedy show. He lasted 40 hours and 8 minutes telling jokes.
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#6
World’s tallest cow ever.
The tallest cow ever is named Blosom, who was owned by Patricia Meads-Hanson (USA), and measured at 190 cm (74.8 in) from the hoof to the withers. This record was verified in 2014.
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#7
Fastest talker.
In 1995, Canadian Sean Shannon recited Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy (260 words) in just 23.8 seconds.
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#8
Most feet and armpits sniffed.
Madeline Albrecht was employed at the Hill Top Research Laboratories in Cincinatti, Ohio, USA, a testing lab for products by Dr. Scholl. She worked there for 15 years and had to smell literally thousands of feet and armpits during her career. She has sniffed approximately 5,600 feet and an indeterminate number of armpits.
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#9
Longest attack of hiccups.
Charles Osborne, USA, started hiccoughing in 1922 while attempting to weigh a hog before slaughtering it. He was unable to find a cure, but led a normal life in which he had two wives and fathered eight children. He continued until a morning in February 1990.
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#10
The heaviest twins.
In 1978, Billy Leon McCrary weighed at 53 st 1 lb (337 kg) and his brother, Benny Lloyd, weighed at 51 st 9 lb (328 kg), and each had waists measuring 2.13 m (84 in). They were both normal size until the age of 6.
Both died from heart failure.
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#11 You Won’t Believe These Are Real Records
Fastest time to type to one million.
It took 16 years of hard work for Les Stewart of Australia to type from one to one million (in words).
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#12
Highest vehicle mileage.
At 4 p.m. on 18 September 2013, Irvin Gordon (USA) clocked up his three-millionth mile in his 1966 Volvo 1800S while driving near the village of Girdwood, south of Anchorage in Alaska, USA. By 1 May 2014, he had driven 3,039,122 miles.
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#13
Most pubs visited.
Bruce Masters (UK) has visited 46,495 pubs and various drinking establishments since 1960, sampling the local brew where available, as of 29 January 2014.
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#14
Fastest time to drink two litres of soda.
In 2021, Eric Booker (USA) drank two litres of soda in 18.45 seconds.
Eric is a competitive eater who decided to attempt this record title because it was always his dream to be a Guinness World Records title holder.
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#15
Fastest marathon dressed as an elf.
In 2017, Ashley Payne of the UK completed a marathon dressed as an elf in 2 hours 58 minutes and 16 seconds.
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#16
Longest legs on a person.
The longest legs in the world belong to Maci Currin (USA) and measure at 135.267 cm (53.255 in) for the left leg and 134.3 cm (52.874 in) for the right leg. This record was verified in 2020.
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#17
Most consecutive one-finger push ups.
In 1992, London’s Paul Lynch performed 124 consecutive one finger push-ups.
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#18
Fastest speed for a motorcycle ridden blindfolded.
In 2003, UK’s Billy Baxter reached a speed of 265.33 km/h (164.87 mph) while riding a 1,200cc Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle blindfolded.
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#19
Longest time trapped in a lift.
This record is held by Kively Papajohn of Limassol, Cyprus. At the age of 76, Kively got trapped in her apartment block lift for six days from 28 December 1987 to 2 January 1988.
She survived the cold and beat dehydration by rationing some fruit, vegetables and bread that she had in her shoppping bag.
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#20
Highest g force endured – voluntary.
In 1958, Eli L. Beeding Jr (USA) endured the highest g value at 82.6g (normal humans can withstand no more than 9 g’s) for 0.04 seconds on a water-braked rocket sled at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, USA. He was subsequently hospitalized for three days.
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#21 Guinness Records Gone Wild
Fastest time to push an orange one mile with the nose.
In 2007, USA’s Ashrita Furman pushed an orange with his nose for one mile in 22 minutes and 41 seconds.
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#22
Fastest time to type using the nose.
In 2017, Davinder Singh of India typed the prescribed 103 character text on a keyboard using only his nose in 40.19 seconds.
Davinder had to type the following sentence in order to set this record: “Guinness world records have challenged me to type this sentence using my nose in the fastest time.”
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#23
Most pint glasses balanced on the chin.
In 2007, USA’s Ashrita Furman managed to balance 81 pint (20 oz) beer glasses on his chin for 12.10 seconds.
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#24
Highest tightrope walk.
In 1989, Frenchman Michael Menin walked a 3,150m (10,335 ft) high tightrope above the French countryside.
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#25
Longest ongoing pilgrimage.
Between December 1969 and 2013 April, Arthur Blessitt of Florida, USA, walked a total of 64,752km (40,235 miles). He has visited all seven continents, including Antarctica, having crossed 321 “nations, island groups and territories” carrying a 3.7-m-tall (12-ft) wooden cross and preaching from the Bible throughout his pilgrimage.
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#26
Longest tattoo session.
In 2022, Giovanni Vassallo of Italy spent 61 hours and 37 minutes tattooing multiple people.
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#27
Most nails hammered with the head in one minute.
In 2019, Saidalavi K V of India nailed 20 nails using only his head in one minute. Saidalavi K V is a professional martial artist.
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#28
Most lightning strikes survived.
The only man in the world to be struck by lightning (a single lightning strike is made up of several 100 million volts) seven times was ex-park ranger Roy C. Sullivan, the human lightning conductor of Virginia, USA.
His attraction for lightning began in 1942 (lost big toe nail) and was resumed in 1969 (lost eyebrows), in July 1970 (left shoulder seared) on 16 April 1972 (hair set on fire), on 7 August 1973 (new hair re-fired and legs seared), on 5 June 1976 (ankle injured) and on 25 June 1977 (chest and stomach burns). In September 1983 he died by his own hand, reportedly rejected in love.
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#29
Fastest time to make a modelling balloon dog behind the back.
In 2007, with his arms behind his back, Daniele Bottalico of Italy made a balloon poodle using a single 260Q modelling balloon in a time of 4.54 seconds.
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#30
Most spoons balanced on the face.
In 2013, Serbias’s Dalibor Jablanovic balanced 31 spoons on his face for 30 seconds.
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#31 The Strangest Things People Actually Did
Longest duration balancing on one foot.
The longest recorded duration for balancing on one foot is 76 hours and 40 minutes by Arulanantham Suresh Joachim (Sri Lanka) at Vihara Maha Devi Park Open Air Stadium, Sri Lanka, from 22-25 May 1997.
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#32
Most people crammed in a Smart car.
In 2011, the Glendale Cheerleading Team (USA) managed to squeeze 20 people in a Smart car.
This record was later equaled by the Comets Cheerleaders (USA) in 2014.
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#33
Largest human mattress dominoes.
The largest human mattress dominoes consists of 2,019 people, and was achieved by Globo Comunicação e Participações S.A. and Ortobom (both Brazil) at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 6 August 2019.
The whole record attempt lasted 11 minutes and 13 seconds. After the record attempt, all the 2,019 mattresses were donated to charities.
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#34
Longest noodle.
The longest noodle measuresat 3,084 m (10,119 ft 1.92 in) and was put together by Xiangnian Food Co., Ltd. in China, on 28 October 2017.
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#35
Oldest person to ‘loop the loop’.
In 1998, Adeline Ablitt of England was a passenger in a glider as it performed a loop over Leicestershire, UK at the age of 95 years and 133 days.
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#36
Most piercings in a lifetime.
Since first receiving a skin piercing in January 1997, Elaine Davidson (Brazil/UK) has been pierced a total of 4,225 times as of 8 June 2006.
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#37
Most knots undone by a dog in three minutes.
In 2010, a good boy named “Ben”, who is owned by Claudia Neumann (Germany), at the Vienna Recordia event has undone 14 knots in 3 minutes. Ben is a cross between a Shih Tzu and Japanese Chin aka Japanese Spaniel.
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#38
Largest margarine sculpture.
In 2017, Devwrat Anand Jategaonkar of India finished the largest margarine sculpture weighing at 1506.800 kg (3321.925 lbs). The dimensions of the sculpture were a length of 8 ft 2 in, width 3 ft 8 in and a height of 6 ft 1 in.
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#39
Largest hands ever.
USA’s Robert Wadlow, the tallest man ever (2.72 m; 8 ft 11.1 in), had hands that measured at 32.3 cm (12.75 in) from the wrist to the tip of his middle finger. He wore a size 25 ring.
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#40
Oldest stripper (male).
Bernie Barker (USA) began his career in 2000 at the age of 60 as a way to get in shape after recovering from prostate cancer. Since leaving his previous job of selling real estate, he has won over 40 contests. Sadly Mr Barker died on 21 March 2007, aged 66 years 233 days.
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#41 Reality Is Stranger Than Fiction
Most balls caught by a dog with the paws in one minute.
In 2014, a cute little fella named Purin, with her owner Makoto Kumagai (both Japan), managed to catch 14 balls in one minute.
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#42
Heaviest vehicle pulled over 100ft.
In 2017 Canadian Kevin Fast pulled 3 fire trucks weighing 99,060 kg (218,389 lbs 14.95 oz) for 30.5 meters.
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#43
Largest hairy family.
Victor Gomez, Gabriel Ramos Gomez, Luisa Lilia De Lira Aceves and Jesus Manuel Fajardo Aceves (all Mexicans) are four of a family of 19 that span five generations all suffering from the rare condition called Congenital Generalized Hypertrichosis, characterized by excessive facial and torso hair. The women are covered with a light-to-medium coat of hair while the men of the family have thick hair on approximately 98% of their body apart from their hands and feet.
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#44
Most consecutive push-ups by a full-size humanoid robot.
The most consecutive push-ups (press-ups) by a life-size humanoid robot is 5, achieved by the University of Tokyo’s 167-cm-tall (5-ft 5-in) biomimetic robot Kengoro in 2016.
Kengoro has been designed to accurately mirror the capabilities and range of motion of the human body, with 174 degrees of freedom (including 30 in each hand). Its designers aim to make a robot that is both flexible and strong, with hands and feet that are fully articulated while also being strong enough to support the robot’s full weight.
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#45
Most watches eaten.
In 1998, Kim Seung Do from Seoul, South Korea, ate five watches (the entire watch with the exception of the wristband) in 1 hour and 34 minutes.
Kim eats up to 600 grams of metal per day and estimates that he has eaten approximately 4 tons of metal in his lifetime.
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#46
Most body skips in one minute.
In 2008, Brittany Boffo of Australia was able to ‘skip’ with her arms (stepping through her arms and bringing them up and over her head) a total of 68 times in one minute.
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#47
Most skips by a robot in one minute.
The most skips by a robot in one minute is 170 and was achieved by PENTA-X (Japan) made by RICOH COMPANY, LTD., on 5 March 2022.
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#48
Heaviest weight lifted by a beard.
In 2013, Antanas Kontrimas of Lithuania lifted 63.80 kg (140 lb 16 oz) with his beard. Antanas lifted the presenter of a Turkish show – Gupse Özay’ın.
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#49
Most apples held in the mouth and cut in half by chainsaw in one minute.
In 2020, Wang Lei (China) chainsawed 25 apples from the mouth of Wang Xinli (China) in one minute.
Wang Lei chainsawed 4 more apples from the mouth of Wang Xinli than they did the same attempt last time on 22 December 2019.
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#50
Highest shallow dive.
In 2014, Darren Taylor of Colorado dived 11.56 m (37 ft 11 in) into 30 cm (12 in) little pool of water.
#51 Just… Why? 🤯
Longest duration full body contact with ice.
In 2021, Valerjan Romanovski of Poland stood in an ice cube-filled box for 3 hours and 28 seconds.
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#52
Most consecutive pogo stick jumps with no feet.
In 2014, USA’s Fred Grzybowski did 117 jumps on a pogo stick with no feet.
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#53
Farthest eyeball pop.
In 2007, Kim Goodman (USA) popped her eyeballs to a protrusion of 12 mm (0.47 in) beyond her eye sockets.
Measuring the “pop” is an exact science that has to be done by an optometrist using a device known as a proptometer; an average of three measurements gives the final, eye‑watering result.
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#54
Most expensive man-made object.
The most expensive man-made object is the International Space Station (ISS). Its final cost is $150 billion .
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#55
Most bananas snapped in one minute.
The most bananas snapped in one minute is 119 and was achieved by Andre Ortolf (Germany) in Germany, on 23 March 2020.
The bananas were donated to a local gym and bakery and baked into banana bread.
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#56
Fastest speed dragged behind a motorcycle.
In 1999, Gary Rothwell of Liverpool, England, was dragged behind a motorcycle at a speed of 251.54 km./h. (156.3 m.p.h.) on 2 mm. (0.07 in.) titanium-soled boots.
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#57
Largest chest measurement (male).
Robert Earl Hughes (USA) had a chest measurement of 315 cm (124 in).
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#58
Longest tongue.
The longest tongue measures at 10.1 cm (3.97 in) from its tip to the middle of the closed top lip and belongs to Nick Stoeberl (USA) since it was verified in 2012.
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#59
World’s largest videogame collection.
Antonio Monteiro (USA) has 20,139 games in his home in Richmond. Ranging from games for consoles from second, to eighth generation, his collection is so big it took eight days to count before he received the record. The record was verified in 2019.
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#60
Longest chain of espresso capsules.
In 2017, Mougins School and Florence Paris (both France) put together the longest chain of espresso capsules. The chain was 6.77 metres long and consisted of 2,167 individual capsules.
Image source: guinnessworldrecords.com
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