If someone told you there once lived a man who could eat an entire basket of apples, stones, a live eel, or even a cat—and still be hungry—you’d probably think it was a fairy tale. But this story is not fiction. It’s one of the strangest, most disturbing, and true tales in all of human history. His name was Tarrare, and he lived in 18th-century France. What happened to him defies logic, science, and even imagination.
The Boy with the Endless Hunger
The story begins in the countryside near Lyon, France, sometime around 1772. A baby was born to poor farmers, and from the start, he was… different. His parents noticed he had an enormous appetite. As a child, he could eat enough food for a family of four. By the time he was a teenager, he could devour an entire meal in minutes and then still ask for more.
At first, people thought it was just a phase, maybe a fast metabolism or a growing boy’s hunger. But soon it became clear—this wasn’t normal. His parents couldn’t afford to feed him, and his constant eating was driving the family into ruin. They tried to ration his food, but Tarrare would sneak out at night and eat anything he could find—scraps, spoiled meat, even garbage. Eventually, when he was a young man, they kicked him out.
Imagine being so hungry that you would rather eat from trash bins than starve. That was Tarrare’s reality. Alone, filthy, and desperate, he joined a traveling group of thieves and performers.
The Freak Show Performer
Tarrare found a strange way to use his curse. In the late 1700s, Europe loved traveling sideshows—places where people could see “human wonders” for a few coins. Bearded ladies, sword swallowers, fire-eaters, strongmen. Tarrare became one of them, calling himself “the man who could eat anything.”
And he could.
Witnesses said he would eat corks, stones, whole apples, baskets full of live eels, and even animals—alive. He once swallowed a snake, whole, in front of a screaming audience. People were horrified and fascinated. They’d throw him coins, and he’d keep going, smiling with his yellow teeth and bloated belly.
Those who saw him up close described him as having strange features: sunken eyes, loose skin that hung in folds, and a belly that could swell up like a balloon after eating and then hang down in wrinkled folds once empty. He was said to smell awful—like rotten meat. His sweat reeked, his breath was unbearable, and even from several feet away, people covered their noses.
Still, the show made him famous. But behind the applause and coins was a man who was truly suffering.
The Hunger That Never Stopped
Tarrare’s hunger was constant, endless, and painful. He could eat his weight in food and still feel starving. He tried to fill himself with grass, hay, and water. Nothing worked.
When he wasn’t performing, he would wander through the streets, begging for food scraps or raiding garbage bins. Sometimes, he even fought stray dogs for bones.
But one night, things took a dark turn.
Tarrare was performing in Paris when he suddenly collapsed from exhaustion and stomach pain. He was taken to a hospital, where doctors quickly realized they’d never seen anything like him. He was around 100 pounds—thin, almost skeletal—but could eat enough for 10 men. His skin hung loosely over his bones, and his mouth could open freakishly wide. His jaw stretched so much he could fit an entire apple in it without chewing.
The doctors were curious. They decided to test just how much he could eat.
The Hospital Experiments
The experiments began at the Hôtel-Dieu Hospital in Paris, where a military surgeon named Dr. Pierre-François Percy took an interest in Tarrare. The French army had been fighting wars, and Percy was always looking for unique people who could help. He wondered—could this strange man’s ability be used for military purposes?
First, they tested his limits.
They gave him a meal meant for 15 people—meat, bread, vegetables, and gallons of milk. Tarrare ate everything and then licked the plates clean. He didn’t stop there; he ate a basket of raw eggs and a pile of candles. And then, as always, he complained he was still hungry.
Dr. Percy and the other physicians were horrified but fascinated. What could cause such hunger? They noticed that Tarrare’s body was always hot to the touch, as if his metabolism was constantly burning through food.
Then, Percy came up with an idea.
The Human Courier
At the time, France was at war with Prussia. Dr. Percy thought Tarrare could serve the army in a new way: as a living courier. If Tarrare could swallow objects whole and pass them later, he might be able to smuggle secret messages through enemy lines inside his stomach.
They tested it by sealing a document in a wooden box, wrapping it in waxed cloth, and having Tarrare swallow it. Two days later, he “delivered” it perfectly intact.
It worked.
Soon, Tarrare was sent on a real mission. His task: carry a message to a captured French colonel across enemy lines. The note was hidden in a small box, sealed, and swallowed.
But Tarrare’s unusual smell and strange behavior gave him away. Locals suspected him of being a spy and dragged him to the Prussian army.
Caught Behind Enemy Lines
The Prussians didn’t buy his story. They beat him, starved him, and demanded to know where the message was. At first, Tarrare kept quiet. But after a few days of torture, he broke. He admitted he was carrying a secret message—and told them exactly where it was.
They tied him to a latrine and waited.
Two days later, the box appeared. The Prussians opened it. Inside was… a note from the French army, but it wasn’t secret intelligence. It was just a test message saying, “Let me know if this man can truly deliver letters safely.”
Tarrare had risked his life for a prank.
The Prussian general was furious. He didn’t execute him, but he had Tarrare beaten severely and released. Broken and humiliated, Tarrare crawled back to the French lines and begged Dr. Percy to cure his endless hunger.
The Search for a Cure
Percy tried everything. They gave Tarrare pills, opium, vinegar, tobacco—anything that might slow his metabolism. They made him drink gallons of wine and tons of soft food. Nothing worked.
Tarrare became increasingly desperate. He tried to eat anything he could find—raw meat, garbage, and even once attempted to drink blood from patients being treated for bloodletting. He was caught trying to eat corpses in the hospital morgue.
It got worse. One day, a 14-month-old baby disappeared from the hospital. No one ever proved it, but everyone suspected Tarrare. Horrified, Dr. Percy threw him out immediately.
That was the end of his medical treatment.
The Horrifying End
After that, Tarrare vanished for years. Some said he joined a traveling show again, others claimed he was imprisoned. But in 1798, about four years later, Dr. Percy was working at another hospital when a thin, sickly man was brought in. It was Tarrare.
He was dying.
He told Percy that he had eaten a golden fork two years earlier and believed it was stuck inside him. Percy examined him, but it was clear the fork wasn’t the problem. Tarrare had advanced tuberculosis.
Even in his final days, the smell of decay surrounded him. Nurses said his body gave off a stench so foul that the entire ward reeked of rot. Within a month, he died.
When doctors opened his body, they were horrified. His stomach filled most of his abdominal cavity. His organs were enormous and rotting. His throat was wide enough that they could see directly into his stomach. It looked like his entire digestive system had been stretched and ruined by years of overeating.
And that golden fork? They never found it.
What Was Tarrare?
Centuries later, scientists still don’t fully understand what caused Tarrare’s bizarre condition. Some think he had polyphagia—a condition where the brain never signals that the body is full. Others suggest he had hyperthyroidism, which speeds up metabolism drastically. There’s also the theory that Tarrare’s body burned calories so fast that he needed to eat constantly to stay alive.
Whatever it was, his case remains one of the strangest ever recorded in medical history.
Dr. Percy, who witnessed it all, wrote that Tarrare was “the most extraordinary being ever seen.” But even he couldn’t explain him.
A Man Cursed by Hunger
The story of Tarrare is both fascinating and tragic. Imagine being cursed with hunger that never ends—your body demanding food like a raging fire that could never be put out. Tarrare’s life was a nightmare of endless craving, ridicule, and pain.
He became a symbol of both human curiosity and suffering, a reminder of how thin the line is between fascination and horror.
When you think of people who performed impossible feats—magicians, daredevils, illusionists—remember Tarrare, the man who didn’t perform tricks. He simply was one. A man who could eat anything… and yet, no matter how much he devoured, was forever consumed by his hunger.
