4 ms·

I’ve browsed weird Wikipedia articles for over 15 years now, and Tarrare still stands out to me as one of the strangest people in history. Can anyone name anyon

I’ve browsed weird Wikipedia articles for over 15 years now, and Tarrare still stands out to me as one of the strangest people in history. Can anyone name anyone stranger?

kebman 5y ago
No, but I still have a soft spot for their article about the outhouse. It used to be bordering on the humorous, but over time it has become pretty dry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outhouse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outhouse
- wyre 5y ago
  Can you share a Wayback Machine link?
  - ectopod 5y ago
    Wikipedia records the history of every page. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Outhouse&action=history https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Outhouse&action=h...
bryanrasmussen 5y ago
well there was just this post https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29960105 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29960105 the subject of which was also a related article at the bottom of this one, seems more Tarrare was Domery lite.
- yesenadam 5y ago
  Yes, it's about Charles Domery. I find his wikipedia article rather unbelievable. The mostly likely explanation by a mile seems that it's a joke or a hoax. It seems everything "known" about him comes from this[0] letter to a journal in 1799, purporting to quote another letter. The Tarrare story, likewise, seems to spring from a single article, in that case 1804 - those dates seem strangely close, if they're the two purported weirdest eaters in history—and both supposedly fought on the French side in the War of the First Coalition! I find it strange that the veracity of those reports isn't questioned or mentioned on those wikipedia pages. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Domery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Domery [0] https://books.google.com.au/books?id=An-we0KnG78C&pg=PA209&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false https://books.google.com.au/books?id=An-we0KnG78C&pg=PA209&r...
  - epolanski 5y ago
    How curious that both of the most incredibly voracious people ever both served Napoleon in the same time frame and their stories come from few isolated documents..
    - Leherenn 5y ago
      Slightly pedantic, but Napoleon wasn't France's leader yet during that time.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
sajforbes 5y ago
If you're not aware, Wikipedia itself has an article on unusual Wikipedia articles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Unusual_articles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Unusual_articles Some of them can be quite... weird.
- moehm 5y ago
  If that's not enough, I made a small little site, where I aggregate and curate good Wikipedia articles and their respective discussions on HN. It's for those curious hours where you want to read something interesting. https://www.mostdiscussed.com/popular https://www.mostdiscussed.com/popular
  - mafro 5y ago
    Excellent work, sir, thank you.
- cachvico 5y ago
  Goodbye, evening.

I’ve browsed weird Wikipedia articles for over 15 years now, and Tarrare still stands out to me as one of the strangest people in history. Can anyone name anyone stranger?

kebman 5y ago

No, but I still have a soft spot for their article about the outhouse. It used to be bordering on the humorous, but over time it has become pretty dry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outhouse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outhouse

wyre 5y ago
Can you share a Wayback Machine link?
- ectopod 5y ago
  Wikipedia records the history of every page. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Outhouse&action=history https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Outhouse&action=h...

bryanrasmussen 5y ago

well there was just this post https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29960105 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29960105 the subject of which was also a related article at the bottom of this one, seems more Tarrare was Domery lite.

yesenadam 5y ago
Yes, it's about Charles Domery. I find his wikipedia article rather unbelievable. The mostly likely explanation by a mile seems that it's a joke or a hoax. It seems everything "known" about him comes from this[0] letter to a journal in 1799, purporting to quote another letter. The Tarrare story, likewise, seems to spring from a single article, in that case 1804 - those dates seem strangely close, if they're the two purported weirdest eaters in history—and both supposedly fought on the French side in the War of the First Coalition! I find it strange that the veracity of those reports isn't questioned or mentioned on those wikipedia pages. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Domery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Domery [0] https://books.google.com.au/books?id=An-we0KnG78C&pg=PA209&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false https://books.google.com.au/books?id=An-we0KnG78C&pg=PA209&r...
- epolanski 5y ago
  How curious that both of the most incredibly voracious people ever both served Napoleon in the same time frame and their stories come from few isolated documents..
  - Leherenn 5y ago
    Slightly pedantic, but Napoleon wasn't France's leader yet during that time.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

sajforbes 5y ago

If you're not aware, Wikipedia itself has an article on unusual Wikipedia articles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Unusual_articles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Unusual_articles Some of them can be quite... weird.

moehm 5y ago
If that's not enough, I made a small little site, where I aggregate and curate good Wikipedia articles and their respective discussions on HN. It's for those curious hours where you want to read something interesting. https://www.mostdiscussed.com/popular https://www.mostdiscussed.com/popular
- mafro 5y ago
  Excellent work, sir, thank you.
cachvico 5y ago
Goodbye, evening.