Fact: There was once a man whose life-long, literally insatiable hunger drove him to do terrible things (including, allegedly, eating a toddler)

By Rachel Feltman

The story of the man now known only as Tarrare is tragic, mysterious, and impossible to confirm—but according to doctors of his day, there is at least some truth to the tale of this horrifically hungry boy.

Born in rural France in the late 18th Century, Tarrare was reportedly a pretty normal-looking man. Well, relatively normal. He had an unusually wide mouth, stained teeth, and pale, sagging skin (kind of like a blonde, French Babadook, I can only assume) and while his frame was of a typical size for his age, his belly frequently became grossly distended. Why? Because he ate... everything. Some even claimed he'd been kicked out of his childhood home for eating more than his parents could provide.

This voracious character's short life had many twists and turns. He was a street performer, a soldier, and, very briefly, a spy—one who ate military secrets and then pooped them out on demand. Unfortunately, while Tarrare was fantastic at eating things and did an awful lot of defecating in his time, he turned out to be terrible at espionage. So instead of being remembered as a superhuman war hero, his biggest claim to fame is that—while hospitalized in search of a cure for his appetite—he may have resorted to munching on medicinal poultices, stray animals, blood, human corpses, rotting garbage, and perhaps even a live toddler. Most of the things that doctors wrote about Tarrare are probably embellished or even totally fabricated. But on this week's episode, I get into the fascinating and horrifying details—and some possible explanations for the hunger that ruined Tarrare's life.

Drinking game rules

Take a drink of your fabulous and refreshing beverage of choice whenever:

Someone makes a pun (two drinks if it gets a groan!)
Rachel makes a joke about the fact that we obviously planned the live show in advance even though the podcast is totally spontaneous we swear
Unexpected butts
Someone in the audience is audibly appalled (or just appallingly audible)
A cast member says the word “Weird”
Body horror or otherwise excessive mention of viscera
If we try to declare a tie you have to finish your drink, so you’d better cheer loud for your fave

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Popular Science Staff