Everyone knows someone whose nose is somewhat larger than usual, and some may even know someone whose nose is huge, but no matter how big a schnoz you’ve ever seen, it will never compare to Thomas Wedders’ nose. Wedders has a world record that will most likely never be broken. That’s because his nose was an impressive 7.5 inches long.
Wedders, originally from Yorkshire, England, was well-known in the 1700s because he spent much of his life touring with a circus, sharing his distinctive feature with thousands of onlookers. His enormous appendage won him a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. Unfortunately, there are no photographs of Wedder’s nose, but there are wax models of his resemblance all around the world.
Aside from the fact that Wedders lived in the 1770s, nothing more is known about his life. The Daily Star discovered an 1896 piece on Wedders, which provided further insight into him. Among the details was that he wasn’t particularly bright.
Thomas Wadhouse was an English circus performer who lived in the 18th century. He is most famously known for having the world’s longest nose, which measured 7.5 inches (19 cm) long. pic.twitter.com/Gx3cRsGXxd
— Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) November 12, 2022
According to the narrative, “Thus, if noses were ever uniformly exact in representing the importance of the individual, this worthy ought to have amassed all the money in Threadneedle Street and conquered all Europe, for this prodigious nose of his was a compound of the acquisitive and the martial.”
But either his chin was too weak or his brow was too low, or Nature had been so preoccupied with giving this prodigy a nose that she forgot to give him with brains, or perhaps the nose pushed out this latter quality. At any rate, we are told that this Yorkshireman died, nose and all, in a state of mind best described as utter stupidity.”
A snapshot of a wax model of Wedders aroused a lot of attention on Reddit, with one poster questioning, “What exactly is going on here? Tumor? Growth? Random genetic error? Do the nostrils reach to the tip? I have so many questions,” and another pondering, “They claim your brain immediately skips gazing at your nose, but I’m not sure about that person.” Another person quipped, “Ain’t no way… Squidward irl.”
Wedders is thought to have died in his early fifties.