Louis Coulon and His 11-Foot Beard

Born in 1826, Frenchman Louis Coulon couldn't keep a close shave. So he gave up and let his beard grow. And grow. And grow. It eventually reached eleven feet (3.3 meters) by 1904, according to contemporary accounts. Coulon was the subject of a slew of postcards, which changed up sometimes when he posed with other people, or birds nesting in his beard, or often his cats! If you look carefully at the picture above, you'll see a kitten climbing up the front of Coulon's beard. See a gallery of Coulon's postcards at Vintage Everyday. -via Metafilter