Kentucky Finds Itself in Some Weird Guinness World Record Categories
'Tis the season to reminisce about Christmases of old. And when I learned the fascinating factoids I'm about to share with you, I was immediately flung back to my childhood.
THE GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS -- KENTUCKY EDITION
When I was a kid, I was fascinated by the Guinness Book of World Records. I can't remember if there was some kind of TV special that turned me on to the annual publication, but I became hooked, nonetheless. And since I was so young, it didn't occur to me that it rarely changed dramatically from year to year. Consequently, I asked for one every year and got it.
What I never did, however, was search for Kentucky entries. If I had done that, I would only have found one of the five I'm sharing in this story; the other four entered the record books in the 21st century. The Guinness Book has some odd categories, but, then again, I guess EVERYTHING can fit into a category when it comes to world records.
THE OLDEST REGULAR BLOOD DONOR
I'll retract my "weird" comment from the title and just call this category "unusual." No pejoratives are allowed when a man has been donating blood as much as this man has. He's Dale Faughn of Madisonville, and he entered the Guinness Book in 2016 at the age of 90. Dale donates blood every eight weeks like clockwork. This summer, 44News interviewed Dale, now 96, after he'd contributed his 36th gallon. Simply amazing.
We thank this generous veteran for his service...and his blood.
THE LARGEST BUBBLEGUM BUBBLE BLOWN THROUGH THE NOSE
Joyce Samuels of Louisville was immortalized in the pages of Guinness in 2000 after blowing a bubble through her nose on the set of a Guinness TV special in Los Angeles. Here's how Guinness described Joyce's preparation:
She pre-chews the gum for at least an hour to get the sugar out, before making it into a rectangle shape with her hands and putting it over her nostrils.
By the way, the bubble was 11 inches in diameter. I couldn't find a video of the event, but I'm not 100% sure I want to see it.
THE LONGEST ABDOMEN HAIR
WARNING: You might find this kind of gross.
The other day, I discovered a chest hair that was nearly five inches long. I jokingly said, "I must be going for the world record." Uh, I might just go for it. Apparently, there's something in the water in Owensboro because the world record holder for the longest abdomen hair is from our fair city. She is Elaine Martin, and the hair in question was 6.6 inches long. See? I might as well go for it.
THE LONGEST BEARD ON A FEMALE
The Guinness Book of World Records first went into print in 1955, a good 71 years after this record was set by Bracken County's Janice Deveree. It was 14 inches long. Also sometimes known as "werewolf syndrome," hypertrichosis is the abnormal growth of hair on the body. It can be all over or contained to one area, as was the case here.
THE LARGEST WATER BALLOON FIGHT
I believe the last time I got into a water balloon fight was when I was in college at Western Kentucky University. Apparently universities do them up right. The world record belongs to the 2011 Christian Student Fellowship at the University of Kentucky. 8,957 students engaged in battle using 175,141 water balloons. Sounds like a blast. Looks like one, too:
Again, anything can be a category, so if there's something you can do that's faster, longer, or bigger than anyone else, submit your feat on the Guinness Book's application page, and good luck.