Born on This Date, 1846: Hans Langseth – Owner of World’s Longest Beard

Hans Nilson Langseth was born on July 14th, 1846. After immigrating from Norway, he worked on a farm in Minnesota (near Fargo, MN) and at age 19 he decided to grow a beard for a contest. I'm not sure if he won THAT contest, but to this day, he is still the Guinness World Record holder for the LONGEST RECORDED BEARD --- 17.5 feet.

According to the Smithsonian:

The beard was displayed as part of the museum's physical anthropology exhibit from 1967 to 1991. Today, it is kept in storage, though it gets brought out once or twice a year when Langseth's descendants stop by to examine their ancestor's lengthy whiskers.

Hans Langseth is buried in worth County Iowa, in the town of Kensett.

Credit: tutovarieties via YouTube