Edouard Beaupre: The Willow Bunch Giant скачать в хорошем качестве

Edouard Beaupre: The Willow Bunch Giant

Support the history page for as little as $1 a month:   / bairdo   Join the Canadian history chat on Discord:   / discord   Saskatchewan is the land of the living skies, and everything seems to be bigger here. While the land is flat, the prairie elevators are tall, the love for the Riders is extreme, and even the people tend to grow a bit bigger than elsewhere. This was certainly the case with Edouard Beaupre, the man who would become the Willow Bunch Giant, one of the tallest men in recorded history. Born in Willow Bunch on Jan. 9, 1881, he was the first of 20 children born to Gaspard and Florestine. Not only was he the first child to ever be baptized in the community, he would also become its most famous resident. As a seven-year-old, he was of normal height but by the age of nine he was already over six feet tall. At 11, he was six-foot-six and it was at this point he stopped going to school. Despite dropping out, he was able to speak five languages, including French and English. At 17, he was seven-foot-one, and unfortunately had to give up riding horses because of his height. To make ends meet, he would help his father, who worked as a freighter for local traders, going on trips to Moose Jaw and Regina. With his height, which was estimated to be eight-foot-three inches by adulthood, he began to become quite famous locally and that fame led him to leave the ranch and begin touring. Traveling throughout Canada and into the United States, he delighted people by bending iron bars and lifting horses onto his shoulders. With incredible strength and a robust physique, Beaupre promoted himself not as a freak of nature, but as a strongman without equal. It was rumoured his feet were size 26, and 33 yards of material had to be taken to the tailor each time he needed a new suit. In Montreal on March 25, 1901, he wrestled Louis Cyr, a strongman considered to be the strongest man to ever live. Despite having three feet on Cyr, Beaupre weighed three pounds less and lost the match. During the match, Beaupre barely touched Cyr not because he couldn’t, but most likely because he didn’t want to hurt him. Despite his great size, Beaupre was known for being a very gentle man. Two days after signing a contract on July 1, 1904 with Barnum and Bailey circus, Beaupre died of a pulmonary hemorrhage and tuberculosis at the age of only 23. During an autopsy, it was found that a tumor on his pituitary gland was likely the reason that Beaupre never stopped growing. Sadly, his body would not be returned home to Willow Bunch. At the request of the circus, the undertaker embalmed the body, which was put on display in St. Louis. It eventually found its way to the Museum of Eden in Montreal, then to a circus and finally to a warehouse where it was found by two children in 1907. The University of Montreal claimed the body, mummified it and put it on display. In 1967, the family discovered that his body was in Montreal and in 1975, the process began to return his body to his hometown for a proper burial. The University refused to allow this to happen. In 1989, the family once again tried and used the media to help them. This time, the University agreed and cremated the body. His remains were buried outside the Willow Bunch Museum on July 7, 1990, 86 years after his death. Today, a full-sized statue is found where his remains are buried.