CONTENT WARNING: ANIMAL CRUELTY, EATING DISORDERS

In the early 1780s, a family of French famers made the awful, and no-doubt difficult decision to abandon their son. The boy was incredibly skinny, had angel-fine hair, and an insatiable appetite--able to eat his weight in beef. Unable to afford this costly extra mouth, the boy (known only as "Tarrare") was thrown out into the French countryside to fend for himself. What followed was a brief, miserable, and morbidly fascinating life. This is the story of Tarrare: the veteran, sideshow performer, and medical anomaly with a bottomless gut.

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