Robert Earl Hughes

Robert Hughes was born in Monticello, Missouri, the son of Abraham Guy Hughes (1878–1957) and Georgia Alice Weatharby (1906–1947). He was born "weighing a hefty but not abnormal" 11 lb 4 oz (5.1 kg)[2][3] and was a "fairly average-size baby until he contracted whooping cough at about five months old."[4] The whooping cough was believed to have played a role in his extraordinary weight gain. At age six, he weighed 175 lb (79 kg); at ten, he weighed 380 lb (170 kg).

The family moved to Fishhook, Illinois, when Robert was six months old.[2] He had two younger brothers.

During his lifetime, he was the heaviest human on earth. Unlike most people of great weight, he was not bed-bound, and he holds to this day the record of the heaviest human to walk. Hughes's extreme weight was attributed to a ruptured thyroid gland. He reached a peak weight of 1,071 lb (486 kg), with a chest measured at 10.3 ft (3.1 m).

Hughes made some income from selling photographs of himself.[2] During his adult life, Hughes made guest appearances at carnivals and fairs.[4] At age 27,[5] he joined a traveling roadshow, often accompanied by some of his family.[2] Plans to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show variety television program were announced but never materialized.[6]

In 1957, traveling with his brother Guy and Guy's wife Lillian, Robert had bookings throughout the country. Walking, even with his massive cane, had started to be difficult for the 31-year-old. Word reached him at a carnival that his father had died at age 79. Guy and Lillian returned to Illinois for the funeral, but Robert stayed on, believing it was his duty to honour his commitments. At season's end, he returned to Guy's farm, unable to walk more than 20 ft (6.1 m) without the assistance of family members, who would follow closely, lugging a 5-foot- (1.5 meter-) wide, steel-reinforced chair in case of exhaustion.[1]

While travelling with the roadshow in Nappanee, Indiana, Hughes developed a rash, and the flesh under his fingernails turned blue. Because he was unable to be moved to the nearest hospital in Bremen, Indiana, doctors treated him at his trailer, and determined he was suffering from measles.[6] He developed uremia.[2]

He died on July 10, 1958, at the age of 32. He was buried in a small church cemetery in Benville, Illinois,[5] in Brown County near his hometown, Fishhook.[7] About 2,000 people attended the funeral.[6]

He is erroneously said to have been buried in a piano case. This error stemmed from a sentence that appeared in the Guinness Book of World Records: "He was buried in a coffin the size of a piano case."[1] His headstone notes that he was the world's heaviest man at a confirmed 1,041 lb (472 kg).[8]

• List of the heaviest people

• Faig, Kenneth W. (2001). Big Heart: Remembering Robert Earl Hughes, 1926-1958. Issue 8 of Moshassuck monograph series. Moshassuck Press – via Google Books.