The Longest Hiccupping Bout Lasted 68 Years

It all began in 1922 when an Iowa farmer named Charles Osborne was attempting to weigh a 350-pound hog before slaughter. The animal fell, and so did Osborne. While he felt fine at first, doctors later theorized that the fall caused a small blood vessel in his brainstem to burst. This tiny injury is believed to have damaged the part of his brain that inhibits the hiccup response, triggering a relentless case of singultus, the medical term for hiccups.

A typical hiccup is an involuntary spasm of the diaphragm, but Osborne's case was anything but typical. His condition, known as intractable hiccups, began at a rate of 40 times per minute, eventually slowing to about 20 per minute in his later years. Despite the constant affliction, he adapted remarkably. He learned breathing techniques to minimize the noise between spasms and was able to lead a full life, marrying twice and fathering eight children. Over the nearly seven decades, it is estimated he hiccupped more than 430 million times.

Numerous doctors and specialists attempted to find a cure, but none succeeded. Then, as mysteriously as they had started, the hiccups stopped on their own in February 1990. Charles Osborne enjoyed just over a year of silence before passing away in 1991 at the age of 97, cementing his unique and exhausting place in medical history.