We’ve examined nineteenth century photographers’ obsessions with cats before, but these portraits are a whole other brand of ridiculousness. Behold Monsieur Louis Coulon, born in 1827, the owner of a 3.3-meter-long beard, and the progenitor of the “Hirsute Kitten Cathedral Look.” I wonder how his mighty mane smelled?
https://gizmodo.com/even-in-the-1870s-humans-were-obsessed-with-ridiculous-5900334
It’s unclear why Coulon grew his beard into some sort of follicular sling, but he was certainly proud of it enough to pose for multiple pictures in the early 1900s.
You can see more extraordinarily lengthy beards of yore here, and tremble before the hairy majesty of Linus The Wonder Horse (who is not to be confused with “The Educated Horse”).
https://gizmodo.com/the-real-life-my-little-ponies-were-creepy-and-magnific-5935291
https://gizmodo.com/glamour-shots-of-carnival-freaks-of-the-1800s-were-od-5921605
[Via Fantaisies Bergeret and Boing Boing]
