Longest pole sit:
St. Simeon the Stylite (C. AD 386-459) spent 39 years on a pillar on the Hill of Wonders, near Aleppo, Syria. (Unbroken for 1,550 years-the longest held record in GWR archives)
Largest pandemic:
From 1347 to 1351, the pneumonic form of plague, aka the Black Death, killed around 75 million people. (Unbroken for 658 years)
Worst dance mania:
In July 1374, an outbreak of tarantism (dancing mania) in Aachen, Germany, saw thousands quite literally dancing uncontrollably in the streets. (Unbroken for 635 years)
Most prolific female murderer:
From c. 1585 to 1610, Countess Elizabeth Bathory (Hungary) allegedly killed 600 virgins. She was later locked in her castle, where she died in 1614. (Unbroken for 399 years)
Youngest doctorate:
On April 13, 1814, Carl Witte of Austria was made a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) by the University of Giessen, Germany, aged just 12. (Unbroken for 195 years)
Lightest person:
Lucia Xarate, (or Zarate, aka "The Mexican Lilliputian," Mexico, 1863-89), an emaciated ateleiotic dwarf, weighed just 4.7 lbs (2.13 kg) at the age of 17. (Unbroken for 120 years)
Loudest noise:
Have you heard that the eruption of the island-volcano Krakatoa, in the Sunda Strait, Indonesia, on August 27, 1883, was audible 3,100 miles (5,000 km) away? (Unbroken for 126 years)
Largest diamond:
No diamond has ever been found larger than the 3,106-carat Cullinan unearthed on January 26, 1905, at the Premier Diamond Mine in South Africa. (Unbroken for 104 years)
Largest audience to attend a circus:
Ladies and gentlemen, a round of applause, please, for the largest circus crowd. A total of 52,385 people attended the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, on September 14,1975. (Unbroken for 34 years)
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