Tag: tallest women

Jane Bunford: After Hitting Her Head, She Grew 7 ft 11 in Tall
October 20, 2023
Margo Dydek: The Tallest WNBA Player Ever
September 26, 2023
Sandy Allen: The Tallest Actress on Record
Born Sandra Elaine Allen on June 18, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois, USA, and passing away on August 13, 2008, in Shelbyville, Indiana, USA, Sandy Allen was the tallest woman on Earth from 1976 until 2008, standing at an astounding 7 feet 7 inches (231.7 centimeters). Although she is not one of the two tallest women over 8 feet (see Zeng Jinlian and Trijntje Keever), Sandy Allen is still the third tallest woman in recorded history.
Sandy Allen’s Extreme Growth
A native Chicagoan, Sandy Allen was born in 1955. At age 10, she was 6 feet 3 inches tall (190 cm), and by the time she was 16, she was already 7 feet 1 inch (216 cm).
In 1976, Sandy Allen was officially named the tallest living woman by the Guinness Book of World Records. The following year, she released a book titled “Cast a Giant Shadow.”
Sandy, realizing she was lonely due to her extraordinary height, decided to contact the Guinness Book of Records committee to bring some excitement into her life. The last time Guinness was this excited was probably when they documented the height of Robert Wadlow (1918–1940), the tallest man on record.
-> See also: Giantess: History of a Mythological Being
Once Lonely Now a Star
Once Sandy Allen was documented as the tallest woman on Earth in the Guinness Book of Records, everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Howard Stern soon invited her to appear on their own talk programs.
In 1977, Sandy sought treatment at one of the clinics in an effort to halt the progression of her tumor in the pituitary gland which was responsible for her gigantism and unusual height.
Many extremely tall people with gigantism tried to get medical assistance to stop their unusual growth, like Suleiman Ali Nashnush who underwent a similar operation in Rome around 1960.
The Tallest Actress in History
After Sandy Allen’s rise to fame as the tallest living woman, the famous filmmaker Federico Fellini approached her in 1975 about starring in his film Fellini’s Casanova (1976). She played the role of Angelina the giantess who proves to be one of the few women with whom Casanova does not fall in love.
Fellini must have a thing for tall people like her since he also approached (and successfully cast) another extremely tall person, Suleiman Ali Nashnush, in his 1969 movie Fellini Satyricon.
Five years later, Sandy also starred in another TV movie called Side Show (1981), in which she played the role of Goliatha. She is also featured in the 1981 documentary Being Different, in which she appears at about 0:30:20.

The Challenges of Being a Giantess
However, Sandy’s gigantism had unintended repercussions, such as reduced pituitary function, atrophying leg muscles, poor blood circulation, and overall malaise.
At some point, the wheelchair was how she moved around. Sometime later, muscle atrophy set in after she was incapacitated in bed.
Sandy Allen spent her last years in the same nursing home in Shelbyville, Indiana, where Edna Parker, 115, one of the oldest women on record, also resided. They died the same year.
The nursing home death record shows Sandy’s death on August 13, 2008, at the age of 53.
Postmortem
Rita Rose, a close friend of the family, said that Sandy had chronic blood infections, Type 2 diabetes, respiratory problems, and kidney failure. Problems like diabetes and kidney failure are not alien to people with gigantism, as seen in Radhouane Charbib or John F. Carroll.
Allen was postmortem honored at Shelbyville High School with a scholarship in her name. Her manager, John Kleiman, presented Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museums with a collection of her personal effects. New Zealand band Split Enz wrote a song about her called “Hello Sandy Allen,” which appeared on their 1982 album Time and Tide.
Before her death, numerous online sources listed Allen as the world’s second-tallest woman, after the Chinese lady Yao Defen. The legitimacy of Yao Defen’s official height was challenged, thus Guinness World Records continued to name Sandy Allen as the tallest. She stayed the tallest woman on Earth for 18 years.
Why Sandy Allen Was So Tall
Sandy Allen had gigantism, which was the result of a tumor in the pituitary gland. The pituitary gland is an organ that sits in a cavity at the bottom of the skull. It is only about a centimeter in size.
This “master gland” secretes several hormones, including growth hormone. A tumor in this organ can result in the overproduction of growth hormone, a condition called “gigantism”.
Overproduction of growth hormone causes bone growth in children. However, once they are adults, they often do not exhibit growth in their height. Instead, this condition causes just their hands, feet, and face to keep growing. This is known as acromegaly.
References
Her IMDb Page
Find a Grave Memorial
A history of record-breaking giants 100 years after the tallest man ever was born | Guinness World Records
September 4, 2023
Zeng Jinlian: One of Two Women in History Over 8 Feet
Zeng Jinlian (曾金蓮) held the record for the tallest woman in recent history at 8 feet, 1.75 inches (2.48 m). The giantess was born on June 26, 1964, in Nanzui, Yuanjiang, Hunan, and died on February 13, 1982, likely in Changsha. Zeng Jinlian was one of the 20 people whose height was confirmed to be over 8 feet, such as Robert Wadlow, Trijntje Keever, Bernard Coyne, or John Rogan.
Zeng Jinlian’s Life
Zeng was born into a low-income farming family in Yuanjiang, Hunan Province’s northernmost city. Her three brothers (according to some accounts, she had one brother and two sisters) were all of average height, as were her parents, Tseng Hsien-mao and Yu Hsueh-mei, who measured 5 ft 4.2 in (163 cm) and 5 ft 1.4 in (156 cm), respectively.
The pituitary tumor that led to her gigantism disrupted her body’s natural production of growth hormone, just like John Middleton the Giant. When Zeng was 16, her doctors proposed brain surgery, but she repeatedly declined due to her fear of the procedure and her desire to keep her hair.
- See also: Giantess: History of a Mythological Being
Rapid Growth
Zeng Jinlian’s rapid development started when she was four months old. She reportedly could carry a 106-pound bag (48 kg) of cement at the age of four, and by five, she was taller than her mother.
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Zeng reached a height of 7 feet, 7 inches by the time she was 13 years old, making her relatively taller than Robert Wadlow, the tallest person in recorded history.
When she was just 16 years old, Zeng surpassed the height record for women, previously held by 7 feet, 10.9 inches (2.41 m) tall British Jane Bunford (1895–1922). At this time, Zeng measured 7 feet, 10.5 inches (2.40 m), and weighed 324 pounds (147 kg).
Challenges
On an island in the middle of a lake, Jinlian’s family had a lovely commune. Zeng had a passion for athletics and particularly enjoyed playing basketball until scoliosis (curvature of the spine) rendered her physically insufficient.
At first, she could only hunch over with much effort, and eventually she was unable to stand at all and required a wheelchair. Due to her diabetes, Zeng Jinlian was forced to remain at home after graduating high school, where she spent her time reading and studying Chinese calligraphy and poetry.
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A Huge Appetite
She preferred a solitary existence in the country and was described as shy and retiring. Zeng slept on a huge bed that had to be manufactured to order, much like her chair, clothing, and shoes.
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According to reports, Jinlian started her day with 20 little dumplings and ended it with six bowls of rice. In a year, she would consume 1,100 pounds of rice and vegetables (500 kg).
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The fish from the nearby lake was her go-to dinner. The local government provided for her needs at a rate of around $670 (USD) each year.
Worldwide Popularity
Jinlian did interviews and became well-known in China for her extraordinary stature. On some days, she had as many as a hundred people come to visit her. The foreign press began reporting on her status as the world’s tallest woman after her introduction in the Chinese health press in October 1980.
Zeng Jinlian passed away at the age of 17 in her hometown from diabetes, which may have been exacerbated by her gigantism and scoliosis. Others believe she passed away from a pituitary tumor hemorrhage. The institution now housing her ashes is Hunan Medical University.
The Tallest Verified Woman Ever
When she passed away, Zeng Jinlian measured 8 feet 1.64 inches (248 cm) in height (249 centimeters in other accounts) and weighed 287 pounds (130 kg). She had 14-inch feet (35.5 cm) and 10-inch hands (25.5 cm).
When Zeng died at the age of 17, she was taller than Wadlow when he was the same age. If Zeng Jinlian hadn’t died too early, she would probably be taller than Wadlow, who died at 22 and was 8 feet, 11.1 inches (272 cm).
Zeng became the tallest living person for a year when the American Don Koehler, who stood 8 feet 2.75 inches (251 cm) died in 1981. After her, the tallest living people became the Mozambican Gabriel Monjane and the American Sandy Allen.
By a wide margin, Zeng is the second-tallest woman in recorded history. It is believed that Trijntje Keever, a Dutch woman who lived in the 17th century, reached a height of 8 feet 6 inches (260 cm). Although this cannot be confirmed using contemporary measuring techniques, there are many varying references (from 8’4″ to 8’6.2″ or 254 to 260 cm), which all point to her extremely tall stature.
But understandably, Zeng Jinlian has been recognized as the tallest woman in history by Guinness World Records instead of Trijntje Keever since the year 2000, eighteen years after her death. Only two women in recorded history—Zeng and Keever—have measured at or over 8 feet (2.
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43 meters) in height.
August 23, 2023
Trijntje Keever: The Tallest Woman in Recorded History
Trijntje Keever, daughter of Cornelis, was known as “The Great Maiden” (born January 10 or 16, 1616, Edam, Netherlands; died July 2, 1633, Ter Veen, Netherlands). At 8 feet 6 inches (260 cm), Trijntje Keever was quite possibly the tallest woman in documented history.
Trijntje Keever’s Life
Born as Trijntje Cornelisdochter Keever to the parents Cornelis Keever and Anna Pauwels in 1616, her father was originally from Elbing, Prussia (now Elblong), although he was a Dutch sailor. His first wife, Maria Kooning, was the mother of his two children. On May 24, 1605, he married his maidservant Anna, a native of Nieuwendam (today a suburb of Amsterdam).
Trijntje exploded in height so rapidly that she soon no longer needed a ladder to reach the roof’s gutters. The family put their daughter on display at fairs and carnivals to earn some extra money. On June 30th, 1625, Trijntje was the subject of a royal account.
On their trip to England, Frederick V, Elector Palatinate and King of Bohemia, his wife Elizabeth Stuart, Princess Amalia of Solm-Braunfels, and the retinue all stopped at Edam, and the burgomaster there showed them the 6 feet, 6.75 inches (2 m) child, Trijntje Keever.
In her letter, maid of honor Crofts referred to Trijntje Keever as “a nine-year-old girl of amazing magnitude“. When paired with the tallest man in the retinue, a Scottish officer named Andrew Grey, Trijntje towered above him like a monument. The girl’s name was not actually mentioned in the account, but she was likely no one else than Trijntje Keever.
On July 2, 1633, Trijntje passed away at the age of 17 in the Zealand town of Ter Veen, where her parents often took her for public displays. The burial of Trijntje, the Great Maiden, at the Edam Great Church on July 7 is documented in the Edam church book.
A Case of Gigantism
Willem Kreithoff testified in 1756 that Trijntje’s gravestone read, “Trijntje Keever, the great maiden, 17 years old.” If Trijntje hadn’t died this early, she would most likely be the tallest person in recorded history, surpassing Robert Wadlow (8’11.1″; 272 cm), who was 8’3″ (251 cm) when he was 17.
The Edam Museum’s branch, the old town hall, has a painting of Trijntje Keever by an unidentified artist. She is shown at full height, dressed like a proper lady. A set of keys hangs from her belt on the left, while on her right side, there is a pincushion and a case to store utensils.
The engraving suggests that the portrait shows the girl as more attractive than her actual appearance.
This was likely due to the presence of acromegaly, which is a disorder that occurs when our body produces too much growth hormone (GH). The acromegaly has been the case with all extremely tall people with gigantism, such as John Rogan, Robert Wadlow, Patrick Cotter O’Brien, or Bernard Coyne.
Her shoe length was around 14–16 inches (36–40 cm). Her original footwear is included in the exhibit today, and it proves to be number 54 in the EU, which corresponds to US women’s shoe size 22.5.
A Mysterious Painter
Peter Dirks (d. 1606), known as Longbeard for his beard being twice as long as his body, and Jan Claas Klees, a landowner who weighed 455 pounds (206 kg), were both depicted by the same anonymous artist, who had a propensity for the extraordinary.
William FitzWilliam (Lord Deputy) and Cosimo de Medici both studied these three paintings in detail in 1663 and 1668, respectively, and shared their thoughts.
These three paintings were first displayed at the town inn and then eventually moved to the municipal building by 1874. The French author and art critic Henry Havard confirms this in his book, “Journey to the Ghost Towns of the Zuiderzee” (Paris, 1874).
The paintings were eventually moved to the Edam Museum in the Netherlands. In the main museum building today, you can see portraits of Peter Dirks and Jan Klaas Klees, while in the branch, you can see the portrait of Trijntje Keever.
How Tall Was Trijntje Keever?
The numbers related to “The Great Maiden” vary across works. The book “Reports on Ancient Imperial Archives” gives her height as 8 feet, 3.9 inches (253.7 cm). According to Servaas de Braine’s “Historical and Geographical Dictionary“, her height was around 8 feet, 4.2 inches (254.5 cm).
Oleksandr Ametov’s “Acromegaly and Gigantism” states that her height was around 8 feet, 4.4 inches (255 cm) in height. Liu Yujin (born 1920), a Chinese lady, was reportedly 9 feet, 2.2 inches tall (280 cm), according to the same source.
Trijntje Keever is reported to be 8 feet, 5.2 inches tall (257 cm) in the 1980 edition of Antiek. The greatest height figure ever stated for her was 8 feet, 6.2 inches (259.6 cm) in Hugo Grotius’s poetical works. Nonetheless, all height figures point to one fact: Trijntje Keever was the tallest woman in recorded history, as well as the fourth-tallest person ever.
August 22, 2023