Remember the photos of Shridhar Chillal and his insanely long fingernails that were featured in so many editions of the Guinness Book of World Records? After 66 years, Chillal has cut them off! At the time of the manicure earlier this year, the combined length was 29 feet, 10.1 inches. The nails are now on display at the Ripley's Believe It or Not! Times Square museum. From the always excellent Weird Historian:
Now 82 years old, the man from Poona, India started growing out his nails when he was 14 years old. It all began after a teacher chastised him for breaking his long nail. The teacher said Chillal couldn’t understand the severity of the situation because the young student never been committed to anything.
He took the challenge seriously.
Naturally, Chillal’s nails caused a few issues for him along the way. It made his job as a photographer extra challenging, but a customized handle helped him operate his camera. He couldn’t type. And he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep since the ‘50s.
(top photo: Mark Hartzman)
