A veteran strongman, Chris “Hairculese” Rider of Thomasville, Pennsylvania, has a vast repertoire of stunts that display his great strength. Among them is the ability to pull something as heavy as a car with his hair!
To pull off this amazing stunt, Hairculese separates his long locks into two braids and then weaves those below his chin and around a tow cable that’s attached to the car.
He faces down the car, then walks backward, pulling the cable taught and hauling the vehicle—sometimes up to 0.25 miles! Hairculese is able to perform other strongman feats like bending steel bars, ripping phone books in half, and folding coins with his bare hands. We even documented his artistic scrollwork in the past.
From the top of his head to the ends of his hair, Hairculese’s mane is 42 inches long!
Chris Rider, aka Hairculese, pulls a car with his beard!
Historic Strongmen
The history of strongmen has been nothing short of astonishing. From the legendary Milo of Croton in ancient Greece, who won an astounding 10 Olympic wrestling titles and was renowned for his astounding training regimen, to Maximinus Thrax , the towering Roman emperor who crushed rocks barehanded, their feats have left an indelible mark.
The 19th century brought us Apollon the Mighty , the French weightlifter Louis Uni , whose massive bone structures and exceptional strength were demonstrated by feats like lifting train wheels. Louis Cyr , dubbed the world’s strongest man, astonished with stunts like lifting a horse and pushing a train car uphill. In the modern era, Žydrūnas Savickas has redefined the limits of human strength, with records like bench pressing 628 pounds and deadlifting nearly 900, earning him eight Arnold Strongman Classic titles.
These remarkable strongmen have continued throughout history to leave us in awe with their extraordinary feats of strength and displays of power and might.
Share This Story
About The Author
Colton Kruse
Starting as an intern in the Ripley’s digital archives, Colton’s intimately familiar with the travel…
By this author
Really Weird Olympic Events That Have (Thankfully) Been Banned
At Ripley’s, we’re always in search of the unbelievable – maybe it’s you! Show us your talents. Tell us a strange story or a weird fact. Share your unbelievable art with us. Maybe even sell us something that could become a part of Ripley’s collection!
Get lost in a vortex of weird and wonderful stories! Ripley’s twenty-first edition annual book is full of all-new, all-true stories from around the world.
In 2024, a man wore 70 pieces of clothing on a flight to avoid baggage fees.
Robert Ripley began the Believe It or Not! cartoon in 1918. Today, Kieran Castaño is the eighth artist to continue the legacy of illustrating the world's longest-running syndicated cartoon!