The Hard Hitting Story of Melvin Burkhart

Unusual As Usual

Melvin Burkhart was born on 16th February 1907 in Atlanta, Georgia. At the age of 20, he joined a small circus and worked as 'The Anatomical Wonder'. He would inflate one lung at a time, elongate his neck to an incredible degree and could contort his facial muscles in such a way that on one half he was smiling, whilst simultaneously on the other half he was frowning.

However, had ambitions to become a prize fighter, so he became a boxer. Not a very good boxer but a boxer none the less.He had 6 fights in the ring, and lost every single one of them. With a record 6 losses and 0 wins as you can imagine he spent quite a lot of his time sitting in hospital waiting rooms. It was at one of these frequent visits to the hospital that he had his eureka moment.

Each time he visited hospital the doctor seemed to remove more and more damaged cartilage from his repeatedly broken nose. He figured the less cartilage in his nasal cavity the more room there will be for an inanimate object - such as ...a 6 inch nail. He got home later that night found a hammer, dug out a nail and the rest as they say is history. When Robert Ripley saw Burkhart's new act he dubbed him a "Human Blockhead” and the name has stuck ever since. Burkhart retired in 1989 but continued to perform for tourists and journalists right up until his death in 2001 at the age of 94.

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Fact Analysis: Although careful research is implemented to assure accurate and correct information, sometimes it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction (or ‘humbug', as P.T. Barnum would say). If you find any information in this podcast inaccurate, please do let me know via social media.