The Longest Attack of Hiccups

In 1922, young Charles Osborne was weighing a 350-pound hog for butchering when he slipped and took a hard fall. The accident popped a pin-sized blood vessel in his brain, permanently breaking his body's hiccup switch. He started hiccuping 20 to 40 times a minute—and didn't stop for six decades.

Over the years, Charles endured an estimated 430 million annoying spasms, but he never let them ruin his mood. He learned a secret breathing technique to muffle the sound, raised a large family, and simply blended his favorite chicken dinners when chewing became too difficult.

After 68 years of traveling the world looking for a cure, the hiccups mysteriously vanished on their own in 1990. Charles finally got to enjoy one wonderfully peaceful, hiccup-free year of life.

How Is That Even Possible?

A tiny, pin-sized burst blood vessel in Charles's brain damaged the specific neurological area that controls the hiccup reflex. Without that control center functioning properly, his diaphragm was stuck in an endless loop of involuntary muscle spasms for nearly seven decades until it mysteriously corrected itself.