1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:05,240
Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.

2
00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:10,000
Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a

3
00:00:10,039 --> 00:00:13,160
Speaker 1: show that shines a light on the ups and downs

4
00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:18,200
Speaker 1: of everyday history. I'm Gabe Lucier, and today we're talking

5
00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:21,400
Speaker 1: about one of the most annoying medical maladies of the

6
00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:25,840
Speaker 1: twentieth century, a bout of hiccocks that lasted for nearly

7
00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:37,240
Speaker 1: seven decades. The day was June thirteenth, nineteen twenty two.

8
00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:42,519
Speaker 1: American farmer Charles Osborne started hiccupping and didn't stop until

9
00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:48,280
Speaker 1: sixty eight years later. According to Guinness World Records, Osborne's

10
00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:52,480
Speaker 1: plight was and still is the longest case of hiccups

11
00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:57,600
Speaker 1: ever reported. Charles Osborne was born in eighteen ninety three

12
00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:01,360
Speaker 1: in Anthon, Iowa, and he lived a blissful twenty nine

13
00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:05,560
Speaker 1: years without hiccups. But then, while working on a pig

14
00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:09,480
Speaker 1: farm near Union, Nebraska, he had an accident that changed

15
00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:15,200
Speaker 1: his life forever. As Osbourne later recounted to People magazine, quote,

16
00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:18,280
Speaker 1: I was hanging a three hundred and fifty pound hog

17
00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:21,680
Speaker 1: for butchering. I picked it up and then I fell down.

18
00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:25,000
Speaker 1: I felt nothing at the time, but the doctor said

19
00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:27,760
Speaker 1: later that I busted a blood vessel the size of

20
00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:32,760
Speaker 1: a pin in my brain. Doctor Terrence Anthony delivered that

21
00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:37,520
Speaker 1: diagnosis in the nineteen eighties, six decades after Osborne's accident

22
00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:41,479
Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty two. The farmer had been hiccuping non

23
00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:45,199
Speaker 1: stop since then, leading Anthony to conclude that he must

24
00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:48,080
Speaker 1: have damaged the part of his brain stem that inhibits

25
00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:52,520
Speaker 1: the hiccup response. It's a plausible theory, since the brain

26
00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:57,200
Speaker 1: is involved in hiccuping. In response to stimuli, the brain

27
00:01:57,240 --> 00:02:01,720
Speaker 1: stem sends electrical signals through the reflex, the neural pathway

28
00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:06,560
Speaker 1: that controls reflexes. These signals trigger the contraction of the

29
00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:11,040
Speaker 1: muscles involved in respiration, including the diaphragm and the vocal

30
00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:16,960
Speaker 1: cords or glottis. The involuntary spasm of the diaphragm causes

31
00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:20,240
Speaker 1: the belly and chest to heave, and the abrupt closure

32
00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:24,160
Speaker 1: of the glottis is what produces the signature hicck sound

33
00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:28,840
Speaker 1: that gives hiccups their name. In most cases, hiccups are

34
00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:32,240
Speaker 1: triggered by eating a large meal, drinking too much alcohol,

35
00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:36,359
Speaker 1: or swallowing air while chewing. Sometimes they're brought on by

36
00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:40,040
Speaker 1: bounts of excitement or laughter. And on rare occasions they

37
00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:44,840
Speaker 1: can point to more serious underlying issues such as diabetes, reflux,

38
00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:49,840
Speaker 1: central nervous system disorders, or cancer. It's still a mystery

39
00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:52,600
Speaker 1: why we hiccup in the first place, as the action

40
00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:56,760
Speaker 1: serves no clear useful purpose, but it stands to reason

41
00:02:56,840 --> 00:02:59,600
Speaker 1: that if the part of the brain that regulates hiccups

42
00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:02,239
Speaker 1: or to be damaged, it might get stuck in the

43
00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:06,440
Speaker 1: on position, so to speak, and just trigger hiccups NonStop.

44
00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:12,160
Speaker 1: Doctor Anthony believed that Osborne's fall resulted in such an injury,

45
00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:16,360
Speaker 1: possibly is the result of a stroke. However, that's not

46
00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:20,520
Speaker 1: the only explanation on the table. Another possibility is that

47
00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:24,720
Speaker 1: the farmer damaged his diaphragm rather than his brain. There's

48
00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:27,280
Speaker 1: a strong chance that his ribs were injured when the

49
00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:30,320
Speaker 1: three hundred and fifty pound hog carcass fell on top

50
00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:33,280
Speaker 1: of him, and since the lower ribs are attached to

51
00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:36,400
Speaker 1: the diaphragm, the muscle may have been damaged as well,

52
00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:41,840
Speaker 1: causing it to spasm endlessly. A normal hiccup attack lasts

53
00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:45,280
Speaker 1: only a few minutes and produces anywhere between four to

54
00:03:45,400 --> 00:03:49,200
Speaker 1: sixty hiccups per minute, with most being spaced apart at

55
00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:53,640
Speaker 1: fairly regular intervals. Most of the time, hiccups go away

56
00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:56,640
Speaker 1: on their own, but sometimes they can last for more

57
00:03:56,680 --> 00:03:59,880
Speaker 1: than forty eight hours, at which point they're considered chronic,

58
00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:04,760
Speaker 1: were persistent, and may require medical treatment to alleviate. In

59
00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:08,400
Speaker 1: the rarest of cases, about one in one hundred thousand people,

60
00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:12,280
Speaker 1: hiccups can continue for more than a month. This is

61
00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:17,000
Speaker 1: known as intractable hiccups, and it's considered extremely difficult or

62
00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:22,359
Speaker 1: maybe even impossible, to cure. Charles Osbourne was that unlucky

63
00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:25,320
Speaker 1: one in one hundred thousand, but that never stopped him

64
00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:28,920
Speaker 1: from looking for a cure. He traveled all over the country,

65
00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:33,160
Speaker 1: as far out as Alaska to try different treatments. One time,

66
00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:36,280
Speaker 1: at the Mayo Clinic, he was reportedly given a mixture

67
00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:40,200
Speaker 1: of oxygen and carbon monoxide, and while inhaling, it did

68
00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:44,839
Speaker 1: stop his hiccups temporarily. Huffing toxic gas wasn't exactly a

69
00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:49,400
Speaker 1: long term solution. In the end, Osborne never found a

70
00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:52,039
Speaker 1: cure for his hiccups, but he did find ways to

71
00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:55,920
Speaker 1: manage them and to minimize their impact on his life.

72
00:04:55,960 --> 00:04:59,120
Speaker 1: For example, he learned a breathing technique that allowed him

73
00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:02,760
Speaker 1: to draw breath but between hiccups, thereby suppressing the hick

74
00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:07,880
Speaker 1: sound almost entirely. This didn't help with the diaphragm spasms,

75
00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:11,279
Speaker 1: which he experienced about twenty to forty times per minute

76
00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:14,520
Speaker 1: on average, but the spasms were less frequent when he

77
00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:16,839
Speaker 1: was flat on his back at night, and without the

78
00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:19,839
Speaker 1: constant noise of his glottis, he was at least able

79
00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:23,200
Speaker 1: to get some sleep. It's a good thing too, because

80
00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:27,000
Speaker 1: one of the most dangerous complications of prolonged hiccuping is

81
00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:30,560
Speaker 1: exhaustion from lack of sleep. Two of the other major

82
00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:34,320
Speaker 1: threats are dehydration and severe weight loss, because, as you

83
00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:37,200
Speaker 1: might imagine, it's hard to eat or drink when you're

84
00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:41,960
Speaker 1: constantly hiccupping. Thankfully, Charles Osborne found a work around for

85
00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:45,280
Speaker 1: that as well. For the last two decades of his life,

86
00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:49,000
Speaker 1: he put all his meals through a blender in osterizer.

87
00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:52,240
Speaker 1: To be exact, his favorite meal was said to be

88
00:05:52,279 --> 00:05:56,200
Speaker 1: a blend of chicken dressing, broth, and milk, followed up

89
00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:59,360
Speaker 1: with a couple of beers. The diet wouldn't win him

90
00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:02,400
Speaker 1: any culinary praise, but it did help him maintain a

91
00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:06,880
Speaker 1: healthy weight throughout his lifetime. It's easy to overlook just

92
00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:10,400
Speaker 1: how disruptive Osborne's condition must have been, but he did

93
00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:13,000
Speaker 1: shed some light on the subject in a nineteen seventy

94
00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:17,240
Speaker 1: eight interview with the Associated Press. By that point, he'd

95
00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:20,839
Speaker 1: had the hiccups for fifty six years straight, nearly twice

96
00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:24,000
Speaker 1: as long as the time he lived without them. He

97
00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:27,279
Speaker 1: said that his body was sore from the constant spasms

98
00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:29,760
Speaker 1: and that he could no longer remember what it was

99
00:06:29,960 --> 00:06:33,880
Speaker 1: like to not have them. He then added quote, I'd

100
00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:36,440
Speaker 1: give everything I got in the world if I could

101
00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:40,719
Speaker 1: get rid of them. Osborne's interview didn't bring him relief,

102
00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:44,200
Speaker 1: but it did earn him national attention. He was named

103
00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:47,160
Speaker 1: as the Guinness World Record holder for the longest hiccup

104
00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:50,359
Speaker 1: attack in history, and made guest appearances on both The

105
00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:53,960
Speaker 1: Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and an early reality show

106
00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:59,279
Speaker 1: called That's Incredible. Not long after, Osborne received a flood

107
00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:03,320
Speaker 1: of letters from sympathetic viewers, roughly four thousand in total.

108
00:07:04,279 --> 00:07:08,040
Speaker 1: Many of them offered their own home remedies for curing hiccups,

109
00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:11,760
Speaker 1: everything from finger massages to drinking water through a paper towel.

110
00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:15,200
Speaker 1: None of them were of any use to Osborne, who

111
00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:18,000
Speaker 1: had already tried most of them decades earlier, but he

112
00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:22,119
Speaker 1: still appreciated that folks wanted to help. All In all,

113
00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:25,520
Speaker 1: Charles Osbourne was still able to live a happy life.

114
00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:29,040
Speaker 1: He married twice, had eight children, and made a steady

115
00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:33,800
Speaker 1: living selling farm equipment and auctioning livestock. Then, in early

116
00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:37,440
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety, just as suddenly as his hiccups had started,

117
00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:41,680
Speaker 1: they went away. It's unclear why they stopped, but I

118
00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:45,160
Speaker 1: doubt Osborne cared one way or the other. The important

119
00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:47,560
Speaker 1: thing was that he finally got to remember what it

120
00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:52,840
Speaker 1: was like to live without hiccups. His respite didn't last long, though,

121
00:07:53,040 --> 00:07:57,000
Speaker 1: because around one year later, on May first, nineteen ninety one,

122
00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:00,920
Speaker 1: Charles Osbourne passed away at the age of ninety seven.

123
00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:04,720
Speaker 1: He had lived with his condition for a full sixty

124
00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:08,520
Speaker 1: eight years and hiccuped and estimated four hundred and thirty

125
00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:12,520
Speaker 1: million times in total at the time of recording, No

126
00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:16,640
Speaker 1: hiccupper has even come close to breaking his record, and

127
00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:23,160
Speaker 1: for their sake, I hope they never do. I'm gay

128
00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:26,360
Speaker 1: Blues yay, and hopefully you now know a little more

129
00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:30,400
Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. If you'd like

130
00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:32,439
Speaker 1: to keep up with the show, You can follow us

131
00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:37,560
Speaker 1: on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and

132
00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:40,400
Speaker 1: if you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to

133
00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:43,160
Speaker 1: send them my way by writing to This Day at

134
00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:48,199
Speaker 1: iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Kasby Bias for producing the show,

135
00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:50,600
Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening, and I'll see you

136
00:08:50,640 --> 00:09:03,559
Speaker 1: back here again tomorrow for another day in History class