Iowa’s Strangest Guinness World Records

So, a guy from Slovakia recently set a Guinness World Record for most matchsticks extinguished with is tongue which was previously set at 59. They just released the video of this guy beating the record. The questions I have are who has the time to do this and why is this a record people try to set?

Well upon more research, I decided to look into some of the weirdest Guinness World Records set and surprisingly, many were set in Iowa! Although some of these aren’t surprising, here are the 10 strange world records set in Iowa according to the Guinness World Records.

1. Longest Beard- Male: In 1927, the beard of Hans Langseth was measured to be about 17-feet long at the time of his burial in Kensett, Iowa. It was actually presented to the Smithsonian Institution in 1967 to be put on display.
2. Tallest House of Cards: In 1992, Bryan Berg set the world for the tallest house of cards in his home town of Spirit Lake, Iowa. The house of cards stood 14-feet six inches high. Thank gosh, no one accidentally hit it down.
3. The Most Corn Cobs on a Single Plant: In 2009, Tyler Craig set the record of the most corn cobs on a single plant which was 16, in his home of Swedesburg, Iowa.
4. Largest Clog Dance: In 2010, the largest clog dance was achieved by 2.605 people at the Tulip Time Festival celebrated in Pella, Iowa.
5. The Largest Hokey Pokey: In 2010, the largest hokey pokey dance was set with the help of 7,384 participants at the FRY Fest in Coralville, Iowa. It was even led by legendary Iowa football coach, Hayden Fry.
6. The Largest Collection of X-Men Memorabilia: In 2012, Eric Jaskolka of West Des Moines, Iowa set the record with 15,400 items in the collection. I think he may have a slight obsession.
7. The Largest Paper Snowflake: In 2012, Christa Faye Hanson made the largest paper snowflake measuring 14-feet six inches in diameter in Kanawha, Iowa.
8. The Longest Marathon Playing Cornhole: The longest marathon playing cornhole is 26 hours, 12 minutes and 44 seconds long and was set by Team Fry and Team Gable during the Fry Fest in Coralville, Iowa.
9. The Most People Planting Flower Bulbs Simultaneously: In 2016, the Lee County Economic Development Group achieved this record by having 1.463 people plant flower bulbs simultaneously at the Lee County Conservation Center in Montrose, Iowa.
10. The Most Swing Dance Flips in a Minute: In 2017, Thomas Roeder achieved the most swing dance flips in a minute by doing 40 at the University of Iowa Hall of Fame museum in Iowa City, Iowa.