Factropolis -- A Fun Fact Every Day!: While trying to set a record as the world's heaviest hang glider pilot, wrestler Andre the Giant crashed so violently that he lost his sense of smell.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

While trying to set a record as the world's heaviest hang glider pilot, wrestler Andre the Giant crashed so violently that he lost his sense of smell.

See also:
- Andre the Giant official site
- Healthlink: Lost Sense of Smell Q&A

keywords: entertainment, famous people, sports, wrestling, wwf, wwa, andre the giant has a posse, nose, nasal, smell, odor, anosmia, hang glide, hang gliding, trivia, fun fact, fact of the day

12 Comments

Okay, I can't directly disprove this, but I can offer some evidence to the contrary:

1) Hang gliders typically have a weight limit of about 210 pounds.

2) Andre the Giant was well over 300 pounds (and according to one source, over 500) during his entire career.

3) Nobody would advise Andre to try hang gliding. Nobody. I can't believe that he would have done this by himself, without anybody to supervise.

My final analysis: Wrong again!

By Anonymous, at May 28, 2007 11:34 PM
My Father was a huge wrestling fan and an even bigger Andre the Giant fan. This fact is indeed true because I lived with wrestling my entire life. Once someone as powerful as Andre the Giant makes a decision to do something as stupid as it may sound, do you honestly believe any "expert" will be able to talk him out of it. Some of this stuff maybe bologna but maybe you should get your facts straight before you critique others.

By Anonymous, at May 29, 2007 10:57 PM
Okay, I'll address your points one by one:

1. You say your father was a huge Andre the Giant fan and that you lived with wrestling your entire life. And that makes this "fact" true because....?

2. Are you implying that Andre the Giant was stupid? I have no idea if he was or not, but it was hard to tell from your comment.

3. And on that note, should I believe that Andre the Giant would have refused to listen to expert advice, simply because he was enormous? Strength = Foolhardiness? Is that what you're implying?

4. I explicitly stated at the beginning that I can't directly disprove this one. I still can't. But I've not found any direct evidence that proves it, either. In fact, I haven't even found any evidence that Andre the Giant ever lost his sense of smell. You attack my conclusions, but you offer NO evidence. Why should I believe you?

5. Some of this stuff may be bologna? Try most of this stuff. What disturbs me the most is that so few of the people who respond to these "facts" seem to be skeptical of them. People shouldn't just believe everything they read.

6. I always try to get my facts straight before I critique others. I'm not perfect, but I pride myself on trying.

By Anonymous, at June 01, 2007 6:44 PM
absence of proof is not proof of absence..

By E rock, at June 07, 2007 11:27 PM
"absence of proof is not proof of absence"

I was waiting for somebody to bring this up. You're absolutely right. And to counter, I would quote David Hume: "A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence." What that means to me is: While some things may be true without evidence to back them up, we should not necessarily believe everything that is spoken (or typed) merely because evidence COULD exist.

I don't need to have a solid, irrefutable proof of this or any other "fact" on this website. I would just like to see some solid evidence. ANY solid evidence. And believe me, I've looked. Andre the Giant's official website makes NO reference to a hang gliding accident or a lost sense of smell. Neither does the Wikipedia article. Neither do any of the dozen or so other sources I checked. In fact, the only website I found that mentioned Andre the Giant and hang gliding in the same breath was this one.

I would also like to quote William of Ockham: "Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily." Ockham's Razor is oft paraphrased as: "All other things being equal, the explanation of a phenomenon that makes the fewest assumptions is the better one." So I ask you, which makes fewer assumptions: that every other source of information regarding Andre the Giant neglected to mention his traumatic hang gliding accident and lost sense of smell, or that the accident never happened and this "fact" is false (either accidentally or intentionally)? I find it much easier to believe the second possibility.

By Anonymous, at June 08, 2007 1:14 AM
oh my god-- who cares if its true or not? Is it possible that he chose to make an unwise decision? have you seen jackass? Do you think anyone ever told them not to do something? of course they f***ing did! did it stop them? no! people do dumb stuff like that all the time

By Anonymous, at August 18, 2007 1:37 AM
You know, everytime somebody responds to me about this, it just makes me more and more convinced that the "fact" is wrong. All I've ever asked for is evidence...ONE TINY SHRED of evidence...and nobody has yet provided it.

The first person said that he had lived with wrestling his entire life. That's great. It's not evidence, though.

Then e_rock wisely points out that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. I give him (or her) credit for making a valid point. Still no evidence.

And now here you come, claiming that the stupid stuff people do on Jackass somehow offers evidence that Andre the Giant, who was NOT on Jackass, decided to try hang gliding. There's absolutely no connection. What if I claimed the American flag was round? And what if, when you said that it isn't, I said "Well, the Moon is round, so can't the flag be round too?" Do you see how that makes no sense? It's exactly the same kind of argument you're making.

Who cares if it's true or not? Obviously, I do. Why? Because I'm sick and tired of lies being passed off as true. The creator(s) of this website have knowingly disseminated false information under the guise of trivia. Even though they made a disclaimer that this information could be wrong, they knew full well that most people would take it as truth and spread it. I simply can't believe that anybody who went to so much trouble to create a website of this scale would have no idea of its effect.

And what's the problem with fake trivia? It symbolizes peoples' inability or unwilligness to be skeptical. If you blindly accept the crap on this site as true, then what's to stop you from believing any number of other false things. You'll believe that evolution isn't real, or that the Moon landing was faked. You'll believe that the Holocaust never happened. You'll believe that there's no evidence for global warming. You'll believe in ghosts, and ESP, and UFO's. You'll believe the next guy who comes to your door and says he'll sell you a miracle. You'll be gullble, in other words.

It is time to stop this trend among people to accept things at face value. It is time to start pushing for people to question things. Even though this site apparently isn't being updated anymore, it's still a blatant reminder of how far we have to go.

So in the spirit of a hopeful future, where people think and question and learn and grow, I say: show me evidence or don't bother talking to me.

By Anonymous, at September 05, 2007 1:55 AM
you stupid anonymous heckler.you set in your glass house and throw stones at factropolis, who work hard at their job to provide good facts. you offer no proof that this fact is wrong, just what you "suspect." you are just like every other heckler on every other site.

By anastasia, at September 06, 2007 6:55 AM
Anonymous? Certainly. A heckler? Perhaps. Stupid? Not at all.

I happen to be able to use reason and common sense to detect the droppings of a bull when I see them. What about that offends you so much?

Oh yes, let's pity the poor hard-working staff of Factropolis. They slave all day to make up these lies, and then stupid ingrates like me have to ruin it for everybody by trying to find the truth. How dare I?

By the way, while we're talking about truth, I want you to try something. Go to the page that lists Factropolis's "editors". Here's the URL:
http://www.factropolis.com/editors.html
Supposedly, these editors are a respected group of educators, historians, and scientists. In other words, they should be all over the web. Now, try searching for them. Use any search engine you want. Let me know if you find a reference to any of them that doesn't lead to this site.

While you're at it, scroll down to the bottom of the main page and try finding information regarding any of the "awards" this site has supposedly won. I'll save you the trouble: you won't find anything; at least, not anything that could be related to a website award.

Hmmm...what could it mean? Well, it could mean that the editors are fake, the awards are fake, and, oh yeah, the trivia's fake. You shouldn't waste your time reading it. Honestly, I don't know why I'M wasting my time.

But if that's the kind of thing you want to defend, be my guest, but don't be surprised if I don't get on board.

By Anonymous, at September 06, 2007 4:12 PM
Perez Hilton?
They look alike to me. =[

By Reset Reality, at January 21, 2009 2:55 PM
Perhaps instead of tilting at this particular windmill you could contact the site's owners and ask them if they could provide some of the research they used? Don't know if it'll work, but it would further your cause more than shouting into the ether.

By Esprix, at April 02, 2009 10:03 PM
andre was my cousins godfather and he followed andre's life closely. andre liked large watches and had most specilty made. not once dis we know about this hangliding incident.false info

pierre g.
canada

By Anonymous, at February 10, 2010 1:46 PM