8. Being the heaviest twins in the world is double trouble.
On December 7, 1946, Billy Leon and Benny Loyd McCrary were born prematurely at 5 lbs each. Later in life, Guinness World Records confirmed the McCrary’s as the world’s heaviest twins in November 1978. Benny weighed 328 kg (723 lbs), and Billy tipped the scales at 337 kg (743 lbs). Each had a waist measurement of 213 centimeters (84 inches). Benny gave an interview with Inside Wrestling magazine in 1998. He admitted that he and his brother had started to pile on the pounds around the age of four. Why? It was after a nasty bout of German Measles had damaged their pituitary glands. These are the hormone-producing glands that control a human’s rate of growth.
Their weight had ballooned to 90.7 kg (200 lbs) by the age of 10, and in high school, they had reached about 272 kg (600 lbs) each. Billy passed away in 1979 and Benny in 2001. Both are buried side by side at Crab Creek Baptist Church Cemetery near Hendersonville. A 13-foot wide headstone, reputedly the world’s most giant granite gravestone, stands at the head of their graves. It is complete with depictions of Honda motorcycles, proclaiming them as “world record holders” and “the world’s largest twins.”