Henri Cot was born Henri Joseph Cot in 1884, in the commune of Mounès Prohencoux, canton of Belmont-sur-Rance
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in France. His parents, farmers, where of normal stature or even small. His father measured 153 cm and his mother 156 cm. He had 5 brothers, none of whom exceeded 165 cm in height. At the age of 8 years old, Cot already measured 150 cm., towering a full head over his classmates. Year after year the centimeters kept accumulating: 170 cm at 12, 195 cm at 16 and 228 cm at 20 years old. He wore European size 62 shoes.
Newspapers became interested in the young giant and together with his manager he started travelling to exhibit himself. First across the channel to England, and later 1905-1906 to the United States. He was touring the Southern states until the story came of a Giant Russian cossack (Feodor Machnow) who was also touring the Southern states at the same time. The 2 giants could not tour in the same area and because the public preferred Machnow in his beautiful costumes Henri Cot and his business manager decided to go north, in mid winter. Most giants are fragile and suffer many complications due to their enormous height. Henri Cot did not escape this rule and he could not cope with the climate in the Northern states of the U.S. Weakened, Henri Cot decided to go back to France to regain his strength.
From here on, there are 2 different stories circulating about the later part of his life.
Story 1[]
The day before he left for France he became bedridden. The villagers of his hometown prepared a welcome back banquet but never saw Henri Cot standing up again. He died 3 weeks later in 1907, at only 23 years old. When the carpenter took his measurements to make his coffin he only measured 227 cm (7'5.5"). After his death people forgot about Henri Cot, and today only a few pictures of his days of touring exist.
Story 2[]
Having regained his strength in France, he went to the United States in January 1908 to tour. Not only did he tour in the U.S., he also toured England in February 1908. In 1909 he toured in France. In 1910 there is a big change in Henri Cot's life. He grew a beard, changed his outfit to that of a drum major and took a pseudonym: Joseph Dusorc. Dusorc is an anagram of 'Du cros' (the cross) and Joseph is his middle name. It is certain that Henri Cot did change his exhibiting name to Joseph Dusorc. It is the rest of this story which has never been confirmed.
After this change, Joseph Dusorc went touring in Germany for nearly a year and a half from Berlin to Hamburg and Koln. His tours took him to Essen, Amsterdam, Rotterdam an back to germany in 1911. In August 1912 he toured Czechoslovakia (now Czech republic), Hungary before returning to Lyon, France for a breather on 11 September. Yet again, the touring had taken it's toll.
Only nine days later (20 September) Henri Cot (or Joseph Dusorc by then) died at 29 years of age. His coffin left Lyon to Montpellier then Mounis, where he is buried. 14 September is the day that the remains of the giant came home. A horse-drawn hearse carried him to St Affrique. They took Cot's coffin down to the door of his house which was a big problem, because it weighed around 500 Kg. it was then decided to take him directly to the church using wooden rollers. Many people watching the coffin being lowered down noticed that the coffin was shorter that the giant himself and when the coffin tipped slightly a thud of stones was heard. Many testimonies of bystanders were taken in the region and most of them were consistent and suggest that the giant was not inside the coffin. Over a hundred people were interviewed in the region Camarès, Mounir, Fayet, Barre, Murasson, Belmont, Moulin-Mage, The Cros Frégeville, and only 2 people did not believe the story about the coffin being full of stones.
Apparantly after his manager realised he had lost his income, he had the idea of sellingHenri Cot's body to a professor of medicine in Montpellier to make money from him one last time. Maybe his skeleton will show up one day, or maybe an unknown giant skeleton will be identified.
Rest in peace, Henri Joseph.