1. West Virginia’s Biggest Blue Catfish: Austin Hoffman of West Virginia caught this massive 52.95 pound, 47.75 inch long blue catfish on the Ohio River on April 26, 2014. Good thing he’s got the photo to prove it, because a nearly four foot whopper sounds like a real fish story!
2. World’s Smallest Chicken Egg: Donnie Russell found an egg that was just 2.1 cm long, roughly the size of a penny, weighing in at only 3.46 grams.
3. Most Fireball Shots Served In One Night: Students from West Virginia University hold the world record for most Fireball shots taken in one night at Fat Daddy’s Bar in Morgantown, WV. Over 4,200 shots were served in a single evening. No wonder they have a reputation as a party school!
4. Most Pepperoni Rolls Eaten: If there’s one thing West Virginians love, it’s their pepperoni rolls! In 2012, Patrick “Deep Dish” Bertoletti ate 33 pepperoni rolls which broke the previous world record – that he also set – at the 3 Rivers Festival in West Virginia.
5. World’s Largest Sycamore Tree: The world’s largest sycamore tree is located near the Elk River in Webster Springs, WV. It’s an incredible 117 feet tall.
6. National Record Set at 135 Points in a Basketball Game: In 1960, Danny Heater from Burnsville, WV scored an amazing 135 points in a high school basketball game.
7. Most Coal Produced From a Long-Wall Plow: In 2012, Pinnacle Mine, which is located near Pineville, WV, set a world record of 32,430 tons of raw coal production from a long-wall plow during a 24-hour course.
8. Smallest Church in the Nation: Our Lady of the Pines, located in Silver Lake, WV, is the smallest church in the continental U.S. It’s just 12 feet by 24 feet and also doubles as a post office! You can take a virtual tour of the church at the Visit Mountaineer Country tourism site.
9. Longest Poker Game in the World: Thurmond, WV, which is now practically a ghost town, holds the world’s longest poker game and is in the Guinness World Records book for it. The game went on for 14 years!
10. Oldest Base Jumper: On October 19, 2013, Donald Cripps parachuted off of the 876-feet tall New River Gorge Bridge on Bridge Day. Cripps was 84 years old at the time!