This Frenchman Was Renowned For His Epic Beard And His Ability to Nest Cats In It

Louis Coulon did not just have a beard, he basically had a whole living space growing out of his face. Some reports say his whiskers stretched nearly 11 feet, which is long enough to make you wonder how anyone even sat down without getting bonked in the mouth by a wall of hair.

And here’s where it gets weird, the famous postcards people circulated seemed to show cats and birds tucked right into his beard like they were nesting in a cozy, accidental sanctuary. So picture the scene: a grizzled Frenchman, a mystical forest vibe, and tiny animals acting like his beard was their safest room in the whole world.

Even if Tolkien never directly copied the idea, the timing and the postcard buzz make you wonder if Middle Earth might have gotten a little extra inspiration from Coulon.

Louis Coulon's beard hair reached as long as 11 feet

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“Come on everyone, gather round Grandad’s beard!”

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Could Tolkien have drawn inspiration for his wizardly "lover of birds" and nature from postcards featuring Louis Coulon?

Postcards of Cats and Birds in a Cozy Beard Nest

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Those postcards showing “taxidermy” birds and a cat settled in his whiskers are exactly why Coulon feels like he walked out of a fantasy book.

You may remember from the movies that the characters' beards were home to birds. There are postcards featuring what appear to be taxidermy birds in Coulon's whiskers, as you can see. 

A close look at the cat in its beard nest

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They look quite content and safe inside their protective nest

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Then you remember the reports of his beard stretching to almost eleven feet, and suddenly the cat-nest detail stops sounding like a joke.

Meanwhile, it’s like the office cat versus severe allergies debate, where coworkers took sides.

Considering that Tolkien was writing his works in 1930, it's plausible that he saw some of these widely circulated postcards. Nevertheless, Coulon appeared to be a character who could readily emerge from a Middle Earth forest. 

He looks a lot like a grizzled wizard out of a Tolkien book, Radagast the Brown

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Here is Louis Coulon's Wonder World Tube video:

There are postcards featuring what looks like taxidermy birds in Coulon’s whiskers

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That Tolkien-era connection gets even juicier when you think about how widely these postcards were circulating in the 1930s.

Coulon's mane was said to be at least three meters, or almost eleven feet, long by some reports. He did not, however, set a world record because he lived before the Guinness Book of World Records.

Look at all those beards

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Coulon looked like a character who could easily step out of a mystical forest

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And now the comparison to Sarwan Singh, the current record holder who has never cut his sacred hair, makes you question whether any beard could ever top the “cats in it” legend.

The current record holder, Canadian Sarwan Singh, has a beard measuring eight feet and three inches. For fifteen years, he has maintained the record for the longest-bearded male. 

Here's the video of the current record holder of the longest beard, Sarwan Singh

Singh is a devout Sikh who has never cut his sacred hair, but it doesn't appear that he frequently builds nests for cats or other animals in his facial hair. Nothing, however, suggests that he won't eventually.

However, Louis Coulon's claim to fame—a fabled beard that occasionally held cats—will never fade. Share this article with your loved ones to enlighten them as well.

Coulon’s beard will always be the one that made animals look like they had better plans than humans.

After Louis Coulon’s cats-in-beard moment, you’ll want to read if it’s wrong to keep a cat.