by Michael E. Bakich
Anna Swan was a giantess who appeared in P. T. Barnum's famous American Museum in New York City. When the museum burned down in July 1865, firefighters had to use a derrick to rescue Anna. Her "top" height was 7 feet 5.5 inches. In 1871, she married Martin Van Buren Bates, a man known as the "Kentucky Giant." He was 7 feet 9 inches high. This is her grave site in Seville, Ohio.