The Long and Short of ItOne such, General Tom Thumb, born Charles Sherwood Stratton in 1838, became the most famous human attraction at P.T. The Irish Giant in Life and DeathA century before, however, the life experience of Charles Byrne, who was briefly on public display in London as “The Irish Giant,” stood in desolate contrast. The Irish Giant BetrayedWe know little else of the Irish Giant’s life other than the betrayal of his desperate last wishes. Byrne’s body was indeed diverted into the possession of an undertaker who had been bribed to boil away the flesh. For two and a half centuries after, the skeleton of the Irish Giant remained, amidst controversy and, again, against his wishes, on exhibit.