‘Mighty Man,’ Malaysian Strongman, Dies
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Letchemanah Ramasamy, known to Malaysians as “Mighty Man” for feats that included pulling planes and buses with his hair, died Tuesday of heart problems. He was 55.
Ramasamy achieved national fame in 1990 when he used his hair to drag a Boeing 737 aircraft over a distance of nearly 17 meters (56 feet) at a Malaysian airport.
In 1999, he towed a double-decker bus over a distance of 30 meters (98 feet) in Leicestershire, Britain.
Ramasamy attributed his preternatural locks to an extensive study of martial arts, plus kundalini yoga.
He observed a strict vegetarian diet prior to major pulls.
Ramasamy also was known for being able to resist a sharpened spear thrust into his neck with the weight of a van driving in reverse.
“I feel as if I am very big and absolutely invincible,” he once said. “I feel no pain.”
His daughter, Jayabarathy, followed in his footsteps in 2002 when she pulled a truck using her hair. His son, Thiyagarajah, could pull a truck with his teeth.
In 1991, Ramasamy told Hinduism Today that he wanted to break the record for lying on a bed of nails, then 301 hours.
