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Gross: Man has saved all his nail clippings since 1978

Richard Gibson holds a jar of his nail clippings (Ripley's Believe It Or Not!)

He's not exactly sure how his collection started — or why — but Richard Gibson has been saving his fingernail and toenail clippings for the past 36 years.

The 58-year-old investor blames curiosity for the collection. One day in February 1978, instead of throwing out his nail clippings, he put them in a manicure box, wondering how long it would take him to fill it. (Answer: two years.)

Almost four decades later, he still saves his nails, only now stores them in a much larger — and almost full — glass jar.

He clips his fingernails and toenails quite irregularly — usually only when he breaks a nail — hence the long clippings seen in the photos.

"I have no idea how many nails are in the jar," Gibson admitted to the Huffington Post. "It's well into the thousands."

In a few more months, he'll have to upgrade to an even larger container.

Apparently it's not easy growing a gross collection like Gibson's: He's had to keep his off-putting clippings hidden from his ex-wife and visitors.

His jar of nail clippings is featured in Ripley's Believe It Or Not's new book, Reality Shock.

"I haven't told her. I'm waiting until I can show her the book," Gibson said, referring to his ex-wife. "She’s always been annoyed by them."

"It's not like winning the Oscar, but I'm proud," he added.

As uncomfortable as Gibson's collection makes us feel, we'd take a jar of nail clippings over 32-foot-long fingernails any day.

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