Karl Slover, one of the last...

...remaining Munchkins, died at age 93. The 5'4" actor, left, was born in what is now the Czech Republic.

According to John Fricke, author of 100 Years of Oz, “In those uninformed days his father tried witch doctor treatments to make him grow.” 

Young Karl was buried in the backyard, immersed in heated oil until his skin blistered and then attached to a stretching machine at a hospital, all in an attempt to make him taller. Eventually, when he was 9, he was sold by his father to a traveling show in Europe.