The Rabbit Mother
Keeping one step ahead of her amazing deception kept this baby momma hopping.
Holiday Beach, Texas - Mary Toft, a 25-year old woman from England, managed to create a medical mystery in the 18th century when she started giving birth to rabbits.
Her tale is fascinating, to say the least, as doctors tried to unravel the mystery behind this bizarre phenomenon.
In August of 1726 Mary miscarried. It was sometime afterwards that Mary, her husband, and her mother-in-law cut up a cat, removed its innards, inserted the backbone of an eel into the cat’s intestines, and placed the creation in Mary’s reproductive tract.
Mary then sent for a neighbor, and after her arrival, complained of pains, saying she had went into labor. Suddenly, before the astonished eyes of the neighbor, Mary gave birth to a horribly misshapen ‘thing.’
The stillborn creature was taken to surgeon John Howard. Howard claimed he would be convinced that the monstrosity was an actual birth product only if the head were delivered. Mary obliged, and after a few days, she delivered the head of a rabbit.
Mary recalled that earlier, when five weeks pregnant, she was startled by a rabbit while working in the fields. Immediately she was overcome with a desperate hunger for the taste of rabbit. She claimed she had also begun to have wild and vivid dreams about rabbits.
At the time it was believed that a pregnant woman’s experiences could be imprinted directly on the fetus and cause birth defects.
According to Mary’s story, four months later she had given birth to a strange misshapen piece of flesh. She made a similar delivery some three weeks later, at which time Howard was called.
As soon as Mary Toft had delivered her first whole rabbit-headed monster, she fell into labor once again and by early November, with Howard in attendance, she was producing almost a rabbit a day.
Howard preserved the delivered products, all still births, in spirits, kept notes on the deliveries, and recorded the progress of events.
Mary’s case soon gained the attention of Nathanael St Andre, surgeon to the royal household, who took particular interest in this case. He paid a visit to John Howard, examined Mary, and witnessed her delivery of yet another rabbit.
After carefully comparing the pieces obtained from the series of stillborn deliveries, St Andre was convinced they were indeed authentic.
Mary Toft’s story soon appeared in the news publications of the day, and she quickly became the general talk of the town in London.
George I, intrigued by the reported events, dispatched another surgeon, Cyriacus Ahlers, to investigate the matter further. In the presence of Ahlers, Mary was able to deliver part of another rabbit.
But Ahlers was suspicious of what he had seen. He returned to London and reported to the king that the births were a hoax.
George I decided to send a noted London physician, Sir Richard Manningham, surgeon Phillupus van Limborch and St Andre to make a complete study of Mary’s mysterious condition, and bring her back to London.
By this time, Mary Toft had delivered a total of seventeen rabbits.
Once in London, assorted members of the medical profession gathered to watch over Mary’s next production. But although she seemed to undergo a series of violent contractions, no more rabbits came forth.
Overwhelmed by questioning and threatened with painful experiments to uncover her secret, Mary Toft confessed her trickery.
She consented to a demonstration of how she was able to fool members of the medical profession. She placed several rabbit parts inside of her and allowed them to be removed as if she was giving birth.
She was charged as a notorious and vile cheat and was sent to Bridewell prison.
Mary Toft, the woman who had committed fraud, and made a mockery of the medical profession, escaped any harsh punishment. Her stay in prison was brief, and she was later released and allowed to return home.
Image: Portrait of Mary Toft
Source - South Texas Anomalies Investigative Network
