In the autumn of 1726, the best doctors in England gathered around the bed of a peasant woman named Mary Toft. They were witnessing something unbelievable: a woman giving birth... to rabbits. Yes, rabbits. One after another. Pieces of dismembered rabbit bodies. Heads. Legs. Fur. Everyone believed it. Doctors wrote scientific reports. King George I sent his personal surgeon to investigate. For weeks, Mary Toft was the most famous woman in Britain. Until... the truth came out. It was all a hoax. The strangest medical hoax in history. A peasant woman fooled the greatest medical minds of her era. How? And why?
Summary: Mary Toft (1703-1763) was an English peasant from Godalming. In 1726, she claimed to give birth to rabbits after "craving rabbit meat" during pregnancy. She fooled local doctors, then the royal surgeon, then all of London. She hid rabbit parts inside her body and produced them while pretending to give birth. The truth was revealed after she was threatened with surgery. She confessed to the hoax. Imprisoned briefly. Died forgotten.
🤰 The Beginning: A Strange Craving
Mary Toft was a poor peasant, mother of three, pregnant with her fourth. One day, she saw a rabbit in a field. Craved its meat intensely. Couldn't catch it. Returned home obsessed with rabbits. Months later... she miscarried. But she continued "giving birth." This time... not to babies. But to rabbit parts. The cat ate the first "rabbit" she delivered. But she kept the second. Showed it to her husband. The shocked husband went to the local doctor. And the story began.
👑 The King Gets Involved
Doctor John Howard believed the story. Wrote about it. Sent reports to London. King George I himself heard of the case. Sent his best surgeon: Nathaniel St. André (the royal surgeon). St. André witnessed a rabbit "birth." Saw with his own eyes Mary "deliver" a dismembered rabbit torso. Wrote an official report: "This woman indeed gives birth to rabbits. It is a medical miracle." Other doctors were skeptical. They said: this is a hoax. The rabbits had straw in their stomachs (meaning they ate hay before dying). And one rabbit had corn inside (meaning it was born in a barn). But St. André insisted. Mary was moved to London. Became famous. Crowds gathered outside her house. Newspapers wrote about her daily.
"I saw with my own eyes a woman giving birth to rabbit parts. I have no doubt of the truth of the matter."
🔍 The Hoax Exposed
Another doctor, Sir Richard Manningham, was skeptical. He discovered that Mary's husband was secretly buying young rabbits from the market. He threatened Mary with an exploratory surgery to "investigate" her uterus. That's when... she broke. Confessed everything. She had been hiding rabbit parts inside her body. Inserting them before each "birth." Groaning and pretending labor. Then producing the parts. She did it 15 times. The goal? Fame. Money. Escape from poverty. The hoax was exposed. The doctors who believed her were ridiculed. St. André lost his position. Mary was imprisoned briefly, then released. She returned to her village. Died forgotten in 1763.
The Hoax Tally: 15 alleged rabbit "births." Months of deception. Doctors lost their reputations. The royal surgeon lost his job. And Mary Toft returned to poverty and obscurity.