Renaissance Woman Gave Birth to Rabbits, Cats, and Animal Limbs: How Science Revealed Mary Toft's Fakery

In 1726, Mary Toft, a 25-year old servant suffered from a miscarriage. A month later and Toft appeared to still be pregnant. Things took to a bizarre twist when she began to birth rabbits, cats, and animals limbs over the course of several months.

The Mysterious Labor of Mary Toft

September 27, 1726, as Mary Toft was overseeded by her mother-in-law, she began to go into labor. When the newborn came out, midwives were stunned that Toft appeared to have given birth to a cat with its liver removed.

The family then decided to contact an obstetrician, John Howard arrived the next day and was presented with the liverless cat and an assortment of various meats that was, as they say, birthed by Toft vaginally during the night.

Understandably, the obstetrician was baffled by the mysterious labor of Mary Toft. He monitored the circumstances over the next few months recording whatever came out of her.

During that month, Howard notes that she pushed several cat legs, a rabbit's head, and nine dead baby rabbits. He decided to inform local scientists, doctors, and even the King of England.

As Howard waited for other experts to arrive, he took some of the animal body parts birthed by Mary Toft and pickled them like onions, with one sent over to the King.

Mary Toft became infamous for her mysterious births. Once the medical team, dispatched by King George I, arrived on November 15 the team witnessed Toft deliver another dead rabbit.

Rather than pickling the specimen, doctors examined the dead limbs more scrutinously. Nathaniel St. Andre a Swiss surgeon and one of the King's experts were convinced the Tofts births were of supernatural origins. He decided to take samples back to the King and the Prince of Wales as evidence of the supernatural birth of Mary Toft.

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Exposing the Sham

Other experts noticed that some of the rabbits birthed by Toft appeared to be newborns, while others were estimated 3 months old. The King sent Cyriacus Ahlers and found that one of the rabbits had dung in its rectum filled with hay, corn, and straw.

By November, Toft was watched by a large crown invited by Andre to validate her claims of her births coming from supernatural phenomena. Under scrutinous watch, Toft no longer birthed rabbits or random animal limbs. Due to an infection that likely stemmed from dead carcasses stored inside her body for the past two months, Toft was passing in and out of consciousness.

Soon, a porter was found attempting to smuggle rabbits into Toft's room, upon the request of her mother-in-law. Toft later confessed that she was inserting animal parts into herself.

As consequence, she was jailed for months. Before Toft returned to her life, she would occasionally be summoned by the curios Duke of Richmond. At the same time, the medical profession was hazed and mocked by the press for being caught in the quackery, and Andre's reputation was mercilessly tattered after stating in a published paper that women could give birth to rabbits.