Mary Toft was a resident of Great Britain, who in 1726 became the subject of serious controversy. The woman tricked doctors into believing that she could give birth to ... rabbits. Why did Toft make this story? Where did her obsession with rabbits come from? How did this unusual case end? Check out the story of the most controversial woman in history who allegedly gave birth to rabbits.
The story of Mary Toft saw the light of day in late October 1726. It was then that disturbing medical reports began arriving in London. Mary Toft and her surprising case were reported in one of the London newspapers. According to the article, the woman living in Godalming was born to nine dead rabbits. The birth was accompanied by an outstanding surgeon and midwife, doctor John Howard.
Mary was born around 1701 in Godalming, Surrey. When she turned 17, she married Joshua Toft a year her senior. The young woman gave birth to two children. To help her husband support the family, Mary worked in the fields every day. Even though she had a hard time at times, the woman did not complain. She knew very well that taking care of the field was the responsibility of any good housewife. Even when she became pregnant again, Mary continued to cultivate the land bravely. No woman, in spite of her blessed state, gave up work in the field. So it often happened that children were born in the field. However, not all births were happy. For many women, overworking the body ended up with the premature loss of a child, i.e. a miscarriage.
It was the beginning of August 1726. Mary, who was heavily pregnant at the time, worked in the fields as usual with other women. At one point, she noticed a rabbit walking by. She lunged at him to catch him and give him to the family for dinner. However, the rabbit escaped. A similar situation repeated itself every few days. Mary was getting frustrated not only because the pet was not getting caught. The rabbits began to haunt her in her dreams as well. Unknown to Toft, she would be faced with a series of strange events soon after. Or was it then that she planned the terrifying scam?
When the dreams of rabbits ceased to plague Mary, complications of pregnancy arose. Mr. and Mrs. Toft believed that they had lost their third child. The woman did not feel the baby's movements, so the young couple thought that Mary had a miscarriage. On September 27, 1726, however, something very strange happened. Mary started giving birth, but no human came out of her body. It was… a rabbit.
Doctor John Howard, who was respected in the whole area, arrived at the scene. At first, he did not believe the marriage and took the whole situation with a grain of salt. But as the days passed, Mary continued to give birth, giving birth to more rabbits. The doctor decided to take the woman to his home in Guildford to make sure he hadn't been scammed. He also wanted to be on standby when Toft needed help. John Howard examined the pregnant woman several times, but he did not find anything unusual that could be worrying. When Mary gave birth again, other animal parts leaked out of her body. According to the doctor's report, Toft gave birth to nine dead rabbits, but also three… cat legs.
Nathaniel St. André, a surgeon at the court of King George I. The man decided to visit John Howard to observe the patient. It was mid-November 1726 and Mary Toft had already given birth to fifteen rabbits. The story spread all over Great Britain, and more scientists and doctors were coming to Howard's house who could not believe the story. Among the doctors, there was, among others Cyriacus Ahlers, sent by the king himself. It was only during his visit that the truth about the "miraculous birth" of rabbits came to light.
Cyriacus Ahlers witnessed the birth of the sixteenth rabbit. The doctor sent by the king, however, did not share the enthusiasm of all the scientists around. The delivery seemed suspicious to him. Ahlers sensed that there was no "divine power" in the air, but a simple lie. He was watching Mary closely. He noticed, for example, that just before giving birth, a woman was walking towards the bed with a step that was quite unusual for a pregnant woman. Her knees were clenched tightly, as if she were afraid of the fetus falling out. However, this was not sufficiently incriminating evidence. Cyriacus Ahlers decided to take one of the dead rabbits to his laboratory. He found balls of hay and grain in his digestive tract. How could a dead, just born rabbit have something like that?
Ahlers decided to go to London and tell him everything to King George I. The ruler had had enough of the sensations about the woman giving birth to rabbits, about whom all newspapers in Great Britain wrote. So he decided to bring her to the capital together with the preserved fetuses. He also ordered scientists to conduct extensive and detailed research on Mary Toft. Soon it turned out that the woman had deceived everyone - the head of state, doctors and the whole of Great Britain. Researchers proved that rabbits could not be born in the body of Toft. Each of them was about 3 months old. The fact that Mary was lying was also evidenced by the fact that the woman, after arriving in London, did not give birth to a single rabbit.
One evening a young man with a rabbit was caught walking near the guesthouse where Mary Toft was staying. It turned out that he was supposed to deliver the animal to the woman's room. The Earl of Onslow, second Baron Onslow, began investigating the rabbit smuggling of his own. He managed to establish that Joshua (Mary's husband) had bought a dozen or so young rabbits at the market last month. Soon after, one of the local porters reported to Judge Thomas Clarges, who was investigating the case of Mary Toft. He told him that he had been bribed by the Toft family to smuggle rabbits into the chamber where the woman was allegedly giving birth to them.
Mary was arrested and questioned several times. The woman at first firmly swore that the birth of the rabbits was real. Yes, she admitted ordering rabbits - but allegedly they were to be used only for food. After further interrogations, Toft concluded that there was no point in further cheating the judge. Too much evidence was against her. So the woman decided to tell the whole truth.
Mary admitted in court that she wanted to deceive people. She wanted them to believe that she was giving birth to rabbits - this was how she wanted to gain fame and fortune. To achieve her goal, Mary and her husband paid a stranger market porter to deliver dead rabbits to her. With the help of her husband, Toft, the man was then supposed to bury dead rabbits in the woman's vagina, as well as fragments of their bodies. It was very painful and dangerous. Especially since the animals were inserted whole (with claws) and sometimes they were in Mary's body for several days.
On December 9, 1726, Mary was imprisoned in Tothill Fields Bridewell Prison for fraud. For many months, however, in front of her public cell, so many sensationalists gathered that on April 8, 1727, it was decided to send the woman back to her family home. Mary Toft died there on January 13, 1763, being ridiculed and pointed out by her neighbors for the rest of her life.
Bibliography:
Dexter Palmer: Mary Toft. The Rabbit Queen, Little Brown Book Group, Boston 2021
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