In September 1726, news of a story so remarkable that it was told to King George I himself, reached London: A 25-year-old woman named Mary Toft, in the village of Godalming in Surrey, had given birth to a litter of live rabbits. What followed this bizarre announcement was one of the most peculiar stories; and, as it was eventually revealed, hoaxes, in medical history.
According to the tale, earlier in 1726, Toft became pregnant yet tragically later lost her child. During her recovery and for several weeks afterward, however, Toft claimed that she had begun giving birth to mismatched animal parts, described by one physician at the time as resembling a “liverless cat,” but reported by Toft and others elsewhere as a mixture of live and seemingly butchered rabbits.
“A poor woman who lives at Godalming,” wrote one contemporary newspaper, “about a month past delivered … a creature resembling a rabbit, but whose heart and lungs grew without its belly.” The report continued that, “about 14 days since, she was delivered by the same … a perfect Rabbit; and in a few days after of 4 more; and on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, the 4th, 5th, and 6th instant, of one in each day: in all nine.”
Amid reports that Toft remained quite visibly still pregnant seeming despite giving birth to nine rabbits, a local surgeon named John Howard was called. He reported that Toft was still producing animal limbs and organs.
Bamboozled by the case, Howard sent reports of it to several of his fellow physicians and eventually brought the case to the attention of Nathaniel St Andre, the official surgeon to the royal household of King George I.
By now, Toft’s bizarre case was the talk of London, and the royal family was intrigued enough to dispatch St Andre, along with Samuel Molyneux, the secretary to the Prince of Wales, to Godalming to investigate Toft in person. By the time the duo arrived in Surrey it was mid-November, yet St Andre wrote back to the King to say that Toft was indeed still producing rabbits and rabbit body parts. He elaborated further that, on investigation, they did indeed appear to be developing inside her body. Eventually, the case proved just too bizarre to ignore and arrangements were made for Toft to be brought down to London.
By late November, Toft had been presented to all of London’s topmost physicians, who had each examined her and drawn conclusions of their own about her increasingly curious case. Some thought it a true marvel, an unsolvable mystery of nature; others were more suspicious, noting that the rabbits and rabbit parts Toft claimed to be producing appeared to come from near fully developed animals, appeared professional butchered and sliced up, and on further scrutiny, appeared to contain digested grass and other plant matter in their stomachs. As a result, those who were more doubtful of the case soon began to conduct enquiries into not only Toft herself but also of her house, her background, and, crucially her hometown, all in an attempt to unravel the mystery.
One such skeptical gentleman was Thomas Onslow, who traveled to Godalming and began asking around the local area for more context to Toft’s case. There, Onslow heard news that Toft’s husband Joshua had for several weeks now been purchasing young rabbits from a local butcher. This discovery fueled Onslow’s suspicion, and he wrote back to London that he had uncovered evidence of what he believed to be a hoax, and would publish his findings as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, another of Toft’s more suspicious physicians back in London recommended that she be put through a grueling surgical procedure to discover the true source of her bizarre case. It seems likely, however, that the physician was merely calling Toft’s bluff; as soon as she was faced with the prospect of painful and intrusive surgery, and with Onslow’s new evidence coming in from back home in Godalming, Toft finally confessed. The rabbits and rabbit parts had, she explained, been indeed supplied through a local butcher, and smuggled into her bedroom by her husband. The entire debacle, from the start, had been a hoax.
In the aftermath, Toft was arrested and imprisoned for the crime of “imposture,” but was eventually released without charge. The physician who had initially publicized her case, meanwhile, was charged £800. There is no record of what happened to Toft after the case was revealed to be untrue, but no matter—by then, her place in medical history was assured.