June 19, 2025 • 24 mins
How far would someone go to escape poverty? In 1726, Mary Toft, a destitute servant and mother of three who had recently suffered a miscarriage, concocted an outrageous scheme that would captivate England and eventually reach King George I himself. Her claim? She was giving birth to rabbits.
Drawing on the period's belief in "maternal impression" – the notion that a pregnant woman's experiences could physically shape her unborn child – Mary convinced local surgeon John Howard that after chasing and dreaming about rabbits, she began delivering animal parts from her body. What began as a desperate grab for attention transformed into a national sensation when Howard alerted England's medical establishment about this apparent miracle.
The rabbit births became London's hottest attraction. The King's own surgeon Nathaniel St. André rushed to validate Mary's case, publishing a detailed pamphlet about her extraordinary deliveries. But skepticism grew when physician Cyriacus Ahlers examined the rabbit remains and found hay, straw and corn in their digestive tracts – substances that couldn't possibly exist in a human womb. The hoax finally collapsed when a porter was caught smuggling a fresh rabbit to Mary's quarters.
Mary's confession revealed her elaborate deception – inserting dead animal parts into her body and dramatically "delivering" them while screaming in fake labor. While she spent only four months in prison before returning to her village, the physicians who validated her claims weren't so lucky. St. André in particular became London's laughingstock, his medical career left in ruins. Yet Mary lived quietly until 1763, even having another child years later.
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Mary Toft Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Toft#:~:text=the%20image,be%20seen%20on%20the%20floor
Mary Toft and Her Extraordinary Delivery of Rabbits
By Niki Russell
https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/mary-toft-and-her-extraordinary-delivery-of-rabbits/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
this story's so weird .
Well, it is the origin of weird.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Oh hey there.
Oh hey there.
It is the origin of weird, ohhey there.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Oh, hey, there, this is the origin of weird, and I'm
Kate.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
And I'm Bradley.
Welcome to the History.
Buffoons Origin of Weird.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
And apparently this one is supposed to be really
weird.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Are you enjoying the Origin of Weird series?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I am because I like weird shit.
Yeah, and it's.
I think we're on a quest tofind the origin of weird, but I
don't think we'll ever get therebecause there's so much weird
shit in this world.
People are weird people arestrange, just like the doors
used to say and I'm gonna tellyou about one of these people
okay I'm gonna start with aquote.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
All right, it is from the British Mists Weekly
Journal.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Mists Weekly Journal.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Okay, and this was published in the United States.
It was published on November19th 1726.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
So a couple of years ago?
Yeah, almost 300 years ago,holy fuck.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
All right, you ready.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Quote from Guilford comes a strange but
well-attested piece of news.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
That a poor woman who lives at Godelman, near that
town, was about a month past,delivered by Mr John Howard, an
eminent surgeon and man-midwife,of a creature resembling a
rabbit but whose heart and lungsgrew without its belly.
(01:52):
About 14 days since she wasdelivered by the same person of
a perfect rabbit, and a few daysafter of four more it, and in a
few days after of four more,and on friday, saturday, sunday,
the fourth, fifth and sixthinstant of one in each day, in
(02:15):
all nine they died all inbringing into the world end.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
quote that is a weird wild quote.
I can't make heads or tails ofthat I see what you did there
thank you this poor woman is 24year old mary toft mary toft.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Like t-o-f-t, yes, and she tricked doctor into into
believing that she had givenbirth to rabbits she's took him
up, her who huh?
Oh yes.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Seriously, oh yes, what the fuck.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Mary Toft was in fact an illiterate servant and
mother to three scraping by onvery little.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Earlier in 1726, she had been pregnant, but she
suffered a miscarriage.
A miscarriage and, according tomary's later account, the whole
bunny business started after anencounter with a rabbit in the
fields.
They had a conversation, I meanone day she was weeding and
mary spotted a rabbit and ranafter it.
(03:17):
But of course they're quicklittle buggers yeah, they're
fast as she didn't catch it, butthat night she dreamt of
rabbits, who doesn't.
Ever since then, she claimedshe had an intense craving to
stick them up, her hoo-ha to eatrabbit meat hassan pepper.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
But she was broke, oh right, because she was a poor,
poor old servant with three kidsat this time.
He said right and illiterateand illiterate.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Yeah, she couldn't even read the recipe so, because
she couldn't catch or buy them,she apparently began growing
her own rabbits in utero.
What, okay?
There was an explanation rootedin that era's like medical lore
.
Yeah, the theory of maternalimpression, which says that a
(04:04):
pregnant woman's intense desiresor frightful experiences could
physically shape her unbornchild.
Jesus fuck, as strange as itsounds, many at the time
believed that if an expectantmother longed for a certain food
or was startled by an animal,so she'd pop out a cake out of
(04:27):
her cooch.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I mean, what the fuck is this?
Speaker 1 (04:29):
her baby might bear some resemblance to it.
Why do you got?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
sprinkles all over your head.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Jacob, mama wanted a piece of cake why do you have
sprinkles on your head, jacob,jacob mama wanted cake when
she's pregnant with me so whenmary began experiencing severe
uh pains a month after hermiscarriage, she wondered if
something particular was stillinside of her like a rabbit
(04:57):
that's when the rabbits, orparts of rabbits, allegedly
started coming out so she whatshe did, she lie about the parts
.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Did she finally catch a rabbit and stick them up?
Oh, I'll tell you.
Oh, Jesus fuck.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Neighbors and family were stunned, as Mary.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Can you blame them?
Speaker 1 (05:16):
In fits of quote unquote, labor expelled what
looked like animal parts.
A piece of mystery flesh here.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
A rabbit foot without the chain here I say so, it
wasn't lucky, was it all?
Right I think?
I think we've talked about, didyou?
Speaker 1 (05:36):
ever have one.
Oh fuck, yeah, I had a hot pinkone, yeah that's right, we did
talk about I had a white one,yeah and it's not a race thing
jesus.
One witness describes seeing,quote three legs of a cat of a
tabby collar and one leg of arabbit spelled et rabbit
(05:57):
delivered from mary yeah, soenter john howard, he is.
He is a respected surgeon.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Sure is.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
A man midwife from a nearby town.
Okay, Initially Howarddismissed the rumors that Mary
had given birth to non-humanbits and bobs.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Rightly so, as he should have.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
But curiosity got the better of him.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Did it kill the rabbit?
Speaker 1 (06:24):
When Mary went into her labor again whatever you
want to call this howard waspresent and soon found himself
delivering assorted animal partsfrom her body.
Over the next few days, maryproduced a litter of dismembered
(06:46):
animal bits, oh my God.
And at least nine dead babyrabbits, one after another.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
So first of all, poor rabbits.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Second of all, where did she find a litter of rabbits
that she could basically killand then shove up her hoo-ha?
Speaker 1 (07:07):
They are not in a metropolis.
No, they're in the fields.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
I get that.
I have a family of rabbitsoutside right now.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Okay, so maybe there's nine of them.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
No, there's four.
Actually, I haven't seen a lotof the babies recently, so
they're either.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
They're grown and gone.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
It's possible, but there's two little ones that
like to hang out by my car.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
No, no, my battery's low Okay.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I told you to plug it , the fuck in Howard preserved
these specimens and sent work toother prominent doctors.
Okay.
After all medical marvel of thecentury.
If it's real Well, this is 300years ago.
You have to.
What do they say?
Trust the science at the time,At the time.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
So at the f to uh, what do they say?
Trust the science at the time,at the time.
So yes, howard was in a bit ofa tough spot.
Either he had stumbled on thismiraculous phenomenon or he was
made, been made, a fool of rightokay, and who wouldn't want to
believe that they discoveredsomething extraordinary?
Speaker 2 (08:02):
so he kind of doubled down.
People like fame because itbrings fortune, typically.
Um so sometimes people willlatch on to something as
ridiculous as a lady shittingout rabbits of her hooch and
being like I'm gonna be rich bylate october of 1726, howard had
(08:23):
notified england's medicalcommunity and even the royal
court of mary toff's births.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Okay, right, given the uproar.
It wasn't long before higherauthorities got involved,
starting with king george's thegeorge the first right own royal
household.
Oh boy, the king, likelyimagining either a divine
miracle or an outrageous fraud,he didn't know which dispatched
(08:52):
two men to investigate mary'sclaims.
Okay, the first, nathanielsaint andre.
Okay, he was swiss-born, asurgeon to the king and eager to
make a scientific name forhimself.
Sure, the second was samuelmolly new molly mu molly neo
with an n oh okay, secretary tothe prince of wales and
(09:15):
assumingly along to keep thingshonest, like he was, he was the,
the level-headed, yeah, kind oflike the spotter, yeah, like
hey, let's, let's dial this backa minute so okay, saint andre
and molly knew arrived november15th 1726, and they were
astounded with huh mary is inlabor again weird this time with
(09:37):
her 15th rabbit and and no onethought to ask like who are you
mating with?
the moment these men walked in,mary promptly delivered several
more dead baby rabbits rightbefore their very eyes.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Mary is probably like oh, they're here, okay, cue
later push and no one thought itwas weird that they all were
dead.
I mean, I don't know becausethey were dead when they went up
there.
I hope she died of some weirddisease that she got because she
shoved dead animals in herhooch.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
So the investigators got to work examining the
specimens.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Of course.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
St Andre scrutinized the rabbits' lungs and organs,
and what he found was somewhatpuzzling to him.
The anatomy didn't add up forcreatures supposedly gestated
inside a human womb.
Right the rabbits seemperfectly normal, which should
have been a red flag.
But St Andre, perhaps blindedby the allure of having
discovered this medical marvel,leaned a little bit more into
(10:40):
the mythical explanation, whichis just stupid People can't have
rabbits.
He declared Mary's case genuine.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Oh, what a fucking idiot.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
People can fuck like rabbits, just can't have rabbits
like rabbits so saint andrehurried back to london to
present the evidence to the kingand the prince of wales fucking
moron.
So not everyone was easilyconvinced.
Even king george decided tosend a man for a second opinion
I hope so and that is syriacusaylers I believe you, a
(11:12):
german-born surgeon from his owncourt, okay allers, arrived in
november and observed maryhimself.
Sure enough, she produced evenmore rabbit bits in his presence
weird but aylers noticed thingsthat he was.
He was, he did something wasn'tright, something's awesome yeah
he wasn't right.
Mary seemed to fakecontractions whenever she
(11:34):
thought no one was watchingclosely.
Yeah, he also saw that johnhoward, the man midwife, guarded
mary like a hawk and was oddlyreluctant to let others assist
in delivering, and suspiciousailers quietly pocketed some of
the animal.
Remains to study later.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Yeah, so he could look at them without other
prying eyes and be like Exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
So back in London he performed a straightforward
analysis that should have endedthe whole charade.
He examined the contents anddissected the rabbit's guts.
Okay, lo and behold, thestomach and intestines can be
bits of straw, hay and corn.
Those who might nibble in abarnyard, yep, not certainly
(12:20):
found in human womb in a humanwomb correct, because they
wouldn't have had access to thatyet.
Yeah, so so, unless mary'sbelly came with an
all-you-can-eat fucking saladbar and I think it did this was
hard proof that the rabbitsweren't developed inside her
body no so aylers reported tothe king that once he suspected
of a hoax it likely penetrated.
I can't even say the word.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
We're just gonna move on from no, you have to say no
penetration.
Why can't you say that word?
Speaker 1 (12:47):
I'm just going to move on.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
All right, let's penetrate to the next topic.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
This put St Andre, the Swiss surgeon, and Howard,
the surgeon man midwife, into anawkward position.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Well, right, because they had gone all in.
They bought into this nonsenseand they're like oh wait, this
isn't real, mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Fuck, st Andre sprang into damage control mode.
Sure, he convinced the eminentLondon physician, sir Richard
Manningham, a fashionable highsociety doctor, to come examine
Mary as well.
Manningham did so.
He immediately found the wholething fishy Fishy.
On one occasion he watched Marydeliver something that looked
(13:25):
like a hog's bladder.
Okay, that was not normalobstetrics nope manningham
privately voiced his doubts, buthoward and andre urged him to
stay quiet until they haddefinitive proof of fraud right
perhaps, perhaps hoping to savetheir reputations in return.
Right Excuse me.
(13:45):
Right by late November 1726,mary Toft had been brought to
London, specifically to abathhouse repurposed as her own
personal maternity ward.
Oh God, and her bunny birthsbecame the biggest show in town.
So how did?
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Okay.
Londoners flocked to see thismiraculous rabbit lady, I feel
like you should have said theyhopped to see anyways under
saint andre's proud supervision.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
The woman was prodded and monitored around the clock.
Every creature in town, bothmen and women, wanted to see her
.
Blah blah, blah, blah blah.
She was a one-woman carnival,correct and, of course, freak
show and of course, the mediawas involved pamphlets,
newsletters, right, all aboutmary's condition of course,
because they wanted to selltheir shit early december yes
(14:39):
all of a sudden, no new rabbits.
Weird, it seemed to.
It seemed that the supply ofrabbits ran out, ran out.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yeah, I wonder why?
Because she wasn't in herrabbit fertile area anymore she,
her health was deteriorating Ihope so.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
She's a fucking idiot she developed a nasty infection
she spiked a fever.
She had intimate fits where shewould convulse and even lose
consciousness.
Right and a breaking point cameon December 4th 1726.
A porter employed at thebathhouse a man named Thomas
Howard no relation to JohnHoward the man-midwife was
caught red-handed trying tosneak a fucking small rabbit
(15:18):
into Mary Toph's quarters.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
So she had a.
What's the word?
I'm looking for A helper Fuck.
Why can't I remember the wordI'm looking for A helper Fuck.
Why can't I remember the wordI'm looking for?
Speaker 1 (15:28):
God damn it.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Yeah, we'll go with helper, because that's an
elegant word.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
The porter confessed that Mary's sister-in-law had
bribed him to smuggle thetiniest rabbit he could find
into her room.
The physicians assembled,avengers assemble.
They summoned Sir Thomas ClarksClarks, a justice of the peace,
to come immediately Right.
Clarks interrogated Mary on thespot, okay, and Mary was like
(15:56):
nope, this is true how could shestill fucking stand by that?
for two days.
Mary toughed it out, refusingto confess.
But sir richard manningham hada trick up his sleeve.
On december 7th, in front ofmary, he ominously threatened to
perform a surgical examinationof her uterus to see if she was
(16:19):
somehow built differently,because m Mary couldn't produce
any more rabbits and there was ascalpel coming for her uterus.
It was a little bit too muchfor Mary and she confessed.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Rightly so, because it was all a fucking lie.
She wanted attention, shewanted to try and make a name
for herself and or money orwhatever, because she was a poor
single mother with three kids.
Yes, what happened to dad?
Speaker 1 (16:47):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Me either.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Mary admitted that since her miscarriage months
earlier, she had some helpers.
Sure Planting animal parts inher body.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Her poor kids weren't involved in this.
Were they?
I don't know?
Speaker 1 (17:04):
I hope not, because that'd be fucking weird I'm
hoping it was just the adults I,I'm hoping so too, but but
we're talking dead baby rabbit,rabbits, bits of chicken guts,
pig splatter too, and even somecat legs.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Then she'd fake labor did they not know that the cat
legs don't look like rabbits?
Speaker 1 (17:24):
then she'd fake labor scream a bit and dramatically
deliver them like she was theworld's weirdest magician.
Mary's confession was messy allover the place.
One version she blamed amysterious traveling woman who
told her that the stunt wouldmake her rich, and another she
dragged her mother-in-law andpoor dr howard, the man midwife,
(17:44):
into the mess.
She bounced between being avictim, the mastermind, and the
just doing what I was told kindof a little woman.
She was a dumb shit mary toftwas desperate, she lost.
Desperate, she lost a pregnancy, was trapped in, saw a bizarre,
disgusting way to possibly earnsome money blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, yep, yep, but itworked.
(18:05):
She fooled top doctors For awhile and royal doctors For a
while.
For a while.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Yeah, yes.
So did she actually make anymoney off of this?
No, see exactly.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
On December 9th 1726, mary was charged under an
ancient statute, under EdwardIII, as a quote, vile cheat and
imposter.
End quote Okay and thrown intoBridewell Prison in Westminster.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
And even in jail she was still a sideshow.
It was rumored that the guardslet curious Londoners like pay
to see her as, like an exhibitshe's the infamous rabbit woman.
So but once he, once that allcalmed down, the joke wasn't
honestly, entirely, entirely onthe medical establishment yeah,
for sure no one suffered morethan nathaniel saint andre, the
(18:57):
king surgeon, who has soenthusiastically validated this
hoax.
Just four days before maryconfessed, saint andre had
proudly published a 40-pagepamphlet titled a short
narrative of an extraordinarydeliver of rad bets detailing
(19:19):
detailing mary's case.
Saint andre had taken storiesmary's story at face value, bend
over backwards to justify.
He included mary's explanationsabout the rabbit dreams and and
the cravings and in complete,full detail did she really want
carrots while she was pregnant?
Speaker 2 (19:39):
oh jesus, how, how could you buy so hard into that?
You know, I understand, this is300 years ago, but holy fuck,
seriously saint andre instantlybecame the butt of countless
jokes as he is rightly so yeah,and he, his career took a
nosedive and by the next year heresigned in disgrace.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
About four months in prison, uh, and a couple of
court appearances.
Mary was ultimate released inapril 1727, without formal trial
or punishment, really.
Mary went back to her hometownwhere, remarkably, she lived out
the rest of her days quietly,until 1763 oh wow, she even had
(20:22):
another real human child.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Did she really?
Speaker 1 (20:25):
And a few years later , as if to prove that her
reproductive system was done,the rabbit business was for good
.
That is the story of Mary Toftand her rabbit delivery
sensation.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Did she name that next kid Peter?
Speaker 1 (20:40):
I really hope she did .
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Maybe cottontail and then netzo.
What a fucking psychopath.
Yeah, why are people so dumb?
Speaker 1 (20:52):
so I remember last weekend when we were kind of
working on our computers at thesame time and I said to myself
oh, that's an origin of weirdstory.
If I ever heard one, that'swhat this one was wow, that is
great, because, yeah, what apsychopath what a psycho like
how could you think you couldget away with that?
Speaker 2 (21:11):
to be like, honestly, you're basically just pissing
out bunny parts.
Yeah, that's all you're reallydoing.
You're shoving it up in yourhoo-ha being like push it out.
It sounds so gnarly it'sbecause it's gross as fuck.
Yes, you're shoving dead animalup your hoo-ha.
(21:32):
Wow, how did she think she wasgonna get away with that?
Speaker 1 (21:39):
I wonder what influencers these days would go
to what?
What lengths would they go toto be viral?
Speaker 2 (21:45):
See, the sad part is they shouldn't even be called
influencers.
I've never been influenced onceby any of those people like, oh
my God, I got to go buy thisproduct.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
You know why?
Because you don't watch those.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
No, I mean, I come across them just because of it's
fucking everywhere.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
But no, I don't watch them.
To me personally and to eachtheir own.
If you want to be a sheep, goahead, but like to watch this
person be like you know what?
I should buy this productbecause they told me I should.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
I don't know.
Use your own fucking brain anddon't get me wrong.
I'm not saying that sometimes,like some people, even a
commercial or whatever, likeisn't a good idea, but it's like
how do you blindly followpeople like that?
Yeah, so it's the same.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
I think those are called cults sometimes.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
But but to back to to her, it's like that doctor,
just like, yeah, this is great,let's publish this 40 page
pamphlet it's like dude, you'resupposed to be like a surgeon,
well, you're a surgeon, a doctor, whatever which was very, very
highly regarded in those days,because not a lot of people were
(22:54):
.
No, I mean, it's not like everyyou know, not like we have
today, like where there'sthousands of people in a
hospital that charge you,overcharge you for medicine and
shit and whatever can't affordthat.
Back then it was actually likea profession.
Yeah it was medieval, literallybecause it's 1700s, but that
was a very prominent positionback in those days and he just
(23:16):
fucking bought into that.
It's like come on, man, yep, youkind of deserve that
disgraceful exit of your, yourprofession, but anyways yeah, so
that's my bradley ran for theday mary tossed and um the
origin of weird wow, the bunnylady of 1726.
Yeah, that's fucking wild.
(23:37):
Yeah, well, let's hop on out ofhere, I suppose, I suppose.
All right, buffoons.
That's it for today's episode.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Buckle up, because we've got another historical
adventure waiting for you.
Next time Feeling hungry formore buffoonery, or maybe you
have a burning question or awild historical theory for us to
explore.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Hit us up on social media.
We're History Buffoons Podcaston YouTube X, instagram and
Facebook.
You can also email us athistorybuffoonspodcast at
gmailcom.
We are Bradley and Kate.
Music by Corey Akers.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Follow us wherever you get your podcasts and turn
those notifications on to stayin the loop.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Until next time, stay curious and don't forget to
rate and review us.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Remember, the buffoonery never stops.
this story's so weird .
Well, it is the origin of weird.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Oh hey there.
Oh hey there.
It is the origin of weird, ohhey there.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Oh, hey, there, this is the origin of weird, and I'm
Kate.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
And I'm Bradley.
Welcome to the History.
Buffoons Origin of Weird.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
And apparently this one is supposed to be really
weird.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Are you enjoying the Origin of Weird series?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I am because I like weird shit.
Yeah, and it's.
I think we're on a quest tofind the origin of weird, but I
don't think we'll ever get therebecause there's so much weird
shit in this world.
People are weird people arestrange, just like the doors
used to say and I'm gonna tellyou about one of these people
okay I'm gonna start with aquote.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
All right, it is from the British Mists Weekly
Journal.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Mists Weekly Journal.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Okay, and this was published in the United States.
It was published on November19th 1726.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
So a couple of years ago?
Yeah, almost 300 years ago,holy fuck.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
All right, you ready.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Quote from Guilford comes a strange but
well-attested piece of news.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
That a poor woman who lives at Godelman, near that
town, was about a month past,delivered by Mr John Howard, an
eminent surgeon and man-midwife,of a creature resembling a
rabbit but whose heart and lungsgrew without its belly.
(01:52):
About 14 days since she wasdelivered by the same person of
a perfect rabbit, and a few daysafter of four more it, and in a
few days after of four more,and on friday, saturday, sunday,
the fourth, fifth and sixthinstant of one in each day, in
(02:15):
all nine they died all inbringing into the world end.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
quote that is a weird wild quote.
I can't make heads or tails ofthat I see what you did there
thank you this poor woman is 24year old mary toft mary toft.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Like t-o-f-t, yes, and she tricked doctor into into
believing that she had givenbirth to rabbits she's took him
up, her who huh?
Oh yes.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Seriously, oh yes, what the fuck.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Mary Toft was in fact an illiterate servant and
mother to three scraping by onvery little.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Earlier in 1726, she had been pregnant, but she
suffered a miscarriage.
A miscarriage and, according tomary's later account, the whole
bunny business started after anencounter with a rabbit in the
fields.
They had a conversation, I meanone day she was weeding and
mary spotted a rabbit and ranafter it.
(03:17):
But of course they're quicklittle buggers yeah, they're
fast as she didn't catch it, butthat night she dreamt of
rabbits, who doesn't.
Ever since then, she claimedshe had an intense craving to
stick them up, her hoo-ha to eatrabbit meat hassan pepper.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
But she was broke, oh right, because she was a poor,
poor old servant with three kidsat this time.
He said right and illiterateand illiterate.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Yeah, she couldn't even read the recipe so, because
she couldn't catch or buy them,she apparently began growing
her own rabbits in utero.
What, okay?
There was an explanation rootedin that era's like medical lore
.
Yeah, the theory of maternalimpression, which says that a
(04:04):
pregnant woman's intense desiresor frightful experiences could
physically shape her unbornchild.
Jesus fuck, as strange as itsounds, many at the time
believed that if an expectantmother longed for a certain food
or was startled by an animal,so she'd pop out a cake out of
(04:27):
her cooch.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I mean, what the fuck is this?
Speaker 1 (04:29):
her baby might bear some resemblance to it.
Why do you got?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
sprinkles all over your head.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Jacob, mama wanted a piece of cake why do you have
sprinkles on your head, jacob,jacob mama wanted cake when
she's pregnant with me so whenmary began experiencing severe
uh pains a month after hermiscarriage, she wondered if
something particular was stillinside of her like a rabbit
(04:57):
that's when the rabbits, orparts of rabbits, allegedly
started coming out so she whatshe did, she lie about the parts
.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Did she finally catch a rabbit and stick them up?
Oh, I'll tell you.
Oh, Jesus fuck.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Neighbors and family were stunned, as Mary.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Can you blame them?
Speaker 1 (05:16):
In fits of quote unquote, labor expelled what
looked like animal parts.
A piece of mystery flesh here.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
A rabbit foot without the chain here I say so, it
wasn't lucky, was it all?
Right I think?
I think we've talked about, didyou?
Speaker 1 (05:36):
ever have one.
Oh fuck, yeah, I had a hot pinkone, yeah that's right, we did
talk about I had a white one,yeah and it's not a race thing
jesus.
One witness describes seeing,quote three legs of a cat of a
tabby collar and one leg of arabbit spelled et rabbit
(05:57):
delivered from mary yeah, soenter john howard, he is.
He is a respected surgeon.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Sure is.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
A man midwife from a nearby town.
Okay, Initially Howarddismissed the rumors that Mary
had given birth to non-humanbits and bobs.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Rightly so, as he should have.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
But curiosity got the better of him.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Did it kill the rabbit?
Speaker 1 (06:24):
When Mary went into her labor again whatever you
want to call this howard waspresent and soon found himself
delivering assorted animal partsfrom her body.
Over the next few days, maryproduced a litter of dismembered
(06:46):
animal bits, oh my God.
And at least nine dead babyrabbits, one after another.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
So first of all, poor rabbits.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Second of all, where did she find a litter of rabbits
that she could basically killand then shove up her hoo-ha?
Speaker 1 (07:07):
They are not in a metropolis.
No, they're in the fields.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
I get that.
I have a family of rabbitsoutside right now.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Okay, so maybe there's nine of them.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
No, there's four.
Actually, I haven't seen a lotof the babies recently, so
they're either.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
They're grown and gone.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
It's possible, but there's two little ones that
like to hang out by my car.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
No, no, my battery's low Okay.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I told you to plug it , the fuck in Howard preserved
these specimens and sent work toother prominent doctors.
Okay.
After all medical marvel of thecentury.
If it's real Well, this is 300years ago.
You have to.
What do they say?
Trust the science at the time,At the time.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
So at the f to uh, what do they say?
Trust the science at the time,at the time.
So yes, howard was in a bit ofa tough spot.
Either he had stumbled on thismiraculous phenomenon or he was
made, been made, a fool of rightokay, and who wouldn't want to
believe that they discoveredsomething extraordinary?
Speaker 2 (08:02):
so he kind of doubled down.
People like fame because itbrings fortune, typically.
Um so sometimes people willlatch on to something as
ridiculous as a lady shittingout rabbits of her hooch and
being like I'm gonna be rich bylate october of 1726, howard had
(08:23):
notified england's medicalcommunity and even the royal
court of mary toff's births.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Okay, right, given the uproar.
It wasn't long before higherauthorities got involved,
starting with king george's thegeorge the first right own royal
household.
Oh boy, the king, likelyimagining either a divine
miracle or an outrageous fraud,he didn't know which dispatched
(08:52):
two men to investigate mary'sclaims.
Okay, the first, nathanielsaint andre.
Okay, he was swiss-born, asurgeon to the king and eager to
make a scientific name forhimself.
Sure, the second was samuelmolly new molly mu molly neo
with an n oh okay, secretary tothe prince of wales and
(09:15):
assumingly along to keep thingshonest, like he was, he was the,
the level-headed, yeah, kind oflike the spotter, yeah, like
hey, let's, let's dial this backa minute so okay, saint andre
and molly knew arrived november15th 1726, and they were
astounded with huh mary is inlabor again weird this time with
(09:37):
her 15th rabbit and and no onethought to ask like who are you
mating with?
the moment these men walked in,mary promptly delivered several
more dead baby rabbits rightbefore their very eyes.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Mary is probably like oh, they're here, okay, cue
later push and no one thought itwas weird that they all were
dead.
I mean, I don't know becausethey were dead when they went up
there.
I hope she died of some weirddisease that she got because she
shoved dead animals in herhooch.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
So the investigators got to work examining the
specimens.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Of course.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
St Andre scrutinized the rabbits' lungs and organs,
and what he found was somewhatpuzzling to him.
The anatomy didn't add up forcreatures supposedly gestated
inside a human womb.
Right the rabbits seemperfectly normal, which should
have been a red flag.
But St Andre, perhaps blindedby the allure of having
discovered this medical marvel,leaned a little bit more into
(10:40):
the mythical explanation, whichis just stupid People can't have
rabbits.
He declared Mary's case genuine.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Oh, what a fucking idiot.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
People can fuck like rabbits, just can't have rabbits
like rabbits so saint andrehurried back to london to
present the evidence to the kingand the prince of wales fucking
moron.
So not everyone was easilyconvinced.
Even king george decided tosend a man for a second opinion
I hope so and that is syriacusaylers I believe you, a
(11:12):
german-born surgeon from his owncourt, okay allers, arrived in
november and observed maryhimself.
Sure enough, she produced evenmore rabbit bits in his presence
weird but aylers noticed thingsthat he was.
He was, he did something wasn'tright, something's awesome yeah
he wasn't right.
Mary seemed to fakecontractions whenever she
(11:34):
thought no one was watchingclosely.
Yeah, he also saw that johnhoward, the man midwife, guarded
mary like a hawk and was oddlyreluctant to let others assist
in delivering, and suspiciousailers quietly pocketed some of
the animal.
Remains to study later.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Yeah, so he could look at them without other
prying eyes and be like Exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
So back in London he performed a straightforward
analysis that should have endedthe whole charade.
He examined the contents anddissected the rabbit's guts.
Okay, lo and behold, thestomach and intestines can be
bits of straw, hay and corn.
Those who might nibble in abarnyard, yep, not certainly
(12:20):
found in human womb in a humanwomb correct, because they
wouldn't have had access to thatyet.
Yeah, so so, unless mary'sbelly came with an
all-you-can-eat fucking saladbar and I think it did this was
hard proof that the rabbitsweren't developed inside her
body no so aylers reported tothe king that once he suspected
of a hoax it likely penetrated.
I can't even say the word.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
We're just gonna move on from no, you have to say no
penetration.
Why can't you say that word?
Speaker 1 (12:47):
I'm just going to move on.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
All right, let's penetrate to the next topic.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
This put St Andre, the Swiss surgeon, and Howard,
the surgeon man midwife, into anawkward position.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Well, right, because they had gone all in.
They bought into this nonsenseand they're like oh wait, this
isn't real, mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Fuck, st Andre sprang into damage control mode.
Sure, he convinced the eminentLondon physician, sir Richard
Manningham, a fashionable highsociety doctor, to come examine
Mary as well.
Manningham did so.
He immediately found the wholething fishy Fishy.
On one occasion he watched Marydeliver something that looked
(13:25):
like a hog's bladder.
Okay, that was not normalobstetrics nope manningham
privately voiced his doubts, buthoward and andre urged him to
stay quiet until they haddefinitive proof of fraud right
perhaps, perhaps hoping to savetheir reputations in return.
Right Excuse me.
(13:45):
Right by late November 1726,mary Toft had been brought to
London, specifically to abathhouse repurposed as her own
personal maternity ward.
Oh God, and her bunny birthsbecame the biggest show in town.
So how did?
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Okay.
Londoners flocked to see thismiraculous rabbit lady, I feel
like you should have said theyhopped to see anyways under
saint andre's proud supervision.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
The woman was prodded and monitored around the clock.
Every creature in town, bothmen and women, wanted to see her
.
Blah blah, blah, blah blah.
She was a one-woman carnival,correct and, of course, freak
show and of course, the mediawas involved pamphlets,
newsletters, right, all aboutmary's condition of course,
because they wanted to selltheir shit early december yes
(14:39):
all of a sudden, no new rabbits.
Weird, it seemed to.
It seemed that the supply ofrabbits ran out, ran out.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yeah, I wonder why?
Because she wasn't in herrabbit fertile area anymore she,
her health was deteriorating Ihope so.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
She's a fucking idiot she developed a nasty infection
she spiked a fever.
She had intimate fits where shewould convulse and even lose
consciousness.
Right and a breaking point cameon December 4th 1726.
A porter employed at thebathhouse a man named Thomas
Howard no relation to JohnHoward the man-midwife was
caught red-handed trying tosneak a fucking small rabbit
(15:18):
into Mary Toph's quarters.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
So she had a.
What's the word?
I'm looking for A helper Fuck.
Why can't I remember the wordI'm looking for A helper Fuck.
Why can't I remember the wordI'm looking for?
Speaker 1 (15:28):
God damn it.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Yeah, we'll go with helper, because that's an
elegant word.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
The porter confessed that Mary's sister-in-law had
bribed him to smuggle thetiniest rabbit he could find
into her room.
The physicians assembled,avengers assemble.
They summoned Sir Thomas ClarksClarks, a justice of the peace,
to come immediately Right.
Clarks interrogated Mary on thespot, okay, and Mary was like
(15:56):
nope, this is true how could shestill fucking stand by that?
for two days.
Mary toughed it out, refusingto confess.
But sir richard manningham hada trick up his sleeve.
On december 7th, in front ofmary, he ominously threatened to
perform a surgical examinationof her uterus to see if she was
(16:19):
somehow built differently,because m Mary couldn't produce
any more rabbits and there was ascalpel coming for her uterus.
It was a little bit too muchfor Mary and she confessed.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Rightly so, because it was all a fucking lie.
She wanted attention, shewanted to try and make a name
for herself and or money orwhatever, because she was a poor
single mother with three kids.
Yes, what happened to dad?
Speaker 1 (16:47):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Me either.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Mary admitted that since her miscarriage months
earlier, she had some helpers.
Sure Planting animal parts inher body.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Her poor kids weren't involved in this.
Were they?
I don't know?
Speaker 1 (17:04):
I hope not, because that'd be fucking weird I'm
hoping it was just the adults I,I'm hoping so too, but but
we're talking dead baby rabbit,rabbits, bits of chicken guts,
pig splatter too, and even somecat legs.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Then she'd fake labor did they not know that the cat
legs don't look like rabbits?
Speaker 1 (17:24):
then she'd fake labor scream a bit and dramatically
deliver them like she was theworld's weirdest magician.
Mary's confession was messy allover the place.
One version she blamed amysterious traveling woman who
told her that the stunt wouldmake her rich, and another she
dragged her mother-in-law andpoor dr howard, the man midwife,
(17:44):
into the mess.
She bounced between being avictim, the mastermind, and the
just doing what I was told kindof a little woman.
She was a dumb shit mary toftwas desperate, she lost.
Desperate, she lost a pregnancy, was trapped in, saw a bizarre,
disgusting way to possibly earnsome money blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, yep, yep, but itworked.
(18:05):
She fooled top doctors For awhile and royal doctors For a
while.
For a while.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Yeah, yes.
So did she actually make anymoney off of this?
No, see exactly.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
On December 9th 1726, mary was charged under an
ancient statute, under EdwardIII, as a quote, vile cheat and
imposter.
End quote Okay and thrown intoBridewell Prison in Westminster.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
And even in jail she was still a sideshow.
It was rumored that the guardslet curious Londoners like pay
to see her as, like an exhibitshe's the infamous rabbit woman.
So but once he, once that allcalmed down, the joke wasn't
honestly, entirely, entirely onthe medical establishment yeah,
for sure no one suffered morethan nathaniel saint andre, the
(18:57):
king surgeon, who has soenthusiastically validated this
hoax.
Just four days before maryconfessed, saint andre had
proudly published a 40-pagepamphlet titled a short
narrative of an extraordinarydeliver of rad bets detailing
(19:19):
detailing mary's case.
Saint andre had taken storiesmary's story at face value, bend
over backwards to justify.
He included mary's explanationsabout the rabbit dreams and and
the cravings and in complete,full detail did she really want
carrots while she was pregnant?
Speaker 2 (19:39):
oh jesus, how, how could you buy so hard into that?
You know, I understand, this is300 years ago, but holy fuck,
seriously saint andre instantlybecame the butt of countless
jokes as he is rightly so yeah,and he, his career took a
nosedive and by the next year heresigned in disgrace.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
About four months in prison, uh, and a couple of
court appearances.
Mary was ultimate released inapril 1727, without formal trial
or punishment, really.
Mary went back to her hometownwhere, remarkably, she lived out
the rest of her days quietly,until 1763 oh wow, she even had
(20:22):
another real human child.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Did she really?
Speaker 1 (20:25):
And a few years later , as if to prove that her
reproductive system was done,the rabbit business was for good
.
That is the story of Mary Toftand her rabbit delivery
sensation.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Did she name that next kid Peter?
Speaker 1 (20:40):
I really hope she did .
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Maybe cottontail and then netzo.
What a fucking psychopath.
Yeah, why are people so dumb?
Speaker 1 (20:52):
so I remember last weekend when we were kind of
working on our computers at thesame time and I said to myself
oh, that's an origin of weirdstory.
If I ever heard one, that'swhat this one was wow, that is
great, because, yeah, what apsychopath what a psycho like
how could you think you couldget away with that?
Speaker 2 (21:11):
to be like, honestly, you're basically just pissing
out bunny parts.
Yeah, that's all you're reallydoing.
You're shoving it up in yourhoo-ha being like push it out.
It sounds so gnarly it'sbecause it's gross as fuck.
Yes, you're shoving dead animalup your hoo-ha.
(21:32):
Wow, how did she think she wasgonna get away with that?
Speaker 1 (21:39):
I wonder what influencers these days would go
to what?
What lengths would they go toto be viral?
Speaker 2 (21:45):
See, the sad part is they shouldn't even be called
influencers.
I've never been influenced onceby any of those people like, oh
my God, I got to go buy thisproduct.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
You know why?
Because you don't watch those.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
No, I mean, I come across them just because of it's
fucking everywhere.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
But no, I don't watch them.
To me personally and to eachtheir own.
If you want to be a sheep, goahead, but like to watch this
person be like you know what?
I should buy this productbecause they told me I should.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
I don't know.
Use your own fucking brain anddon't get me wrong.
I'm not saying that sometimes,like some people, even a
commercial or whatever, likeisn't a good idea, but it's like
how do you blindly followpeople like that?
Yeah, so it's the same.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
I think those are called cults sometimes.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
But but to back to to her, it's like that doctor,
just like, yeah, this is great,let's publish this 40 page
pamphlet it's like dude, you'resupposed to be like a surgeon,
well, you're a surgeon, a doctor, whatever which was very, very
highly regarded in those days,because not a lot of people were
(22:54):
.
No, I mean, it's not like everyyou know, not like we have
today, like where there'sthousands of people in a
hospital that charge you,overcharge you for medicine and
shit and whatever can't affordthat.
Back then it was actually likea profession.
Yeah it was medieval, literallybecause it's 1700s, but that
was a very prominent positionback in those days and he just
(23:16):
fucking bought into that.
It's like come on, man, yep, youkind of deserve that
disgraceful exit of your, yourprofession, but anyways yeah, so
that's my bradley ran for theday mary tossed and um the
origin of weird wow, the bunnylady of 1726.
Yeah, that's fucking wild.
(23:37):
Yeah, well, let's hop on out ofhere, I suppose, I suppose.
All right, buffoons.
That's it for today's episode.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Buckle up, because we've got another historical
adventure waiting for you.
Next time Feeling hungry formore buffoonery, or maybe you
have a burning question or awild historical theory for us to
explore.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Hit us up on social media.
We're History Buffoons Podcaston YouTube X, instagram and
Facebook.
You can also email us athistorybuffoonspodcast at
gmailcom.
We are Bradley and Kate.
Music by Corey Akers.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Follow us wherever you get your podcasts and turn
those notifications on to stayin the loop.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Until next time, stay curious and don't forget to
rate and review us.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Remember, the buffoonery never stops.
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