Mary Toft was a short and stocky woman. She lived an impoverished life as she was an illiterate servant and her husband, Joshua Toft, was a clothier. They did She resided with her husband and three children in Goldaming, England. She was creating one of the biggest hoaxes in 1726.
In 1726 Mary was in her mid 20's and was pregnant with her fourth child. In April Mary had seen a rabbit while weeding a field. She had chased it and tried to catch it, but had failed. During the pregnancy, she craved foods that featured rabbit meat. Unfortunately, in August of that year, she miscarried. Into September some reported that Mary still looked very pregnant.
On September 27th Mary had gone to her neighbor and reportedly given birth in front of her. Her neighbor had gotten her mother in law and they'd seen what Mary had given birth to. It wasn't a child, but a liverless cat.
The family decided to call obstetrician John Howard for help. Her mother presented to him more animal parts Mary had given birth to over the night. The next day when he had arrived she gave birth to more dismembered animals. Over the next month, she had given birth to more creatures. The animal parts include pig bladder, cat head and paws, and rabbits. It was mostly rabbits that Mary was giving birth to.
Fascinated by the discovery John Howard sent letters out to the best-known doctors and scientists about what was happening. In the next month news of a woman giving birth to rabbits reached the ears of the court of King George I. The King being curious about this woman sent two men to check it out. He had sent out Nathaniel St. Andre a Swiss surgeon-anatomist to the Kind and Samuel Molyneux who was secretary to the Prince of Wales. They had arrived at Howard's home in Guildford on November 15th where Mary had been sent to be watched.
By this time though Mary had become a local celebrity. When St. Andre and Molyneux arrived at Howard's home they were informed that Mary was in labor with her 15th rabbit. She had given birth to several more rabbits in their presence and none of them survived.
These rabbits were inspected by the doctors. It was concluded that they more than likely didn't develop inside her womb. St. Andre was convinced otherwise, that her case was genuine. He believed that the births were due to the supernatural and took specimens back to London to show the King and Prince of Wales.
Mary Toft soon became popular through London. The King wanted more definite answers sent a German surgeon, Cyriacus Ahlers, and his friend Mr. Brand to Howard's home to inspect Toft. Ahlers examined Mary and witnessed several rabbit births. He was not convinced though. He brought back to London rabbit parts to inspect.
Ahlers suspicions were confirmed when he inspected the rabbit parts. In one rabbit he was able to find fecal pellets inside the rabbit that contained corn, hay, and straw. This proved that the rabbits weren't developing inside of Toft's womb. On November 21st Ahlers reported back to the King about it being a hoax. He showed the specimens as evidence again Toft and Howards.
At the same time a famous doctor and midwife among upper-class London, Sir Richard Manning, was contacted by St. Andre to check Mary Toft. He witnessed her give birth to a hog's bladder and was convinced it was a fraud. However, so that St. Andre and Howard could keep their reputation they asked Manning to keep his doubts to himself till there was definitive proof.
On November 29th, Mary Toft was brought to Lacy's Bagino, a bathhouse, in London's Leicester Fields. This was so that she could be observed more closely. St. Andre was determined to have it to be true. St. Andre contacted many doctors and scientists to look and watch the rabbit births at the bathhouse. One of the doctors was Dr. James Douglas a respected anatomist and midwife. St. Andre wanted Douglas to validate the rabbit births but was disappointed when he wouldn't.
Between the 30th of November and the 3rd of December, the opinions were split between the doctors that gathered to watch Mary. It had become popular among the public also and some even refused to eat rabbits because of Mary being able to give birth to them. They believed she was creating the rabbits due to "Maternal Impressions". This theory is when certain emotions and events could cause the baby to have deformities or abnormalities. On December 3rd St. Andre's released a 40-page pamphlet on this.
Mary had such a bad infection that she had fits which made her lose consciousness. On December 4th a porter of Mr. Lacy's was caught trying to bring in a rabbit to Mary. He admitted to Douglas and Manningham that Margret Toft, Mary's Sister in Law, asked him to do it.
They waited for Toft to go back into "labor" so they can get a confession from her. Like they thought she had gone into labor, but provided no rabbits. They called Sir Thomas Clarges, Justice of the Peace, to the bathhouse. The porter swore a deposition and admitted that he was sent to get a rabbit for Mary. They took her into custody, but nothing came from it for 2 days.
On December 7th Mary admitted that she had faked the whole thing. She was threatened to have a painful and experimental surgery on her to see if she was formed differently from other women. She admitted because of the recent pregnancy/miscarriage she was able to place dead rabbits inside of herself. She would also carry dead rabbit pieces inside her skirt. She would wait till no one was looking before she would insert it.
She had initially done it to become a part of a freak show and earn money from it. She never intended for it to become as big as it did. She never even got to earn the money she initially wanted to. She was charged on December 9th with being a "Notorious and Vile Cheat" and was sent to Bridewell prison for five months. But she was presented to big curious crowds during her stay.
As a result of this many of the medical profession suffered. St Andre and many other doctors tried to save their reputations. It wasn't only the doctors involved whose reputation suffered it was the profession as a whole. Many people saw the doctors as gullible.
SOURCES:
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/07/05/an-extraordinary-delivery-of-rabbits/
https://publicdomainreview.org/2013/03/20/mary-toft-and-her-extraordinary-delivery-of-rabbits/
http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/exhibns/month/aug2009.html
https://www.urbo.com/content/heres-how-mary-toft-convinced-doctors-shed-given-birth-to-rabbits-and-why-she-did-it/
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