Mary Toft: The Woman Who Gave Birth to a Lie
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Mary Toft: The Woman Who Gave Birth to a Lie
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In 1726, England was gripped by one of the strangest medical scandals in history.
Mary Toft, a poor woman from Surrey, claimed she was giving birth to rabbits — a story so extraordinary that it fooled physicians, surgeons, and even the royal court. For months, respected medical professionals examined her, debated her condition, and published findings that would later become a source of national embarrassment.
In this episode of The Eclectic, we explore the Mary Toft affair in full: how the hoax unfolded, why so many educated men believed it, and what the scandal reveals about class, gender, medical authority, and the hunger for spectacle in eighteenth-century England.
This is a story of deception, desperation, and a society willing to suspend reason — all wrapped in one of history’s most bizarre cases.
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