Who was the 'rabbit woman' of Godalming?
Mary Toft, a young woman from Godalming, Surrey, caused a sensation in 1726 when she convinced a number of doctors that, after seeing a large rabbit while pregnant, she had given birth to parts of the long eared mummals.
John Howard, a local surgeon and midwife who attended some of the purported births, believed her and informed a number of eminent medics including Nathaniel St André, surgeon to the royal household of George I. St André examined some of the animal parts that Toft claimed to have birthed, and concluded that the case was genuine – that she had indeed spawned rabbits. However, a second royal surgeon, Cyriacus Ahlers, was decidedly sceptical. Toft was later questioned closely in London.
Finally, after being threatened with “a very painful experiment”, Toft confessed that she had faked the births by stuffing animal parts inside herself. She was imprisoned, but was soon released and lived out the
