Hoax! – "The Impostress Rabbit"
Original Air Date: October 27, 2025
Hosts: Dana Schwartz & Lizzie Logan
Episode Overview
This lively, irreverent episode explores the strange historical case of Mary Toft, a poor woman in 18th-century England who convinced doctors and high society that she miraculously gave birth to rabbits and other animal parts. The hosts—Dana Schwartz and Lizzie Logan—delve into the details of the hoax, the social context, the medical gullibility of the time, and how the story became a sensation. Throughout, they discuss why people are drawn to hoaxes, the social dynamics that let them spread, and draw parallels between the past and contemporary media landscape.
Main Discussion Points & Key Insights
1. Setting the Scene: Godalming & Mary Toft's Life
[03:50–07:25]
- The episode begins with the dreariness of early 1700s Godalming, a small, impoverished English town:
- Mary Toft, at 24, walks hours daily to work the hop fields, toiling in poverty with two (possibly three) children and a husband out of work.
- "Imagine, like, being pregnant, having two children at home... a husband who is likely out of work, and just like, living this miserable existence." —Dana [05:58]
- Mary suffers a miscarriage in August 1726; shockingly, a month later, “she starts having the symptoms of labor” [06:34]
2. The Body Horror & The Hoax Begins
[07:25–09:35]
- Local male midwife John Howard is summoned; claims Mary delivers various animal parts—pigs' bladders, cat’s paw, eel spine, and multiple dead baby rabbits.
- “Dead baby rabbits coming out of a human lady’s vagina. That’s gross.” —Lizzie [08:22]
- Mary says she was craving rabbit throughout pregnancy—her longing transmuted her pregnancy into producing rabbits, a concept known as maternal impression, then taken seriously by some in medicine.
3. Science, Superstition, and Gender
[09:35–12:44]
- The hosts unpack how early Enlightenment England is still riddled with folklore and misogynistic pseudo-science about women’s bodies:
- “Pregnant women could influence their unborn babies with their thoughts and their experiences.” —Dana [09:43]
- Dana critiques contemporary and historical attitudes toward pregnancy and female “mystery.”
- “I really hated when I was pregnant... it’s condescending.” —Dana [11:29]
- The combination of superstition and emerging science created fertile ground for sensational stories.
4. Publicity, Medical Obsession, Newspapers
[12:44–14:45]
- News of the “rabbit lady” spreads rapidly; doctors pickle and display rabbit specimens; newspapers in London and Guildford publish accounts.
- King George I, intrigued, sends his physician Nathaniel St. André and secretary Samuel Molyneux to investigate.
5. Enter Nathaniel St. André: Opportunist to Royalty
[19:26–23:44]
- St. André: painted as an “opportunistic dilettante with a taste for ornately embroidered shirts” [19:31]
- He’s a European immigrant who charmed his way to royal favor—a point of resentment for English elites.
- Dana contextualizes George I’s unpopularity and the court’s suspicion of foreigners.
- St. André examines Mary, witnesses “her stomach... pulsing and quivering,” and 15th rabbit part “delivered” [22:37]; finds Mary in fine humor.
6. The Media Circus & Skepticism
[23:44–26:42]
- King brings Mary to London, sets her up with a pension; she becomes a tabloid sensation, the subject of scrutiny by multiple doctors.
- Lizzie draws a direct line to today’s culture: “No, we haven’t [grown past freak shows], we just have TLC.” [23:54]
- Skeptics note the delivered rabbits have corn/hay in their bellies, indicating they were not born in utero.
- “These rabbits aren’t originating from inside her.” —Dana [25:55]
- Increasing evidence points to a hoax; Mary stops producing rabbits under tight supervision.
7. The Confession Unravels the Truth
[27:01–29:39]
- A bathhouse porter reports being asked to smuggle in rabbit parts.
- Dr. Manningham threatens surgery; Mary confesses under pressure that her husband, in-laws, and another woman helped insert animal parts into her body to fake births.
- “It’s amazing that she didn’t die of a bacterial infection.” —Dana [28:38]
- The hoax was perpetuated for money and attention. Mary quickly fades from public view.
8. Satire, Class, & Sex in Public Reaction
[31:17–34:53]
- The scandal is a goldmine for satirists, who mock foreigners, women, and elite gullibility.
- William Hogarth’s famous print lampoons St. André and the learned doctors, making relentless anatomical puns.
- Mary is paraded in prison; crowds pay to gawk at her.
- Eventually, the authorities discretionarily release her—prosecuting would embarrass too many powerful victims.
9. What Became of the Players?
[39:46–43:40]
- St. André’s career and royal favor are destroyed; he keeps the title but loses salary, social standing, and money.
- In a bizarre twist, he treats (and soon marries the widow of) the king’s secretary, Samuel Molyneux, after Molyneux’s sudden death—prompting accusations of foul play:
- “That very night, St André elopes with his widow. That very night. Body not even cold yet. So suspicious.” —Dana [41:13]
- Mary Toft fades into obscurity, is reportedly brought out at dinner parties as a “curiosity,” and dies in poverty, remembered as “Mary Toft, widow, the impostress rabbit.” [44:19]
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- “Bodies are a horror.” —Dana [04:04]
- “It’s gross. I wanted to warn you before this episode. It’s pretty gross.” —Dana [08:07]
- “The satirists have a field day... They get to make fun of foreigners, the elite, and women all at once.” —Dana [31:17]
- “This woman is sort of being tortured... by this scam that her husband, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and... a local organ grinder is putting her up to.” —Dana [29:08]
- “It was a perfect storm... Sometimes there’s a perfect storm of something that receives main character of the day energy...” —Dana [45:12]
Key Timestamps & Segments
- [03:50] – Introducing Mary Toft & the 1726 Godalming setting
- [07:24] – John Howard observes the first “animal births”
- [09:35] – Explanations rooted in contemporary superstition (maternal impression)
- [12:44] – The publicity machine kicks in; public obsession rises
- [19:26] – Saint Andre’s (dubious) credentials & social context
- [22:37] – Saint Andre attends Mary during a “rabbit delivery”
- [25:55] – Skepticism as rabbits are found with “wrong” stomach contents
- [27:01] – The bathhouse, bribery, and the confession
- [31:17] – The satirical response, Hogarth’s print, and public outrage
- [39:46] – Saint André’s downfall & suspicious marriage plot twist
- [44:19] – Mary Toft’s later life and legacy
Tone & Style
The tone is informal, darkly comedic, and at times pointedly feminist and skeptical—a hallmark of both hosts. The grisly aspects are discussed with humor and cringing honesty, but the human cost to Mary Toft and the ridiculous credulity of the medical establishment are never lost from view.
Takeaways
- Hoaxes often work when they reflect and exploit social anxieties—about gender, class, science, and who gets believed.
- Even in an era of “enlightenment,” gullibility and spectacle triumphed when it served status or narrative.
- The disempowered—like Mary Toft—often pay the highest price, even when their deceptions briefly “succeed.”
- As Dana sums up: “Sometimes there’s a perfect storm... it really captured the moment and had this lasting legacy for centuries.” [45:19]
Listener reminder: This is the “most vagina-heavy episode of Hoax,” but as the hosts flag, the potential for future body-horror hoaxes remains unlimited.