An interesting urban legend was popular in the 19th century. It is interesting, first of all, from a medical point of view. The legend of Edward Mordak reached its maximum flowering and illumination on December 8, 1895, when the Boston Post published the article "The Wonders of Modern Science." In this article, for lack of more significant scientific news and in pursuit of a sensation, the newspaper detailed the creatures like the Lincoln Fish Woman and the Crab Man. The selection of freaks also includes a certain Edward with his devilish twin. A scholarly article was considered because the journalist told the story, relying on more than authoritative source - the archive of the Royal Society of Science.
It was argued that the hero of the story, a certain Edward Mordak, was the son of one of the noble peers of London. But, despite the noble origin, the child was born with a congenital anomaly - a Siamese twin fused with him. The fusion took place in the form of diprosopa - craniofacial duplication, and the Siamese brother (according to other versions - sister) became a twin parasite. Edward's disgusting second face looked at the people from the back of the head. It was speechless, did not eat food, but attentively and with special malice followed with its eyes everything that was happening. Silent lips sometimes moved in a soundless whisper. It displayed different emotions, often the opposite of those of Edward. When he was sad or he was crying, the face laughed, and vice versa, angry when Edward was cheerful. As he grew older, the young man began to go crazy. He begged the doctors to rid him of the evil creature, even at the cost of his life, and claimed that it was talking to him, whispering at night when no one was. At the age of 23, in spite of the assigned nurses, Edward was able to commit suicide, asking in a suicide note to separate him from his brother and bury him separately so that his burial rest would not be disturbed by this devil.
There is no burial place, no skeleton, no cast, no documentary evidence for this legend. The available photographs and supposedly mummies are modern fantasies of sculptors and pranksters, and pranco sculptors. But the story itself left its mark after the alleged death of Edward. Even in our time, we still find echoes of horror in popular culture of contemporaries of this story, for example, Professor Quirrell from Harry Potter. But what is most interesting is that we can quite easily find more creepy cases, and now they will be quite real.
A parasitic twin, asymmetric twins, or unequal Siamese twins are the result of the embryos in the womb not separating in time. And then one of the embryos begins to develop not only at the expense of the mother, but also at the expense of a fellow. Such parasitism leads to the fact that the second fetus lags far behind or stops development altogether. After the birth of such a twin, as a rule, it is not viable without its brother, and the parasitic role changes. The one that has developed successfully becomes the owner and breadwinner for both, in whatever form they live together.
Hot night. June 1999. Nagpur city, India. Dr. Ajay Mehta is on duty in the surgery ward at Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai. Sanju Bhagat is admitted to the hospital. The man is 36 years old, but his belly looks like he is 9 months pregnant. The entourage of the approaching birth in an ambulance car is complemented by the patient's groans and complaints of a bursting feeling and sharp pains, lack of breath, and a rare pulse. Doctor Ajay, seeing the patient, never hesitates for a second, directs him to the operating room. According to the doctor, he suspected the presence of a huge tumor, which was currently pressing on the diaphragm, making it impossible for the patient to breathe. The operation began.
After opening the abdominal cavity, several liters of liquid poured onto the floor, and then, according to the doctor, "it was as if I shook someone's hand, right inside the patient."
Promotional video:
Later, a complete set of limbs, genitals, hair, jaws emerged from Sanju. A strange, half-formed creature with long fingernails and long toenails. What from the outside really looked like the first childbirth in science in a man with a severely distorted fetus, was nothing more than a fetus in fetu. Fetus in the fetus. Even in the womb, Sanju not only took the opportunity to fully develop from his brother, but as a result of his own growth, he was able to wrap him inside his body. The parasitic fetus developed in it for 36 years, without a brain, but retaining most of the organs. This can only happen if the twins develop in a monozygous pregnancy, and both fetuses have a common placenta. And, as a rule, not more often than in 1 case out of half a million - 90 such patients are known to science in the entire history of observations.
Historically, we know some single examples of twin parasites, some even quite peacefully and successfully coexisted with each other … well, in one form or another. Moreover, both in the past and in the anticipated future.
For example, the case of Lazarus.
Lazarus and John Baptista Colloredo are practically the first examples of touring medical anomalies. It was in 17th century Europe. The brothers were born in Genoa, Italy. The development was incomplete. Lazarus was a full-fledged man, but John was the upper torso protruding from his brother's belly, and one leg on his back. To earn a living, Lazarus toured with his ailment, demonstrating it for a fee to everyone. He managed to travel all over Europe - from Turkey to Denmark and Scotland - save a small fortune, get married and have two healthy children.
The "twin" anomaly was widely known in the 20th century by people like Frank Lentini and Myrtle Corbin. Myrtle was originally from Tennessee, USA and has performed in traveling circuses since the age of 13. The reason for the attention-grabbing appearance was the doubled pelvis and doubled the number of legs. The second set of legs paired with the first, was painless and mobile. Creative pseudonym "Four-legged girl from Texas". Frank Lentini - "footballer with three legs" - was less fortunate. His third leg had a fourth, in the form of an atrophied appendage, was shorter and gave him many inconveniences. Despite this, Frank was married twice and died quite happy at the age of 77.
A more sophisticated case is presented to us in the person of Lakshmi Tatma, a small Indian girl who was born in the region of Arariya, Bihar. She was unlucky enough to share her body with a headless twin. During development, the embryos fused, the head and chest of one atrophied, and Lakshmi received an additional 2 arms and 2 legs in the lower body. Lakshmi's parents earned 40 rupees a day, while the operation to separate the twins cost US $ 625,000. Without charities, they would have had to give up their entire salary for 2,935 years. This is so that you understand the level of accessibility of medicine and the situation of the poorest segments of society in developing countries. Fortunately, Lakshmi is the name of the eight-armed goddess in Hinduism, so the girl was worshiped. Parents were also offered to sell it to the circus, and the story reached the media. Then one of the Indian hospitals undertook to operate for free. The 40-hour feat of surgeons was successful for the child. She is currently recovering, goes to school and lives a poor but normal life.
But do you know what you will definitely not like about anatomical anomalies of development? Teratomas …
Teratomas are a type of tumor, but unlike, for example, fibroma, where fibrous connective tissue grows, sometimes including adjacent layers, for example, muscle (fibroids), teratoma consists of several types of tissues. As a rule, they are formed in the ovaries, testes, coccyx, sometimes near the fibers of the nervous system, sometimes in the lungs or the brain. There are many theories of teratomas. Studies of such tumors in horses, for example, have shown that embryonic cell layers (ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm), or the so-called totipotent cells, are the focus of occurrence. Simply put, a building material is something from which any tissue or organ necessary for the body can then develop.
In the case of a teratoma, a malfunction occurs, and totipotent cells begin to build tissue or organ in your body where you didn't need it. Slowly growing tumors form bones, muscles, hair, teeth, sometimes entire organs, like an eyeball … in your … testicle … or teeth in a lung, if you are lucky.
The first patient we can consider is a 30-year-old woman who was found in a necropolis in Spain. She died 1600 years ago. And, judging by the remains, she had an ovarian teratoma - the neoplasm grew slowly, gradually developing teeth in the pelvic region.
In 2007, an 18-year-old Japanese woman had her head removed from her ovary with one eye. In 2016, in Germany, a boy suffering from myopathy (weakness) and developmental delay was found to have an eye bladder, an eye in the embryonic stage of development, when a brain tumor was removed.
Perhaps the creepiest case is the 2008 Colorado Springs story. When removing a brain tumor from a newborn, 2 forming feet and a hand were isolated in the removed material.
To any, even your most creepy fantasy, urban legend or film plot, nature had the answer long before you invented or saw it. From fibrodysplasia to sleeping sickness, from parasitic rishta, to genetic mutations and pathologies of embryonic development. Each of our nightmares has a place to be.