A woman with a pig's nose instead of a nose was born in Iceland on February 6, 1794. Her name was Griselle Stevens and, despite her physical disability, she was able to successfully get married and give birth to a full-fledged child.
In all ages in the world, people were born with various physical disabilities or deformities. More often than not, they became outcasts in society and, at best, played the role of buffoons in it. It was believed that the birth of a freak is never complete without the intervention of black forces
For a long time, people believed that the unborn child was affected by the fear, shock or great grief experienced by the mother. The impact of negative emotions on the fetus in the womb is completely unpredictable. It happened that women who were afraid of something during pregnancy gave birth to children, completely covered with hair, with various, very bizarre, signs on the skin.
Mark Damascus wrote about a bearded girl, whose body was covered with thick long hair; about a certain Guillelme Paradinus, who was born with bear claws instead of nails; Baldwin Ronser with turkey earrings in his ears; about Parea with the frog's head … All this is the result of the painful imagination of mothers during pregnancy.
One woman, while pregnant, saw a butcher chop a pork head in half. It stuck in her memory. Soon she gave birth to a baby with a face split in half by a scar running from the palate to the nose. The wife of a tailor from the Belgian town of Mechlin, standing at the door of her house, witnessed a fight between soldiers. One of them had a hand cut off before her eyes. The impression was so strong that she prematurely gave birth to a child with one hand, the place where the other should have been was bleeding. In 1602, the wife of Antwerp merchant Mark Devogeller met a soldier who had just lost an arm, and also gave birth to a one-armed daughter prematurely. Another woman had to watch as, on the orders of the duke, thirteen rioters were cut off. She began early labor, and a headless baby with a bloody neck was born …
There are even more incredible examples. One woman who lived in the Middle Ages, shortly before giving birth, her heavily drinking husband said that the devil had possessed her and threatened to kill her. The poor man was so scared that she gave birth to a child with an unusual deformity: his body was covered with dark red spots, his eyes were on his forehead, his mouth was from ear to ear, and his head was crowned with goat's horns - the full embodiment of the devil!
There is also information that in 1573 in Sant Lorenzo, South America, a child was born, whose mouth, nose and ears were terribly deformed, horns grew on his head, and his whole body was overgrown with long hair. In addition, he had ugly growths on his body: a fleshy "belt" from which hung, like a purse, a piece of living flesh; there was a bell-shaped growth on the left hand. On the legs were "put on" high "boots" with "tops" bent down. During pregnancy, the mother of the baby had a chance to observe an ancient Indian dance, and for some reason the sight greatly frightened her.
Women-pigs
Amazing stories about women who supposedly resembled pigs in their appearance are also passed from mouth to mouth. Here's what they say about one of them, Tannakin Skinker.
She was born in 1618 in Holland. According to legend, the girl's pregnant mother refused to give the old beggar woman alms, and she cursed her, saying: "If the mother is a pig, let the child grunt!" When Tannakin was born, everyone saw that she had a pig's nose instead of a nose. The parents were ashamed of their daughter and kept her locked up. The food was served to the child in a silver trough. When the girl was 17 years old, the famous astrologer Vandermast predicted that if she married an aristocrat, she would regain her human appearance. Tannakin's relatives began to dress her in expensive dresses and take her out into the world, announcing that a noble man who dares to take their daughter as his legal wife will receive a dowry for her in the amount of 40 thousand pounds. Legend has it that in 1639, 21-year-old Tannakin arrived in London in search of a groom. But there were no people willing to marry a "beauty" with a pork snout. According to the testimony of contemporaries, she had a beautiful physique and wore a black velvet mask in public. However, the speech of the unclaimed bride was indistinct and somehow really reminded of a pig's grunt.
Another female pig was born in the early 19th century in Iceland. Cannibal boars have long been found in the Icelandic forests - the ancient Vikings purposely fed them with human meat. It so happened that the expectant mother met such a boar, and he greatly frightened her. This allegedly became the reason for the birth of a child with a pig's nose. The girl grew up, happily married and gave birth to two daughters, whose appearance had no defects.
At the same time, there are legends about a pig woman who settled in London at the beginning of the 19th century. Some townspeople noticed a pig's patch under the veil of a lady passing by them in an expensive carriage. In 1815, the artist Fairbourne Jr. exhibited a portrait of this woman for all to see. The artist managed to learn about her from a former maid, who told that her mistress was from a wealthy Irish family, she was twenty years old, she had a slender figure, but she did not know how to speak, only grunts, eats from a trough and was distinguished by the habits of an animal. The mysterious pig lady lived in a respectable house in Manchester Square. Despite a very generous salary - 1000 guineas a year, no one wanted to serve her …
People have noticed all these coincidences for a long time. There is an old adage that a pregnant woman should not look at the scary, otherwise the child will be ugly. Although in fact there is no direct dependence on the contemplation of something ugly and the appearance of the child, nevertheless, while still in the tummy, the baby reacts to light, sounds and very well feels what the mother feels, including fear, dislike. That is why pregnant women are advised to watch beautiful pictures, enjoy walks in parks, listen to classical music - in general, experience positive emotions that affect both the health and appearance of the future baby.
Margarita TRINITY
Mysteries of the 20th century