(Volume II) Ideas and Inspiration for Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers

By James Hutchings

This sourcebook is for all writers of fantasy or science fiction--whether novels, short stories, games, or any other form of storytelling.

The following topics are covered:

Animals Without Ancestors
Armor Made From Unusual Materials
Battle Hymn of Lieutenant Calley, The
Bayer Corporation and Haemophiliac Blood Products
Bees, the, Telling
Big Alien Theory, The
Births
Booth, Mark
Castaneda, Carlos
Cats, King of the, The
Cities, Imaginary
Communication Between Humans and Other Species
Dali, Salvador, Childhood of
Demons, Christian
Dueling and Related Customs in Europe and North America
Dunbar, Bobby
Exhumations
Faith Healers, Methods of
Flower Wars
Fragging In the Vietnam War
Glass Delusion, The, and Delusions of Horns
Gloomy Sunday
Hancock, Graham
Hilbert Hotel, The
Homunculi
Hsu Fu
Hubbard, L. Ron, and Scientology
Ideas From Public Domain Fiction
Ilyumzhinov, Kirsan
Killology
Lanz, Adolf Joseph
Life, Long-Term Dangers To
Measurement, Units of
Memories Stored In the Body Other Than the Brain
Money and Trade
Namibian Genocide, The
Non-Lethal Weapons: Terms and References
Paranormal Research In the United States Army
Piracy, Golden Age of, The
Planets of the Solar System, Hypothetical
Plants, Giant and Carnivorous
Popes, Mythical
Societies, Pre-Industrial
Project Sunshine
Psychics, Methods of
Quotes, Miscellaneous
Reincarnation, Chinese Government Regulation of
Riddles
Salish Sea, The, Severed Feet of
Sitchin, Zecharia
Solis, Magdalena
Suicides and Attempted Suicides
Supernatural Horror, Characteristics of
Tanzler, Carl
Technological Singularity, The
Teletransportation Paradox, The
Temple, Robert
Thugs
Trials of Animals and Inanimate Objects
Uncontacted People In Fact and Hoax
Vimanas
Wild Deserters
Wiligut, Karl Maria
Women, Pig-Faced
Word Druids
Zombies, Philosophical

Please note that this volume is roughly the same length as the first one, even though it has fewer chapters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: James Hutchings
• Release date: Nov 2, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370085415

James Hutchings

James Hutchings lives in Melbourne, Australia. His work has appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Enchanted Conversation and fiction365 among other markets.

Book preview

Ideas and Inspiration for Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers

volume II

Published by James Hutchings at Smashwords

Copyright 2017 James Hutchings

+++

Dedicated to Heather: editor and muse.

Thanks also to Nadia for her help with editing.

The gnome on the cover is by Godo, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license. The original file is at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lutin_by_godo.jpg

Finally, thanks also to everyone who has put information for free on the internet, especially Wikipedia and Project Gutenberg.

A note on 'see also's: when a 'see also' appears immediately after a section of a chapter, it refers to something relevant to that section in particular. When a 'see also' has three blank lines before it, it refers to something relevant to the whole chapter.

CONTENTS

1: Animals Without Ancestors

2: Armor Made From Unusual Materials

3: Battle Hymn of Lieutenant Calley, The

4: Bayer Corporation and Haemophiliac Blood Products

5: Bees, the, Telling

6: Big Alien Theory, The

7: Births

8: Booth, Mark

9: Castaneda, Carlos

10: Cats, King of the, The

11: Cities, Imaginary

12: Communication Between Humans and Other Species

13: Dali, Salvador, Childhood of

14: Demons, Christian

15: Dueling and Related Customs in Europe and North America

16: Dunbar, Bobby

17: Exhumations

18: Faith Healers, Methods of

19: Flower Wars

20: Fragging In the Vietnam War

21: Glass Delusion, The, and Delusions of Horns

22: Gloomy Sunday

23: Hancock, Graham

24: Herostratus

25: Hilbert Hotel, The

26: Homunculi

27: Hsu Fu

28: Hubbard, L. Ron, and Scientology

29: Ideas From Public Domain Fiction

30: Ilyumzhinov, Kirsan

31: Killology

32: Lanz, Adolf Joseph

33: Life, Long-Term Dangers To

34: Measurement, Units of

35: Memories Stored In the Body Other Than the Brain

36: Money and Trade

37: Namibian Genocide, The

38: Non-Lethal Weapons: Terms and References

39: Paranormal Research In the United States Army

40: Piracy, Golden Age of, The

41: Planets of the Solar System, Hypothetical

42: Plants, Giant and Carnivorous

43: Popes, Mythical

44: Societies, Pre-Industrial

45: Project Sunshine

46: Psychics, Methods of

47: Quotes, Miscellaneous

48: Reincarnation, Chinese Government Regulation of

49: Riddles

50: Salish Sea, The, Severed Feet of

51: Sitchin, Zecharia

52: Solis, Magdalena

53: Suicides and Attempted Suicides

54: Supernatural Horror, Characteristics of

55: Tanzler, Carl

56: Technological Singularity, The

57: Teletransportation Paradox, The

58: Temple, Robert

59: Thugs

60: Trials of Animals and Inanimate Objects

61: Uncontacted People In Fact and Hoax

62: Vimanas

63: Wild Deserters

64: Wiligut, Karl Maria

65: Women, Pig-Faced

66: Word Druids

67: Zombies, Philosophical

Afterword: Using the Ideas in this Book, and Contacting Me

Bibliography

1: Animals Without Ancestors

Until the 19th century, it was widely believed that many species of animals did not have parents, but formed from inanimate matter.

The ancient Egyptians believed that animals including insects, frogs, mice and crocodiles could be formed in the fertile soil left after the flooding Nile receded. The Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote that animals could be formed from dew falling on foliage, in dung both inside and outside animals, from sea foam (eels and small fish), from specks of sand thrown in the air by hot winds (insects), and from the rotting corpses of horses (wasps). The Roman writers Virgil and Pliny the Elder specified that each insect generated from a particular kind of rotting animal corpse. For example, bees came from rotting oxen. Another Roman writer, Plutarch, added that rats could form from the earth, and snakes from human corpses.

Some authors claimed that the first humans were formed in this way. The Roman poet Juvenal wrote of men born of the riven oak, or formed of dust who had no parents. The Persian scholar Avicenna wrote that, after Noah's flood, people had spontaneously generated from the corpses of drowned humans. The ancient Greek philosopher Anaximander is supposed to have believed that humans must once have been formed as adults, or else they would not have survived.

In the 1st century BCE, the Roman architect and writer Vitruvius advised that libraries should not face west or south, as the wind from those directions generated bookworms.

The 17th century Dutch chemist Jan Baptist van Helmont wrote that, if wheat was incubated with water in a large flask covered by the skirt of an unclean woman, a mouse would be created in 21 days.

It was also widely believed that some animals could be born from plants. There was supposed to be a type of plant in Tartary (northern or central Asia) which produced lambs. Some illustrations show plants with many lambs, while others show a single lamb attached to the earth by a stem. According to botanist Claude Duret the lambs, unable to break their stem, soon ate everything within reach and so starved to death. The legend was also known in China, and may have spread to Europe from there. A Chinese document from the 10th century writes of farmers who built walls around their 'vegetable lambs' then, when they were fully grown, rode horses towards them while beating on drums or clashing cymbals. This caused the frightened creatures to tear loose from their stem, the only way they could be separated without dying. A Hebrew book from the year 436 describes a creature similar to the vegetable lamb. In this version the bones of the creature, when put in the mouth of a soothsayer, allow him to prophecy accurately. In another Hebrew book the creature is described as fierce, resembling a human rather than a lamb.

See also:

Volume 1: Barnacle Geese in 4: Animals, Characteristics Wrongly Attributed to

2: Armor Made From Unusual Materials

This chapter discusses armor made from materials other than metal or leather.

Bone

A breastplate uncovered in Omsk, in Siberia and believed to date from roughly 1700 BCE, was made from animal bones (it is unclear which animal).

Turtle Shell

During China's Shang Dynasty (16th century BCE-1024 BCE), armor was made from pieces of turtle shell laced together.

Paper

Paper armor was used in China for over a thousand years, from the late Tang dynasty to the late Qing dynasty (that is, until the 19th or early 20th century). It outlived steel armor, since it was more effective against firearms.

The Chinese Treatise On Military Preparedness, published in 1621, points out that paper armor is lighter than iron armor, and will not rust in wet conditions. It recommends lining the armor with one inch of pleated cotton.

An account by a Western visitor to China in the late 19th century, US Consul Edward Bedloe, states that thirty layers of alternating calico and paper can stop a bullet fired from one hundred yards (around 90 meters) away.

Silk

In 1881, in Tombstone, Arizona, gunfighter and gambler Charlie Storms was shot, at such close range that his shirt caught fire. He was killed, but the doctor who examined Storms found that the wound was entirely bloodless. A silk handkerchief in Storm's breast pocket had wrapped around the bullet. This inspired the doctor, George Goodfellow, to develop an early bulletproof vest, made from multiple layers of silk.

Magical Armor

The Lakota warriors who were massacred at Wounded Knee wore 'Ghost Shirts', items of clothing which they believed would protect them against bullets. Anthropologist James Mooney argues that the concept was probably inspired by the 'temple garment' of the Mormons, which is believed to protect the wearer from sinful thoughts.

Similarly, Spanish soldiers of the 19th and 20th centuries would wear pieces of cloth depicting the Sacred Heart of Jesus, surrounded by the words 'Detente bala' ('Stop, bullet') for protection.

3: Battle Hymn of Lieutenant Calley, The

The Battle Hymn of Lieutenant Calley is a 1971 single, performed by disc jockey Terry Nelson and a group of studio musicians under the name 'C-Company Featuring Terry Nelson'. It is notable among American hit songs in that it praises a war criminal.

Background

The My Lai Massacre took place on March 16, 1968, during the Vietnam War, in the village of Son My (My Lai was a name mistakenly marked on US maps). US intelligence believed that the village was sheltering troops of the Viet Cong. This was apparently a mistake, since the troops who committed the massacre encountered no opposition, and a US army witness later testified that I don't remember seeing one military-age male in the entire place, dead or alive.

The villagers were preparing for a market day when the US Army arrived. They were herded into the hamlet's commons. US soldier Harry Stanley later testified that the killings started without warning, when a soldier struck a Vietnamese man with a bayonet, then pushed another villager into a well and threw a grenade after him. Stanley said that he then saw fifteen or twenty people, mainly women and children, all killed by shots to the head as they knelt around a temple praying and crying,

Between 347 and 504 unarmed civilians, including infants, were killed. Some of the women and girls were raped and their bodies mutilated.

Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson was flying a helicopter during the operation. Seeing dead and wounded civilians, his crew made several attempts to radio for help. They landed near a ditch which was full of bodies, some of which were moving. Thompson asked a sergeant there if he could help get the people out of the ditch, to which the sergeant replied that he would help them out of their misery. Thompson, shocked and confused, spoke with Lieutenant Calley, who claimed that he was carrying out orders. As the helicopter took off, Thompson saw the sergeant firing into the ditch.

Thompson and his crew saved a group of women, children and old men who were sheltering in a bunker, Thompson ordering his crew to open fire on the US soldiers if they fired on the civilians. They also saved a four-year-old girl who had been left for dead in a group of corpses. Thompson then reported the massacre to his company commander. Thompson's report probably saved more civilians, by causing senior officers to cancel similar planned operations against other villages.

In the province province of Quang Ngai, where the massacre occurred, up to 70% of all villages had been destroyed by air strikes and artillery bombardments, including the use of napalm. 40% percent of the population were refugees, and overall civilian casualties were close to 50,000 a year.

The army initially claimed that the massacre was a day-long battle, in which 128 Communists had been killed. They eventually admitted that 20 civilians had died. Individual soldiers wrote to senior officers, Senators and Congressmen, urging an investigation, but were largely ignored. A report on one soldier's complaints of routine brutality found that relations between Americal Division soldiers [the division whose soldiers committed the massacre] and the Vietnamese people are excellent.

Journalists from the Phoenix Republic, Columbus Enquirer, New York Times and Washington Post all learned some details of the massacre, but did not report what they knew. The massacre was first reported to the public by journalist Seymour Hersh, in November 1969.

On November 17, 1970, a court-martial in the United States charged 14 officers, including the divisional commanding officer, with suppressing information related to the incident. Most of the charges were later dropped, and no one was convicted.

Captain Ernest Medina, who a witness reported as briefing C Company to destroy everything in the village that was walking, crawling or growing, and who had shot and killed a wounded girl in full view of Thompson and his crew, was found not guilty. Indeed only one soldier was convicted of any crime. Second Lieutenant William Calley was found guilty of having ordered his men to murder civilians, as well as personally killing several. Calley originally claimed that the deaths were caused by an accidental airstrike. When this was contradicted by prosecution witnesses, Calley argued that he should not be held responsible because he was following orders.

Afterwards: Lt. Calley

Lt. Calley was sentenced to life in prison and hard labor.

Georgia's governor, Jimmy Carter, instituted American Fighting Man's Day and asked Georgians to drive for a week with their lights on in protest at the harshness of the sentence. Indiana's governor asked all state flags to be flown at half-mast for Calley. The Arkansas, Kansas, Texas, New Jersey, and South Carolina legislatures requested clemency for Calley, and the governors of Utah and Mississippi disagreed with the verdict. Alabama's governor, George Wallace, visited Calley in the stockade and requested that President Richard Nixon pardon him. After the conviction, the White House received over 5,000 telegrams; the ratio was 100 to 1 in favor of leniency.

On April 1, 1971, only a day after Calley was sentenced in prison at Fort Leavenworth, President Richard Nixon ordered him transferred from Leavenworth prison to house arrest at his quarters at Fort Benning, pending appeal. On August 20, 1971, the commanding general of Fort Benning reduced Calley's sentence to 20 years. The Secretary of the Army commuted the sentence to 10 years. Calley actually served only three and a half years of house arrest in his apartment at Fort Benning, where he was able to drink alcohol and entertain his girlfriend.

After his release, Calley married the daughter of a wealthy jeweler in Columbus, Georgia. At their wedding they were serenaded by the local sherriff, and guests included the Mayor of Columbus and the judge who granted his liberty. He took over his father-in-law's business, and managed it until he left his wife. For a time he was a professional speaker at colleges.

Calley later said that We weren't in My Lai to kill human beings, really. We were there to kill an ideology that is carried by--I don't know--pawns, blobs, pieces of flesh. I was there to destroy an intangible idea. To destroy communism. Killing those men in My Lai didn't haunt me, although he claimed on another occasion to feel remorse.

Calley's friend Al Fleming said in a newspaper interview that William did have nightmares for a while, but not now. I'm sure he didn't like doing what he did, but he shows no sense of remorse at all. He's not like a lot of Vietnam veterans; suicidal and sick. He's just an ordinary guy.

Afterwards: Hugh Thompson

As a result of his experiences, Hugh Thompson suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, alcoholism, divorce, and severe nightmare disorder. His condition caused the breakup of his marriage.

Thompson was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for the lives he saved. Since his citation included a fictional account of his rescuing a girl from intense crossfire, which had greatly enhanced Vietnamese-American relations in the operational area, Thompson threw his medal away. Two of his crew members were given the Bronze Star.

Thompson was denounced by several Congressmen, including the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, who said publicly that Thompson was the only soldier who should be punished for his actions during the massacre, and attempted to have Thompson court-martialed.

Thompson received hate mail, death threats over the phone, and dead and mutilated animals on his doorstep.

In 1998 Thompson and his crew member's medals were replaced by the Soldier's Medal, the Army's highest award for bravery not involving direct conflict with an enemy. Thompson initially refused the medal when the Army wished to award it quietly and to him alone, insisting that it be done publicly and that his crew members receive the same award. One of the crew members' Soldier's Medal was awarded posthumously, as he had died in Vietnam later in 1968.

The Song

The song was written, and released in a small run on a minor label, in 1970. In 1971 Plantation Records released a new recording. This version sold over a million copies in four days, and entered the top 40.

The song is partly sung (to the tune of The Battle Hymn of the Republic), and partly spoken (with the same musical backing). The lyrics are as follows.

(spoken)

Once upon a time there was a little boy who wanted to grow up and be a soldier and serve his country in whatever way he could. He would parade around the house with a saucepan on his head for a helmet, a wooden sword in one hand and the American flag in the other. As he grew up, he put away the things of a child but he never let go of the flag.

(sung)

My name is William Calley, I'm a soldier of this land

I've tried to do my duty and to gain the upper hand

But they've made me out a villain. They have stamped me with a brand

As we go marching on.

I'm just another soldier from the shores of U.S.A.

Forgotten on a battle field ten thousand miles away

While life goes on as usual from New York to Santa Fe

As we go marching on.

I've seen my buddies ambushed on the left and on the right

And their youthful bodies riddled by the bullets of the night

Where all the rules are broken and the only law is might

As we go marching on.

While we're fighting in the jungles they were marching in the street.

While we're dying in the rice fields they were helping our defeat.

While we're facing V.C. bullets they were sounding a retreat

As we go marching on.

With our sweat we took the bunkers. With our tears we took the plain.

With our blood we took the mountains and they gave it back again.

Still all of us are soldiers, we're too busy to complain

As we go marching on.

(spoken)

When I reach my final campground in that land beyond the sun

And the great commander asks me, Did you fight or did you run?

I'll stand both straight and tall stripped of medals, rank and gun

And this is what I'll say:

Sir, I followed all my orders and I did the best I could.

It's hard to judge the enemy and hard to tell the good

Yet there's not a man among us would not have understood.

We took the jungle village exactly like they said.

We responded to their rifle fire with everything we had.

And when the smoke had cleared away a hundred souls lay dead.

Sir, the soldier that's alive is the only one can fight.

There's no other way to wage a war when the only one in sight

That you're sure is not a VC is your buddy on your right.

When all the wars are over and the battle's finally won

Count me only as a soldier who never left his gun

With the right to serve my country as the only prize I've won.

(sung)

Glory, glory hallelujah. Glory, glory hallelujah.

Glory, glory, hallelujah, as we go marching on

As we go marching on.

4: Bayer Corporation and Haemophiliac Blood Products

Factor VIII is a protein which helps in the clotting of blood. Hemophiliacs are unable to produce the protein themselves. Hemophiliacs inject themselves with Factor VIII, some as often as three times per week.

In the 1980s epidemiologists came to believe that Factor VIII, made from donated plasma, was infecting hemophiliacs with HIV. In 1983 a safer, heat-treated version of Factor VIII was developed.

Cutter Biological is a division of the pharmaceutical company Bayer. In January 1983, the manager of plasma procurement for Bayer's Cutter Biological division acknowledged in a letter that There is strong evidence to suggest that AIDS is passed on to other people through...plasma products. However in June 1983 Cutter wrote to distributors in 21 countries, speaking of an irrational response in many countries...[including] unsubstantiated speculations that this syndrome may be transmitted by certain blood products.

Fearing that they would lose customers, Cutter decided (according to an internal memo) to give the impression that they were continually improving their product, and not tell customers that they intended to switch to a safer, heat-treated version.

Cutter got US government approval for their heat-treated product in February 1984. The old product was unmarketable in the US and Europe, leaving them with excess inventory. They decided to sell the older medicine in Asia and Latin America, while selling the safe medicine in Europe and the United States. Cutter continued to make the old, unsafe version of Factor VIII until August 1984, because they believed it would be cheaper to produce than the new version.

In May 1985, when the Hong Kong distributor told of an impending medical emergency, asking for the newer product, Cutter replied that most of the new medicine was going to the US and Europe and there wasn't enough for Hong Kong, except for a small amount for the most vocal patients.

The United States Food and Drug Administration helped to keep the news out of the public eye. In May 1985, the FDA's regulator of blood products, Harry M. Meyer Jr., called together officials of Cutter and other companies. Cutter's notes from the meeting indicate that Meyer asked that the issue be quietly solved without alerting the Congress, the medical community [or] the public.

Cutter stopped shipping the old version of Factor VIII in July 1985, because fear of AIDS had made it unsellable overseas as well.

Bayer eventually paid millions in compensation, but stated that the company accepts no responsibility and continues to insist it has always acted responsibly and ethically.

5: Bees, the, Telling

In several countries, particularly England, it was once widely believed that bees must be told of important events in their keepers' lives such as weddings, deaths and births.

In many cases there were specific rituals to be observed in telling the bees. Local customs might specify that a specific person had to be the bearer of the message. Thus, after a death in the household, in some parts of England the goodwife of the house was required to drape the hives in black while humming a sad tune. In the event of the beekeeper dying, the hives would be rotated to face the funeral procession. In the Carolina mountains of the United States, the male head of the household would knock on each hive to attract the bees' attention before telling them of a death.

An article in a Scottish newspaper in the 1950s described the custom of inviting bees to a wedding. In some cases hives were decorated and/or a slice of wedding cake left outside the hive.

Beliefs varied as to what would happen if the bees were not told. It was commonly said that they would die, leave the hive, or cease to produce honey.

6: Big Alien Theory, The

Individuals can be divided into groups, based on characteristics such as political affiliation, country of origin, or religion. If we grouped American voters by their party of choice, for example, most voters would be in the Republican or Democrat group. But the Republican and Democratic Parties are not typical American parties: there are dozens of other parties, all far smaller than the Republicans and Democrats. Similarly, as of 2017 most people were residents of countries with populations of at least 180 million. Yet most countries have populations of less than 6 million.

In general, if we know that an individual is a member of exactly one group, we should predict that they are a member of an unusually large group, not of a typically-sized group.

Therefore, as humans, we should predict that we are a member of a species with an unusually large number of members. Or, to put it another way, we should predict that most intelligent alien species will have fewer members than our own.

There are a number of other predictions which flow from this.

A large population suggests, on average, a larger area. That is, we should expect most other planets inhabited by intelligent beings to be smaller than Earth.

Smaller species tend to have higher populations. For example, there are far more ants on Earth than humans. Therefore, if the human species has an unusually high population, humans are likely to be unusually small. That is, we should expect most alien species to have larger bodies than humans.

If a planet receives more energy from a star, it is likely to have more life. Therefore, we should expect most planets to receive less energy from their stars than we do from the Sun (that is, the star will be dimmer and/or the planet further away, and/or the atmosphere will keep out more of the energy).

Cosmologist Fergus Simpson estimates that most intelligent alien species will have populations of less than 20 million, and that most planets on which intelligent aliens live will have less than 80% of the radius of the Earth. The latter has implications for the search for alien life, which has typically concentrated on a search for Earth-like planets. Note that 'planet' here can include moons.

Simpson gives the following estimates for the masses of intelligent alien species:

Average individuals over 100,000 kg (for example blue whales): 9% of species.

Between 10,000 and 100,000 kg (for example humpback whales): 9%

Between 1,000 and 10,000 kg (for example African elephants, hippos): 16%

Between 100 and 1,000 kg (for example lions, zebras): 40%

Between 10 and 100kg (for example humans, wolves): 25%

Between 1 and 10kg (for example domestic cats, mongooses): 1%

Less than 1kg (for example stoats, shrews): 0.1%--although it might be impossible for creatures of less than 1kg to have the brain capacity for intelligence, in which case the figure would obviously be 0%.

1,000 kg is around 2,200 pounds. The metric tonne (1,000 kg) is nearly the same as an imperial ton or a US ton.

50% of species will have average masses of over 310kg, and 50% will have less. 310kg is roughly the mass of a polar bear.

Note that these figures refer to mass, not weight. That is, the figures refer to the weight that the creature would have in Earth's gravity, not in the gravity of its own planet.

For the purposes of the calculation, Simpson defines an intelligent species as one which has colonized most of its host planet/moon [presumably actually meaning most of its inhabitable surface] and developed sufficient intelligence to contemplate the existence of other inhabited planets.

7: Births

Countess Margaret of Henneberg

Countess Margaret of Henneberg, in Germany, is a historical figure, born in 1234. A legend says that she once insulted a beggar woman with twins, saying that the two must have had different fathers. The beggar cursed her to give birth to 365 children (or 364 in some versions). The boys were all christened Jan and the girls Elizabeth. All the children died, as well as their mother. In some versions of the story the children are unnaturally small: they are variously described as being the size of mice or crabs. In one version 182 of the children were male and 182 female, with 1 hermaphrodite.

A possible origin of the story is an account written in the 1260s by clergyman Albertus Magnus. Magnus writes of a noblewoman who believed that worms were issuing from her vagina. They turned out to be around 150 children, each as long as a human finger.

Egg-Laying Humans

In 1639, a Norwegian woman named Anna Omundsdatter apparently gave birth to an egg. A neighbor broke it, and found that it contained a yolk and white, like a hen's egg. The next day Mrs Omundsdatter produced another egg. She begged her neighbors not to break this one, for fear that they would be punished by higher powers. The neighbors sent the second egg to the Danish physician Olaus Wormius. Wormius concluded that the Devil had exchanged Anna's baby for an egg. Author Jan Bondeson suggests that Anna Omundsdatter was a fraud inspired by a tradition in Scandinavian folklore of heroes being born from eggs. For example it is said of Holger Danske, a legendary knight, that he will return to save Denmark by being born from an egg laid by a magpie.

Jock Mulldroch, of Gallway, Scotland, is supposed to have lived around the late 17th century, and to have laid speckled eggs. His mother is said to have sold some of them as goose eggs, but put two under a hen to hatch. Inside the eggs were two tiny boys, dressed in green. The boys were named Willie and Wattie Birly, and lived until they disappeared in a snowstorm, being too small to keep their heads above the snow.

According to a 17th century source, a woman gave birth to an egg which contained a two-headed, evil-looking worm.

Humans Giving Birth to Animals

Pliny the Elder wrote of women who gave birth to an elephant and a serpent respectively.

According to the Monstorium Historia of Count Ulysses Andronvandi, in 1531 a woman gave birth to triplets: a human head, a four-legged serpent, and a piglet.

According to a 17th century source, a countess gave birth to a child whose skin was discolored red on one side. This was because of its twin, a featherless bird, who had bitten the child in the womb. The doctors and midwives smothered the bird with a pillow.

Stone-Babies

In 1554, in the French town of Sens, 40-year-old Columbe Chatri became pregnant for the first time. Her pregnancy proceeded normally until she suffered violent labor pains, and passed a great quantity of amniotic fluid mixed with blood. But there was no birth. Mme Chatri's labor pains ceased, her breasts diminished in size, and she no longer felt the child move. She felt so sick that she was bedridden for three years. Local gossip held that she still had the unborn child inside her.

Mme Chatri died in 1582. Her husband requested that her corpse be dissected. The surgeons found what they thought was a tumor, hard, brittle, and covered with what looked like scales. Inside they found a fully-formed female child, but petrified and hard like a statue. The bones of its head were transparent, it had a single tooth, and there was hair in several places on the head.

Unlike the other entries in this chapter, lithopedions or stone-babies are a verified phenomenon. They can occur during an abdominal pregnancy, in which the fetus develops outside the womb. When a fetus dies during an abdominal pregnancy, and is too large to be reabsorbed into the mother's body, it can calcify, which protects the mother's body from the dead tissue.

See also:

65: Women, Pig-Faced

Volume 1: 86: Toft, Mary

8: Booth, Mark

Mark Booth (pen-name Jonathan Black) claims that he became friends with a man who was clearly of a different order of being. The man knew the secret, occult history of the world, and was a member of a secret society of similarly enlightened individuals. He gradually told some of his secrets to Booth. Booth tried to convince his friend to publish his knowledge, but the latter refused. Booth suspected that this was because to do so would be to break solemn and terrifying oaths.

Finally, Booth's friend told Booth that he was