Bioarchaeologists working in Peru have discovered evidence of a teratoma, an “evil twin” tumor in the abdomen of a 16th century teenage girl.
File this under creee-py. Or under Ewwwwww. Archaeologists digging in Peru discovered the skeletal remains of a teenage girl who had suffered in life from an ovarian teratoma, or “monstrous tumor.” A teratoma is composed of differing types of cells, and from one of the little (or not-so-little in this case, as the tumor probably made the poor girl in life look as if she had swallowed a basketball) buggers can sprout teeth, hair and internal organs. A TUMOR. In your body. Growing TEETH and HAIR. One more time, together now—Ewwwwwwwwwwww!
There is no evidence to suggest that the teratoma served as the cause of this young woman’s death, nor that it was necessarily parasitic, in the way most people think of the term. But it certainly did impact her health in a negative way. Not a true “evil twin,” as in those cases where two fetuses growing together in the womb become joined, with one swallowing up the other and continuing to grow around it, resulting in an individual born with the remains of a sibling hidden somewhere inside his or her body. This tumor was never meant to become a person. It was always just an “it.” And “it” deserves its title—monstrous—doesn’t it?
Last year, they found a tumor in my sister’s body. It was surrounding her ovary and it had hair and teeth. I’m not making this up, she named it “Harriet”. I’m not sure if the term “teratoma” was used, but she had to have it surgically removed and lost that ovary. Months later she found out that the other ovary was damaged from a previous surgery when she was 13 and therefore cannot have children now. It was…and still is…pretty heartbreaking for her and the rest of the family. Not sure what this article has to do with vampires though.