Facts About Multiples: Multiple Birth Hoaxes

Facts About Multiples
An Encyclopedia of Multiple Birth Records

Multiple Birth Hoaxes

Over the years there have been some multiple birth hoaxes that have made mainstream news (as opposed to fakers who just make the rounds of message boards, forums and mailing lists online). Most of these hoaxes are historical or received a lot of media attention.

AF Duocecaplets (2009)
The woman in Tunisia claimed to be pregnant with duodecaplets (12) and was later outed as not even being pregnant.

Bernard Monyenye (2008)
This Australian Medicare worker invented multiple births to cash in on baby bonus payments.

Erika Nieves-Abrigo (aka Nancy Cantu) (2007)
Arrested for bilking people out of money and gifts when she claimed to be pregnant with quintuplets.

Mandie Clark (November 2006)
She scammed a lot of mothers on various boards for baby supplies and gifts. I revealed her as a faker here, and the article written about her mentioned this site.

Swiss French Quints (June 2006)
A woman in France claimed she had quints by declaring the births to collect child benefits in France. She claimed they were born in Switzerland. She cashed 100,000 euros before being discovered as a fraud when clerks caught the names of two sets of quintuplets bearing the same first names and different addresses and surnames.

Anisur and Anwara Rahman Septuplets (June 2006)
A Deputy Inspector General of Police in Bangladesh lied about his wife giving birth to septuplets, along with having 7 other children. Tests concluded the "septuplets" weren't even related to each other or the supposed parents, and that Rahman was likely trafficking them. He could be facing a possible death sentence.

Qiao Yubo (June 2006)
The Chinese woman announced she was having quintuplets and a news article appeared, and she recanted. Her husband had no idea she wasn't pregnant. She had been pregnant with twins that she miscarried. After her husband was injured in a car accident, she didn't want to tell him about the miscarriage and instead made up a story about having quints.

Everson Sextuplets (Hoax from April 2006)
Couple announced they'd had sextuplets a month earlier, going so far as to show reporters a nursery. The story was investigated by police and the couple was charged with fraud for accepting donations of cash and gifts. They were charged, tried and sentenced to jail. The husband got three years, the wife got four years.

Espinoza Triplets (May 2001)
Leontina Albina Espinoza claimed to have 7 sets of triplets among her 58 children. She was featured in the Guinness Book and on shows like Oprah until it was revealed that she only had 16 children, the rest were taken in by her, and there were not 7 sets of triplets. Albina died in 1988.

Charmain Peterson Craig (1981)
The 17-year-old mother was reported to have had 4 boys and 2 girls, Frank, Andrew, John, William, Salome and Deborah Craig, born October 15 and November 8 1980 in Cape Town, South Africa. The last baby was reportedly delivered 23 days after the others. The "mother" claimed she couldn't divulge the whereabouts of her children, and that the last baby delivered 23 days later happened due to a "gynecological issue" (ie. double uterus). Charmaine claimed to be living in Windhoek with a 41-year-old man, Frank Craig, who divorced his first wife after the sextuplets were born. She then claimed the sextuplets were in Johannesburg with local welfare officials. The father said he hadn't seen them and didn't know what to think. Despite the holes in the story, it was picked up my major newspapers and reported as the truth, and remained in the Guinness Book of World Records for years. Another article.

Perham Sextuplets (March 1985)
Kim Perham claimed to be pregnant with spontaneous sextuplets after her husband had a vasectomy. She was admitted to a psychiatric care when it was revealed she wasn't pregnant, and she believed otherwise. She was finally diagnosed with schizo-affective disorder. Today, she works with the National Alliance of Mental Illness as a chapter president, and is in recovery.

Chilean septuplets hoax (1971)
Administrators and physicians at a Santiago hospital announced the birth to publicize a campus-wide humour week. They announced that a 17-year-old Chilean woman, Graciela Calderon de Avila had given birth to seven boys. They went so far as to hire an actor to play the woman's husband at a fake press conference.

Carmen Molina - Chilean Septuplets Hoax (November 1952)
Papers in Santiago ran headlines announcing the birth of seven girls to Carmen Molina, it was picked up world wide and finally traced back to students who had made it up to advertise their upcoming spring festival. The police got involved, vowing to hunt down and punish the fraudulent tipsters.

Reporter Makes Up Quint/Sextuplet Stories (1952)
Reporter Hugh S. Stewart wrote about the impending birth of "five or six babies", offering reasons why the mother hadn't given birth once the date arrived. He finally confessed it was a hoax after pressure from the newspaper editors. The paper had to print an apology to readers.

Vamp has septuplets (1952)
More a misunderstanding than an outright hoax, an Army officer in Brazil received a telegram advising him that "seven offspring born. Four girls, three boys. What names should I register?" A friend who saw the message informed others, not realizing the telegram, signed "Vamp" was sent by the officer's family on behalf of the family Dalmation, who had just had puppies.

Arroyave Quintuplets (1949)
The story was carried in major newspapers about 5 boys (Fermin, Ramiro, Rodrigo, Nabor and Francisco) born to Maria Arroyave in Colombia in December 1949). Days later it was discovered the story was invented by an inmate at a Colombian prison who invented the story in hopes of being allowed out to visit his "five new nephews."

Callahan Quintuplets (1944)
A woman in Miami, Florida thought she was having quintuplets, but x-rays revealed she was only pregnant with one. The mother was fluoroscoped and the technician may have suggested she was having a multiple birth. The mother was revealed to find out she had only one baby, but the press had already picked up the story. The newspaper paid for her x-ray and continued to help her pay for hospital costs during her pregnancy.

Wei Octuplets (1947)
Reports were given to a Chinese newspaper that a Chang Ping Wei had 8 boys with 7 surviving, and that the mother had previously had septuplets. One article also quoted the relative saying she had carried the babies for 4 years. Western newspapers scoffed at the report, and it was never verified.

unidentified septuplets (1946)
Newspapers around the world picked up the story of a French woman who gave birth to seven babies (4 girls and 3 boys) in February 1946. A "tipster" had phoned in the hoax to the news agency, and it ran without being verified.

San Salvador Sextuplet Hoax (April 1938)
An unknown person started the hoax which was widely reported by American newspapers.

April Fool Sextuplets (April 1936)
Reported in a French newspaper as a joke (along with photo), it was picked up by a London newspaper who ran it for real, not realize it was a joke.

Bradlee Octuplets (August 1872)
Not revealed as a hoax for over 40 years, Eunice Mowbray (or Mowery) was the victim of an ex-boyfriend who published a small story in a local paper (he was a printer), claiming that "Mrs. Timothy Bradlee (Eunice's recently married name)) of Ohio had octuplets in 1872 (5 boys and 3 girls), along with two sets of twins and many multiples in her family. The story got picked up by other papers, despite it not being verified. It appeared in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal in 1872 as fact.

It wasn't until 1914 that a doctor in Massachusetts actually enquired to the county clerk for information on the family and was told the story had been the work of a prankster. He sent letters to Science magazine and the editor of the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, where the story was corrected.

Nevertheless, the story still made the rounds as truth for a number of years.

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