Newspapers thrived on stories that blurred the line between medicine, mystery, and outright horror.
One such report emerging from Paris described a young girl who had allegedly swallowed an entire packet of sewing needles, only for them to slowly force their way back out through her skin over time.
According to the article, dozens of needles had already emerged from different parts of her body, earning the girl the grim nickname of a “human porcupine.”
Whether exaggerated by sensational journalism or rooted in a genuine medical oddity, the story captured the fascination of readers living in an era when the human body still seemed capable of terrifying and inexplicable phenomena.
Young Girl Human Porcupine
Paris. — Some interest is being excited here by the case of a young girl who swallowed a packet of needles and is no gradually shedding them as they pierce her skin at different parts of her body.
Forty needles have already emerged in this fashion.
Source: Turner County Herald. Hurley, Dakota, S.D. July 24, 1913.
