For most of my life, I can remember hearing about hysterical pregnancies.

Cases where a woman's belly and breasts will grow, and all the other biological changes

that happen during a pregnancy also take place, with the exception that there is no baby

and no pregnancy.

At some point it sounds so incredible that one has to wonder if this is a real phenomenon,

or is it just another urban legend.

False pregnancies are coming up today on Skeptoid.

It turns into more of the podcasts that you love.

Want to find out more?

Visit Skeptoid.com slash giving, or call 877-215-0277 today.

That's 877-215-0277 or Skeptoid.com slash giving.

S-K-E-P-T-O-I-D dot com slash giving.

For listening to Skeptoid, I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com.

True or false pregnancy.

The year was 1555, the place Hampton Court Palace, Richmond upon Thames, London.

Queen Mary I was so fervently earning her posthumous nickname Bloody Mary by burning

heretics at the stake by the hundreds.

But while she was taking so many lives, she was also trying to create one.

Shortly after her marriage to Spain's Prince Philip, her physicians announced that the

Queen was expecting.

Her belly distended, her periods stopped.

She gained weight and she suffered from morning sickness.

...