Woman With Four legs

The woman in the picture is Ashley Braistle and she was born with more than 4 limbs: a condition known as POLYMELIA.

Another person in history with a similar condition was Myrtle Corbin.

Myrtle Corbin, was known as the four legged woman - However, that Moniker was slightly misleading. While at a glance one could see four legs dangling beyond the hem of her dress only one pair actually belonged to her.


The other set belonged to her DIPYGUS twin sister. Born in Lincoln County, TN in 1868 and spending most of her childhood in Blount Council, AL - where she can be found in the 1880 census, her condition was incredibly rare. The tiny body of her twin was only fully developed from the waist down and even then it was malformed - tiny and possessing only three toes but she was able to control the limbs of her sister but was unable to use them to for walking and she herself had difficulty walking as she had a clubbed foot. Technically, she had only one good useable leg.

She was very popular and would always dress the extra limbs with socks and shoes matching her own and this gave her a truly surreal appearance. Myrtle was so popular that she earned $450 a week. At the age of 19 she married a Doctor named Clinton Bicknell. It was then that other aspects of her bizzare anatomy became evident. Her twin sister was also sexually formed - thus Myrtle possessed two vaginas.

She had four daughters and a son and it has been rumoured that three of her children were born from one set of organs and two from the other. Whether it is true or not, it is medically possible. It was observed that both vaginas menstruated indicating that both were possibly sexually functional. Myrtle Passed on may 6, 1928, surrounded by family and friends.

The most important thing I got from this article is that someone with such peculiar "handicap" found someone who loved her.

Post by: @DiaryofaNaijaNurse on Instagram