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Nothing is quite as disturbing as the idea of something sprouting from your body. Yet, it happens far more frequently than we’d care to admit.
Most cases involve common growths like tumors or warts, but occasionally, some incidents take a truly shocking turn. A few individuals have experienced grotesque growths that not only took over their bodies—but also their minds.
10. The Brain Tumor That Drove a Teacher to Dark Obsessions
An unidentified schoolteacher from Virginia underwent a drastic personality shift after a tumor began developing in his brain.
What began as a series of mild, recurring headaches eventually revealed something far more sinister—a brain tumor that drove him toward disturbing behavior.
His mind became relentlessly consumed by sexual thoughts. He collected obscene magazines in large quantities, then descended into more dangerous habits—spending nights viewing illegal material and vocalizing violent sexual fantasies.
By the time doctors uncovered the tumor in his brain, he had already caused harm to his family. He was arrested for abusing his stepdaughter.
Doctors believed they were treating a standard case of brain cancer. But once the tumor was removed, his troubling behavior vanished. Where once he had harassed nurses uncontrollably, he now acted completely normal.
A year later, his compulsions returned, and he was once again drawn to illegal content online. Tests confirmed the tumor had regrown—and after another surgery, the urges stopped once more.
9. The Brain Tumor That Revealed Itself to a Woman Through a Mysterious Voice
In 1984, a woman referred to as A.B. was sitting quietly at home when she suddenly heard a voice inside her head say:
Don't be afraid. I know it’s strange to hear me like this, but it’s the best way I could reach you. A friend and I once worked at the Children’s Hospital, Great Ormond Street, and we want to help you.
Convinced she was losing her sanity, A.B. went to her doctor. She was diagnosed with functional hallucinatory psychosis and prescribed antipsychotic medication. Still, the voice persisted.
Then things became unnervingly precise—the voice claimed a tumor was growing in her brain stem and warned that doctors wouldn’t detect it without a scan. It even guided her to the diagnostic imaging department of a nearby hospital.
The doctors were initially hesitant. Early tests showed no signs of an issue. But when the woman became insistent, they agreed to perform a brain scan. As the voices had predicted, they discovered a meningioma in her brain stem, exactly where it was described.
It may sound like a ghost story, but it actually occurred. The doctor who treated her theorized that the tumor produced a sensation in her brain, one she could barely perceive, and that her subconscious mind manifested the voices as a means of communicating it.
Once the surgery was completed, A.B. reported hearing the voices for the final time.
"We are pleased to have helped you," the voices said. "Goodbye."
8. The Man With Hair Growing From His Eyeball
A 19-year-old man from Iran urgently pleaded with his doctor to remove a growth on his eyeball that had been present since birth. However, over the past year, it had expanded significantly—and most disturbingly, it had started growing hair.
A small row of eyelashes began growing directly from his eyeball, causing numerous complications. He was unable to see beyond the growth or the hair, and each blink brought the discomfort of tiny hairs brushing against his inner eyelid.
What made it worse was the unsettling sensation that something was continually growing from his eye, a feeling that he could never shake off.
This bizarre and unsettling case wasn’t unique, though. The man’s situation was an extreme example of a condition known as a ‘limbal dermoid,’ where tumors contain tissues from other parts of the body. In similar cases, people have experienced hair growing from their eyeballs, while others have had these tumors develop cartilage or sweat glands.
7. The Tumor That Grew Teeth
Archaeologists excavating a Roman necropolis in Portugal uncovered a chilling story about a woman who met a grim fate 1,600 years ago.
An ovarian tumor had been growing inside her pelvis. By the time of her death, it had developed four sharp, misshapen teeth. While the exact cause of death remains uncertain, it is believed that she would have felt the teeth pressing against her organs in her final days. The tumor might have even contributed to her death by displacing her internal organs.
Though a horrifying way to perish, she was not alone in having a tumor with teeth grow inside her. This type of tumor, known as a ‘teratoma,’ accounts for 20% of all ovarian tumors. While this woman is the oldest known case, she was far from the only one to suffer such a fate.
The largest teratoma ever recorded was removed from the pelvis of a 74-year-old woman just a few years ago. This monstrous tumor measured 46 centimeters (18 inches) long and was filled with hard, irregularly shaped teeth.
6. The Tumor That Induced DMT-Like Hallucinations
While attending art school, Shawn Thornton began experiencing bizarre hallucinations. His entire body would become flooded with energy, and he’d fall into a manic state. Once the episode subsided, he’d collapse onto his bed and begin seeing swirling, strange, and vivid colors and shapes.
Although Thornton had experimented with recreational drugs in the past, this was something entirely different. He was completely sober during his hallucinations, which were far more intense than anything he’d experienced before.
Although he had never used DMT, Thornton’s hallucinations were thought to resemble those induced by the drug. To him, they felt profound and mystical, as if he were opening his third eye and experiencing a spiritual awakening that allowed him to see beyond the physical world.
Eventually, doctors discovered that Thornton had cancer in his pineal gland, and that his hallucinations were the result of a tumor growing in the center of his brain. By that point, however, he had already painted an entire series inspired by the vivid dreamscape he was seeing inside his mind.
5. The Tumor That Kept Growing After Its Host Died
In 1951, a tobacco farmer from Virginia named Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer. She had a tumor growing inside her body, but this was no ordinary growth. Lacks’s tumor was immortal.
Her doctors discovered that her tumor contained immortal cells that could never die. It grew at an alarming rate too, with her cancerous cells doubling every 24 hours.
However, the doctors never told her the truth. Instead, they conducted secret experiments on her and the tumor growing inside her body, using her as an unwilling test subject while it consumed her from within. Henrietta Lacks passed away before the year ended.
Her tumor, however, didn’t die with her—it continued to live on, and even today, it’s still growing. It has been at the center of countless medical experiments, and the extracted “HeLa cells” have led to some of the most remarkable breakthroughs in medicine over the last century.
Henrietta, of course, never knew that her death ultimately contributed to major advancements in science. All she knew was that something was growing inside her at a terrifying pace, and the doctors were keeping her in the dark as they experimented on her without her consent.
4. The Bloody Horn That Grew On A Woman’s Head
An 87-year-old woman named Liang Xiuzhen began to complain about an itchy mole on the top of her head, unaware of the shocking transformation that was about to unfold.
Assuming it was just an ordinary mole, her family began treating the itch with various medicines. However, the mole continued to grow, eventually reaching the size of a woman’s pinky finger. Unlike typical moles, this one was unusually hard and sharp, causing significant pain when touched.
When the original growth burst, an even larger one emerged, growing at a rapid pace. Within just six months, a monstrous, black, 13-centimeter (5 in) horn began to sprout from the top of her head.
It turned out to be a cutaneous horn—a skin tumor composed of the same material as fingernails. Hers was exceptionally sensitive. She struggled to sleep because pressing the horn against her pillow felt like sharp fingernails digging into her skull. To make matters worse, the horn sometimes leaked blood.
Her doctors were eager to remove the horn, but her family feared she might not survive the surgery. As of the latest reports, Liang Xiuzhen was still enduring her painful condition.
3. The Woman Who Grew A Tumor With A Brain
In 2003, a 25-year-old Japanese woman was diagnosed with an ovarian tumor. It was a teratoma—a type of tumor known for growing teeth—but this particular one was truly unique.
The tumor in her body had morphed into the shape of a small child. It had limbs, ears, teeth, bones, blood vessels, and internal organs, all resembling a misshapen, black human figure. On its head, a solitary, unblinking eye had formed.
It even had a brain.
The brain was too underdeveloped to function. It appeared as a tiny lobe encased in a thin skull, covered with a greasy tangle of fine hairs. Despite its rudimentary form, the tumor inside her contained nearly all the components it would need to develop into a conscious being.
Hers was the most humanlike growth ever discovered within a human body. Yet, she isn’t the only one to have a tumor that grew a brain. Doctors believe that when a small brain develops in a tumor, it can influence the way a person thinks.
Women with such tumors often experience periods of confusion and delusional thoughts. Their immune systems, mistaken by the presence of the foreign brain, may start attacking the body, mimicking the functions of the brain. The influence of this small, alien mind growing within them can even alter their entire personality.
2. The Tumor That Turned A Man Into A Killer
While attending the University of Texas, Charles Whitman began experiencing severe headaches and an unusual difficulty in controlling his temper. Previously, he had been a calm and collected individual, but suddenly, he became so erratic that he once dragged another student from his seat during class and threw him out of the room.
On July 31, 1966, for reasons that even Whitman couldn't fully grasp, an overpowering urge to kill consumed him. He sat down to write a letter explaining what he was about to do and how unnervingly out of control he felt about it.
“After much consideration, I have decided to kill my wife, Kathy, tonight,” he wrote. “I love her deeply, and she has been a wonderful wife. I cannot explain why I am doing this in any rational way.”
Once he finished writing, Whitman crossed the street and killed his mother by strangulation and stabbing. He then returned home and murdered his wife. His final act took him to the university tower, where he opened fire on anyone he could see, resulting in 14 deaths.
In his last letter, Whitman requested that doctors perform an autopsy on his brain. “I don’t really understand myself anymore,” he wrote. “Recently (though I can’t recall when it started), I’ve been plagued by many bizarre and irrational thoughts.”
The doctors agreed. Upon examining his brain, they discovered a large tumor pressing against his amygdala. Some believe this growth was the cause of the anger, headaches, and murderous thoughts that consumed him.
1. The Man With A 5-Kilogram (12 Lb) Growth On His Face
Jose Mestre has been referred to as the man without a face.
At just 14 years old, his face began to develop a rapidly growing cluster of blood vessels, causing purple skin bulges. Doctors wanted to treat it early when it was barely a protruding lip, but Mestre, a Jehovah’s Witness, refused blood transfusions, allowing the growth to worsen.
The condition deteriorated over time, with the growth fully overtaking his face. One mass covered his right eye, while another burst through his left eyeball, destroying it. The growth spread into his mouth, making it incredibly difficult for him to breathe and nearly impossible to eat.
At its peak, the growth weighed 5 kilograms (12 lb). As his surgeon put it, Mestre’s face was reduced to “a mass of fiber and tumor and blood vessels,” rendering him nearly unrecognizable as a human being.
He was eventually convinced by his sister to undergo surgery. She told him, “You’re going to die anyway, so die trying.”
Mestre was flown to Chicago where a surgeon offered to treat him. After four surgeries, the growth was removed, and his life was spared.
