Lina Medina

Lina Medina (pictured with her doctor and her child in 1940), from Peru, was the youngest mother in history, giving birth to a son when she was just five years old in 1939.

It was thought, in her home town, that due to her abdominal swelling she must have had an 'evil snake' or parasite growing in her stomach and she was brought to an exorcist, which had no effect.


Lina's father, with no other obvious answers for his daughters condition, carried her to the nearest doctor, which was 70km away...when the doctor examined the little girl he couldn't believe what he thought he had found, he re-examined numerous times to be sure, and when he was sure he promptly contacted the police to have Lina's father arrested on suspicion of child rape....he was thrown into cells but released a few days later due to lack of evidence.


Doctors had no explaination as to why before she was 4 years old, Lina had already developed visibly her breasts, pubic hair and had her menstruation.
Lina was given a cesarean section, due to her size not allowing her to give birth naturally, on May 14  - Mother's Day in her country of Peru.


The news became a big global story, but only briefly due to the start of WW2...the family were offered a lot of money from various media for their story but resisted the offers, including one for $4,000 a month plus expenses if the girl travelled to New York for a year to be exhibited as freaks in the World Fair.


Her son grew up healthy, but developed a bone marrow disease and died at the age of 40, a disease that had nothing to do with the extraordinary circumstances of his birth....Lina married at the age of 33 and had another son, she currently lives with her husband in a very poor region of Peru.


The father of Lina's baby remains unknown.