# Why has "superfecundation" never been used as a dramatic plot? Sheesh! :) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 26, 2021, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-superfecundation-never-been-used-as-a-dramatic-plot-sheesh/942935 "2021-05-26T05:49:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Something](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Something](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Something)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2021, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-superfecundation-never-been-used-as-a-dramatic-plot-sheesh/942935/1 "2021-05-26T05:49:49Z")
Superfecundation ([Superfecundation - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfecundation)) is a situation wherein a mother is carrying babies that are from multiple fathers. As in, Sarah is carrying Bob AND Sam’s babies at the same time! According to the Wikipedia page, this has been used in two different Greek myths- but both involve Zeus as the second father. Yet, as you can see later in the article, there have been several times in recorded human history when a mother has actually carried two fetuses from two different human fathers. I’m flabbergasted by two realizations: a) Tonight I just randomly was reading about triplets on the freaking internet and it occurred to me for the first time in my life: Has any woman ever carried two or more babies from two or more fathers at the same time? Is that even damn possible? So I Googled the idea, and discovered Superfecundation. Question is, why the Holy Hell did I never think of this idea before?!? b) Why the Holy Hell has no plot ever used this idea? Imagine a Grey’s Anatomy episode or a Days of Our Lives storyline or a Godfather movie or a Shakespeare play or a… I mean, what the Hell? If this is apparently a real freaking thing, somebody should’ve used it as a plot at some point, right? c) If I’m wrong and it HAS been used as a plot before, please add the examples to the Wikipedia article. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2021, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-superfecundation-never-been-used-as-a-dramatic-plot-sheesh/942935/2 "2021-05-26T06:25:47Z")
Are you sure it’s never come up? It’s the type of thing I could expect to happen in a soap opera. Though even weirder would be if one fetus absorbed another and became a chimera, meaning that they biologically had two fathers. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2021, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-superfecundation-never-been-used-as-a-dramatic-plot-sheesh/942935/3 "2021-05-26T06:28:40Z")
> **[Spooky Little Girl](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spooky_Little_Girl)** > > "Spooky Little Girl" is the ninth episode of the first season of the television series American Horror Story, which premiered on the network FX on November 30, 2011. The episode was written by Jennifer Salt and was directed by John Scott. This episode is rated TV-MA (LSV). > In this episode, a famous murder victim visits the house while Constance (Jessica Lange) learns of Tate's (Evan Peters) bad behavior. Kate Mara guest stars as Hayden McClaine. Taissa Farmiga is absent in this episode. > A flash... > Ben is told by a doctor that he is the father of only one of Vivien’s twins. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2021, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-superfecundation-never-been-used-as-a-dramatic-plot-sheesh/942935/4 "2021-05-26T06:31:54Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > could expect to happen in a soap opera. Good call > **[Stunning Soap Opera Paternity Dramas - Fame10](https://www.fame10.com/entertainment/6-most-shocking-soap-opera-paternity-scandals/)** > > Two men, one woman and a baby. Sounds like a cute ’80s movie, but in actuality, it is the basis for countless soap storylines over the years. Figuring out the paternity of a baby seems like a rite of passage for some characters. In fact, if a woman... > 1. Ally Horton and Johnny DiMera – Days of Our Lives > Number one on this list? Two babies, one womb, two different fathers. Yes, the scandalous paternity of Ally and Johnny, Sami’s twins in 2007 tops this list. ---
**Author:** ![Something](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Something](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Something)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2021, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-superfecundation-never-been-used-as-a-dramatic-plot-sheesh/942935/5 "2021-05-26T06:35:42Z")
Okay, I’m glad you guys are coming up with modern stories containing these plots, but please, as I asked in the OP, add them to the Wikipedia page on superfecundation. Start a new category on the page, called “In Popular Culture” and add them there, please. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2021, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-superfecundation-never-been-used-as-a-dramatic-plot-sheesh/942935/6 "2021-05-26T06:41:56Z")
Don’t know how. Don’t wanna know how… ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2021, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-superfecundation-never-been-used-as-a-dramatic-plot-sheesh/942935/7 "2021-05-26T06:51:34Z")
> [@Something](#): > > Okay, I’m glad you guys are coming up with modern stories containing these plots, but please, as I asked in the OP, add them to the Wikipedia page on superfecundation. > > Start a new category on the page, called “In Popular Culture” and add them there, please. > > Thanks! My experience on Wikipedia is that the editors generally don’t like such sections. If they do exist, they’re supposed to be particularly notable examples: i.e. those that got a lot of secondary coverage. ---
**Author:** ![cytop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f17d59/32.png) [@cytop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cytop)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2021, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-superfecundation-never-been-used-as-a-dramatic-plot-sheesh/942935/8 "2021-05-26T07:21:55Z")
Probably because it would seem so far fetched as to be totally unbelievable. Reality, however, has no such restrictions. [… insisted that Hayes had become pregnant simultaneously by two different men (through heteropaternal superfecundation) and had given birth to both children, killing the one found on the beach…](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerry_Babies_case) ---
**Author:** ![half-elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@half-elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/half-elf)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2021, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-superfecundation-never-been-used-as-a-dramatic-plot-sheesh/942935/9 "2021-05-27T17:59:23Z")
Hey, I know! Now that you’ve got some info, you can add it to Wikipedia yourself! ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2021, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-superfecundation-never-been-used-as-a-dramatic-plot-sheesh/942935/10 "2021-05-27T18:06:22Z")
> [@cytop](#): > > Reality, however, has no such restrictions. That’s a totally bizarre story. But if I follow it correctly, superfecundation is just a far-fetched _hypothesis_ raised by the police to avoid having to concede that confessions were coerced. There’s no evidence supporting it being the correct explanation for what happened here. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2021, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-superfecundation-never-been-used-as-a-dramatic-plot-sheesh/942935/11 "2021-05-27T18:32:36Z")
There is a scene on _Friends_ where Joey, who plays Dr. Drake Ramoray on Days of Our Lives, says " I have to get back to the set. I’m delivering twins, and only one of them is mine". ---
**Author:** ![cytop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f17d59/32.png) [@cytop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cytop)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2021, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-superfecundation-never-been-used-as-a-dramatic-plot-sheesh/942935/12 "2021-05-28T19:44:43Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > That’s a totally bizarre story … and that’s the sanitized version! [/hijack - back on topic] ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2021, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-superfecundation-never-been-used-as-a-dramatic-plot-sheesh/942935/13 "2021-05-29T04:07:42Z")
Guiding Light also had a superfecundaton story - Blake Marler had twins by Ross and Rick (although reading Blake’s Wikipedia page, it apparently turned out that Ross was the father of both babies). I just remember that Isaac Mizrahi, who designed the wedding dress of Blake’s actress, Elizabeth Keifer, around the time of the story, was fascinated by the idea of twins by two different fathers. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2021, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-superfecundation-never-been-used-as-a-dramatic-plot-sheesh/942935/14 "2021-05-29T10:28:24Z")
I give you [Double Mommy](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt6652566/), the Lifetime Movie where — well, just watch [the trailer](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j0BwsyCC3Sc). ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2021, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-superfecundation-never-been-used-as-a-dramatic-plot-sheesh/942935/15 "2021-05-29T13:44:30Z")
The problem with Superfecundation is that any fetus that Lois had would probably rip itself from the womb.