Tom Liggett

The following is an account based on factual evidence in the medical field. The conditions and symptoms in the story are real. The events and characters are fictionalized.

On October 17, 2008, an undisclosed medical institute in western New York caught flame and burned to ground. All of the patients and staff of the institute were believed to have escaped the flames, but upon searching the premises in the aftermath, firefighters came across the remains of three patients and the body of a Dr. William M. Moran in a concealed area in the basement of the complex. All three patients had many unusual characteristics.

As the investigation continues, all information regarding the victims remains confidential and classified. However, firefighters did find Dr. Moran’s medical journal, which lead to speculations that he was part of a top-secret project involved with observing and identifying these bizarre patients. Included are excerpts preserved from this journal.

Oct. 8, 2008
Patient I - Zombiism

The first subject came to us abruptly and rather unexpected. A man in his late 40s who was returning from a business trip in Japan had been found lifeless with untraceable breathing and pulse. Later that day, the man was pronounced dead and funeral arrangements were set. However, when a mortician noticed the body breathing two days afterwards, the man was rushed to our facilities for further testing.

As we attempted to diagnose the unusual circumstances that led to his short-lived demise, one of the first details uncovered was an unusual substance discovered in his stomach contents: A raw fish by the name of Fugu, more commonly known as puffer fish, which is a local delicacy of Osaka, Japan, the city he was visiting. Further testing revealed he had consumed the fish just over an hour before his plane’s departure. I immediately attributed this discovery as the cause of his zombie-like state.

Tom Liggett

Fugu is an extremely poisonous fish that requires precise preparation. Chefs must complete an involved certification process in order to legally prepare it in licensed restaurants. The ovaries, liver, eyes, and the brain of the fish contain a neurotoxin called tetradotoxin (TTX). If accidentally ingested, TTX works to block the sodium channels that allow nerve and heart cells to send electrical pulses about the body. The result is this zombie-like condition that often proves fatal for its victims. Smaller exposures to the toxins result in a numb, tingling feeling in the mouth and lips, which the meal is famous for.

Further research illuminated other uses of TTX, including that of Vodun, a popular religion of Haiti. In this religion, a powder called %coupe poudre% containing the neurotoxin is given to a victim mixed with another powder containing hallucinogen-generating compounds taken from datura plants, also known as “zombie cucumbers.” The combination is used to create a lasting zombie effect — a will-less state of deliriousness thought to be worse than death and used as punishment against the victim for serious crimes.

Unfortunately, no cure has been developed. I have initiated the infusion of fluids to accommodate his high blood pressure, but feel it is far past the point of stomach decontamination. Overall, the patient should be considered lucky and, based on his current state and the fact that he is still alive, I do not believe that he will remain a zombie nor suffer any permanent damage.

Oct. 10, 2008
Patient II - Frankenstein

A 72-year-old man came to us of his own accord claiming that during a recent doctor’s trip to a local hospital, “strange and inhumane” procedures were performed on him while he remained unconscious. He had been rushed to the emergency room because of a stroke, losing consciousness en route to the hospital. Ever since, the patient has been unable to control his left hand, as it moves involuntarily. The patient claimed it was the doctor’s doing and wanted “whatever they put in him” taken out. I assured the patient that we would get to the bottom of it.

The first step was to monitor the patient’s brain activity. I scanned his brain for any signs of irregularity with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). All actions involving the unaffected limbs appeared normal based on the results. The reactions in his brain corresponded with most voluntary and involuntary movements.

However, there wasmovement. This indicated that a more intense level of control and preparation was required during the “uncontrolled” movements. The results were similar to a study led by Frédéric Assal in 2007 at the University Hospital in Geneva, Switzerland.

Tom Liggett

It was not until all this information was presented to the patient that he was willing to accept that is was not an external force causing his movements, but an internal one. I diagnosed the patient with a neurological disorder called Alien Hand Syndrome (AHS) which usually appears after a brain surgery (such as corpus callosotomy, where the connection between the two hemispheres of the brain is separated), a stroke, or an infection. Victims of this condition will feel sensation in their hands but be unable to control their movement, and sometimes do not even notice movement.

I am holding him as an inpatient for continual examination until further notice.

Oct. 10, 2008
Patient III - Vampire

A young teenage boy arrived with his mother after we asked them to stop by for a brief inspection. He arrived wrapped in a thick black cloak covering his entire body. I followed the mother’s instruction to cover all the windows to seal all sunlight from leaking into the ward. The patient was allegedly allergic to sunlight.

The mother unwrapped the child. He was covered in cuts and blisters, many of which were open and many scabbed over. His hands were the worst of it; many of his knucklebones protruded through his skin which was lined with discoloration and scarring. He was missing two fingers on his left hand.

The patient’s mother told me that it had been this way since he was young and it had only gotten worse, forcing them to move his bedroom to the basement of their house.

Tom Liggett

Fortunately, I was almost certain of the diagnosis right away. It was a form of porphyria, a family of diseases that eats away at the skin and nervous system because of a build up of the natural chemicals called porphyrins. I had never seen it this bad before. The patient remained in the ward overnight. A Porphobilinogen Urine Test was performed and I phoned the mother the next day with the results which, as suspected, showed a high level of porphyria.

Judging by the test and the severity of the patient’s condition, I believed the boy’s specific condition to be Congenital Erythropoietic Porphyria, also known as Gunther’s disease, which is a very rare version of porphyria. It involves a deficient enzyme called Uroporphyrinogen III Cosynthase.

I recommended that the patient visit a porphyria specialist for further action. The only minor solution to this disease are blood transfusions and removal of the spleen in order to lessen the amount of porphyrins in his system that builds up in bone marrow, red blood cells, plasma, urine, and feces.

The patient was released the next day.

October 13, 2008
Patient IV and V - The Chimera Girls

The day was spent examining two young sisters: Patient IV, older than Patient V by two years. Both girls were born of the same mother and both provided with the same genes by their same father. However, each of these girls carried completely different genes than their mother, as discovered during a simple blood test procedure. In order to grasp the situation entirely I decided to examine each patient independently.

Tom Liggett

After a thorough physical examination of Patient IV, it would appear that she was a completely healthy 12-year-old girl. Her heartbeat was steady, her blood pressure at 124 over 84 mmHg, and she maintained a healthy weight. The only aspect of the patient’s figure that struck me as unusual was her eyes. It appeared her left eye was a light shade of hazel and her right a dark brown.

A physical examination of Patient V led to the discovery of no major physical abnormalities. However, unlike her sister, she did not possess opposing eye colors. Next, I extracted DNA samples from different areas on the patients body and, when comparing the samples from the skin to the hair, it appeared that the two sets of DNA taken from the same subject did not match. This confirmed my suspicion each patient was the result of a separate biological process known as Tetragametic Chimerism.

Tetragemic Chimerism is the result when four parent cells, such as the eggs of two dizygotic, or fraternal twins fuse together early in the embryonic stage. The result of this union is one zygote with two sets of DNA that will then be distributed throughout the development of the child. Therefore, different organs within a subject’s body could be composed of two different genetic make-ups. Other than the observable abnormalities such as two different eye colors or, in some cases with animals, varying textures or tones of fur, natural cases of Chimerism often go unnoticed because there are no indications of the condition’s presence.

The two patients were diagnosed and released the same day, appearing to offer no threat to themselves or to society.

Oct. 15, 2oo8
Patient VI - Werewolf

Today a patient was in tears when I came to examine her — obviously upset with her physical appearance. She was a 51-year-old woman experiencing excessive hair growth throughout her abdominal, pubic and chest area. She claims to have noticed early stages of this development during her birthday a few years back, a night that she corresponded with a full moon.

Initially, upon a brief physical inspection, I had attributed the hair growth to hypertrichosis, a condition also known as Werewolf Syndrome. With this condition, victims experience an unwanted and above average amount of bodily hair growth. This often-hereditary abnormality, though embarrassing to the victim, is not harmful or contagious.

Tom Liggett

Two factors struck me as odd with this particular case. First, the patient claimed that she had never experienced any problems with hair growth before. First, it seemed to have developed overnight with no apparent cause (other than the full moon). Second, after taking samples of the patient’s hair I found traces of lanugo, a type of hair that sheds before birth and is only present on humans during gestation. The presence of lanugo hair on a human is often associated with malnutrition. This indicated that something was seriously wrong with the patient.

I inquired about the patient’s life, trying to locate a possible cause of the hair growth. She appeared quite healthy. She informed me that she was a vegetarian, exercised regularly, and had no traces of forms of hypertrichosis in her family. However, when the patient was asked if she had experienced any other irregularities in her life other than the hair growth, she cited stomach cramps, which her normal physician had attributed to menstruation. In addition, recently she had noticed blood in her stool. When asked when the last time was that the patient had a colonoscopy performed, she replied with “never” for personal reasons.

After convincing the patient that a colonoscopy was absolutely necessary, the test was performed and a tumor was located. The diagnosis of colorectal cancer confirmed the suspicions of hypertrichosis involvement. The patient was most likely suffering from an acquired form of the disorder called Acquired Hypertrichosis Lanuginose (AHL) as a result of the tumor.

Though not yet proven, the connection between adenocarcinoma cancers, such as that of colorectal, and AHL has been noted in the medical field. It is theorized that secretion involved in tumor development is responsible for the stimulation of lanugo growth. Nothing has been proven but observed cases of patients with AHL and malignant tumors usually cause excessive hair growth in the many of the areas similar to the patient’s.

I immediately ordered for a biopsy to determine the stage of the patient’s tumor and explained to the patient that once treated properly, the lanugo hairs should recede.

Oct. 16, 2008
Patient VII - Unknown

I ran into a slight inconvenience while trying to speak with the patient today. He suffers from a sort of fire-breathing condition. Unfortunately, other than that, little is known of his physiology.

The patient is being held in a high security cell for safety precautions. Upon entering the room, I found he had escaped although the lock and chain was still intact. It was then attacked. I managed to regain control of the patient and escape with only minor burns. I will tend to my wounds and try again tomorrow, but I fear that the project’s lack of knowledge in this final patient is risky, even for a study of this magnitude.

This was the last passage added to the journal. All other data and analysis was lost in the fire. Patient VII was never recovered, but theories have been made to explain this inconsistency, including denouncing the credibility of Dr. Moran to create the possibility of planned sabotage of the project as well as Patient VII’s escape through the hospital’s sewage system.