i feel... honoured! 
Keeker wrote:If you read the 1896 excerpt above it is the doctor who apparently makes the deduction. And who would the girl be shagging if she had just had something as severe as a gunshot wound and peritonitis? I'm pretty sure that would put most folk off their stride for a long while.
Yeah, I know what the article says. But failing to find a credible source leaves me sceptical. Especially after seeing the attempt to re-create the circumstances on the show I mentioned.
I've not seen 'Mythbusters' although the title would imply that the show's raison d'etre is to decry all myths, yes? Therefore one could assume a certain bias in order to make the show work? Although, again, not having seen it, perhaps they prove some true? Do they know how close the soldier was to the house? I also assumed the house was one of those flimsy two-planks-of-wood jobs they built over there in the 1800s? (Obviously if it was a proper stone one that wouldn't work.) Then even from my meagre shooting experience there's no problem for a projectile to fly through a flimsy bit of soft tissue, through a thin wall and into more soft tissue. Heck, a .22 bullet is technically still dangerous within one mile and that's a lower calibre than these fellows were using. And yes, freak shots can and do happen - that's what is 'remarkable' about these kinds of stories... they are some fun examples of a bit of Murphy's Law at work.Actually, on Mythbusters they're pretty objective, so no, we can't assume bias. They actually go out of their way to try and make the myth plausible even when things don't work strictly according to the lore.
I believe they couldn't find any (viable) sperm on their bullet at all, even without going through as much material as the bullet would have to go through to impregnate the woman. Yes, there are freak accidents, and I keep my mind open to the possibility, but I am going to need a lot of convincing to buy this one. Occam's Razor says she was fooling around and made up the story (just like the "virgin" Mary) - if that much is even true.
Here, explain the 'elemental influence' in this one:
In 1895 there were only two cars in the whole state of Ohio. They collided.
Or perhaps this is even better, and if it is a myth, then I don't care because it is another wonderful chain reaction:
Victorien Sardou, the French playwright and salon figure, knocked over his wine glass at a party. The lady next to him sprinkled salt on the stain. Sardou tossed some over his shoulder to ward off ill fortune, straight into the eyes of a waiter who was about to serve him. The man clutched his eyes and the platter crashed to the floor. The family dog attacked the fowl on the platter so greedily that he began to choke. The son of the house jumped up to wrestle the bone out of the dog's throat. The dog savagely bit the son's finger. It had to be amputated.
Both of those stories are perfectly plausible.
