We’ve always been taught unicorns were mythical creatures. As kids we adored them and silently wished to own one as a pet. But recent events in China have brought about several people, both currently and historically, who have grown unicorn-type horns on their heads.

They are not a pretty sight to see. Neither are they mystical or mythological.

These abnormal growths are keratinous skin tumors that are known as cornu cutaneum. Most of these types of growths are small and benign, but they can become quite large and are sometimes malignant.

Today in the south of China there is an 87-year-old woman who lives in the village of Guiyan. She has such a horn-shaped growth on her head. Her name is Liang Xiuzhen. Her growth began as a simple mole. It was itchy, so her family treated it with traditional Chinese medicines, and the itchiness went away.

Liang Xiuzhen

That was about seven years ago. Her mole became a small horn-shaped mass on her head. Two years ago she broke off this mass, and then it quickly returned, growing rapidly into a large horn-shaped mass.

Poor Liang Xiuzhen is known in the village as “Unicorn Woman.” She suffers with this painful mass on her head that bleeds from time to time, and it also prevents her from getting a proper night’s sleep.

The doctors have agreed she needs immediate surgery to remove the horn, but her family is concerned something might go wrong because of the woman’s age. Because it is so large, malignancy may also be an issue, so removing it quickly is the prudent treatment.

Liang Xiuzhen is not the only human known to possess horns. Some may be mythical, and others might be similar to Liang’s keratinous skin tumor. Other types of human “horns” could be calvarial tumors or osteomas (an aggressive cornu cutaneum).

Hundreds of years ago, there were more cases than we see today, thanks to modern medicine. We are lucky that suspicious moles are usually taken care of before they can become a problem.

There are many reliable accounts of humans with horn-like growths on their heads and other places on the body. There are more than 100 reports of these growths in Europe, notably in Germany and France. One of the excised horns is in the possession of the London Museum. There is one case where both father and son had a horn in the identical location, so it is likely that in that case, at least, it may have been genetic.

Wang

There was a man named Wang. He was called “Wang, the Human Unicorn.” Wang was a Chinese farmer from Manchukuo in the 1930s. A photo of him ended up in the possession of Robert Ripley. Wang’s 14-inch horn sprouted from the back of his head. You can see the photo in Ripley’s “Believe it or Not” today.

Luckily for us, horned humans are seen only occasionally today. But it makes for interesting reading. One might wonder if that’s where the idea for the mythological unicorn really came from.

Dianne Erskine-Hellrigel is executive director of the Community Hiking Club and president of the Santa Clara River Watershed Conservancy. Contact Dianne through communityhikingclub.org or at zuliebear@aol.com.