Amity, unfortunately the image is a bit blurry when zooming in so it's hard to tell for sure, but the coin looks to have suffered some significant damage and uneven wear or possibly, as you suggest, they could be mint errors. Sometimes this type of damage can be caused by the mint itself and not during circulation. 1944 error pennies can be worth quite a bit of money so you should take it to a local reputable coin dealer to have it inspected.

If it ends up to only be damage during circulation it's still probably worth 10 cents or so.