Obit of the Day (Historical): Joseph Merrick (1890)
Joseph (aka John) Merrick was best, and sadly, known as “The Elephant Man.” Mr. Merrick, who first developed symptoms of growths on his skull and skin when he was five eventually developed a condition, still unknown, that caused his head to have a circumference of 36 inches and his right wrist to grow to 15 inches around. While in a workhouse, Merrick volunteered himself to be placed as a living exhibit with Mr. Tom Norman. It was in this “show” that Dr. Edward Treves first saw Merrick. Merrick, no longer allowed to be exhibited because of England’s anti-“freak show” laws, asked to meet with Treves at London Hospital. Once he was fully examined, it was determined that his disease was incurable but he was allowed to live at the hospital for the rest of his life. Merrick was originally assumed to be an “imbecile” but was actually rather articulate, conversing with visitors (including the Princess of Wales), writing letters, and building models.
To this day, no one knows from what Merrick suffered. Some believe it to be a combination of neurofibromatosis type I and Proteus syndrome. Regardless, it did cause his death, as Merrick, whose grotesquely large head forced him to sleep sitting up, died of a fractured neck or asphyxiation when he tried to sleep horizontally, as others could without worry. He was 27 when he passed away on April 11, 1890.
In 1979 and 1980, interest in Merrick exploded with both a play and film (both titled The Elephant Man) opening about his life. The play won a Tony award while the film, with Anthony Hopkins as Treves and John Hurt as Merrick, received eight Academy Award nominations. The most thorough book on Merrick’s life, The Elephant Man: A Study in Hman Dignity was also published in 1980, which is where, among other things, it was determined that Merrick’s name was Joseph, not John.
More recently, Michael Jackson attempted to purchase Merrick’s remains in 1986 but was rebuffed even after offering $1,000,000. (For the deniers, I found BBC and CBC reports from 1986 on YouTube with interviews of the London Hospital administrator who confirmed the story.) Later Jackson parodied the story in his video for “Leave Me Alone,” which shows him dancing with the “Elephant Man.” The Barenaked Ladies also referred to the aborted purchase in their song “If I Had a Million Dollars”: “If I had a million dollars, I would buy you John Merrick’s remains. (Mm, all them crazy elephant bones.)”
(Main source was wikipedia.org)
(Image courtesy of thehumanmarvels.com)