-
(#10) His Physical Deformities Caused Him To Sustain Other Injuries
Given that Joseph Merrick's enlarged features were caused by swelling and bone masses growing in unexpected places, it became extremely difficult for Joseph to perform even the most basic maneuvers because of the heft of his limbs. When he was just a child, he fell and suffered a significant hip injury, which rendered him lame for the rest of his life. Merrick's inability to perform basic bodily maneuvers is also the thing that would lead to his death, as the weight of his head caused his neck to eventually snap.
-
(#4) He Was Beaten And Rejected By His Father
After the death of his mother, the road got significantly tougher for the still young Joseph. His father remarried, and Joseph left school at 13 to find work, spending time as a door-to-door salesman with a burlap sack covering his face until growths on his hand rendered him unable to work. At 17, Joseph was expelled from his home by his father, who had severely beaten him for being unable to earn money.
Forced out onto the streets, the teenaged Merrick was homeless and starving. His uncle briefly took him in, but unable to care for him in his condition, he was soon forced to send his ailing nephew out into the world on his own.
-
(#2) He Had Three Siblings Who All Died Remarkably Young
For Joseph and Mary Jane Merrick, creating a family proved to be a doomed endeavor. Joseph Carey was the first of three of the children born into the family who would die at young ages. His brother William Arthur, was born in January of 1866 and died from scarlet fever in December of 1870 at just four years old. His sister, Marion Eliza, was born in September of 1867, also with physical disabilities - though less severe than those of Joseph himself - and she died of Myelitis-related seizures in 1891.
-
(#1) He Was Born A Healthy Child
Joseph Carey Merrick was born to Joseph and Mary Jane Merrick on August 5, 1862 in Leicester England. For the first five years of his life, Joseph was a happy and healthy little boy, completely unaware of the horrific disfigurement that was to come.
It was around the age of five that patches of discolored, lumpy skin began to appear on his body, which his parents actually thought were the result of Mary Jane being scared by a stampeding elephant while she was pregnant. Merrick was able to have a relatively normal childhood and attend school, though his condition worsened significantly as he got older.
-
(#9) He Died Wanting To Be Like Everybody Else
Joseph Merrick was discovered dead on April 11, 1890 - at the age of 27 - in his home at the London Hospital. Merrick had to sleep in an upright position with his head - swollen to 3 feet in circumference - resting on his knee, so that the weight would not asphyxiate him as he rested. But that spring morning, it appeared he had deviated from his routine, with his friend and doctor Frederick Treves suggesting that he just tried to lay down "like everybody else," a process which tragically snapped his spinal cord, killing him instantly.
-
(#7) He Was Robbed Of His Life Savings
Though he was paid and treated relatively well in the freak show circuit, Joseph Merrick's professional life would prove short-lived. By the mid-1880s, human oddity exhibits had fallen out of favor with the English public, so Merrick's manager brought him to Belgium in hopes of attracting a larger audience. But Merrick's manager turned on him shortly into the tour, severely beating him and stealing his life savings, before abandoning him in a foreign land. Penniless and destitute, Merrick had to return to England on his own.
New Random Displays Display All By Ranking
About This Tool
The Elephant Man was an Englishman with a severely deformed body, whose real name is Joseph Carey Merrick. Since Bernard Pomerance's musical play "The Elephant Man" became popular in London and Broadway in 1977, the play has been staged more than 900 times in New York, the poor image of Joseph Carey Merrick has been widely known. His hands are obviously asymmetrical, and his feet are larger than ordinary people.
At the age of five, his appearance began to change in terrifying ways, and he was gradually seen as a human monster and suffered a miserable life. The random tool let us know 12 heartbreaking facts about Joseph Merrick.
Our data comes from Ranker, If you want to participate in the ranking of items displayed on this page, please click here.