The Elephant Man : A History of Joseph Carey Merrick

The recent, sudden death of Anna Nicole Smith shocked everyone, and has kept Hollywood gossip hot for weeks. However, as we approach the beginning of April, we need to take a look back. We need to look back on the life of a man who was treated like an object, exploited for the entertainment of an abusive, jeering public. His name was Joseph Carey Merrick, and I would like to share a few details of his tortured existence.

On August 5, 1862, a bouncing baby boy was born to Joseph and Mary Jane Merrick, and he was raised at various dwellings throughout Leicester, England. As a working class family, they were far from wealthy, a situation exacerbated by an absentee father. By the age of two, Joseph began exhibiting signs of a troubling disease. His sister died of bronchopneumonia when he was eleven, and went to live with his father and stepmother later that year, after the death of his mother.
By now Joseph is more than just a troubled lad who had lost half his family to illness and disease. He had also been diagnosed with neurofiromatosis, which explained the symptoms he was presenting. However, that theory has since been disproved, and we now know that he actually had Proteus syndrome. Named for the Greek god Proteus, (a sea god, capable of assuming various shapes) because of the variable manifestation of the disease. Most patients experience enlarged skulls, hands, and feet, and subcutaneous tumors that develop and grow quickly.

Joseph's father and stepmother found such a child to be an embarrassment, and he was forced to sell things in the streets to earn his keep. On these sales excursions, Joseph was followed and taunted mercilessly for the growths that had formed over his body and face. In addition to these, he had difficulty walking, a useless right arm, and a head so large that it was difficult to move. Eventually, Joseph's stepmother grew tired of caring for him and gave his father an ultimatum; it was her or the boy. He chose her, and in 1879 Joseph left home forever, heading to the Leicester Union Workhouse.