Elephant Man (1980)Joseph Carey Merrick, famously known as the Elephant Man, always intrigued me after seeing the film of the same name starring Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt (as the Elephant Man). His story is one that exists without peace and begins with a tortured life through the eyes of society. The Merrick depicted in the movie while slightly skewed by Hollywood still paints an eerie portrait of a man whose only need was to be accepted in the society that shunned him.

According to About.com, at a young age Joseph’s mother noticed that her son’s skin was becoming blotchy and bulbous. Lumps began to form under his skin in several areas on his body including the back of his neck and on his chest. As Joseph got older the right side of his head enlarged and by the age of 12 his hands were so deformed they were rendered useless. Despite his condition, Joseph attempted to work a factory job but was ultimately made fun of and abused by the workers, to the point where he ended up as an oddity in a freak show.

At the time, doctors were convinced that Merrick suffered from elephantiasis, a rare disorder of the lymphatic system caused by parasitic worms such as Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi, and B. timori, all of which are transmitted by mosquitos.

Recently, however, researchers have concluded that The Elephant Man suffered from something different. In 1996, a radiologist named Amita Sharma of the National Institutes of Health (U.S.) determined that Merrick lived his life with Proteus syndrome, a condition identified in 1979. Proteus syndrome, named after the Greek god of the same name who could change shape, is a rare disorder that is characterized by “multiple lesions of the lymph glands (lipolymphohemangiomas), overgrowth of one side of the body (hemihypertrophy), an abnormally large head (macrocephaly), partial gigantism of the feet, and darkened spots or moles (nevi) on the skin.”

Recent study of Merrick’s skeleton and documented photos have determined that Merrick suffered from an extreme case of Proteus syndrome, to the point where the hat he wore was reportedly measured three feet in circumference.

In the end, Joseph’s dying wish was to fit in with society, to blend in with the population to the point where he was just another human being instead of being shunned as a freak of nature or an obtrocity of man, as he was described by those who refused to understand his circumstances. In the movie and in real-life, Joseph couldn’t sleep lying down because of the size and weight of his head. Rather, he had to sleep sitting up with pillows propped up behind his head to support the weight. On one particular morning in 1890, he was found lying on his back, his wind pipe crushed to the point where he died of suffocation. He was only 28 years old.