The Death Of Joseph Merrick, The Elephant Man

Very moving documentary excerpt which describes the decline in health, and subsequent death, of Joseph Carey Merrick, otherwise known as The Elephant Man.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Joseph
• Merrick
• John
• Elephant
• Man
• David
• Lynch
• Proteus
• Syndrome
• Neurofibromatosis

[WatsDaWurd]

isn't it strange how suddenly people of the new generation show so much sympathy for this man's story? it goes to show you how much society has progressed.

[MrsJosephMerrick]

@jables183 He was the eldest son, he had a brother &sister.His brother William died when a child, &his little sister Marian was also crippled in some way. His mother ,Mary Jane, loved him very much, but died when he was about 11. HIs father remarried, &his stepmother was very cruel to him, denying him meals, because he couldnt find work, &his father beat him - so he left home.... The only member of his family he kept in contact with was his Uncle Charles.Abridged explanation,I hope it helps.

[atom286]

But arrm ma hueman beying

Bullet to the brain rolf!

[TheCGIMaster]

Has anyone else noticed that John Hurt played the Elephant Man in the film, and he's the one narrating!

[jsmithbab6]

Life's like this definitely makes us understand friends and stuff is not it. I think elephant man died because he couldn't cope with this environment any longer.

[MrsJosephMerrick]

@watchensee ...Yes, the docu was first shown on Discovery channel in UK , then a few months later in America. Its a shame its not more widely shown because its excellent.Maybe some nice person will be able to upload on utube sometime.

[MrsJosephMerrick]

@watchensee The ear isnt positioned far back so much as ''turned over'' where the deformity of Joseph's face pushes it downwards. The position isnt the cause of the deafness, its because when thy made a scan of his skull they could see more abnormal bone growths actually in his ear - in fact, blocking it....Theres just a few clips of the docu on utube, theyre about how he walked,slept, died,and the one where the finished cgi has him ''talking''. Have a look and you'll find them....

[watchensee]

@MrsJosephMerrick I wondered about the hearing in his right ear. When you look at how it's postioned it's so far from where it should be. I read about him some years back on the internet that's how I found out about the hearing & vision problems. I also read that some of the people that he worked with didn't knw how to read & write, and Joseph had to write things down for them.Joseph was also a man of class! I would really like to see this new documentry about him.

[MrsJosephMerrick]

@watchensee ...You may have seen that documentary on Discovery about him a few months ago, that was when they discovered the hearing loss. It was a very emotional programme, and showed how Joseph suffered everyday, even more than was first thought. I couldnt see it here, but one of my in-laws video'd it for me. When they recreated how Joseph spoke I just couldnt stop crying.

[MrsJosephMerrick]

@watchensee He was almost completely deaf in his right ear, and he couldnt see so well from his right eye.But his vision was good enough for him to read - alot! - when he was at the hospital!