Posted by Edward Mordake (or Mordrake) is one of the most disturbing characters in the history of medical curiosities. His story has remained etched in the collective imagination as that of the “man with two faces”: an English nobleman born with a second face on the back of his skull, both beautiful and diabolical at the same time. But did he really exist or is he just a Victorian legend?
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Biography
According to the story, Edward Mordake was born in England in the second half of the 19th century, a descendant of a noble family and a music lover. Apparently a brilliant and handsome young man, he was afflicted with a singular malformation: a second face on the back of his neck. This face could not speak or eat, but it laughed, cried, and made disturbing grimaces. His contemporaries described him as malicious, capable of laughing when Mordake cried, observing those who looked at him and, above all, whispering insults and profanities to him during the night.
Desperate, Mordake repeatedly begged doctors to remove his rear face, but no one dared to attempt such an operation. At the age of 23, exhausted by his condition and convinced that he was hosting a demon in his body, he took his own life. Some versions claim that he poisoned himself, others that he shot the “cursed face” with a pistol. In his suicide note, he asked that the second face be destroyed before burial to prevent it from tormenting him even in the grave.
The first sources
The first mention of the case dates back to the Boston Sunday Post of December 8, 1895, in an article by poet and science fiction writer Charles Lotin Hildreth entitled The Wonders of Modern Science. In addition to Mordake, the piece described other monstrous figures such as the “fish woman” and the “crab man.” Hildreth claimed to have found these stories in the records of the mysterious “Royal Scientific Society,” but there is no evidence that such an institution ever existed.
The following year, in 1896, doctors George M. Gould and Walter L. Pyle included the story in their book Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine. Although the book had a scientific approach, it reported the story without verifying its reliability, helping to consolidate the myth of Mordake as a real medical case.
Possible medical explanations
If Edward Mordake really existed, his condition could be explained by some rare malformations known to medicine. One possibility is craniopagus parasiticus, or the presence of the undeveloped head of a parasitic twin. Another hypothesis is diprosopia, a partial duplication of the face, while an extreme form of unequal Siamese twins cannot be ruled out.
In any case, there are no clinical reports, official documents, or authentic photographic evidence to confirm Mordake’s actual existence.
The images of Edward Mordrake circulating
Many of the images circulating online as alleged evidence of Edward Mordake’s existence are actually modern reconstructions.
The most widespread image, showing a man in black and white with a second face on the back of his head, which you can see above, is not an authentic photograph but a shot of a wax figure on display at the Panoptikum Wax Museum in Hamburg, which was then taken and circulated on the web as if it were historical. By clicking here, you can see a promotional video for the museum featuring the wax figure.
This other one, which is supposed to show Mordake’s “mummified head” displayed on a pedestal with a label, isn’t a real find, but a modern artistic reconstruction: a papier-mâché and resin artifact made by artist Ewart Schindler, who specializes in macabre sculptures. The earthy appearance of the skin, hair, and skeletal teeth are details designed to deceive the observer and give the impression of being in front of a real relic. But there is no historical evidence that Mordake’s body was ever embalmed or preserved.
In reality, the only original representations from the 19th century are printed illustrations, created from sensationalist articles that fueled the legend, such as the one you see above.
The photographs we see today are therefore modern fakes or artistic interpretations, which have helped to reinforce the myth of the man with two faces but have no historical or documentary value.
In popular culture
The legend of Edward Mordake has inspired numerous works over the years:
- He is compared to Pasqual Piñón, another ‘man with two heads’, and mentioned in The Book of Lists (1976).
- Singer-songwriter Tom Waits dedicated the song Poor Edward (2002) to him.
- Spanish writer Irene Gracia published the novel Mordake o la condición infame (2001).
- Three episodes of the series American Horror Story: Freak Show are dedicated to him, with actor Wes Bentley playing his role.
- He has also appeared in comics, novels, and even a thriller titled Edward Mordrake.
Legend or reality?
Despite the detailed descriptions, Edward Mordake is now considered an urban legend. There is no historical evidence to prove his existence, and his story seems to have originated from Hildreth’s pen rather than from a medical record. However, his figure continues to survive, suspended between science, folklore, and Gothic suggestion.
