ELEPHANT MAN
John Merrick was such a physically hideous child that his mother abandoned him to the workhouse when he was ~three years of age. After a few years he was sold to a freak-show, billed as the Elephant Man. He was a thing, a distortion of a human being considered unable to speak or understand, an attraction who made money for his keepers. John Merrick was nearly 20 when a doctor saw him and was professionally fascinated and rescued him to study him. He lived for the rest of his life in rooms at the... Sign in to see full entry.