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EDWARD MORDAKE – ‘Poor Edward’
NOTE: If you have arrived here in search of Edward Mordrake (Edward Mordake) photos, I’m sorry but no actual photos exist. The image that likely brought you here is a wax interpretation of Edward that was created long, long after his demise. Furthermore, the placement of his parasitic twin is near impossible and stands only as an artistic rendering. Of course, there is a very real kernel of truth to his story and there have been documented cases of two-headed boys, two-faced human curiosities, one-of-a-kind people and other unique individuals with unusual faces that you may find very interesting.
WE ARE SELLING EDWARD MORDRAKE INSPIRED SHIRTS. CLICK HERE!
If you’d like to learn more about the facts behind Edward Mordake, please continue reading.
The true tale of Edward Mordake (Mordrake) has been lost to history. His unusual case occurred early in medical history and is referenced only in tales handed down. The tale of his life has become so muddled through the passage of time that no solid date of birth or death is evident to modern researchers.
The story always begins the same way. Edward Mordake is said be have been heir to one of the noblest families in England.He was considered a bright and charming man – a scholar, a musician and a young man in possession of profound grace. He was said to be quite handsome when viewed from the front – yet, on the back of his head there was a second face, twisted and evil.
In some versions of the story, the second face of Edward Mordrake is a beautiful girl.This is an impossibility as all parasitic twins are of the same sex. Often it was said that it possessed its own intelligence and was quite malignant in its intentions.It has been said that the eyes would follow spectators and its lips would ‘gibber’ relentlessly and silently. According to legend it would smile and sneer as Edward Mordrake wept over his condition.While no voice was ever audible, Edward Mordrake swore that often he would be kept awake by the hateful whispers of his ‘evil twin’.
The story has always concluded with young Edward Mordrake committing suicide at the age of twenty-three.The method of his death also differs, sometimes poison does him in and in other versions a bullet ‘between the eyes of his devil-twin’ puts him out of his misery. In both versions Edward Morkdrake leaves behind a letter requesting that the ‘demon face’ be destroyed before his burial, ‘lest it continues its dreadful whisperings in my grave.’
Is the story of Edward Mordrake true?The 1896 text Anomolies and Curiosities of Medicine mentions a version of the story and Edward has been featured in many texts, plays and even music as the Tom Waits song ‘Poor Edward’ is based on the story. However, the tale was considered false for quite some time. It was simply too fantastic to believe and, obviously, many parts of the story simply do not make medical sense – years of retelling warped what was likely a very real occurrence.
How can one make the assumption that there is fact beneath this tale?
Chang Tzu Ping was discovered in China in the late 70’s or early 80’s. Chang had been born with a second face consisting of a mouth, a malformed tongue, several teeth, a patch of scalp, and the vestige of other facial constructs. The throat and the lips of the second face could not move independently, but the mouth did react in tandem to Chang opening his. Shortly after being discovered he was brought to the United States to have the second face surgically removed. The entire case was documented – including the surgery – on the 80’s televison program ‘That’s Incredible’ – and yet there exists almost no secondary evidence of his existence. The operation was considered successful and Chang likely went home to his villiage to live the remainder of his life without his ‘devil face’.
It does not require a great leap of faith to conclude that the tale of Edward Mordake is based on some nugget of fact, perhaps he had something similar Chang’s condition – mutated by storytellers over time.Consider that the case of Chang Tzu Ping is relatively unknown despite only occurring a few decades ago or the strange tale of The Boy of Bengal. These are indeed very rare cases and the human mind has a tendency to classify the unusual as impossible – it often helps us sleep well at night.
Listen to the Tom Wait song inspired by Edward Mordrake.
See a brief video of Chang Tzu Ping here.
image: Janus twin drawing based on Edward -Unknown Artist.
2. Still of Chang from ‘That’s Incredible’, 1982.
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© 2007 – 2012, J Tithonus Pednaud. All rights reserved.
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THE AUTHOR
J Tithonus Pednaud has dedicated this site to highlighting the remarkable lives of those born exceedingly different. These so-called freaks and human oddities stand as uplifting testaments to human spirit and serve as inspiring examples of human tenacity.
58 Responses to “EDWARD MORDAKE – ‘Poor Edward’”
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Wow . . . this is a truly interesting story! Whether it’s true or not, it makes for a fascinating read. Thank you for putting it on here.
I have been looking for this information for years. I read this story in a book, either “”what’s going on in there”, or ” stranger in the nest”, and I thought to myself, ” had he not had a face on the back of his head we would have called his suicide a result of Schizophrenia”. That thought just stuck with me. Years later I saw a documentary about Chimerism and it struck me, “how would a chimeric brain present, probably just like schizophrenia, just like Mordrakes complaints about the face on the back of his head.”. I found a man that had written a book called “how new humans are made” and followed with, ” twinning, schizophrenia, and Chimerism”, I felt sure he had actually proven what I thought might be so, but even after buying two medical dictionaries and reading his book twice all I know for sure is I probably should have gone to collage because I’ll be damned if I can figure out what he thinks. Even if he had the same thought, proving it is beyond my intelligence level.
Tammi, please take the trouble to learn the facts about Shizophrenia. It is nothing to do with having a “split personality” or brain, whatever movies you have seen. It is a severe and enduring mental illness where sufferers have hallucinations and delusions. There is no way it could possibly have to do with twinning, parasitism or chimeras.
I realise you are just trying to make connections, but it not only does not help, but is harmful for people with this illness to have people think as you do about it. Thanks.
My problem with these tales is that the Sec face would not age it would die as an infant, it wouldnt talk nor have teeth. Lets say that they shared a belly, i dont know if thats possible. Du anyway. I think i read somewhere that one cant survive without a spinalcourt. Yeah also they need a brain and a hearth.
There’s a book by a Spanish writer about this story. Not translated though.
This one’s scary… I will have to keep reading more since it’s bed time and now I’m creeped out (in a good way!) :) Thanks for the awesome site! I’ve been reading for an hour at least and I love it! It’s very eloquently constructed, the stories are fascinating, I can’t get enough!
This story also creeped me out, its kinda funny that me and the last reader are reading these only a few minutes apart. I will also have to read a few more stories to try to forget this one before I go to sleep. I have been reading through these for a little over an hour and am completely fascinated by this site, I luv it, great job!!
I was browsing through yahoo’s 2008 picture collection and saw the 2 face child born in India on April 2008. I got curious as all the articles i saw related to the baby was written almost 8 months back. I wanted to know what happened to her though. Anyway, this site is great. The articles are well written and very informative. thanks to the writer and more power.
Yes, I will also have to keep reading to get story out of mind. I’ve seen Chang Tzu Ping before- an amazing story.
And to the poster of the second comment- The second face would be able to live and have adult teeth as it is living off of the blood, nourishment, and grows off hormones of the living “host” to some extent.
This story reminds me of Professor Quril from Harry Potter 1
There’s actually a video of this Chang Tzu Ping’s operation. It can be found on this YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtaDu44DuT8&feature=channel_page
@ BEKA- haha you are so right.
THis really is an amazing story.
There was a two headed baby on the Health channel earlier this morning
lo que hay que ver
i don’t know what to say,but i’m quite intrigued by the story.
there’s actually a picture of Edward Mordrake that you can find when searching his name on Google. I don’t know whether it’s authentic or not
Im looking at this site and reading your comments witch make me horrified. The fact how this persons are presented as freaks and how exited you guys respond to that. People like you are the real freaks. It’s much more interesting to read the comments by you sickos then about those people with the handicaps.
the story of edward mordrake..’is it true or no…??
this is the first time to see people like ‘edward mordrake’have 2 faces is one human being….?? ‘and the story of ‘chang tzu pin’ is true or no….??
‘i cant beleive….”
Fascinating story, I think it’s made better by the fact that it was never recorded by doctors.
However, the Tom Waits link you have at the bottom leads to his album “Real Gone” and not to “Poor Edward”.
From this website, http://jhmas.oxfordjournals.org/content/XIII/1/99-a.extract, his dr’s were Manvers and Tredwell. Surely there are historical records of their existance? Then their medical records of patients would exist?
I found this. Tell me if it’s related. http://www.wreckthetapedeck.com/2010/edward-mordrake/
Most certainly fake.
It is an authentic photograph
Are you referring to the photo floating around on blogs and the like? I’m afraid it is not an actual image of Edward. It is a photograph of a wax artistic interpretation of Edward.
Photographic technology did not exist in the era Edward would have lived. So that completely eliminates the possibility.
I Had a photo of Edward. Only taken, i think. If youre interested, plz send me a mail.
A photo? Given the timeline, that is impossible.
Could you please mail the picture to me? The story of edward fascinates me. I’d like to know more about it. I’ve been searching for pictures but all seem to be fake or the wax impression. If you could mail it, it’d be helpful
Thanks :)
Welp, I was going to go to bed tonight, guess I won’t be anymore.
Where did the image above come from, the one with two skull conjoined? i like it a lot and would like to talk to some about it. could someone get back to me soon?
Pozdrowienia z Vichy, spoko text ;)
Pozdro ;p.
Thanks for sharing this, it is very interesting.
If the face in his half is a twin, then it won’t survive as he ages. Probably Edward had a psychological problem, that was why he heard whispers in his head; only.
I LOVE YOU EDWARD YOU ARE AN INSPIRATION TO ME YOU WILL FOREVER BE IN MY HEART, I LOVE YOU DON’T GIVE IN TO THE PRESSURE OF YOUR EVIL TWIN WHEN YOUR UP THERE IN HEAVEN.
LOVE HANNAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
lolwups caps lock
I think it may be called Twining & there is what they call a Parasitic Twin like the girl from Egypt with 2nd head which could move her face & could suck had eye’s ect but couldn’t make sound & they removed the 2nd head the “normal baby” appeared to have brain damage & I can’t remember if she died or not & there have been parts of twins x-tra arms,legs,ect & they often need to be removed because the host can’t take an x-tra stress of another person stuck to them depending on what & were that said if Edwards story was true & in that time period I can’t imagine how he’d feel & he could’ve had emotional issues & been a schizophrenia & it would be hard these day’s never mind back then so they are human & have feelings & we need to respect that & it can & dose still happen.
Como aqui nadie habla español me limitare a decir prepucio
horrible story.. :(
it feels like he was not given a chance to live.
I think what is even more horrifying than the two-faced Edward Mordake, is the spelling and grammar of some who post here.
So very interesting, if this was a partial parasitic twin,with conjoined cerebellums & shared spinal cord, what a weird status quo could this cause, (the mind boggles!!!) ,inmany more ways than one,???
Its said that his evil face could not talk or laugh(only grim) but at night it whispered satanic lenguages Wichita is really creepy I think Satan might have done this for some reason..
That is because you are a blithering idiot.
Great post. I’ve visited your web site several times and appreciate you’re taking the time to maintain it. I’ll be a regular visitor for a long time.
Imgur brought me here.
Excellent. Thanks for dropping by.
Niezla historia :)
I have read a lot about Edward. He is very interesting to read about. A long with the song they made about him. “poor edward.” Its an odd song but it tells his story perfect.
I think this tale would make for an excellent movie.
This website is awesome! I loved this story, and will definitely be looking at more. :D