The story of the man with two faces: A front normal face and a small one at the back of his head “devil twin”.
The story of Edward Mordrake is perhaps the oldest dating back to Victorian times in England.
According to the story, Mordrake was an affluent and gorgeous man who had two faces- one at the back and one in front. It is believed that the back face could tell him things that could give him powers to do dreadful things.
Unluckily, in his twenty-third year, he could hear horrifying whispers through the back face in his head and this prompted him to take poison and die.
The Myth Of Edward Mordrake Initiate
The story of Edward Mordrake is perhaps one of the most American horror stories.
Other ancient articles say that Mordrake was a principled hair born in the 1800s who had a normal face in front of this head, and a small one on the back. The back face couldn’t do anything but as the English myth say, in the 19th century, that small face whispered horrible things to him in the middle of the night.
That’s when Mordrake tried to find doctors to get rid of it but that could mean he dies had the procedure not gone successful- it was a dangerous procedure indeed.
It is purported that the small face made him mad so he took poison and died at the age of 23 years.
An 1896 book by Gorge Gould going under the title “Anomalies and Curiosities” shed some light on the story of Edward Mordrake.
Although it is purported that Mordrake was a noble heir of the noblest peerages in England, he himself didn’t declare that.
In fact, he lived a loner life. He didn’t want anyone to visit him, leave alone members of his family. Nevertheless, he was a renowned scholar and musician. His small face at the back of his head resembled a beautiful girl; although with a devilish look. It showed signs of intelligence and sometimes it could smile or sneer as Mordrake was crying.
Another book that featured Mandrake’s story in 1977 was titled “The Book of Lists”. On this book, the author talks about a list of people with additional limbs or digits.
But that’s not all, Tom Waits, in his 2002 album, he featured a dark song about Edward Mordrake. The name of the song is called “Poor Edward” and he also recorded a video of the song.
At the name Mordrake was still alive, his condition didn’t have a scientific name, although the latest researchers claim that his condition was diprosopus, which means an illness that causes the duplication of parts of the body, especially the face.
Although this seems a rare condition, it happens to people and pets, especially cats and in fact, in Australia, two babies were born with a condition similar to that of Mordrake.
Unfortunately, the two babies died after a short period. Given that diprosopus is a dangerous condition, it’s shocking that Edward Mordrake lived with this disorder for 23 years.
Many strange things have since happened but the fact is Mordrake was a real human, and whether the horrible whispering he heard is the one that made him kill himself, it’s a story that hasn’t be unraveled.
Although the story of Edward Mordrake has been said and published to different publications, it remains an unbelievable one.
Why?
First of all, the whole story is based on what the original author claims to be from “lay sources” which distinguishes it from other stories like that of Joseph Merrick who was famously known as the “Elephant Man”.
Another thing that makes the story unbelievable is the fact that it is purported that Mordrake couldn’t sleep due to the horrifying whispers he could hear through his small face at the back of his head- it is claimed that Mordrake used to call his small face “devil twin”.
Besides, although the original author of the story cites two physicians who attended Mordrake, Manvers, and Treadwell, the 1906 critique “The Theosophical Review” suggests that the two physician’s names weren’t recorded anywhere in the Dictionary of National Biography.
Also, the whereabouts of the existing of the picture that shows Edward Mordrake in black-and-white featuring his two faces the front and the “devil twin” which appeared on the internet in 2007 still remains a mysterious one.
A Case of Irregular Conjoined Twins?
There is a medical condition called Craniopagus parasiticus that actually looks similar to Mordrake’s story. However, it’s a rare condition in conjoined babies that causes underdevelopment of one of the babies that causes the formation of a vestigial head that is attached to the cranium of the dominant twin.
A condition of this type was also reported in 2016 where only three babies were born but two died shortly after they were born.
Another story of a similar condition features the “two-headed boy of Bengal” who had survived until he reached four years but was later bitten by a cobra and died.
Usually, conjoined twins are genetically identical which means they are of the same sex; however, the case of Mordrake, one face was of a man and the other small behind his head was for a woman and look like a devil.
Also, the small “devil twin” face could only sneer while Mordrake was weeping and could only whisper which is a different case altogether when it comes to the case of Craniopagus parasiticus. Besides, the small face is said to have shown signs of an intelligent man although it whispered horrifying things.
Some studies suggest that Mordrake could have suffered a condition known as Diprosopus. This is a congenital defect where the face is duplicated to either a huge one or a small one either behind or on other parts of the head.
The way this deformity can affect a human being is still mysterious, although expert researchers say it could be a rare form of conjoined twinning.
In short, although researches have been done, and books have been written about Edward Mordrake, his story still remains a rare and mysterious one.
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