“A Tale of Two Faces”

#MindOfMarlar is written by Darren Marlar, host of Weird Darkness

Imagine you’re in the 19th century, and Edward Mordrake, a young, dapper heir to an English peerage, is the talk of the town. He’s not the talk of the town, you say? Oh… well yeah, that makes sense now that you mention it. Because Edward lived in seclusion. He avoided people like the plague – the Howard Hughes of his time. But unlike Hughes, who avoided people because he had really long, crusty toenails – I think (I never really paid much attention in History class) – Mordrake had a much better reason. Edward was two-faced. I don’t mean he was untrustworthy or deceitful (he might’ve been, I don’t know) – I mean he literally had a second face on the back of his head. (I think I’d rather have the crusty toenails.)

“And competing in this year’s Miss Universe pageant… Edward’s better half…”

A weird place to have a conjoined twin, right? Well – if it were a twin, that would mean it would look exactly like Edward on the other side of… Edward. But it didn’t. It wasn’t even the same gender. This was the face of a beautiful girl, “lovely as a dream, hideous as a devil.” That’s the quote at least – although, if you’ve seen the photos, their definition of “beautiful” and “lovely” back in the 1800’s was a pretty low bar. So long as you have at least one working eye and a partial nose cavity, you were apparently considered “stunning.” And you think gender issues are a problem today? Imaging going around with both a male and a female face at the same time! (It must’ve been a nightmare deciding what hats to buy!)

They say two heads are better than one – but I don’t think that applies to two faces. The female face couldn’t speak – something most men of the time preferred in a female face. It couldn’t eat – which is a great money-saver. But, just like a woman, it could definitely EMOTE! It would smile, cringe, frown and cry, which is a tad unsettling when you’re trying to enjoy a movie. Then again, she’s the one facing away from the screen, so of course she’s going to get a little irritable. If she could talk she’d be saying, “What just happened? I can’t see! Speak up, Edward – I need a running commentary!” No wonder the guy never left the house.

Since Batman and his rogue gallery of villains hadn’t been created yet, Edward did not see his extra face as a unique selling point. It got him a lot of stares from the ladies – but not in a way one would appreciate. He dubbed it his “demon head” and begged doctors to remove it. But removing a person’s face – extra face or not – wasn’t exactly something they had been encouraged to learn in medical school. They, quite understandably, balked at the idea. (Imagine the Yelp reviews if that went wrong!)

The demon head, as Edward claimed, had a penchant for whispering sinister things at night. (Not sure how it did that if it couldn’t speak, but maybe it was in Edward’s head. I mean, the voice… we know the face was already in his head. On his head. Anyway…) Many of us have trouble sleeping because of a snoring partner or a noisy neighbor. Edward had a face on the back of his head murmuring sweet nothings from Hell. Top that, insomnia sufferers!

He pleaded with his doctors, Manvers and Treadwell, to get rid of the pesky extra face, even if it killed him. They didn’t, and it did. Kill him, that is. Edward eventually took matters into his own hands, procuring poison and ending his own life at the tender age of 23. His final wish? To have the “demon face” destroyed before the rest of him was buried. Makes sense. Who wants to spend eternity in a tiny box with a demonic back-of-the-head roommate?

Fast forward to the late 19th century, and Edward’s story takes the stage in George M. Gould and Walter L. Pyle’s book “Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine.” The authors didn’t hold back in describing Eddy and his head gal pal. The tale was so compelling that it earned a spot in the annals of strange history and folklore.

In modern times, the legend of Edward Mordrake has made its rounds in pop culture. “American Horror Story: Freak Show” gave us a dramatized version of Edward’s story, introducing a new generation to his two-faced dilemma. Tom Waits even sang about him in the haunting tune “Poor Edward.” Who knew having two faces could be such a cultural boon… outside of politics?

The least disturbing photo of Diprosopus I could find.

From a medical standpoint, Edward’s condition resembles Diprosopus, a rare congenital disorder that results in the duplication of facial features. However, no recorded case matches the detailed (and somewhat theatrical) descriptions of Edward’s secondary face – such as creating facial features of the opposite gender. It seems our friend Edward may have been more fiction than fact… kinda like politics!

Researchers argue that the tale is a product of the era’s fascination with medical oddities and the public’s hunger for sensational stories. The lack of concrete evidence—no birth or death certificates, no medical reports, no credible eyewitness accounts—casts a hefty shadow of doubt on Edward’s existence. But hey, why let facts get in the way of a good narrative? Kinda like politics!

So, next time you’re feeling a bit two-faced, remember Edward and be glad that your second face isn’t whispering nightmarish temptations into your ear. And if it is, don’t worry – it’s all in your head anyway.

(SOURCE: https://anomalien.com/the-real-story-of-edward-mordrake-the-man-with-two-faces/)