THE TWO-FACED TALE OF EDWARD MORDRAKE

Viewers of the FX television series American Horror Story were introduced in the fourth season to a sinister character named Edward Mordake, who was quite handsome except for the fact that he had an additional face on the back of his head. A review of the internet will reveal that this representation was based on a sophisticated and worldly aristocrat of the same name who lived in 19th century England and who had a normal and attractive face in the usual location but also a separate visage on the back of his skull. Depending on the source, the second face was  "evil and twisted" or that of "a beautiful girl" or both. Most of the internet sites contain what they represent as the only known photo of Mordake along with a brief biography (see below).

Mordake's story was reported in an 1896 medical textbook called The Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine (available free to Kindle users). Lamentably, it was not a happy one. Mordake, a rich, scholarly, and brilliant musician, was tormented by his "devil twin" which was independently intelligent and spent its days muttering base and evil suggestions to its host. Mordake finally was driven insane by its mutterings and committed suicide by poison at the age of 23. His final request was that the demon face be obliterated before his burial so that he would not have to endure its taunts for eternity.

Although a rare phenomenon, there are other medical examples of two-faced individuals. One cause is "craniopagus parasiticus," where a parasitic twin sibling is born without a body and attached to its twin's head. Another condition is a rare protein mishap called "diprosopus," where parts of a face are duplicated on another section of the head. Which one of these afflictions tormented Mordake? Probably neither.

Specifically, it appears probable that Mordake never actually existed after all. As researched and revealed by Hoaxes.org, the section of the above-cited medical journal describing Mordake's case was lifted almost verbatim from an article originally published in the Boston Sunday Post newspaper in 1895 and thereafter reprinted in many other papers. The article describes various "human freaks" found in the dusty archives of the "Royal Scientific Society" including the "Norfolk spider" (a creature with a human head who crawled around on six hairy legs) and the "Fish Woman of Lincoln" (a female covered with scales whose legs terminated into the tail of a fish). The article had originally been written by Charles Lotin Hildreth, a poet and author of science fiction. 

The purported photo of Mordake is actually that of a head sculpted in wax, and the where and when of its creation remains shrouded in the unknown.

In short, the only reason that this story had traction and is so often accepted as true is because it was included within a medical textbook instead of a novel.

Photo from Hoaxes.org