Elephant Man: 

Joseph Merrick's unmarked grave discovered in London, says author

Biographer says she is ‘99 per cent certain’ she has tracked down correct site

Joseph Merrick, photographed by Radiological Society of North America  PA Archive/PA Images

The unmarked grave of Joseph Merrick – the Victorian freak show exhibit better known as the Elephant Man – has been discovered in London, an author has claimed.

Jo Vigor-Mungovin said she tracked down the precise burial spot of his remains in an east London cemetery almost 130 years after died.

A circus attraction deemed a medical marvel due to his severe deformities, Mr Merrick’s skeleton was carefully preserved at the Royal London Hospital after his death in 1890. The final resting place of his soft tissue, however, has remained a mystery for over a century.

Mr Merrick’s life was depicted in a 1980 film by director David Lynch titled The Elephant Man. The cause of the Leicester man’s deformities is still uncertain, but some believe he had a genetic disorder known as Proteus syndrome.

Ms Vigor-Mungovin consulted cemetery records around the time of his death and found he had been interred at the City of London Cemetery and Crematorium near Epping Forest.