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Elephant-man [is this a relative of a centaur?]

A

Anonymous

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I remember hearing about an elephant man i.e half elephant half man on a program on T.V a few months ago unfortunatly I only say the end of this program, If any one knows what this beast is called, or if it is related to a centaur could you please tell me,

P.s Hi Steven if your reading this.

:blah:
 
I take it that you're not talking about John Merrick, the Elephant Man, correct?

If you are, he suffered from a rare disease called Proteus Syndrome, which, in a nutshell, is described here:

http://www.proteus-syndrome.org/html/whatisps.htm

One can only guess what superstitious people made of this condition centuries ago.
 
Er, what was the name of the programme? Was it about mythology or cryptozoology, or about human, medical abnormalities?

Ganesh is a Hindu deity who is represented as having the head of an elephant, and I think John Merrick, the "Elephant Man" made famous by the film and biography, may have been regarded as an avatar of Ganesh. In fact Merrick did not suffer from elephantiasis (which does not affect the face, but usually the legs, arms or testicles) but most likely from something called (I think) Proteus syndrome. (Mentioned in the weird skull thread?)

Part-human part-animal creatures are very unlikely cryptids, but fairly common in mythology. Could you be thinking of the elephant skulls found in Sicily which could have been the inspiration for the Ancient Greek legend of Cyclops? The large nasal aperture at the front of the skull for the trunk can be mistaken, in a slightly weathered skull, for a single large eye, and if the real eye sockets are not identified the skull then looks quite humanlike.

(btw i think i know who you are... pm me...)
 
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