Michael Jackson’s DARK Obsession with The Elephant Man & Buying His Bones!

On May 30, 1987, the Los Angeles Times published a sensational story about pop icon Michael Jackson’s serious bid to purchase the remains of John Merrick, famously known as the Elephant Man, from the London Hospital Medical College for $500,000. According to Jackson’s manager, Frank DiLeo, Jackson held a deep respect for Merrick’s memory. He had read and studied all materials related to the Elephant Man and had visited the London hospital twice to view Merrick’s remains.

Jackson’s fascination with Merrick’s history grew with each visit, as he hoped to add the remains to his collection of rare and extraordinary memorabilia at his California estate. However, once the news broke, Jackson’s offer was rejected by the British medical institute, which reportedly raised the price to a million dollars. DiLeo added that Jackson had no exploitative intentions and felt a genuine concern for Merrick, viewing himself as a dedicated collector of art and artifacts.

David Edwards, the chief administrator at the London Hospital Medical College, quickly discussed Michael’s proposal on the radio. Edwards spoke about Jackson’s visit to the museum housing the skeleton and mentioned that Jackson had made two offers for the remains, both of which were declined. The Elephant Man was simply not for sale. However, after the incident, Jackson denied the allegations of attempting to purchase the remains, dismissing them as yet another ridiculous story conjured by the tabloid press out of nothing.

In a 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Jackson stated, “No, I never asked for the Elephant Man’s bones. Where would I put some bones?” Nevertheless, he admitted to being captivated by Merrick’s story and how it evoked empathy. “I love the story of the Elephant Man. You can relate to him. It usually makes me cry.” So, who was the Elephant Man? John Merrick, also known as the Elephant Man, lived in Britain in the late 19th century and suffered from a rare medical condition called neurofibromatosis, which caused severe deformities and disfigurements in his physical appearance.

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From a young age, Merrick’s condition led to a life filled with hardship and cruelty. He faced ridicule and discrimination from society, enduring a challenging existence marked by isolation and exploitation. As a young adult, he found himself abandoned by his family and left to fend for himself. Unable to support himself through traditional means of work, Merrick allowed himself to be exhibited as a freak show attraction under the name “The Elephant Man.”

In 1884, a surgeon named Frederick Treves discovered Merrick during a visit to the London Hospital. Treves was deeply moved by Merrick’s plight and offered him a place at the hospital where he could receive proper care and attention. Merrick accepted the offer, and his life underwent a radical transformation. Under Treves’ care, Merrick finally found a compassionate environment where he was treated with dignity and respect.

Treves and his colleagues studied Merrick’s condition, seeking to understand his suffering and alleviate it. They provided him with a safe haven, allowing him to experience moments of normal life and companionship that he had been deprived of for so long. Initially presumed to be mentally impaired due to his severe speech impediment caused by facial deformities, Merrick was found to be quite intelligent and possessed a gentle and kind nature.

Merrick’s story captured the public’s attention, and he developed friendships with many people, both within the hospital and the upper-class society, even with royalty. Unfortunately, John Merrick’s life came to an end in 1890 when he was just 27 years old. He died in his sleep, suffocating due to a dislocated neck. He may have suffered this fate because he wanted to lie down to sleep like a normal human, despite knowing that his weight made it impossible for him to breathe in that position.

John Merrick’s legacy endures to this day. His life serves as a powerful reminder of the resilience of the human spirit and the potential for kindness to transform lives. He would become the subject of numerous books, plays, and films, most notably the Oscar-nominated biopic “The Elephant Man,” directed by David Lynch. Reportedly, Michael Jackson was moved by the film, seeing parallels between his life and Merrick’s.

The story goes that he watched the black-and-white film 35 times, never once without crying. Jackson found solace in a scene where Merrick, portrayed by actor John Hurt, is chased by an angry mob at Liverpool Street Station in London, shouting at his attackers, “I am not an elephant. I am not an animal. I am a human being. I am a man.” Over time, Jackson became increasingly fascinated by Merrick’s life, reportedly collecting old medical books on facial deformities while in Australia in 1985.

He even arranged to view the Elephant Man’s skeleton at the Royal London Hospital. Richard Trembath, a geneticist at the institution, stated, “He would come and spend some time in his home sitting next to the skeleton, thinking clearly.” When asked about his fascination, Jackson said, “I went to the London School of Medicine twice, and I visited his remains, which I feel close to. I love the story of the Elephant Man. It’s a very sad story.”

Considering Michael’s admission that he was captivated by the tragedy in John Merrick’s life, could there be some truth to the story of the Elephant Man’s bones? If not, where did this strange tale originate? It has long been claimed that Frank DiLeo was the source of some of these bizarre urban legends about Michael Jackson, with the Elephant Man’s bones and sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber being clear examples.

It has also been said that some of these headline-grabbing myths originated from Michael himself, or at least were approved by him to build on the mysterious and fantastical persona he was cultivating for himself at the time. Michael Jackson had been out of the public eye for a long time before the release of his long-awaited “Bad” album later that year. The star may have simply been looking to generate some much-needed publicity before his return to the pop music scene, hoping it would ultimately translate into record sales.

In her book “My Family the Jacksons,” his mother, Katherine, wrote, “To be fair, two stories were published by Michael’s family members. I haven’t spoken to Michael about the rumor, so I don’t know what role he played, if any, in spreading the stories.” However, she expressed horror at how manager Frank DiLeo presented the stories to the press. As for the Elephant Man’s bones, she had no idea if DiLeo had attempted to buy them on Michael’s behalf. “If he did, he did so with intent. And if by some miracle the London Medical Center had agreed to sell the bones, Michael knows me well enough to know that I wouldn’t allow him to take them home.”

Although the offer to purchase the Elephant Man’s bones may have been conjured by his team as a form of publicity, in 1988, Michael highlighted the absurdity of the story by dancing with an animated version of Merrick’s skeleton in his music video for “Leave Me Alone” as a way to mock the tabloid press and its nonsensical claims.

While cloaked in the guise of a love story gone wrong, the lyrics of the song could very well be a plea from Merrick himself as he tried to escape those who followed and harassed him out of curiosity about his deformities. As he explained in his autobiography “Moonwalk,” Michael was sending a simple message: “The song is about the relationship between a boy and a girl, but what I’m really saying to the people who are bothering me is to leave me alone.”

In the video, Michael and the skeleton appear as if they are in a side show, with bars behind them, forcing them to confront themselves, the audience, and perform with Michael shackled by ball and chain. While this may seem grotesque to some, the video is simply Jackson drawing a parallel between his life and Merrick’s, specifically their strange social positions and how those who pursued them judged them. Both were condemned to live in a lonely, isolated cell.

The Elephant Man was imprisoned in his deformity, while Michael Jackson was shackled by his fame. Both evoked the insatiable curiosity of the public. Forced to wear a cover on his head due to Merrick’s deformities, and with the vitiligo that afflicted Michael, he increasingly wore surgical masks and heavier makeup to conceal himself. Both were sensitive beings who were marked and thus stripped of their humanity due to a lack of healthy compliments and daily human interaction.

Perhaps Michael Jackson’s attempt to connect himself with the struggle that the Elephant Man faced was a desperate cry for help and a call for broader understanding. As illustrated in an open letter Michael wrote while touring Japan shortly after the bones scandal broke, he stated, “As the old Indian proverb goes, ‘Do not judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins.’ Most people do not know me. That is why they write things that are mostly untrue. If a man cannot say anything, he cannot prove it against character; the story cannot be written. Animals do not attack out of malice; they attack because they want to live. It is the same with those who criticize me. They want our blood, not our salaries. But I still have to reach my goals.”

Michael’s words reveal a deep vulnerability in a pop star known for rejecting all interviews. He had become incredibly wealthy and powerful, but ironically, it also made him equally vulnerable and a target for exploitation. Many people would be kind to him, but he developed distrust in their motives. A scene in Lynch’s film “The Elephant Man,” where John Merrick’s home is invaded and he is forcibly captured and moved, being prodded and forced to look at women and kiss them, reveals the worst of humanity.

Michael’s fear of being consumed by the influence of collective groups, stripped of humanity and spread like a spectacle for others to benefit from, likely informed his choice to spend most of his time with the innocent and uncomplicated minds of animals and children. Much like Merrick, fame, rather than being a medical deformity, was what changed Michael Jackson’s face in a frenzy, as crowds surged over one another just to catch a glimpse. The collective fascination turns the bodies of celebrities into public property, with fans’ overzealous instincts to touch and grab, pulling without permission or consideration, and the press’s tendency to scrutinize and mock the appearance of those in the public eye.

For Michael, who was intensely private, his body was forcibly examined and photographed due to alleged claims. After his death, speculation about his physicality lingered long, with reports of deformities from the autopsy making headlines with little regard for what Michael wanted to reveal publicly. After Merrick’s death, even the paramedics who once treated him, friends who helped improve his life significantly, boiled his body and stripped it of flesh before it cooled.

With his soft tissue casually disposed of in an unmarked grave, those who made their reputation by conveying Merrick’s suffering to the world had now received their reward. Trapped in a glass case for the university, his bones were to be examined and displayed as curiosities forever for the purpose of science, with little focus on Merrick’s humanity. Was Michael Jackson’s attempt to acquire the Elephant Man’s bones a way of saying enough is enough? Was it time to free him from this endless captivity?

In the end, the story of Michael Jackson and his fascination with John Merrick serves as a poignant reminder of the complexities of fame, humanity, and the struggles that lie beneath the surface. It challenges us to reflect on our perceptions of others, the judgments we make, and the empathy we extend to those who are different from us. As we navigate a world filled with spectacle and scrutiny, may we strive to see the humanity in everyone, recognizing that behind every story lies a deeper truth waiting to be understood.