WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Edward Mordake

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, and welcome to the short Stuff. I'm Josh. There's Chuck,

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<v Speaker 1>and on the back of each of our heads is

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<v Speaker 1>a little devilish fiend named Jerry.

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<v Speaker 2>I knew that was coming.

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<v Speaker 1>Each of us has a Jerry on the back of

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<v Speaker 1>our heads and we hate it so much.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh, I just punched the back of my head all

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<v Speaker 2>day long. Yeah, and you know how end up hurting

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<v Speaker 2>just me.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's true. She can move just in time.

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<v Speaker 2>Big thanks to Dave Rus. But this is from the

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<v Speaker 2>house stuffworks dot com. Side sure, and we're talking about Edward,

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<v Speaker 2>not more Drake. It's more Dake. I thought it was

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<v Speaker 2>more Drake until twenty five seconds ago before we recorded.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm glad we sorted that out, by the way.

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<v Speaker 2>I look this over and over and over, and I

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<v Speaker 2>said more Drake in my brain every time. But there

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<v Speaker 2>is no ruh and there is no Edward more Dake.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh okay, sure, no, I think that's fair. He does

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<v Speaker 1>exist in some way, shape or form m hm, at

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<v Speaker 1>least on paper, specifically a paper called the Boston Sunday Post.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>There is an article in eighteen ninety five that was

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<v Speaker 1>published in The Sunday Post that was written by an

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<v Speaker 1>author named Charles Lowton Hildreth, great name, super nineteenth century name. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>And the article was about, essentially, what's the word I'm

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<v Speaker 1>looking for?

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<v Speaker 2>Chuck a gentleman suffering from a rare defect.

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<v Speaker 1>Not just him, a bunch of different ones. So the

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<v Speaker 1>headline was the Wonders of Modern Science. The subhead was

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<v Speaker 1>some half human monsters once thought to be of the

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<v Speaker 1>Devil's brood.

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<v Speaker 2>That's right.

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<v Speaker 1>And so in this article there were a number of

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<v Speaker 1>different poor people who were half crab half person. One

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<v Speaker 1>guy who had hands where his feet were and feet

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<v Speaker 1>were his hands were about.

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<v Speaker 2>How about the melon child of Radnor, whose head looked

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<v Speaker 2>like a right melon and had a small vertical slit

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<v Speaker 2>for a mouth.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, there was one. There was a vicious creature that

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<v Speaker 1>was half man, half crab, with monstrous nippers and big

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<v Speaker 1>claws below the elbow. The Norfolk spider is particularly creepy.

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<v Speaker 1>You want to tell them about him?

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<v Speaker 2>Uh? The Norfolk spotter. Yes, that was the spider with

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<v Speaker 2>the human head, of course, and a clergy person confirmed

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<v Speaker 2>this by saying, I wish s. Migel was around to

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<v Speaker 2>read this, but I will I saw this monstrous thing myself.

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<v Speaker 2>Otherwise it would not have credited so awful a manifestation

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<v Speaker 2>of the creator's wrath.

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<v Speaker 1>That was very good, thank you. So there were some

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<v Speaker 1>illustrations too, including of the Norfolk spider, and he looked

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<v Speaker 1>more confused than scary. But a giant spider with the

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<v Speaker 1>human head is just unsettling on all sorts of levels.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, but we're focusing on Edward more Dake. I want

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<v Speaker 2>to say, are in there so bad? But Edward had

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<v Speaker 2>a condition congenital defect, wherein he had a shrunken second

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<v Speaker 2>face on the back of his head, which is why

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<v Speaker 2>you joked about Jerry being on the back of our head.

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<v Speaker 2>And this face would actually speak, and it was sort

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<v Speaker 2>of like an evil twin. They called it the devil

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<v Speaker 2>twin that would whisper in his ear, such that Edward

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<v Speaker 2>Moore Dake would eventually take his own life at twenty

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<v Speaker 2>three years old. However, and of course none of this

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<v Speaker 2>is true.

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<v Speaker 1>No, despite the fact that in this article The Wonders

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<v Speaker 1>of Science, that was published in eighteen ninety five in

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<v Speaker 1>the Boston Sunday Post, written by Charles Lawton Hildreth sites

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<v Speaker 1>the Royal Scientific Society that had reported on all of

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<v Speaker 1>these different people, it was totally made up. In fact,

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<v Speaker 1>Charles Lawton Hildreth was a science writer, Yeah, speculative fiction

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<v Speaker 1>at the very least.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, poet too, yeah, and measure.

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<v Speaker 1>He had a really great imagination. And the paper he

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<v Speaker 1>was working for, the Boston Sunday Post is Dave Rush

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<v Speaker 1>equates it with the National Inquirer today. Yeah, maybe even

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<v Speaker 1>the World Weekly News almost in this case.

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<v Speaker 2>But I still love the weekly World News.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah. I always say it backwards, kind of like you

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<v Speaker 1>want to say more, Drake.

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<v Speaker 2>What'd you say, World Weekly News? Yeah, same thing.

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<v Speaker 1>So Hildreth just basically sat down and let his imagination

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<v Speaker 1>pour out into an article cited the Royal Scientific Society.

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<v Speaker 1>The Boston Sunday Post published it, and it came out

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<v Speaker 1>in a newspaper. A year later. Hildreth dies, but the

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<v Speaker 1>story goes on.

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<v Speaker 2>Hmmm, shall we be right back, yes, all right? After this.

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<v Speaker 1>Stop you should know? Still stop you should I should know?

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<v Speaker 2>All right, like you said, uh, the author of that

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<v Speaker 2>original Sunday what was it, Sunday.

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<v Speaker 1>Post, Boston Sunday Post.

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<v Speaker 2>It on Fridays, the paper of Record is how they

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<v Speaker 2>called it. He died in eighteen ninety six, and this

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<v Speaker 2>was a year after he wrote that story. But in

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<v Speaker 2>that same year there were a couple of doctors who

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<v Speaker 2>published a legitimate book called The Anomalies and Curiosities of

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<v Speaker 2>Medicine and said it was quote derived from an exhausted

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<v Speaker 2>research of medical literature, and they included an entry on

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<v Speaker 2>Edward Moore Dake. And what they did was basically the

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<v Speaker 2>modern Internet, because they copied word for word what Hildreth

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<v Speaker 2>had written and pasted it into their own work as fact.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so what they copied and pasted that was in

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<v Speaker 1>the original article was essentially this that Edward Moredake was

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<v Speaker 1>a very handsome young man. He had it all. He

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<v Speaker 1>was a scholar, he was amusing and then yeah, yeah, right,

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<v Speaker 1>he was very handsome, very graceful. He just had a

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<v Speaker 1>big problem, and that was he had an evil twin

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<v Speaker 1>face on the back of his head that said all

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<v Speaker 1>sorts of terrible stuff to him. No one else could

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<v Speaker 1>hear what it was saying except Edward. But you could

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<v Speaker 1>watch its lips gibber without seizing, and the eyes of

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<v Speaker 1>the face would follow you around the room if you

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<v Speaker 1>were in its in its field of vision. And Edward

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<v Speaker 1>just couldn't stand this thing. He asked the doctors to

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<v Speaker 1>crush the second face, even if it meant he was

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<v Speaker 1>he was going to die as a result. He didn't

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<v Speaker 1>care at that point so much. So, like you said,

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<v Speaker 1>he took his life by drinking poison at age twenty three,

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<v Speaker 1>and he left the Royal Scientific Society said a note

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<v Speaker 1>that said, when you bury me, destroy the face on

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<v Speaker 1>the back of my head, lest it continues its dreadful

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<v Speaker 1>whisperings in my grave. So this was the story of

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<v Speaker 1>Edward Mordeck that Hildreth originally wrote that these American doctors

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<v Speaker 1>published as fact in an actual book. So this has

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<v Speaker 1>gone from being in a paper and now being in

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<v Speaker 1>a book by doctors who claimed that it's from an

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<v Speaker 1>exhaustive research of medical literature, which gives it a real

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<v Speaker 1>veneer of reality.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah. Absolutely, And we also fail to mention that the

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<v Speaker 2>devil twin was a girl. Oh yeah, a beautiful girl,

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<v Speaker 2>lovely as a dream, hideous as a devil, but exhibited

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<v Speaker 2>every sign of intelligence of a malignant sort. However, it

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<v Speaker 2>sounds like one of our Halloween stories. Yeah, like fully,

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<v Speaker 2>but like you said, none of it was true. However,

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<v Speaker 2>this is a this is a thing that sort of

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<v Speaker 2>can happen and one of the reasons why people believed

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<v Speaker 2>it for a long long time is that there are

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<v Speaker 2>some very very rare congenital defects where you can have

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<v Speaker 2>a face on your head like two faces. One's called

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<v Speaker 2>craniofacial duplication or die pro diprosopis, that is Greek for

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<v Speaker 2>two faced, and fewer than fifty cases worldwide, I believe

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<v Speaker 2>since eighteen sixty four. Most of those were stillborn. It's

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<v Speaker 2>very very sad, obviously, but very very rare, and also

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<v Speaker 2>happens a lot in the animal kingdom. Well, not a lot,

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<v Speaker 2>but happens in the animal kingdom.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>You ever seen like a chicken with two faces? That's

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<v Speaker 2>what that is.

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<v Speaker 1>So there was a baby girl born in India in

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<v Speaker 1>two thousand and eight, I remember, and she had two

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<v Speaker 1>faces and was actually worshiped as a reincarnation of the

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<v Speaker 1>Hindu goddess Durga, who was a divine feminine energy who

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<v Speaker 1>was very good by the way, because she defeated a

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<v Speaker 1>demonic army of evil. But she had three eyes in

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<v Speaker 1>multiple arms. And the little girl, I think, reportedly died

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<v Speaker 1>at two months. I remember that, don't you. Sort of

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<v Speaker 1>it was a big deal. Yeah, there was another girl

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<v Speaker 1>who was born I think around the same time, if

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<v Speaker 1>not a couple of years before after. Her name was

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<v Speaker 1>Manar Maged. She was born in Egypt in two thousand

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<v Speaker 1>and five, so a couple of years before. She had

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<v Speaker 1>a slightly different version of this called craniopagos parasiticus. And

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<v Speaker 1>this is not where you have like an extra face

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<v Speaker 1>on your face. You have an entirely conjoined twin attached

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<v Speaker 1>to the back of your head. The problem is that

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<v Speaker 1>the twin is considered parasitic. It doesn't have any organs

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<v Speaker 1>of its own, it doesn't have a brain, It just

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<v Speaker 1>has like the body. But the stuff that's inside the

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<v Speaker 1>parasitic twin is actually sucking the nutrients and the life

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<v Speaker 1>blood and everything out of the surviving twin. So it's

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<v Speaker 1>a really deadly situation. And yet at least three people,

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<v Speaker 1>including Minarmaged, have had their parasitic twin removed and have

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<v Speaker 1>lived to tell the tale.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, a lot of times there are no limbs like

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<v Speaker 2>I've seen sort of like a full head attached to

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<v Speaker 2>a head with what looks like just sort of an

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<v Speaker 2>upper Torso, yes, it can happen in various stages but

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<v Speaker 2>or various ways. But it doesn't happen like you talk

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<v Speaker 2>about rare or this one is listed as six out

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<v Speaker 2>of every ten million births, so super super rare. And

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<v Speaker 2>there are different times that Edward more Dake has been

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<v Speaker 2>portrayed in pop culture, like there was a Tom Waite

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<v Speaker 2>song called Poor Edward. If you followed American horror story

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<v Speaker 2>during the Freak Show season, there was a character named

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<v Speaker 2>Moore Drake the RTS finally in there that was based

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<v Speaker 2>on him, obviously, but if you've ever googled that and

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<v Speaker 2>just heard about the story and then seen a mummified

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<v Speaker 2>head with the face on the back and as Edward

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<v Speaker 2>Moore Dake, it is very compelling and realistic. But that

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<v Speaker 2>is a fake. It's what's known as a gaff, which

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<v Speaker 2>is joke art. And the artist was edwarked Ewert, you WERET.

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<v Speaker 2>You weret Schindler.

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<v Speaker 1>So the real reason that people believe it was a

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<v Speaker 1>thing is in part because of the photos, but more

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<v Speaker 1>to the point, because those photos were shared along with

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<v Speaker 1>the story as if it were real on Facebook. That's

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<v Speaker 1>why people believed it shared at least two hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>sixty thousand times, so it went kind of viral. I

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<v Speaker 1>guess you could say yeah, and people were like this

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<v Speaker 1>poor guy, this is awful, and nobody stopped to think, like,

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<v Speaker 1>is this real? Did this guy really have a face

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<v Speaker 1>that would torment him and say evil things that only

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<v Speaker 1>he could hear, Like this doesn't make any sense, and

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<v Speaker 1>that's an actual big problem today.

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<v Speaker 2>This is a good.

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<v Speaker 1>Example of that. Yeah, yeah, So I guess if you

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<v Speaker 1>believe in clones and shape shifters and people making clouds

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<v Speaker 1>on TikTok, I think you should stop and reevaluate things

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<v Speaker 1>for a minute and see what you come up with.

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<v Speaker 2>Short Stuff is out. You Know. Stuff you Should Know

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