Merrick died on 11 April 1890, aged 27. He died of either asphyxia (not being able to breathe properly) or a broken neck. He had tried to lie down to go to sleep, but his head was too heavy for him to do that. Today, nobody knows for sure what was wrong with Merrick. Scientists think that he either had an illness called neurofibromatosis type I, one called Proteus syndrome, or both of these illnesses. In 1980, movie director David Lynch made a movie about Merrick. It is called "The Elephant Man".