Today we examine the astonishing parallel lives of separated twins.
Let's talk about that.
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Good Mythical Morning!
- In our high school, there were-- - (yelling) Harnett Central!
a set of identical twins, Josh and Joey Smith. Friends of ours.
I always felt bad for them when it came to playing soccer.
We were on the same soccer team. When we were sophomores,
we all sat on the bench, and at certain points,
- Coach Brandle would put us in. - I remember.
He would put the Smith Twins in as a unit every time.
- He would say, "Smithereens!" - Mmhmm.
And then they would both stand up and they would go into
left fullback and right fullback.
And then he would take them out of the game-- "Smithereens!"--
- at the same time. - But they got a cool nickname.
Like superheroes.
But they were never treated as individuals.
- That's a problem. - So I felt bad.
You know, I always think, I'm pretty sure twins want to be treated as individuals.
- You can safely say that. - But my question is, if twins
were individuals, let's say they didn't know that the other one ever existed,
Oh, intriguing.
Would they actually have expressed individualism,
or lead weird parallel lives of anti-individualism?
I think I'm gonna say both, because we've got some evidence of that, Link.
We're gonna be exploring some twins that met later in life as adults and had
- some incredible, incredible parallels. - Okay.
I don't think it means that they weren't individuals, just so you know.
I just think it means it's pretty crazy, when you're the same genetically,
what ends up happening.
Genetic clones.
Let's start with Paula Bernstein and Elyse Schein.
(Link) Okay.
They didn't meet until they were 35 years old
and through a certain set of circumstances they learned that they had actually been
the subjects of an experiment where they were separated at birth
- for scientific purposes. - What?
This seems like sci-fi,
but there was actually a study that was later basically covered up.
Yeah, that can't... that doesn't sound right. That can't be legal.
Well, I think what happened was...
I don't know the specifics of the circumstance, but there was probably
an adoptive mother that was giving up kids and they were like, "Hey, let's go and
talk to these adoption agencies and let's track these kids and see...
They're not gonna know about each other.
But it seems like there's some ethical questions involved.
Clearly. And that's the reason why this was never found until 35 years later.
It was actually stashed away in a Yale University archive, but it was found.
The guys who did the study were ashamed of it.
They didn't want to release it because they knew they'd be criticized.
But when they finally met, they found out some incredible things, like
they both had edited their high school newspaper,
they both had studied film in college, they both became writers,
and then they wrote a book together called "Identical Strangers."
But they wrote the book together after being reunited.
They weren't both independently writing.
They both started independently writing a book called-- No, that didn't happen.
Once they met each other, they had so many amazing parallels they said,
"Hey, let's write a book together. We're both authors, let's do it!"
I don't know that you need to be perpetuating
the facts of their parallelism, given the way that the whole thing started.
- I think we should move on. (laughs) - (laughs) Okay. Not a problem.
All right, I got Emilie Falk and Lin Backman.
Twin sisters born in Indonesia, separated at birth.
Here's the first weird thing: They were both adopted by families in Sweden.
Those Swedish people love adoption. I've always said that.
They were both taken back to Sweden. At almost the age of 30,
they were reunited thanks to Facebook and some other cross-referencing.
Here's a thing that they found out: They lived their 30 years of life
Within 25 miles / 40 kilometers of each other in the southern part of Sweden.
They probably shopped at the same Walmart, whatever the Swedish Walmart is.
Crossed paths. Just think about crossing paths shopping. You think you're going
- in front of a mirror, but it-- - Yeah. Ikea.
- but wearing a different outfit. - That's me at Ikea, but it's not me-ah.
They also were both teachers; they got married on the same day.
- Naw. - One year apart.
- Still pretty awesome. - But! One year apart, same day,
they danced to the same wedding song, "You and Me" by Lifehouse.
(singing) You and me and all of the twins who don't know they exist
- and can't take their eyes off of you... - Okay, that's enough. (laughs)
Funny thing was, that was my wedding song as well.
- Yeah! And mine and we're not even twins. - And yours.
Yep, everybody's.
Okay, those are pretty interesting, but they're not exactly shocking
like Barbara Herbert and Daphne Goodship.
They were twins of a Finnish student.
If it was Herbert Barbara, that'd be a man.
Yeah, Herbert Barbara. It's not, though, thankfully. It's two women.
- Typically Barbara is a woman. - It's a Barbara Herbert.
They were born in Finland. They were both adopted by different families in London.
They didn't meet until 40 years later when Barbara convinced adoption officials
- to basically release these records - Okay.
so she could meet her sister. They showed up at a train station to meet
and they were both wearing a beige dress and a brown velvet jacket.
Wow.
That's a pretty specific outfit to show up in, but it gets weirder from there.
They discovered that they both fell down stairs at 15 years old
and weakened their ankles. So they didn't just fall down, but they both
weakened their ankles. "Yeah, I remember my ankle getting weakened from that fall."
- Okay. - They met their future husbands at age 16
at town dances. They both had a miscarriage in the same year,
followed by 2 boys and then a girl in that order.
So their reproductive tracts were in sync.
Exactly. They both drank their coffee cold, and they also cooked the same meal
from the same recipe book on the same day without knowing it.
I don't know how they discovered that. But finally, the most amazing thing:
They had a habit of pushing up their nose with the palm of their hands
and they independently said that this was called "squidging."
Well first of all, who pushes up their nose with the palm of their hand at all,
Barbara and Daphne do!
And then who, when they do that, calls it "squidging?"
Barbara and Daphne do, Link! They're squidgers!
- Squidge! Squidge! - You've never squidged?
- No! - That's the new thing, man.
We gotta-- Squidge! Squidge! -- bring it back.
Sometimes I push on the side--
Listen, I'll push on the side and my nose will pop. (nose pops)
- Did you hear that? - What do you call that?
- Squidging. - (laughs) You call that squidging?
- I do! I do! - Me too!
All right, I got one more. This is my favorite, guys.
James Edward Lewis and his long-lost identical twin brother,
- James Arthur Springer. - Same name.
- Both put up, put up (stutters) - (mimicking Link)
... put up for adoption in Ohio. They were each told that they were a twin,
- but that the other twin was dead. - That's mean.
Then they were both named the same thing by their parents: James.
- James. - But they found out 39 years later
that the other one existed. These are the amazing parallels that they discovered:
They both chain smoke, both like beer,
both have woodworking shops in their garage. Both drive Chevys.
This is just men at this point. "We're men."
(laughs) Both have high blood pressure, that's genetic, obviously.
- Both had undergone vasectomies. - That's genetic too.
Both suffered from migraine headaches while undergoing vasectomies, I dunno...
- (laughs) - Both had actually vacationed on
the same beach in the Florida Gulf Coast. Again, what if they were, like,
in their speedos, like, "Hey! It's me! No it's not! It's what? Huh?"
"Hey, what's your name? Jim? My name? Am I mirror? What's happening?"
- Yeah, mirror. - All right, they were both married twice.
- Okay. - First they were married to Linda.
- The same lady? - No, a different Linda, but both Lindas.
They were both married to a Linda.
Yeah, and then they divorced their Lindas and they both got married to Bettys.
- Okay, and this happened before they met. - Yes. (laughs)
It wasn't like they met and said, "Let's get with a Linda and then a Betty!"
- Yes. - "'Cause I heard that's fun!"
They both had children, including sons named James Alan.
- They both named their sons James Alan. - This is weird.
- They both owned dogs... - That's phenomenal!
- ... named Toy. - Toy?
- They both named their dog Toy. - I've never known a dog named Toy,
let alone two independently named twin dogs.
- Squidge it! - That's squidging crazy!
(laughs) And this will blow your mind: They both worked in the sheriff's office
- as sheriff's deputies. - In the K-9 department. With... no.
It is interesting. You think about the teachers, sheriff's deputies,
both want to be writers... You know, there's certain things
that you can understand, you got high blood pressure,
but wanting to have the same career path, that's a little astonishing.
And then nicknaming things the same thing.
It just goes to show you, not to get scientific here, but when your genetics
are exactly the same, the expression of those genetics, in some cases,
will be strikingly similar. Down to naming a dog Toy?
Who even does that, besides James and James?
If you're a long-lost twin, let us know in the comments what you think.
And I would recommend reading the psychologytoday.com article
where we read a lot of these things. A very fascinating article which explores
a lot more of the questions associated with this nature/nurture thing
if you're into it. Link in the description.
- Thanks for liking and commenting. - You know what time it is.
Hello, I'm Mihailo from Kragujevac, Serbia
and it's time to spin the Wheel of Mythicality.
Don't forget we just launched the new Camo Mythical Shoe.
- Wow! - (sound effects)
- Look at that pattern on pattern, Link! - Go to rhettandlink.com/store,
click on the shoes. You can also get the hat that matches; it's pretty fashionable.
Get yourself some.
Click through to Good Mythical More where we explain our awkward interactions
over the years with identical twins and the trouble that ensues.
(Rhett) Flying but can't figure out how to stop.
(wind sounds)
You know, I'm having a great time with you.
- Yeah, amazing. (wind sounds) - But there's a problem.
- What, what, what? (wind sounds) - I don't know how we stop.
- Me neither. - Where's the off switch?
- I don't know, man. - (laughs)
Maybe if you stopped flapping your wings and I just...
Nope, now I'm just gliding. Now I'm just gliding 'cause we hit an air pocket.
What do you call it? A thermal. Because we're birds.
[Captioned by Caitrin: GMM Captioning Team]