Have you ever found the concept of twins fascinating, or even at times a little creepy?
Just the idea of two exactly (or almost exactly) identical people who can seemingly say the same things simultaneously, finish each other’s sentences, feel each other’s pain and even claim to know what the other is thinking can, at times, be a little… well, unnerving.
Mainly because we can’t quite put our finger on how such a thing can be possible.
There are also so many influences we can blame for twins having slightly darker connotations in popular culture; for instance, The Shining is probably one of the most well-known references.
Here’s what biologist Julia Harrisun had to say on the subject:
“Being a biologist by background, I suppose I’m always looking for biological explanations to things. For instance, humans read each other’s body language, more than simply paying attention to what they say. However, most of all, we read the expressions on other people’s faces. Faces are key. So maybe that’s why twins can be a bit disconcerting.
“If you see two virtually identical faces at the same time, then it makes it more difficult to read them; to work out their emotions and intentions. That poses a potential threat. I think maybe Stanley Kubrick clocked that when he made ‘The Shining’.“
So, whether you find twins intriguing or intimidating, I’ve put together the following list of some of the weirdest (and creepiest) stories about twins I’ve ever heard:
1. A ‘special friend’
“My son was meant to be a twin, but we lost his sibling at 10 weeks… However, he often plays with someone who isn’t there and my eldest girls ask about his ‘special friend’.“
2. The ‘Jim’ twins
“Labelled ‘the Jim Twins’, the story of two twin boys raised apart is one that amazes everyone who hears it. Adopted out to different parents at just four weeks of age, the twins were reunited at age 39, never having known they were twins.
“It was the similarities between the two that shocked the most; both boys had been named ‘Jim’ by their adoptive families, both had sons that they had named James Allan, both had a pet dog named ‘Toy’, both hated spelling but excelled in maths, both worked in law enforcement and both had married women named Betty, divorced her, and married women named Linda. SPOOKY.“
Source: Ripley’s Believe it Or Not
You’re tellin’ me! It’s these kinds of stories which make you wonder exactly what kind of connection it’s possible for twins to have! It reminds me of the bizarre phenomenon known as ‘quantum entanglement’.
3. A shopkeeper with ‘The Shining’
“My local shopkeeper was convinced I was in his shop the other day (I wasn’t) with my twin girls (I don’t have kids). Either he’s got ‘The Shining’ or there’s some sort of weird multiverse shit going on.
“Let me explain. When I was in second year of uni with my friend Mel, we shared a flat with three guys, and we all watched too many horror films – including The Shining. The bit that scared me most was the twin girls sequence.
“I ended up sharing a flat with Mel for years, and she’s an archaeologist. One day she’d been looking through old files at work and found a photo of twin girls that were daughters of an archaeologist.
“That lived on our telephone table for a while; it just became a thing, I suppose.
“Oh yeah, and I also I once got pregnant when I was with still with my ex, a month after he’d dumped me, and took the difficult decision to terminate. When they did the scan it was twins. That’s why I was so freaked out!“
4. Identical wardrobes!
“My mum is a nonidentical twin. She also has a younger set of sibling twins, too. Anyway, when they were small and would go clothes shopping, my mum would go off with my Nan, and my Aunt would go off with my Grandad, then they’d meet up afterwards for lunch before going home.
“Every single time, they’d get their clothes out to show each other, and every single time, they’d have the exact same clothes! Even now at 53 years old, they still end up with the same clothes!
“Last Xmas, their partners both bought the exact same Samsung tablet, both white, both with the same protective case. Neither my mum nor aunt had asked/mentioned one. And their partners don’t ever have any contact apart from family get togethers, so they hadn’t discussed it either!“
5. Secret conversations
“I know someone who had a very faint second heartbeat at one of her very early scans, but then had a little bleed and there was only one baby born. At the time, she thought she may have lost a twin.
“When their child was about 1 and-a-half years old, they heard the them playing in their room, talking away and seemingly having a conversation with someone – but the child was all alone in their bedroom, so they got the feeling it may have been the twin that never made it.“
6. Psychic magnetism
“My mum was a twin, and when I was a kid she’d sometimes say: ‘I’ve got a feeling we’re going to see Auntie Sheila today’ and sure enough, Auntie Sheila would turn up on the doorstep.“
7. A boy she thought she knew
“I’m a twinless twin. They thought my mum was only pregnant with one baby that unfortunately died, but my mum was the one to catch sight of the second image (me) in her last scan otherwise they would’ve gone to remove my twin and killed me at the same time.
“I had to be delivered on emergency.
“I remember having a little boy I played with as a kid, but my parents say he never existed; that I’d be playing and laughing and when they asked who I was talking to, I said my twin brother’s name despite never having heard it before (they had only ever spoken it while my mum was still pregnant).
“I still remember what he looked like and everything. He’s still around me, so I’m told, like a guardian angel – which is comforting.“
8. The ‘Silent Twins’
“Twins Jennifer and June Gibbons became notorious in the ’80s when they carried out a two-woman crime spree at age 18 that resulted in both sisters being declared psychopaths and sent to England’s most famous high-security hospital for the criminally insane.
However, they already had plenty of experience being creepy before that: As kids they were known as “the silent twins” because they refused to speak to anyone but each other, and even then they used their own secret language that no-one else could understand.
The sisters had been brought up in Wales by their Barbadian parents, however, both refused to read or write during school hours. At home, however, it was a completely different story, with the pair reading
“voraciously” and filling dozens of diaries with handwritten novels and other accounts. They would give them odd names such as ‘The PepsiCola Addict’ and ‘Discomania’.
According to Cracked:
“Like all children, they liked to play games, but rather than settling for Barbies or Monopoly, they had bizarre rituals where they decided which one would wake up in the morning first or which one would breathe first, and the other one wasn’t allowed to do anything until the first one did so.”
“There’s something really quite sinister about that last story; I can’t imagine having a copy of myself controlling me and telling me what to do or when I’m allowed to do it. Shudder.”
Well, we’re almost at the end of this article, but first I felt it appropriate to finish up with my own story, so here goes:
9. He’d always felt alone
“When my granny was pregnant with my Uncle, the doctors said she’d had a miscarriage and lost the baby. Of course she was upset, but later found out she was in fact still pregnant; it had been twins. My uncle wasn’t told until he was much older, but said he’d wished he’d known sooner, as he had felt like he’d always been missing someone.“
Conclusion
Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this list of creepiest stories about twins, and I’d like to thank everyone who contributed their own unique stories to me via social media – I really enjoyed reading them!
Do you know any weird, unusual or creepy stories about twins? Perhaps you’ve experienced something yourself – in which case, let us know!
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