twins

The disturbing mystery of the twin Gibbons (and why one of them had to die)

These two sisters life talking to himself between them in an unintelligible jargon for the rest of us passed. But they wrote a diary and several novels

"Once tried two / Both were one / We were not plus two / One through life / Rest in peace".

This is the poem that can be read on the gravestone of Jennifer Gibbons. His twin sister , June, wrote to say goodbye to what was for decades its only interlocutor. His shadow until he died in strange circumstances when both decided that one of them had to be sacrificed so that the other could have a normal life.

"Silent twins" as they are popularly known, were born on April 11, 1963 in Barbados. His father, a technician from the British Air Force was assigned to a detachment in Wales, and the family became a 'rara avis' of a quiet village, Haverfordwest, where migrants were conspicuous by their absence.

The sisters were inseparable and communicated in a jargon that almost nobody understood. Although his behavior was strange and he turned quite abnormal when they started going to the Welsh school. Since they were the only black class and only spoke to each other in their own language, they were the perfect target of bullying , what further separated from the rest of the world.

'Silent Twins'.

'Silent Twins'.

As tells the journalist from The Sunday Times' Marjorie Wallace in his book 'The Silent Twins' , the bullying was such that the twins had to leave the class early to avoid suffering the taunts of his classmates off the school. At this time, his language became more extravagant, until almost completely separated English and became unintelligible to the rest of the world. At one point, the twins stopped communicating even with his parents spoke only with her younger sister, Rose, who became his only connection to reality. Wallace was, in fact, one of the few people who managed to make friends with the twins this past time, in the eighties.

But his communicative disconnection with the rest of humanity was not the most surprising of the sisters.Almost everyone used the same word to describe their behavior: "zombie" Both They performed exactly the same movements, as if possessed, and were virtuallyindistinguishable.. Several doctors tried unsuccessfully to establish communication with the sisters, or at least understand what was going through his head, but ignored them completely.

At 14, the sisters were separated in different schools to encourage socialization. The remedy was worse than the disease : as they were not together, entered catatonic.

Looking release

Since it was impossible to separate them and no way to communicate with them, the twins had to remain confined at home or, rather, in his room, where years spent perfecting his extravagant relationship but also writing, the only activity that apparently carried out by separate.

His diaries are the only way of knowing what was going through his head, and it's something creepy. "Nobody suffers like me, not a sister," said June in his diary. "With a husband, yes; with a woman, yes; a son, yes;but this my sister is a black shadow that is stealing sunlight me, it's my only torment. "

Jennifer, who was born 10 minutes later, he saw his older sister as someone more capable in every way: stronger, smarter, wittier ... Meanwhile, June was the envy of her younger sister: "She wants us to be equal . There is a murderer glint in his eyes. Dear God, I have fear of it.It is not normal ... someone is going crazy. It's me".

"I ask myself if I can get rid of my own shadow, if possible or impossible. Without my shadow, will I die? Without my shadow, will I get a life?"

Although no one is clear what their relationship was based, this seemed to be based on mutual contempt coupled with fear that one of the two killed the other, which, they thought, could kill both. "We have becomemortal enemies , " says Jennifer in her diary. "We feel annoying deadly rays bouncing our bodies, pounding each other's skin. I ask myself if I can get rid of my own shadow, if possible or impossible. Without my shadow, will I die? Without my spare, will I get a life? Will I be free or let me die?Without my shadow, I identify with a face of misery, deception and murder. "

The main street of Haverfordwest in the nineties. (Manfred Heyde)The main street of Haverfordwest in the nineties. (Manfred Heyde)

His diaries were not the only way in which the twins voiced theirconcerns. Both represented from small intricate works of theater with their dolls, they used to tape to give them to her sister. But shortly after start composing a day-when the got for Christmas 1979, with 16 years, also began to write novels.

The sisters tried by all means to publish their stories in magazines, and sent their texts to many publishers, but had no choice but to self-publish their books. Something strange, given the themes of the same. 'Pepsi-Cola Addict', the work of June, is about a teenager who is seduced by his teacher and sent to a reformatory where you have to combat harassment of a gay guard. In 'The Pugilist' by Jennifer, a doctor tries to save his son's life and it kills the family dog to transplant his heart; the spirit of the dog lives in the child and, in the end, comes from the father.Jennifer is also 'Discomania', the story of a young girl who discovers that the atmosphere of a club of his people inclined young people to commit violent acts.

It can only be one

Perhaps because of his literary failure, the twins looked for another way to draw less attention ethereal: they set out to steal, trying to suffocate each other and cause a fire, an activity that ended seating them on the bench. The judge ruled that their antisocial behavior was dangerous to society and sent to a psychiatric high - security prison where they were diagnosed with schizophrenia.

During his stay in the hospital, they began to believe that, necessarily, one of the two would have to take his

own

life

The twins remained locked up in Broadmoor Hospital 11 years, during which they gorged themselves to antipsychotic drugs, which, of course, ended his literary career -although completing their newspapers-followed.They even though the sisters spent the day drugged, took it upon themselves to make life miserable for their captors. There were seasons when they took turns to eat: one gorged and another fasted completely.The nurses separating them into different cells punished, and at opposite ends of the hospital, and found them as frozen in the same position for hours. Despite this, both began to communicate with other inmates, hospital staff and family.

It was in these years when Wallace made public the story of the twins and was able to meet with them. In Broadmoor sisters they told him that long ago had reached an agreement that if one died the other would start talking and lead a normal life. During his stay in the hospital, they began to believe that, necessarily, one of the two would have to take his own life and, after discussing for a long time, concluded that it must be Jennifer, the little sister who sacrificed himself .

"Marjorie, Marjorie, I'll have to die , " Jennifer told the reporter. When Wallace asked why, his answer was clear: "Because we have decided."