Silent Twins

In this Blog post, I will be focusing on the mysterious case of the Silent Twins. I will give a brief documentation on the case then write a diary entry for one of the sisters, June.

The Silent Twins

“No one suffers the way I do, not with a sister; with a husband, yes; with a wife, yes; with a child, yes, but this sister of mine, a dark shadow robbing me of sunlight, is my one and only torment”

On April 11th 1963 Gloria and Aubry Gibbons had twins, Jennifer and June. The family eventually moved to Linton, where Jennifer and June were raised with their other siblings. The twins grew up very close however, they were late to speaking. They were only able to say a few words, speaking very fast and made high pitched noises when they spoke. That made it hard for anyone including their parents to understand what they were saying. Eventually, they moved to Devon where they started school. At this time, race was a really big issue and they were often heavily bullied to the point that they would only talk or address each other. They didn't even do their work in school and when the teachers addressed their parents, they just dismissed it. They eventually moved to a town in whales. This town had heavy cases of racism so as a result, when the twins enrolled in a school there, they were heavily bullied to the point the teacher would let them out 5 minutes early to go home.

One day, a medical officer was at their school once, giving children vaccines. The officer described to a journalist, Marjorie Wallace, that the twins were lifeless once the shot was given. Marjorie was already interviewing the twins behaviour at this point. The officer was reasonably surprised by the twins behave so as a result, he told other people causing the twins getting sent to a psychiatric facility in 1977. Here they wouldn't talk to anyone to the point they wouldn't even talk to each other in front of others. Eventually, at the age of 14 they got sent to a special education facility because psychologists wanted to understand the girls and help them live codependent lives because they were heavily attached. The twins still only talked to each other so they were separated. Being separated did not help because they became catatonic even refusing to eat and move so they were reunited. 

At the age of 16 the girls were sent back home because they finished school. Here they spent several years locked in their bedroom, playing with their dolls, writing and performing for each other. The only time they would leave their rooms was when they wanted to watch something and even then, they would leave their parents a note saying they wanted to watch something at a certain time so that their parents would leave. When someone got home or was about to walk past them they would run back up to their rooms. They continued writing diaries and took them so seriously that they would write drafts before they wrote their diary. When they became adults, they saved money to enroll in a writing program as one person. They tried publishing several books but they were denied so they published the books themselves and even then, not many people bought them. As a result they left their rooms and started acting out doing drugs, vandalising, committing arson and stealing. They were also heavily assaulting each other. Eventually, they got arrested for their criminal behaviour and they got sent to a remand centre. Here, they started hating each other and when they were together, they wrote in their diaries how they are going to kill each other or how scared they were that the other would kill them. However when they were apart, they would talk about how much they missed the other.

Eventually, because of their criminal behaviour they were sent to a mental institution for the criminally insane. Here, they were described as disturbed and dangerous because for example one girl would starve themselves while the other would eat a lot and the next day they would swap roles. Additionally, at times, a nurse would find them frozen in the same positions. They stayed here for 11 years. Marjorie kept interviewing them and visiting them as she was intrigued by them. Eventually, they were going to be moved to another institution with lower security. Jennifer told marjorie in one of their meetings that she had to die and obviously Marjorie was shocked. She questioned Jennifer and she replied ‘because we decided.’ Basically, she meant she had to die for the other twin to live a normal life. They believed that they were one and only one of them could live normally at a time. They decided that when they leave that mental institution, one of them would die.

At the age of 31 they were both transferred to a different institution. When they arrived, Jennifer was not responding so they rushed her to the hospital. There she was pronounced dead because of a sudden inflammation in the heart. She died because of natural causes. June took 5 years to get over the fact the Jennifer died and feeling guilty for her death.

But after Jennifer the death, June became a normal person although at times it would be hard to understand her but that made sense because she had not been speaking normally for 31years, however it was evident that she was changing. 1 year later she was released from the mental institution and she continued to take her medicine. She asked to be referred to by her middle name, Alison because she wanted to new life.

June's life after Jennifer died. ( This is my imagination) This was my imagination of the diary that June wrote after Jennifer's death. I am not aware if she actually continued writing her diary and doing the drafts but I'm using my knowledge of the diary's she wrote before Jennifer's death. I write drafts in the beginning as she often wrote drafts before she wrote her diary. Wednesday 4th August 1994 Draft... I sit in the abyss of this lonely room and think to myself, how could I have ever done this do her. She was my shadow, how could you ever get rid of your own shadow. These lonely walls do not let my guilt escape. I am stuck. What should I do. I have become my own person now, without a shadow. Meaning I have to make my own decisions and be my own person. I've decided to try. If not for me then for her. Her death and this overwhelming guilt has motivated me to push myself and to be my own person. My sorrows and the intense yearning for her presence is my motivation. Her death will not be in vain. The doctors keep handing me these drugs, but I don't reject it. In fact, I am very willing to take them so that some day I may see outside of this large and pale walls of the hospital. I engage in conversation with other people now. But they fail to understand me a lot of the time, so I am caught repeating myself several times. But I try not to be affected, and keep the genuine smile on my face. Its not their fault. I try act normally, and also engage in group discussions.; smile to other people, talk to different people and even laugh at different jokes. Its actually very filling, but doesn't satisfy my guilt. I wonder, how long will this profound guilt last?