The mirror is my best friend, because when I cry it never laughs.
Charlie Chaplin
Remember asking your parents where babies come from? If they told you it was a stork or a garden; you probably grew up in a sitcom. If your parents were biologists though, they might have told you the boring truth. But every once in a while something a little different goes down.
To form identical or monozygotic twins, one fertilised egg (ovum) splits and develops into two babies with exactly the same genetic information. To form fraternal or dizygotic twins, two eggs (ova) are fertilized by two sperm and produce two genetically unique children
Biology
The result is twins. Whether identical or fraternal – twins have are usually the centerpiece of conversation.
Twins have always fascinated the dissimilar. We tend to pry into their identities. Asking what it’s like, or how’s it feel. Through childhood and adulthood alike, twins are objectified by the world around them.
When broken down to its smallest component though – the fascination with twins is rooted in one singular fact – only twins comprehend being a twin.
“Twinship” Cannot Be Explained – Even By Twins
Twinship. The unique manifestation of metaphysical bonding between twins. Secret languages, extrasensory perception, and telepathy have been observed countless times by their parents. Twins themselves claim to experience Mirror-touch synesthesia – the ability to feel one another’s physical pain, even when thousands of miles apart. The darker aspects of Twinship are then amplified by humanity’s primal fear – The Unknown.
The Mystery that is Cryptophasia – The Secret Language of Twins
Cryptophasia is a phenomenon of a language developed by twins (identical or fraternal) that only the two children can understand. … Most linguists associate cryptophasia with idioglossia, which is any language used by only one, or very few, people.
Twin language is real – the question begs, is it a real language? The difficulty in researching and understanding Cryptophasia is because it manifests between twins during the same phase of childhood as general language skills for native tongue. Children learn to talk long before they learn to write, and the language itself is so unique to the siblings that to try and translate would be almost impossible. It is a language though. Characterized by specific words and responses and does not rely on additional body language or prompts to communicate the intent. When twins stop speaking in cryptophasia the makeshift language can easily become forgotten.
There are a few cases where observant parents took comprehensive notes and were able to capture some of the words and phrases.
Poto and Cabengo
Twins Grace and Virginia Kennedy grew up in San Diego in the 1970s. They devised a sophisticated language among one another, even assigning themselves names to fit their esoteric talk. Poto and Cabengo were how they referred and responded to each other.
In this situation, the cryptophasia stuck around for much longer than average. At 6 years of age, the girls couldn’t speak English and continued to communicate exclusively in their own code.
Grace: “Dugon, haus you dinikin, du-ah.”
Conversation between Grace and Virginia Kennedy in Cryptophasia
Virgina: “Snup-aduh ah-wee diedipana, dihabana.”
Unexplained Cases of Terrifying Twinship
As stated above, only twins can understand their bond. Even in documented cases of longterm psychiatric observation – we on the outside can do little more than stare into a world not meant for us to tread.
The Silent Twins – June and Jennifer Gibbons
Without my shadow, would I die? Without my shadow, would I gain life, be free or left to die?
Jennifer Gibbons
Twin sisters Jennifer and June Gibbons were born in Barbados in 1963 but moved to the United Kingdom shortly after. They became known as The Silent Twins. They only spoke to each other. To the rest of the world – they offered only silence.
They would walk together through town in a manner of sync that baffled observers. Teachers reported that if separated at school they would begin to show signs of illness and eventually lose consciousness. Later in life, violent behaviors began to manifest between them leading to attempts to murder one another. They were hospitalized for a decade until they seemingly reached a morbid agreement. One would die so the other could live a normal life.
Jennifer Gibbons died shortly after. Her cause of death remains a mystery. Marjorie Wallace, a journalist who conducted a series of interviews with both twins while in hospital was present when Jennifer placed her head on June’s shoulder, spoke her final words then closed her eyes and died. Wallace shared Jennifer Gibbon’s last words on NPR.
At long last, we’re out.
Jennifer Gibbons departing words to twin sister June.
Want to know more? A documentary was made about the Silent Twins.
Testimonials
I’ve stated before that only twins can truly give us a look into the strange occurrences that hallmark their relationship. The following are testimonials from actual twins highlighting their twinship’s strangest instances.
Twin knew that his brother was in trouble a minute after a vehicle scare
Twin here, In high school I was out four wheeling with a friend at the time. My twin on the other hand was about 50 miles away from me at work. While screwing around that day I flipped my buddies truck and almost got us killed. So being in the middle of no where with no cell service we figure out a plan to get help. A few hours later after we make it back home an into cell service I see I have a missed call from my twin. I give him a ring to tell this crazy story about wrecking a truck. He answers in a panic, asking me if I’m okay and what happened. Slightly caught off guard I ask what do you mean. He said he was working and at the exact time I flipped this truck into a ditch he was hit with this wave of something going terribly wrong. He knew it involved me but didn’t know what had happened. After the phone call I look at my phone to realize his call came in one minuet after I had crashed the truck. Throughout our lives there has been other instances of this.
Anonymous Redditor
She fainted for the first time in her life when her sister passed away
I’m a complete scientific skeptic and… aware there is nothing supernatural about this, but it’s still very odd. Around the time (the same hour) that my twin sister [passed], I fainted for the first time in my life. I was not aware she had died (it was an aortic aneurysm, totally out of the blue; she was 23 and healthy). I was at work and just… collapsed to the floor with no warning and was unconscious for around five seconds…
I got the call to go to the hospital, as she had been taken in. She had already [passed] at home though. Worst day of my life.
I actually hate telling people this because of the supernatural connotations, but there you have it. It was just an odd coincidence and I don’t have any thoughts otherwise. I even asked the doctor about it, but I’m not sure he actually believed me.
Redditor /u/marilokisky
Their cravings sync up
We were [partly] raised by our grandma, who always made no-bake cookies. It was like a daily thing – you know, just what grannies do. Well, [my] twin had been off to college for about three years; my grandma [no longer living] for the last eight. Anyway, we were likely… years without grandma’s special cookies.
So one night I made them, and while I was finishing up the old-time granny cookies, I got a text from the twin: “Bet you wish you had some of these…?” I replied with “WTF” and a pic of my batch of granny’s cookies. Still haven’t made them since.
Redditor /u/meowmeow806