In 1963, the Gibbons family welcomed two twin daughters, Jennifer and June. From an early age, they caused concern among their parents and others because they refused to speak English and communicated only with each other in speech that was incomprehensible to others. As the girls grew up, they made no contact with anyone, did nothing at all at school, but at home they behaved like ordinary children, reading, writing and drawing. Then they became known as the “silent twins.”

As children, Jennifer and June were always at odds with each other, which took dangerous forms. They agreed on who would wake up and breathe first, and if the choice fell on June, Jennifer had to hold her breath in the morning until she heard her sister sigh. Their familial love was strange - the girls tried to kill each other more than once.

The culmination of this confrontation was the crime of two sisters - they committed theft and arson. Mr. and Mrs. Gibbons decided that only psychiatrists could deal with the uncontrollable twins. For 14 years, June and Jennifer were confined to a specialized clinic. Towards the end of their term, the sisters gave an interview to a biographer journalist and said that they could not live normally while both walked the earth. The twins decided that Jennifer should die and June should go free. Their prediction came true - Jennifer soon died of a rare heart disease. June was declared sane, and now lives in England with her family. She refuses to reveal the mystery of the “silent twins,” which was either an ingenious childhood hoax or the result of a mental disorder.

Their story echoes the fate of twins Ursula and Sabina Eriksson, born in 1967 in Sweden. Women always got along with each other and found contact with others. By 2008, they were two accomplished women with families and good jobs.

Their lives suddenly changed during a joint trip to the British peninsula. The driver of the bus on which the women were traveling dropped the sisters off on the highway because they were acting strangely and did not agree to have their luggage searched. The twins walked to their destination straight along the road, not paying attention to the cars driving past them. An ambulance, police and journalists who were filming a report about their work came to the aid of the inadequate nurses. Then the camera captured the incredible - Ursula threw herself under an oncoming car, followed by Sabina. The women suffered serious injuries, but resisted the doctors, considering them organ sellers. Sabina tried to escape and hit the officer, but later became quiet and was released from custody. Ursula was in the hospital, and her sister, once free, found shelter in the house of a casual acquaintance. The woman showed clear signs of paranoia and eventually stabbed the man to death.

This strange story originates in 1963, when twins June and Jennifer Gibbons are born in Barbados. Known as the Silent Twins, this creepy duo used to write fantasy novels, but things aren't that simple. June and Jennifer only talked to each other! Yes, you heard it right: they ignored everyone and did not communicate with anyone except each other. This case has not yet been solved...

Their strange relationship drove them to despair - they loved and hated each other at the same time. Ultimately, one of them died so that the other could lead a normal life!

Let's find out how they are mysterious life led to crimes, a mental hospital and the mysterious death of one of the sisters...

Soon after the birth, their family moved to Haverfordwest, Wales. Known for its peace and quiet, this town and the Gibbons Twins seemed to have one thing in common - they were quiet.

At first, the sisters' parents were frightened and decided that their daughters were mute from birth. But very soon they realized that the girls understood all the words perfectly and knew how to pronounce them, but they flatly refused to communicate with others. Instead, they communicated exclusively with each other and a little with their younger sister Rose, inventing for this their own specific language, understandable only to them.

Much later, one of the psychiatrists, trying to decipher the girls' behavior, recorded their conversation on a tape recorder. She wanted to slow down the film and try to hear the words they were saying. However, in the process of slowing down the recorded conversation, it turned out that the girls spoke ordinary English, but very, very accelerated. And this fact indirectly indicated that the Gibbons sisters most likely had a high level of intelligence.

As children, the sisters were the only black children where they lived. Because of this, they were often bullied at school. This greatly traumatized their psyche, which led to their absolute isolation from others.

Because of their refusal to talk to outsiders, the twins were referred to several therapists. However, none of the doctors could force the girls to communicate with other people. In an attempt to help them overcome their perceived need for isolation, they were sent to separate boarding schools, but as a result of the separation they became even more withdrawn.

When doctors saw the negative effects of separating the twins, they asked the family to reunite them. After this, the twins spent the next few years isolated in their room.

For many of their life's troubles, June and Jennifer blamed not the world or themselves, but each other. After all, on the pages of their diaries they poured out such burning hatred for their double that reading this, the hairs on the back of the necks of the psychiatrists stood up.

Here's what June wrote about her twin, for example:

No one in the world suffers as much as my sister and I do. Living with a spouse, child, or friend, people don't experience what we experience. My sister, like a giant shadow, steals the sunlight from me and is the focus of my torment.

Everyone who got acquainted with their works noted that the scripts written by the Gibbons sisters were stuffed with a huge amount of unrealized cruelty and aggression of their authors.

For example, in one of the works written by Jennifer in those years, and called “Pepsi-Cola Addict”, a high school student, the hero of the school, enters into a sexual relationship with one of the teachers. But if caught red-handed, he is sent to correctional facility, where he is harassed by a homosexual security guard.

In another story, Jennifer drew a story in which a doctor, in an attempt to save the life of his child, kills his beloved dog so that he can use its heart in his son's transplant operation. The dog's spirit is supposedly transferred into the child and ultimately takes revenge on the doctor for his death by brutally killing him.

Another work by Jennifer, entitled “Discomania,” described the story of a young woman who ended up in a closed club at a disco, where sheer madness was happening with acts of violence and sexual perversion.

They committed a series of attacks on passers-by and each other, several thefts from shops, as well as arson, after which they were caught by the police and charged with sixteen counts...

December 3, 2017, 00:18

The Silent Twins: The Mysterious Story of the Gibbons Sisters Who Only Talked to Each Other

This strange story begins in 1963, when twins June and Jennifer Gibbons are born in Barbados. Known as the Silent Twins, this creepy duo used to write fantasy novels, but things aren't that simple. June and Jennifer only talked to each other! Yes, you heard it right: they ignored everyone and did not communicate with anyone except each other. This case has not yet been solved...

Let's find out how their mysterious life led to crimes, a mental hospital and the mysterious death of one of the sisters...

Known as the "Silent Twins", the Gibbons sisters developed a secret language that distinguished them from friends, family, teachers and classmates.

However, their strange relationship drove them to despair - they loved and hated each other at the same time. Ultimately, one of them died so that the other could lead a normal life!

Born in 1963, June and Jennifer Gibbons became known as the "Silent Twins" because they only communicated with each other.

Soon after the birth, their family moved to Haverfordwest, Wales. Known for its peace and quiet, this town and the Gibbons Twins seemed to have one thing in common - they were quiet.

At first, the sisters' parents were frightened and decided that their daughters were mute from birth. But very soon they realized that the girls understood all the words perfectly and knew how to pronounce them, but they flatly refused to communicate with others. Instead, they communicated exclusively with each other and a little with their younger sister Rose, inventing for this their own specific language, understandable only to them.

Much later, one of the psychiatrists, trying to decipher the girls' behavior, recorded their conversation on a tape recorder. She wanted to slow down the film and try to hear the words they were saying. However, in the process of slowing down the recorded conversation, it turned out that the girls spoke ordinary English, but very, very accelerated. And this fact indirectly indicated that the Gibbons sisters most likely had a high level of intelligence.

As children, the sisters were the only black children where they lived. Because of this, they were often bullied at school. This greatly traumatized their psyche, which led to their absolute isolation from others.

At the age of fourteen, the twins were sent to different therapists. It was even decided to separate them and send them to separate boarding schools in order to force them to communicate with others. This made the situation even worse.

Because of their refusal to talk to outsiders, the twins were referred to several therapists. However, none of the doctors could force the girls to communicate with other people. In an attempt to help them overcome their perceived need for isolation, they were sent to separate boarding schools, but as a result of the separation they became even more withdrawn.

After their reunion, the twins spent several years in voluntary isolation in their room, where they played with each other and wrote in diaries. There they described the dark side of their union.

When doctors saw the negative effects of separating the twins, they asked the family to reunite them. After this, the twins spent the next few years isolated in their room.

For many of their life's troubles, June and Jennifer blamed not the world or themselves, but each other. After all, on the pages of their diaries they poured out such burning hatred for their double that reading this, the hairs on the back of the necks of the psychiatrists stood up.

For example, June wrote about her twin: “No one in the world suffers as much as my sister and I do. Living with a spouse, a child, or a friend, people do not experience what we experience. My sister, like a giant shadow, steals I have sunlight and it is the focus of my torment."

Inspired by the diaries, they began writing novels about men and women involved in criminal activities. June wrote "The Pepsi Junkie," and Jennifer wrote "Fist Fight," "Discomania," "Taxi Driver's Son" and several other short stories.

Everyone who got acquainted with their works noted that the scripts written by the Gibbons sisters were stuffed with a huge amount of unrealized cruelty and aggression of their authors.

For example, in one of the works written by Jennifer in those years, and called “Pepsi-Cola Addict”, a high school student, the hero of the school, enters into a sexual relationship with one of the teachers. But caught red-handed, he is sent to a correctional facility, where he is harassed by a homosexual guard.

In another story, Jennifer drew a story in which a doctor, in an attempt to save the life of his child, kills his beloved dog so that he can use its heart in his son's transplant operation. The dog's spirit is supposedly transferred into the child and ultimately takes revenge on the doctor for his death by brutally killing him.

Another work by Jennifer, entitled “Discomania,” described the story of a young woman who ended up in a closed club at a disco, where sheer madness was happening with acts of violence and sexual perversion.

Due to the fact that publication was denied to them everywhere, the girls, having completely changed their tactics of behavior and attitude to life, unexpectedly went out onto the street with the goal of becoming criminals.

They committed a series of attacks on passersby and each other, several thefts from shops, as well as arson, after which they were caught by the police and charged with sixteen counts.

Given their deviant and antisocial behavior, the court ruled that the Gibbons twins should be placed in a secure facility, and they were sent to Broadmoor Hospital, a maximum security psychiatric hospital, where the sisters spent the next 11 years.

At the hospital, the sisters' behavior puzzled the doctors. They took turns starving. The sisters were kept in different cells at opposite ends of the hospital, but despite the fact that they were not next to each other, they often occupied the same poses and body positions, which caused some kind of otherworldly horror among the clinic staff.

During their stay in a mental hospital, the twins began to believe that in order for one of them to lead a normal life, someone would have to die. After much discussion, they both came to the conclusion that Jennifer would be the one to die.

In March 1993, doctors decided to transfer the twins to the Caswell Clinic. At that time, Marjorie Wallace, one of the famous reporters for the Guardian newspaper, would like to write about the story of the Gibbons twins. In the end she will end up the only person from the outside world, who will manage to break through the wall of silence of the sisters. One day, visiting Jennifer Gibbons at the clinic on the eve of their move to Caswell, she will hear her say “Marjorie, Marjorie, I'm going to die.” And when asked what all this means, she will answer: “Because we decided so.”

During the trip to the Caswell Clinic, Jennifer slept in June's lap with her eyes open. But upon arrival, it turned out that Jennifer had fallen into a coma in the car. Having taken her to the intensive care unit, doctors can only state her death, and an autopsy performed on the same day will show that she died from acute myocarditis - an inflammatory lesion of the heart muscle.

Such a sudden and strange death will cause a lot of gossip, but the forensic and toxicological study carried out will not find the presence of toxins or other substances in her body that could cause a person’s death.

June later told Marjorie Wallace that in the car, her sister simply put her head on her shoulder and said one single phrase: “After a long wait, we are now free.”

Jennifer was buried under a tombstone with verses engraved on granite: “ There were once two of us, we were one, but there are no longer two of us, in life be one, rest in peace» .

Even though no one really knew the bizarre and secret world of the Gibbons twins, the excerpt from Jennifer's diary speaks volumes.

She wrote: “We have become mortal enemies. We believe that each of us emits energy that stings the other like a hot blade. I constantly ask myself, can I get rid of my own shadow or is it impossible? Can a person exist without a shadow or, having lost it, does he also die? Without my shadow, will I gain life and be free, or will I die? After all, this shadow personifies my suffering, pain, deception and thirst for death.”

- modern medicine tries to separate them. Some are close to each other, some are not so close. And June and Jennifer Gibbons were simply called the Silent Twins. Because they only communicated with each other and with no one else!

Gibbons sisters childhood

The girls were born in Barbados in 1963. They developed a secret language to communicate with each other - so that no one but themselves could understand them! They did not live in Barbados, but in Wales, in the small town of Haverfordwest, as quiet as the twins themselves. Noticing how silent the girls were, the parents decided that the little ones were mute... but it quickly became clear that, in addition to each other, the sisters sometimes also with Rose, younger sister nkoy, communicate.

What is this secret language?

There was no secret language, actually. The psychiatrist recorded the sisters’ conversation on tape, then slowed it down... it turned out that they had the most ordinary English language, they just speak it very, very quickly. And since they understood the words, it means they were truly extremely smart.

Problems

Apart from the sisters, there were no black children at school. Of course, they were bullied, which led to isolation from everyone in general. Doctors decided to send the teenage girls to boarding schools separately from each other, but things only got worse. Each of the girls refused to communicate with other people except their twin. The sisters were reunited - and they locked themselves in their room, where they wrote diaries and communicated.

It was from the diaries that it became clear - no, they did not hate the world. They hated each other - that is, the direct reasons for their isolation from the world. No one, June wrote, suffers like my sister and I. This will never happen to a child, a friend, or a spouse: Jennifer is stealing the light of the sun from me!..

Creativity of June and Jennifer

Following the diaries, novels began. About criminals! "Pepsi Coke Junkie" by June. “Fist Fight”, “Son of a Taxi Driver” and “Discomania” from Jennifer. There was a lot of aggression and cruelty in the texts - for example, in June's book, a schoolboy begins an affair with a teacher, and then he ends up in a colony, where a guard tries to rape him. And in Jennifer’s story, the doctor tries to save the child’s life by transplanting a dog’s heart into him, and the dog’s spirit, having transferred itself into the child, brutally kills the doctor and takes revenge on him. They were refused publication everywhere... and the Gibbons sisters decided to go into crime.

And what kind of crime?

They attacked passers-by, and they also attacked each other. They stole from stores. Arsons were set. The arrest was with sixteen charges! As a result, the girls were placed in a psychiatric clinic - where they spent eleven years.

And in the hospital...

They were in different rooms, far from each other. But they sat in the same poses, which shocked the staff. They went hungry, one at a time, without much contact. And they promised each other that enough was enough, one of them would die. For example, Jennifer. And Jennifer really died - while moving to another hospital! Shortly before this, the famous journalist Marjorie Wallace decided to write an article about the twins - and only she somehow managed to get the sisters to talk. On the eve of her fateful move to another hospital, Jennifer told a journalist that she was going to die... because “we” decided so.

How did she die?..

She slept with her eyes open on her sister’s lap... then it turned out that she was not sleeping, but fell into a coma - acute myocarditis, that is, damage to the heart muscle. No toxins or other similar substances were found in Jennifer’s body. Only Marjorie Wallace learned from June: before her death, Jennifer put her head on her sister’s shoulder and said, “After a long wait, we are now free!”

What now?

June Gibbons lives with her parents, takes medication, sometimes even talks - a little. And in Jennifer’s diary there was an entry: we, she wrote, became mortal enemies, we stung each other with our energy, like hot blades, and I ask myself, is it possible to get rid of my shadow, will I become free without it or will I die - after all, in this shadows are my pain, suffering and thirst to die!..

Well, notes JoeInfoMedia journalist Diana Lynn, we already talked about. But here the twins managed to be so energetically strong that they simply decided to kill one of the sisters without physical intervention - and they did. It’s not clear whether to admire or cry. Perhaps, the best solution to speak out on the topic of Silent Twins will remain silent...

Black babies June and Jennifer Gibbons were born in 1963 in Barbados into the family of a housewife and a mechanic from the Royal Air Force. Soon the family moved beyond better life at Haverfordwest in Wales. The parents quickly noticed that something was wrong with the children - they were unusually silent, and were in contact exclusively with each other. At first, the parents decided that June and Jennifer had developmental delays, but it soon became clear that this assumption was wrong. After all, the girls talked!

Like many twins, they invented their own language, understandable only to the two of them. This language is called “cryptophasia” - a homemade sign system created for a narrow circle of people. Many years later, when one of the psychiatrists tried to decipher their speech recorded on a tape recorder, he discovered that the girls spoke ordinary English, just at such a speed that the sounds merged into a continuous stream that was impossible for unaccustomed ears to catch.

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At school, the Gibbonses were the only black children - the girls were bullied, so even the teachers let them out of class early so that they could avoid clashes with older students. Obviously, this did not encourage their openness, so the girls became even more withdrawn and withdrawn from the world.

Only at the age of fourteen, when the problem had reached its peak, as it seemed then, did the parents decide to take their treatment seriously. June and Jennifer were taken to therapists, and when initial treatment failed, doctors recommended separating the sisters and sending them to different boarding schools. This only made the problem worse: individually the girls became catatonic.

The parents could not bear to watch their daughters suffer and brought them together again. After this, the sisters locked themselves in a room, isolating themselves from the rest of the family, and spent a long time there, talking and putting on puppet shows, the content of which, however, was rather gloomy. The girls read their work into a tape recorder so that they could later give the recordings to their younger sister Rose.

But although the girls could not live without each other, this did not always bring them joy. This is what June wrote about her sister in her personal diary: “No one in the world suffers as much as my sister and I do. Living with a spouse, child, or friend, people don't experience what we experience. My sister, like a giant shadow, steals the sunlight from me and is the focus of my torment.”

The sisters began to write novels, which also had very creepy content. For example, June's Pepsi-Cola Addict is about a teenager who is seduced by his teacher. Afterwards he is sent to a juvenile detention center, where he becomes a victim of a gay guard. And in “The Fighter,” written by Jennifer, the fate of a doctor is described who, while saving his child, kills a dog and transplants its heart into his son. After which the spirit of the dog takes possession of the boy and begins to take revenge.

Although the sisters repeatedly tried to sell their works to magazines, they were rejected everywhere - there was too much cruelty and aggression in their novels. Then they made an even stranger decision: the girls seriously intended to become criminals. No sooner said than done. The Gibbons attacked passers-by, each other, robbed stores, and were eventually caught and taken to a maximum-security psychiatric hospital, where they spent the next 11 years.

Despite the fact that the sisters were kept in different cells, they unmistakably copied each other’s poses, even being at different ends of the hospital. This eerie synchronicity scared the doctors away. During their stay in the hospital, the twins came to the conclusion that in order for one to live a free life, the other had to die. It was decided that Jennifer would die.

When it was time to move, Jennifer laid her head on her sister's lap and seemed to fall asleep with eyes closed. But only her dead body reached the hospital. The cause of death was named acute myocarditis - inflammation of the heart; no traces of poisoning or violent death were found.

“After a long wait, we are now free,” that’s what June said after her sister’s death. Jennifer was buried, and on the tombstone they wrote: “Once there were two of us, we were one, but there are no longer two of us, throughout life be one, rest in peace.” Jennifer was only thirty.

It is known that in 2008, June lived alone near her parents’ house. She was not seen by doctors and was accepted by society, deciding to leave the past behind. In 2016, her sister Greta gave an interview in which she said that the family had big troubles associated with depriving the girls of their freedom. June accused the clinic of ruining their lives and neglecting Jennifer's health.