Most of us live our entire lives with the impression that there’s nothing more to it than what we see. But there are some people walking on this planet that are completely unaware of parts of their lives that have gone unspoken of or hidden. This one mother gave birth to her sons, only to have the world shocked 40 years later. What happened? You’re about to find out.
Though our news is usually revolved around politicians and celebrities, there are endless stories about everyday people experiencing or doing the most extraordinary things. While we question the existence of higher beings, we tend to ignore our own species’ strength, kindness, and intelligence – which in some cases can be jaw-dropping. Unusual things are happening around the world every day, yet very few of us hear about them. While, as humans, we can do incredible things, there are some stories that simply cannot be explained.
These stories are so profound, that even the most educated person on earth is left scratching their head in bewilderment.
Though we, ourselves, don’t have the answers to these stories, we can shed some light on them. You’re about to hear the story about one mother who decided to give her twin sons up for adoption, and then something unimaginable happened next. This story starts off back in the day, way back in the day. It started in 1939 when two twin boys were born in Piqua, Ohio. That doesn’t seem too unusual, right?
These two twin boys happened to be the children of a poor girl who became pregnant at 15 years old. The young mother understood that she wouldn’t be able to support her children and give them what they need. Even though it was a hard decision, she made a choice to abandon her children. After giving birth to her two twin boys, the young mother decided to give the boys up for adoption. As any mother knows, this decision is one of the hardest ones you can ever make.
When the brothers were 21-days old, they were separated.
One of the boys ended up with a family of a young couple who lived in the same city as the birth mother. At the same time, the other boy was adopted by a family who lived in another city in Ohio, one-hundred kilometers away. With such a distance between the boys, there was a low chance they would ever meet each other. Moreover, the two adoptive families didn’t know they both existed.
Both adoptive families were convinced that the other twin died in labor. The secret that’s going to be revealed was only by chance.
If someone didn’t eavesdrop on a specific conversation, this secret would have never been discovered, and we wouldn’t be here telling this story. How crazy is that! There was nothing special about the twin boys’ lives.
They both lived very ordinary lives as people. They were no different than the other children. Both went to school where they did well and later went on to graduate from college. After, they began dating and found their partners. They got married and started their own families.
They both lived normal lives without thinking for a moment that there was an unknown brother out in the world. But one small thing happened and changed everything… It’s always that one small thing that changes people’s lives.
One regular day while Lucille Louris, the adoptive mother of one of the boys, was at the courthouse getting some documents, she overheard a conversation. The conversation was rather strange between two employees. They were filing documents and talking about a case. Lucille heard a familiar name in the conversation, and though it was familiar, she couldn’t put her finger on it from where she had heard it before. And then it hit her.
While trying to figure out how she knows the person the employees were talking about, it suddenly hit her. It was the name of her adoptive son’s birthmother. She also overheard that the other boy was very much alive. But that wasn’t what surprised her the most. What really shocked her was that the other twin boy’s name was Jim.
It was the same name as her son. Well, this is starting to get a little weird. Lucille realized that her son’s twin brother was alive and adopted by another family at the same time she adopted her son. “It was hard to realize my son had a brother. I often wondered about how he lived and if he was doing alright,” Lucille said.
She continued, “But at the same time, I couldn’t, I didn’t have the right to intervene in the life of someone else’s family.” Though Lucille and her husband were open to Jim about him being adopted, and that he did have a twin brother. Even though Jim was told about his twin brother, he didn’t go searching for him right away. Maybe he was scared to meet him. It wasn’t until Jim was 39 years old that he decided to reach out to his long, lost twin brother.
To collect as much information about his twin brother as possible, he went to the district court where his adoption documents were filed. Court officials found his twin brother three weeks later. It was time for them to meet. A couple of days after Jim received the information on his twin brother, they decided to meet for the very first time since being separated. And it was the moment they met that this story takes an unexpected turn.
“I will always remember how worried I was before meeting my twin brother. I went to Dayton thinking in a little while, I’ll get to meet my closest relative.” Though Jim was a nervous wreck, the moment he saw his brother, he immediately calmed down. It didn’t feel as though he was meeting a stranger. Needless to say, the day they met was certainly the strangest day for either brother and, honestly, the world.
Thousands, even millions of people around the world, became enamored with the twins and even caught the attention of some scientists who wanted to study the two twins. But why? Why would scientists want to study these two twins? What was it about them that was so strange? Get ready, ’cause you’re about to find out.
The scientists wanted to study the twins’ biographies, learning about their interests and hobbies and other parts of their lives. What they ended up finding out was shocking, to say the least. I know many of you are wondering what was so shocking for people to find out about these twins.
But as it turned out, the answer is simple: everything about this story is surprising. Why?
Because they ended up being virtually the same person. Yes, you read that right. They ended up being the same person. I know, it sounds weird, but just wait until to find out more. Even though they were raised by different families and grew up in different conditions, the two brothers ended up living virtually the same life.
You want evidence, right? Here we go. Firstly, the boys were given the same name: Jim. But that’s not so weird, right? Things like that happen all the time.
But wait, there’s more…a lot more. It’s not just about having the same name.
When the boys were young, they both fell in love and married their girlfriends. The weird part was that both their wives shared the same name, Lena. They both had marital problems and got divorced at the same time. When the twins got married the second time, they both chose a woman with the same name, Betty. In photos, their wives also looked alike and had similar tempers.
Surprised, the scientists decided to dive in deeper. After taking a closer look into the lives of these two boys, they noticed something peculiar. First, they both became fathers to boys. Their sons were born in the same year and even the same month. Secondly, they both named their sons Allan.
The only difference was one spelled his son with two L’s and the other only with one. However, both names were pronounced the same. So, their sons were both named James Al(l)an. But this wasn’t the only weird thing to have happened. Even when the boys were growing up, they both had dogs who they named the same.
As for their education, both brothers preferred math and exact sciences, with both disliking spellings. This was all starting to look like they were leading the same life, but it was the small things that made it even weirder. They liked the same beer, smoked the same cigarettes, and ate the same foods. They both worked as deputy sheriffs, and both drove a blue Chevrolet. They both liked to vacation in Florida, even going to the same beaches.
The similarities the brothers experienced were shocking to many, even to them. But what was interesting is that both felt an emptiness their entire lives. The only time it went away was when they met each other for the first time after being separated. Once they found each other, those feelings disappeared. Psychologist Thomas Baucher studied the twins intensely to understand their closeness.
What did he conclude? Psychologist Thomas Baucher tried to get to the bottom of what was going on between the two brothers.
What he believed is that genes greatly influence one’s behavior, intelligence, and life choices. Now, that seems reasonable, right? Genetics plays an important role in the human body, but can it influence two separate people to live the same lives?
Apparently, it’s possible. But not every scientist was on board with this theory. In fact, many disagreed with him. What worried scientists are that they have long believed that babies are born with a clean slate, and their behavior is learned through experiences and encounters. This was a generally accepted concept by the scientific community, and these twins were challenging this long-held belief.
The brothers didn’t mind all the fuss over them, as they wanted to learn as much as possible about each other. It must have been nice for them! They got to kick back and let the scientists do the work. The two brothers didn’t get to see each other a lot while being studied by scientists. The scientists had them undergo various tests, mental and physical.
It turned out later that the twin brothers gave the same answers to all the written exams. They even drew similar images. All of this surprised and baffled the scientists as there are endless options people can draw.
And yet, they drew the same things. They had to write stories based on their drawings, and guess what, their stories were almost the same.
The scientists, shocked, later said they had a feeling that this was one person taking all the tests instead of two separate people. They felt that these two men were virtually the same person, just in two bodies. Scientists couldn’t wrap their heads around it; how could this be possible? The two brothers both shared similar health problems, and both were nail-biters. “The fact is that my brother and I have a lot in common.
But there is one difference: we’ve chosen different hairstyles,” Jim said.
Was this just a weird coincidence? Or are we ignoring some part of our genes when it comes to human development? It’s a curious question without many answers. Though in the case of Jim and Jim, it looks like there is much more to identical twins than we initially thought.
What do you think of this story? Is this just a coincidence, or is there something more behind it that we don’t know about? Until today, scientists cannot explain the story of these two twins. The scientific community remains divided on the issue, and it looks like they may never come to an actual answer. It’s not every day that scientists are confronted with trying to understand identical twins literally.
Yet, maybe this will bring up new questions about twins and the role of genes in children. Do we really start off as a blank slate? Or are we preprogrammed through our genes? You’ll be happy to know that the twins are now almost 80-years-old, and live close by one another.
It’s touching to hear that this story ended up with them, eliminating the feeling of emptiness and spending time together.
Now, they’re able to enjoy hanging out, even though they’re basically the same person. Will we ever find out the truth behind Jim and Jim? We hope so! This story has us on the edge of our seats; we need answers, and we need them now!