COVE

Introduction: 

Conjoined Twins can be connected at any point in their body but freak shows would often label the siblings as a two headed person. This was demoralizing for their character because they are two different people that just happen to be conjoined at a certain part of their body. They would be exploited to the public by singing, dancing, or just talking to the crowd but also endured abuse behind the scenes that would make them be the same exact person or two totally different personalities. It is cruel to make people stand in front of an audience because they look different.  Conjoined twins have the unfortunate life of being bound to one another for the rest of their lives while they are two very different and separate people with their own thoughts and personalities.

Artifact 1 : Lazarus and Joannes Baptista Colloredo

https://www.weirdhistorian.com/parasitic-twins/  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazarus_and_Joannes_Baptista_Colloredo

Lazarus and Joannes Baptista Colloredo were conjoined twins who toured Europe during the 17^th century. Joannes didn’t speak but kept his mouth open and eyes closed at all times while his upper half of his body and one leg stick out from his brother, Lazarus who would cover him up with a cloak when they were not performing to avoid unnecessary attention. This condition occurs when an embryo begins to split but does not complete the whole process so one twin stops growing while the other lives with them attached to them. Lazarus feared death because he knew if his brother were to die he would quickly follow after which resulted in him taking great care of Joannes. Lazarus was sentenced to death for killing a man but it never happened since he proclaimed that this would also kill his innocent twin brother.

Artifact 2: Chang and Eng Bunker

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Chang-and-Eng    

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang_and_Eng_Bunker

Chang and Eng Bunker were conjoined twins connected at the waist, from Siam, now Thailand, who were brought to America when they were only 17, to have a place in freak shows where they showed off their athleticism and got the name “Siamese Twins.” Newspapers and the public were initially sympathetic to them, and within three years they left the control of their managers, who they thought were cheating them, and toured on their own all over America. The brothers were linked and even signed their name ‘Change Eng’ and not two separate names. They were seen in many altercations which resulted in them paying a good-behavior bond for disturbing the peace numerous times. The twins were worried that they would be bound to their contract forever if Abel Coffin were to never return from Asia and they would never get their full freedom at age 21 like it was promised to them but they had gained their freedom and turned their whole show around. Chang and Eng were in charge of their own act and hired their own staff. They wore more American clothes, played their own games, spoke English and referred to themselves as men and not boys.

After touring in 1839, the twins bought a plot of 650 acres of land in North Carolina where they had married a pair of sisters named Adelaide and Sarah Yates. They had become American citizens and bought slaves. The couples had two separate houses about a mile apart where Chang and Eng dedicated three days each with their spouses and children. Chang had 10 children and Eng had eleven children totaling 21 children. However, the American Civil War had made them lose most of their money and slaves which caused them to go back on tour in Europe. Eng began to drink heavily and three years later Eng died in 1874 followed by his brother Chang three hours later. It was found that the brothers’ livers were conjoined when they did the autopsy. Change and Eng were two of the most studied human beings in the 1800s and their bodies are buried in Mount Airy, but one can see their conjoined liver in the Mutter Museum is Philadelphia.

Artifact 3 : Giacomo and Giovanni Battista Tocci

https://historycollection.com/16-facts-about-the-tocci-brothers-famous-conjoined-twins-who-retired-at-20/16/    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giacomo_and_Giovanni_Battista_Tocci

The twins had two heads, two necks, two ribcages that came together at the sixth rib, four arms, and two legs; they had two hearts, two stomachs, two sets of lungs, two separate diaphragms, and a shared large and small intestine. They had one umbilical cord and one placenta. Their father had a breakdown due to the appearance of his first-born sons and was put into a lunatic asylum until he recovered a month later. Their parents put them in various freakshows but were hesitant for doctors to examine them. Many doctors started showing up trying to examine them. Some doctors said they would live a short life, and some said they were entirely healthy and will have a normal life span.

The twins spoke German, Italian, and French. While Giovanni liked beer, Giacomo preferred mineral water, he was very talkative and creative while Giovanni was quite quiet and reserved but it was said that they got along so well that they could not imagine their life without each other.  In 1891, the boys came to the Americas for an extensive tour where they were labeled, “the two-headed boy” and were paid $1000 a week. Their one-year tour turned into a five-year tour as their popularity grew in the United States. They never learned to walk as they did not have muscular development in their legs due to almost all of their time being exhibited, as it made it easier for their parents to exploit them. Mark Twain was inspired by them and wrote a book called, “Those Extraordinary Twins.” After two decades of touring the twins retired at the age of twenty and lived the rest of their lives as social recluses which is why so little is known about their later life but it is rumored they may have married sisters. Their deaths are unclear, and some think they died in 1911, some say 1940, and the Guinness Book of World Records suggest that they made history and lived until 2014. Whenever the twins really died, it was far longer than the doctors initially said at their birth.

Artifact 4: Christine and Millie McKoy

https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/mccoy-millie-christine

 Christine and Millie were conjoined twins were connected at the lower spine and stood at an approximately 90-degree angle to each other. They were born in Welches Creek Township to slaves. They were picked up by many different people and brought to different places to be exploited. Their last owner and manager, Joseph Smith, made them go by his last name and paid $30,000 for them. Throughout this time, the twins were abducted twice but Smith had regained possession of them each time and brought to America to hide from Union troops that may take them. Millie and Christine performed in many freaks shows especially P.T. Barnum’s circus, where they would be forced to show off their musical talent and endure medical observations where they were known as “The Two-headed Nightingale.” They had four legs all together which made it a spectacle to watch them walk and people would label it as them dancing. They presented their personalities with their vocal talents, intelligence, and cheerful nature.

 On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation   ended their slave status, and they were no longer anyone's property. Smith traveled to Britain to collect the girls and brought with him their mother, Monemia, from whom they had been separated. He and his wife provided the twins with an education and taught them to speak five languages, dance, play music, and sing. In 1869, a biography on the twins, titled History and Medical Description of the Two-Headed Girl, was sold during their public appearances. Millie and Christine bought the original McCoy property and built a ten-room house where they lived until it burned down in 1909. Three years later, Millie had contracted Tuberculosis and died with Christine following her the next day. They were buried in a double coffin that read, “A soul with two thoughts. Two hearts that beat as one."

Artifact 5 : Daisy and Violet Hilton

 https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/the-tragic-life-story-of-the-conjoined-hilton-sisters-472a9f99f2d2

Violet and Daisy were conjoined twins connected at the hip and buttocks that were born in the early 20^th century in England. They both had their own organs and only shared blood circulation. Their mother was unmarried, so she thought the twins were punishment for her sins, so she sold them to Mary Hilton who saw them as profit. The girls would start being displayed very early in their lives at British Pubs where they would be sexually assaulted, and people would lift their skirts to see if they were really conjoined. Daisy and Violet were emotionally and physically abused by ‘Auntie’ Mary and often beaten if they did not follow what she said. Edith Myers and her husband became their official guardians when Mary died but the abuse never stopped. They all had to sleep in the same room, threatened to be sent to a special institution if they tried to escape, practiced music for hours, and if they stopped, they would be tortured. When Daisy and Violet were teenagers, they began making really good money working alongside Bob Hope and Charlie Chaplin. However, the twins did not receive any of the $5,000 that they earned each week because the Myers took all of it.

The twins would be in sideshows, circuses, and freak shows to perform with their musical talents. Harry Houdini became interested in the girls and wanted to understand more which helped them become emancipated from the Myers in 1931 and were awarded $100,000. This granted them the freedom to explore romance and relationships, but Violet would be dined a marriage license in 21 states because it was considered ‘immoral and indecent.’ They both would eventually get married, but both did not last long. In 1932, the film Freaks, would boost their fame and 10 years later they wrote an autobiography The Lives and Loves of The Hilton Sisters and then they would do another film called Chained for life. As time went on fewer people were interested in the twins and they ended up working at a grocery story. Daisy and Violet contracted the flu which resulted in their deaths in January of 1969. Daisy died first, then a few days later Violet died. They were told that they would not live even a month, but the girls died at the age of sixty years old and are buried in Forest Lan Cemetery in Charlotte.