Video: Inseparable brothers, thanks to whom the term "Siamese twins" appeared
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
The term " Siamese twins"appeared thanks to two brothers, Chang and Eng, who were born in Siam, but were known far beyond the borders of their homeland. Most of their life was surprisingly calm - the brothers got rich, got their own home, got married and had a lot of offspring - the brothers in total there were 21 children.
Chang and Eng Bankers (Chang and Eng Bunker) were born on May 11, 1811 in a fishing village near Bangkok in the kingdom of Siam (today Thailand). Despite the fact that the boys were connected by bodies in the chest area, they had a long and relatively normal life. Scottish entrepreneur Robert Hunter discovered the brothers when they were 18 years old. He asked their parents to take the boys with them and give them a job at the circus, which is touring around the world.
When the contract with Hunter came to an end, the Bunker brothers organized a circus show themselves, continuing to perform in front of the public. At some point, they got bored of traveling to different countries and they wanted to settle down and live a quieter life. When they toured the United States, the Bunkers bought a piece of land in North Carolina. At that time, slavery flourished in the state, but the twins were considered white enough to become American citizens.
Moreover, the brothers themselves became slave owners, they bought ten slaves who worked on their plantations. At some point, the twins met their future wives - Sarah-Ann and Adelaide Aits. The girls' father did not immediately agree to bless his daughters for this marriage, but in the end, on April 13, 1843, when the twins were 32 years old, a double wedding took place, and the Baptist pastor married both couples at the Eits house. This wedding became truly scandalous, many considered this marriage "of the devil".
Both couples slept in one huge bed and one way or another, this did not stop them from leaving heirs. Chang had 10 children, his brother Ang - 11. It is difficult to say how happy they were. One way or another, over time, the relationship of the brothers' wives began to deteriorate and they tried to spend as little time with each other as possible. One of the wives even moved to another house, so Chang and Eng began to spend time alternately with one or the other of the sisters. During the Civil War, the brothers were on the side of the Confederation, and as a result, they lost almost all of their fortune, so they had to return to performing in the circus again. However, the popularity that they had before was no longer there.
When the brothers turned 57, they decided to move to Britain with their performances, but the trip was not only unprofitable (the British public was quite hostile against the "freak show"), but also tragic - Chang suffered a stroke and was paralyzed from the other side with which he was connected with his brother. Chang could no longer move as before, and Eng had to constantly support and help him. Chang began to drink a lot, which caused constant arguments with his brother. The quarrels were so intense that they decided to undergo separation surgery.
The brothers returned to America and began to look for a doctor who would decide on such an operation. However, the medicine of that time did not allow such an operation to be performed without threatening the lives of both patients, and while one doctor after another refused the Bunkers, the wives still managed to persuade their husbands to abandon this risky venture.
In January 1874, when the twins were 62 years old, Chang contracted bronchitis, which developed into pneumonia. He died at night while both brothers were asleep. Ang woke up and was horrified to realize that his brother was dead. He began to call for help, asked to urgently call the doctors so that they "disconnect" his deceased brother. However, the doctors did not have time. Three hours after Chang's death, Eng also died. Eng was not struck by pneumonia, and doctors diagnosed a heart attack. Today, Chang and Eng have more than one and a half thousand descendants.
History is no less interesting Daisy and Violetta Hilton - Siamese twins, in whose life there was everything: love, and betrayal, and the world of glamor and intrigue.
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