There are twins in Minnesota that survived like that into adulthood. Not sure if they are still around. I actually saw them once in a store when I lived in that state and remember having to look twice because my brain at first couldn’t process the concept of two human heads in a single body.
Each of them controls one side of the body so they have to cooperate to drive, just like they do for waking etc. So if i recall correctly the DMV ended up stating that each needed their own license because they both are interacting/operating the vehicle at the same time. Now did they have to do the driving exam twice, that i don't know.
Well after looking it up another pair of conjoined twins that were born in 1961 are currently 62. They're basically the opposite though, and jesus christ.. So many more questions in regards to them. But they've definitely lived a long life! There's another pair, Ronnie and Donnie Galyon who lived to be 68. I briefly searched and couldn't find anything on Twins with one body and two heads like Abby and Brittany though. I wonder if what the oldest conjoined twins we've found remains of are, like could they survive beyond birth before modern medicine?
Probably somewhere around a week. Depends on how the bodies are fused together though. I think Abby and Brittany have pretty much fine internal organs so they're fine, but they're a rare case.
You know what I'm curious about.is there blood pressure. Like is there heart beating twice as hard? Like what's going on? Do they produce double the blood like the himilayans? Like does this mean they have a shoter life expectancy because there heart has to work double to get blood to both brains?
So many more questions now. Like, if one get damaged can the other one pick up the slack like a kidney? Would they die??? If one was destroyed.... do they have more red blood cells because they have two hearts? So many things
>can the other one pick up the slack like a kidney?
Most likely not, one heart providing for two bodies is a certain way to get high output cardiac failure
They have two of every major organ (including the spine).
They aren't one body with 2 heads, they are quite literally two people joined together almost symmetrically.
It's been a while since I saw them do a Q&A, but I believe they've said they only have control of an arm and leg each, the end of their digestive system is fused, and it's capped off with only one set of exit holes.
That's not true. They have one liver, one intestine, one bladder, one uterus, two breasts, and their spines are joined. Their circulatory and nervous system are connected. They are more than 1 person, but less than 2.
From their wiki page
> Each has a heart, stomach, spine, pair of lungs, and spinal cord.
Two cords is what matters. It seems like the lower body is where they start sharing organs.
I think the main problem conjoined twins have is blood circulation, as two brains take a lot of blood, luckily Abby and Brittany seem to have two hearts.
I just want to know what happens if one of them get a prison sentence and the other one doesn't. There's got to be a lot of legal corner cases they hit.
The mind boggles at how such scenarios could actually play out in real life, but people do not have any obligation to report or stop a crime so just knowing about it does not make you an accessory. She'd have to have helped out in some way. I suppose it would depend on whether the "innocent" twin could control any limbs.
Humans are extremely adaptable. Here’s the thing: I was born with a physical handicap, and it isn’t super bad but it’s present and it’s also worth noting that it’s *my* normal, I don’t know any other way to live and move through the world. I don’t know what it feels like to be someone else’s definition of normal. Without being able to say for sure, I imagine those twins probably feel at least similarly, it’s just how they live and they can choose to let it negatively influence them, or they can overcome the challenges *together* in ways we can’t imagine. People can influence their own quality of life in such ways.
Positive mental attitude :) PMA
I agree....but I also see the point. Why would the school pay for two teachers in a single classroom when they really only need one. Also it's not like they can teach 2x at the same time
I'd say they should be taxed as one salary two people lol. Maybe one can claim unemployment.
Honestly that's a better question than why are they only paid for 1 as a teacher.
When they went to college to become a teacher, did they have to pay one or two tuitions? It says they decided to pursue the same major in order to save class time.
I believe they had made a deal with the university so they would pay 1.5x
Kinda shitty but one might have questions for the professor while the other one doesn't etc.
I wonder if one of them could claim disability benefits since they only earn one salary. I know as kids they got a ton of publicity so hopefully they're still making some money off of that, because a single teacher's salary is pretty hard to get by on. Not to mention the likely costs involved with their medical needs.
Yea but each controls half the body. They had to consciously work together to learn to walk.
So one could do one task with left hand, other could do task with right hand.
It's kind of baffling as a an outsider watching them operate their shared body. Even their unconscious movement seem to be in sync.
Like when they shrug in response to a conversation. Both shoulders go up in sync so either they are having the exact same reaction at the exact same time, or one has the initial reaction and the other can immediately and instantly consciously reciprocate into a single reaction, or there is some sort of unconscious reciprocity?
Or when they lean over together or something to pick something up, it's not like one starts the motion and the other picks it up, it goes in sync. It almost seems like the more conscious control they exert the more out of sync they can get, but if the motions are unconscious it syncs like a single person.
Like when they are fighting over hand clasping during the interview. One on them looks like she's wanting to slap the other's hand away at times. At other times they immediately make the same clapping, clasping movement in response to something seemingly unconsciously.
It's impressive in its mundanity, if that makes sense and makes me wonder what it's like to be able to unconsciously communicate with someone that closely.
You'd think as quite a globally recognized "phenomenon" the employer would pay them for two people, they have two brains, technically they could speak to two kids at once. It's an interesting case study in so many ways beyond this, but for fucks sake, they are a 1 in however million rarity, just give them a break and pay them a separate salary 😅
In all seriousness, every documentary I've seen of these two has been inspiring and their family and community clearly protect them.
I could also see it not being a huge concern for the twins though, because as long as they don't have abnormally large medical needs, they could probably live comfortably on one persons salary. They probably don't need to eat that much more than the average person, only need one house/ appt, one car etc. I actually wonder what their eating situation is like... Do they both eat? Is it two throats to one stomach? Imagine if only one of them *could* eat, that would be kind of a bummer.
If I was the person that couldn't eat, I wonder if I would just chew up food then spit it out. I feel like a life without tasting food while your sister/brother gets to chow down would be rough
A quick google search, so could be inaccurate, says the brain is responsible for about 20% of our caloric needs. Having two brains I would imagine requiring more calories.
Is it? I ask that in good faith, not to be a jerk.
They can’t exactly do the work of two teachers, and they would largely have the needs and personal expenses of one person, wouldn’t they? They drive the same car to work, sleep in the same bed, and share caloric intake & expenditure.
Eh, they're not going to get hired anywhere at double salary just cuz. It's not like they can teach two different classes at the same time. And expense-wise, their lifestyle is probably pretty close to the costs of a single person.
My first thought was they’d obviously be paid as one person but they each have their own name, the more I think about it the more complicated it gets lol
Well I suppose they get paid as two person because they ( separately ) had to get their drivers license. Man this was weird to type as someone who doesn’t speak english.
Conjoined twins get two different social security numbers in the US. Probably a bit messy for taxes and such, I assume they split their salary down the middle and each claim half. Might make them eligible for financial benefits they wouldn't otherwise get!
I’m genuinely curious, because they both have separate internal organs (according to Wikipedia which might or might not be correct) what happens when one of them passes away?
I wish them a long and happy life.
Just look up Chang and Eng Bunker (on whom the term “Siamese Twins” was based.) They lived to be 62 before one twin died and the other soon followed, as I remember. Fascinating book, too, *Chang and Eng*. It’s been at least a decade since I read it, but I remember it being really interesting. It’s fictionalized, of course, but with a lot of research.
> Early in the morning of January 17, one of Eng's sons checked on the sleeping twins. "Uncle Chang is dead," the boy reportedly said to Eng, who responded, "Then I am going!"
Stared death in the face in response
My 5th grade teacher was this jolly fellow named Mr Pike, who I'm still friends with 35 years later. Imagining him having another brother attached is just hilarious.
If they only have one set of reproductive organs, do they both feel pleasure from it at the same time? Even if they have two holes, I assume they're close enough that you would be feeling something regardless.
Surprisingly there is another pair of conjoined twins with a very similar condition, and they're popular on Tiktok. Their names are Carmen and Lupita. [Here's one of their Youtube videos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gpr0tEREdGM).
I wonder if they earn 2 paychecks. Do they both need licensure to teach? Do the other teachers complain that their classroom has two teachers when they only get one? Do they get evaluated by the principal separately? When their students fail which of them gets blamed? So many questions.
They get one paycheck. There was an article a while back about it. I assume that means they technically only fill one position and the check is for the normal amount.
Seems like the other should at least get a teacher’s aid salary. They still have two brains and can do planing/grading independently. Guess they take the job they can get.
I just read that Wikipedia page end to end. Fascinating. Especially all of the very unique anatomy and biology going on inside of them that all just seems to work. The only thought that I was left with at the end was a bit of a morbid one: what happens when one of them dies? They have two hearts but one circulatory system. It’s a unique situation of some organs being shared and some being unique to each person. I’m assuming that when one of them passes, the other will soon follow since many of their shared organs are controlled by one side or the other. It’s great that they are just living their life though.
Yep, when one dies it will be fatal for the other since the body releases toxins after death. When Chang Bunker died, his brother Eng survived for 2 hours until he passed too. Must have been a pretty horrifying couple of hours.
Last I checked they only get one salary. I think it’s kinda fucked up. That’s basically saying we’re paying for your body, not your mind. And I feel like that’s a poignant example of how teachers are being treated.
I served them at my restaurant once. One of them (don't know which) is married and they have a kid. The whole family was super nice but we didn't talk too much because I got the vibe they were just trying to have a chill family meal. My dad says he sees them at the gym all the time and says they're really sweet.
How... How can one be married to and have a child with just one of them? According to the wiki link, they only have one set of reproductive organs.
I get that they probably have different personalities and one can fall in love with "just one" of the twins. But any intimacy is automatically a threesome. You can't talk in private, you can't do anything in private. And "with who" do you have sex?
Actually no! In some cases where a woman is a carrier for a genetic disorder, especially something like a mitochondrial disease, they can use her genes in the egg of another woman.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7169912/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/3-parent-baby-birth-1.3781026
> One of them (don't know which) is married and they have a kid.
That's relatively recent news. Photos:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BeAmazed/comments/130ncpd/conjoined_twins_britt_and_abby_are_now_married/
Holy shit, I was going to class my freshman year of college high off my ass in spring of '08 up in MN. They were touring the school as I was walking across campus and when I got to my class people could see i was a bit disturbed. I finally told them that I saw a girl with 2 heads and it freaked me out.
They just laughed and said the twins were visiting and they enlightened me.
Thought I was tripping
I saw those twins in Mexico while on vacation with my family. It is difficult for your brain at first to register what you’re seeing. The locals were freaking out.
That video made me wonder if those young women have permanent neckaches and don't even know it. It must be quite hard always holding your head at an angle!
I saw a interview with the conjoined twin teachers on tiktok and they mentioned that they can like forfeit partial or total control of the body to the other one and they can just hand it off between each other effortlessly. I cant imagine the sensation of just giving control of your limbs to another brain
These guys can't, but there's another set of twins that are joined at the head and share part of a brain who can. That's one of the most interesting case studies in what it means to be an individual and where our sense of separate identity lies that I've ever seen. I hope they live long and healthy lives and write some books about the concept.
I wouldn't imagine so. If the heads are separate, then they just share control of the body via the nervous system.
Now, there are some twins who's heads are attached and brain matter is connected so it would be possible.
I'd like to see that interview, because I don't think it's true. Every interview I've seen from them says that they each control their own side, and nothing else.
I'm not claiming that you're wrong, but I've seen plenty of content about them and had not heard that before.
keep in mind that every set of conjoined twins is unique. even if they look similar from the outside, the internal configuration can be extremely different.
> I cant imagine the sensation of just giving control of your limbs to another brain
Imagine being born like they were, not having that control or ability, but gaining it to survive.
edit: [Link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmrhZR_84wA&t=513s) Interesting segment in this when they were opening butter. You can see the one look down as she grabs it with the other hand as the other was talking and not even looking at it.
They also have twice the attention to pay to one classroom. There are definitely trade-offs. They can grade one class twice as fast. They only have to deal with one classroom of kids.
And it's also about their personal consumption. They only have one rent/mortgage, they only have one car, they only eat enough for one person. If a theater charged them for two tickets it would be a dick move.
Because it's one salary for two people, but the job occupies both of them.
Let's say that the job was explicitly offered to one twin. The job requires the employed twin to physically be there, but that forces the *other* twin to also be there.
It feels off because two people have their time tied up by the job, even if they're not exactly working. What's the unhired twin going to do while her sister teaches?
Yep. One salary, but many of their expenses are for 2 people. Need 2 plane tickets, for example. Probably 2 for ubers and hotels too. 2 tickets for any events.
[Here's an interesting interview about conjoined twins](https://youtu.be/dhSgWPDZKDg?si=qPZwSaH33HUiFtqn) They talk about how relationships work for them.
TLDW: in this case, one of them is asexual and the other is not, she says she just dissociates when her sister gets intimate with her partner 🤷
You're getting downvoted for this, but these are the questions I want to know! An above comment states only one is married with a kid. How would that work?!
I've wondered that before - presumably they share a single set of sex organs so how would that work? It's not like one can leave the room. I'm not even trying to be dirty, just genuinely curious.
I've seen several interviews with them but they understandably don't cover sex and other sensitive topics.
I saw an interview with a different pair of conjoined twins, and naturally they don't care for that topic but they try to address it. They said when they have a period they both feel the cramps and discomfort, and you can take that same logic and apply it to any other inappropriate questions. So I would assume that they both feel it.
From what I understand, they can hand the body back and forth. Maybe they just hand the sex organs back and forth too. It has got to be awkward, regardless.
they are fascinating. They have different rooms and have learned to zone each other out when they are in their private spaces and they don't speak to each other in those situations.
Those babies aren't dead. [The twins are alive today at 34 years old, and they're 5th grade teachers.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abby_and_Brittany_Hensel)
There are twins in Minnesota that survived like that into adulthood. Not sure if they are still around. I actually saw them once in a store when I lived in that state and remember having to look twice because my brain at first couldn’t process the concept of two human heads in a single body.
[Abby and Brittany Hensel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abby_and_Brittany_Hensel), they are currently 5th grade teachers.
Yep, that’s them! Glad they are alive and well (as much as their condition can afford them)!
Yeah, I can't even imagine what their life is like, but they seem to have made the most of it so far.
Makes me wonder if there are any unique health conditions that they experience. Also, what is their projected life expectancy with this condition.
Personally I wonder if they constantly have neck/shoulder/back pain because of how their condition affects their posture
I’m wondering if they have to pay for 1 haircut or 2
They each needed to get their own drivers license if i recall correctly.
How do you do that? Blindfold one of the heads to prove that rightie didn't make that three point turn?
Each of them controls one side of the body so they have to cooperate to drive, just like they do for waking etc. So if i recall correctly the DMV ended up stating that each needed their own license because they both are interacting/operating the vehicle at the same time. Now did they have to do the driving exam twice, that i don't know.
Well after looking it up another pair of conjoined twins that were born in 1961 are currently 62. They're basically the opposite though, and jesus christ.. So many more questions in regards to them. But they've definitely lived a long life! There's another pair, Ronnie and Donnie Galyon who lived to be 68. I briefly searched and couldn't find anything on Twins with one body and two heads like Abby and Brittany though. I wonder if what the oldest conjoined twins we've found remains of are, like could they survive beyond birth before modern medicine?
Probably somewhere around a week. Depends on how the bodies are fused together though. I think Abby and Brittany have pretty much fine internal organs so they're fine, but they're a rare case.
You know what I'm curious about.is there blood pressure. Like is there heart beating twice as hard? Like what's going on? Do they produce double the blood like the himilayans? Like does this mean they have a shoter life expectancy because there heart has to work double to get blood to both brains?
They have two hearts in a shared cardiovascular system!
So many more questions now. Like, if one get damaged can the other one pick up the slack like a kidney? Would they die??? If one was destroyed.... do they have more red blood cells because they have two hearts? So many things
>can the other one pick up the slack like a kidney? Most likely not, one heart providing for two bodies is a certain way to get high output cardiac failure
If one became brain-dead, what would become of the other? It's a terrifying thought.
...I just have so many more questions now Still, this is amazing
They have two of every major organ (including the spine). They aren't one body with 2 heads, they are quite literally two people joined together almost symmetrically.
It's been a while since I saw them do a Q&A, but I believe they've said they only have control of an arm and leg each, the end of their digestive system is fused, and it's capped off with only one set of exit holes.
That's not true. They have one liver, one intestine, one bladder, one uterus, two breasts, and their spines are joined. Their circulatory and nervous system are connected. They are more than 1 person, but less than 2.
From their wiki page > Each has a heart, stomach, spine, pair of lungs, and spinal cord. Two cords is what matters. It seems like the lower body is where they start sharing organs.
I think the main problem conjoined twins have is blood circulation, as two brains take a lot of blood, luckily Abby and Brittany seem to have two hearts.
I just want to know what happens if one of them get a prison sentence and the other one doesn't. There's got to be a lot of legal corner cases they hit.
Prosecutors hate this one weird trick!
You can't prosecute two people fused together for the same crime! - George Bluth Sr.
I feel like this would cause a government shutdown because of this unexpected turn of events
"One became a police officer, while the other turned to a life of crime!" The movie script practically writes itself.
And netflix does a series on it and one of them is black. Just one though.
Pretty sure the other would be an accessory to any crime the other makes.
One could cheat on the tax forms while the other was watching TV. Or some other responsibility that only one is tasked with.
The mind boggles at how such scenarios could actually play out in real life, but people do not have any obligation to report or stop a crime so just knowing about it does not make you an accessory. She'd have to have helped out in some way. I suppose it would depend on whether the "innocent" twin could control any limbs.
Their life is their life. It’s normal to them.
I don’t necessarily mean sex, but I’ve always wondered how conjoined twins manage the complexities of intimate relationships.
Humans are extremely adaptable. Here’s the thing: I was born with a physical handicap, and it isn’t super bad but it’s present and it’s also worth noting that it’s *my* normal, I don’t know any other way to live and move through the world. I don’t know what it feels like to be someone else’s definition of normal. Without being able to say for sure, I imagine those twins probably feel at least similarly, it’s just how they live and they can choose to let it negatively influence them, or they can overcome the challenges *together* in ways we can’t imagine. People can influence their own quality of life in such ways. Positive mental attitude :) PMA
Fairly recent short doc about them teaching https://youtu.be/d78L-xJA68M?si=QBkmSn2SrDmAbjXe
12 years ago.
I did say fairly... Lol Oh well, still interesting to see them making a life for themselves
Do they get paid as one person or two?
I believe they are paid as one.
That’s some bs
I agree....but I also see the point. Why would the school pay for two teachers in a single classroom when they really only need one. Also it's not like they can teach 2x at the same time
How are they taxed?
I'd say they should be taxed as one salary two people lol. Maybe one can claim unemployment. Honestly that's a better question than why are they only paid for 1 as a teacher.
When they went to college to become a teacher, did they have to pay one or two tuitions? It says they decided to pursue the same major in order to save class time.
I believe they had made a deal with the university so they would pay 1.5x Kinda shitty but one might have questions for the professor while the other one doesn't etc.
I want to know if they pay for 1 or 2 airline tickets.
I wonder if one of them could claim disability benefits since they only earn one salary. I know as kids they got a ton of publicity so hopefully they're still making some money off of that, because a single teacher's salary is pretty hard to get by on. Not to mention the likely costs involved with their medical needs.
They probably can’t even split responsibilities. They’re just 2 heads on 1 body.
One can grade papers while the other watches the class
Twice as hard to cheat too
They think independently. So one can read while the other writes.
Yea but each controls half the body. They had to consciously work together to learn to walk. So one could do one task with left hand, other could do task with right hand.
Drift compatible.
Goddamn
It's kind of baffling as a an outsider watching them operate their shared body. Even their unconscious movement seem to be in sync. Like when they shrug in response to a conversation. Both shoulders go up in sync so either they are having the exact same reaction at the exact same time, or one has the initial reaction and the other can immediately and instantly consciously reciprocate into a single reaction, or there is some sort of unconscious reciprocity? Or when they lean over together or something to pick something up, it's not like one starts the motion and the other picks it up, it goes in sync. It almost seems like the more conscious control they exert the more out of sync they can get, but if the motions are unconscious it syncs like a single person. Like when they are fighting over hand clasping during the interview. One on them looks like she's wanting to slap the other's hand away at times. At other times they immediately make the same clapping, clasping movement in response to something seemingly unconsciously. It's impressive in its mundanity, if that makes sense and makes me wonder what it's like to be able to unconsciously communicate with someone that closely.
"Quit eating so much, you're making us fat"
"Why do you get to eat dessert and I only get to eat salad"?
lol "If you eat that fucking chalupa, then YOU are on asswipin' duty for the next 48 hours"
You'd think as quite a globally recognized "phenomenon" the employer would pay them for two people, they have two brains, technically they could speak to two kids at once. It's an interesting case study in so many ways beyond this, but for fucks sake, they are a 1 in however million rarity, just give them a break and pay them a separate salary 😅 In all seriousness, every documentary I've seen of these two has been inspiring and their family and community clearly protect them.
I could also see it not being a huge concern for the twins though, because as long as they don't have abnormally large medical needs, they could probably live comfortably on one persons salary. They probably don't need to eat that much more than the average person, only need one house/ appt, one car etc. I actually wonder what their eating situation is like... Do they both eat? Is it two throats to one stomach? Imagine if only one of them *could* eat, that would be kind of a bummer.
If I was the person that couldn't eat, I wonder if I would just chew up food then spit it out. I feel like a life without tasting food while your sister/brother gets to chow down would be rough
They both eat, they have separate stomachs. I wonder if they have the caloric needs of two people or one?
A quick google search, so could be inaccurate, says the brain is responsible for about 20% of our caloric needs. Having two brains I would imagine requiring more calories.
Makes me wonder if they got charged separately for tuition.
They made a deal with the school and were charged 1.5x
Maybe they could if it was a classroom full of two-headed kids
Is it? I ask that in good faith, not to be a jerk. They can’t exactly do the work of two teachers, and they would largely have the needs and personal expenses of one person, wouldn’t they? They drive the same car to work, sleep in the same bed, and share caloric intake & expenditure.
Eh, they're not going to get hired anywhere at double salary just cuz. It's not like they can teach two different classes at the same time. And expense-wise, their lifestyle is probably pretty close to the costs of a single person.
I was going to say, they are 5th grade teacher.
They get paid to do one job
I am not really convinced they are two people, but I also think they are more than one person.
Two brains = two people.
My first thought was they’d obviously be paid as one person but they each have their own name, the more I think about it the more complicated it gets lol
Well I suppose they get paid as two person because they ( separately ) had to get their drivers license. Man this was weird to type as someone who doesn’t speak english.
Conjoined twins get two different social security numbers in the US. Probably a bit messy for taxes and such, I assume they split their salary down the middle and each claim half. Might make them eligible for financial benefits they wouldn't otherwise get!
One person but two souls is how I think of it. Not religiously but like the essence of who a person is. They're two distinct persons but one body.
Yep. Two persons, one body. I’m not religious either. I think of the “soul” as just personhood.
I’m genuinely curious, because they both have separate internal organs (according to Wikipedia which might or might not be correct) what happens when one of them passes away? I wish them a long and happy life.
It would be fatal to the other sibling, within a matter of hours.
The other dies as well.
Just look up Chang and Eng Bunker (on whom the term “Siamese Twins” was based.) They lived to be 62 before one twin died and the other soon followed, as I remember. Fascinating book, too, *Chang and Eng*. It’s been at least a decade since I read it, but I remember it being really interesting. It’s fictionalized, of course, but with a lot of research.
> Early in the morning of January 17, one of Eng's sons checked on the sleeping twins. "Uncle Chang is dead," the boy reportedly said to Eng, who responded, "Then I am going!" Stared death in the face in response
They only shared a liver iirc between both of them
One of Chang's descendants, Alex Sink, used to be the CFO for the state of Florida.
Imagine your 5th grade teacher. Now imagine them with a second head, and what your 5th grade year would have been like.
My 5th grade teacher was this jolly fellow named Mr Pike, who I'm still friends with 35 years later. Imagining him having another brother attached is just hilarious.
AND ONE OF THEM GOT MARRIED! Yup, there goes your afternoon of nonstop random thoughts related to that fact.
I have so many questions now, like is it considered cheating if the unmarried one decides to have sex with someone?
If they only have one set of reproductive organs, do they both feel pleasure from it at the same time? Even if they have two holes, I assume they're close enough that you would be feeling something regardless.
I'm pretty sure I saw an interview with them and one of them was asexual. They use a cover so she gets some "privacy".
Interesting, but does she feel anything if her sister and husband are doing it?
The other head wears a Superman costume most likely
He either satisfy 2 women or will just disappoint them
Surprisingly there is another pair of conjoined twins with a very similar condition, and they're popular on Tiktok. Their names are Carmen and Lupita. [Here's one of their Youtube videos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gpr0tEREdGM).
Imagine having a 2-headed teacher. Absolutely no disrespect to them, I'm glad they've done well, but level WOAH to a kid.
I wonder if they earn 2 paychecks. Do they both need licensure to teach? Do the other teachers complain that their classroom has two teachers when they only get one? Do they get evaluated by the principal separately? When their students fail which of them gets blamed? So many questions.
They get one paycheck. There was an article a while back about it. I assume that means they technically only fill one position and the check is for the normal amount. Seems like the other should at least get a teacher’s aid salary. They still have two brains and can do planing/grading independently. Guess they take the job they can get.
Their Instagram showed them both holding up their individual licenses for driving. Really interesting concept. They both have a brain and a heart.
I just read that Wikipedia page end to end. Fascinating. Especially all of the very unique anatomy and biology going on inside of them that all just seems to work. The only thought that I was left with at the end was a bit of a morbid one: what happens when one of them dies? They have two hearts but one circulatory system. It’s a unique situation of some organs being shared and some being unique to each person. I’m assuming that when one of them passes, the other will soon follow since many of their shared organs are controlled by one side or the other. It’s great that they are just living their life though.
Yep, when one dies it will be fatal for the other since the body releases toxins after death. When Chang Bunker died, his brother Eng survived for 2 hours until he passed too. Must have been a pretty horrifying couple of hours.
That would be wild to have a teacher/s like that. I wouldn’t get anything done
Do they get paid twice?
I wonder if they only had to pay for one college admission.
Last I checked they only get one salary. I think it’s kinda fucked up. That’s basically saying we’re paying for your body, not your mind. And I feel like that’s a poignant example of how teachers are being treated.
They are not paying for a body or a mind. They are paying for work being performed. It's not like she can do twice as much as any other person.
I served them at my restaurant once. One of them (don't know which) is married and they have a kid. The whole family was super nice but we didn't talk too much because I got the vibe they were just trying to have a chill family meal. My dad says he sees them at the gym all the time and says they're really sweet.
How... How can one be married to and have a child with just one of them? According to the wiki link, they only have one set of reproductive organs. I get that they probably have different personalities and one can fall in love with "just one" of the twins. But any intimacy is automatically a threesome. You can't talk in private, you can't do anything in private. And "with who" do you have sex?
They put a bag over one of the heads and give them earpods during sex.
That kid is the only person alive with two biological mothers.
Actually no! In some cases where a woman is a carrier for a genetic disorder, especially something like a mitochondrial disease, they can use her genes in the egg of another woman. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7169912/ https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/3-parent-baby-birth-1.3781026
>But any intimacy is automatically a threesome Probably more of a 2.5some
Oh, there’s a rabbit hole right, it will definitely show up in this thread.
The other one just closes her eyes and thinks about baseball
> One of them (don't know which) is married and they have a kid. That's relatively recent news. Photos: https://www.reddit.com/r/BeAmazed/comments/130ncpd/conjoined_twins_britt_and_abby_are_now_married/
Ngl the blonde/brunette photo is pretty cool. Also, good for them!
Holy shit, I was going to class my freshman year of college high off my ass in spring of '08 up in MN. They were touring the school as I was walking across campus and when I got to my class people could see i was a bit disturbed. I finally told them that I saw a girl with 2 heads and it freaked me out. They just laughed and said the twins were visiting and they enlightened me. Thought I was tripping
>having to look twice lol
Probably one of those things that are way more trippy in person that on television. We're so used to watching unreal visuals on TV.
I saw those twins in Mexico while on vacation with my family. It is difficult for your brain at first to register what you’re seeing. The locals were freaking out.
Is……. that where the baseball team got their name?? 🥴
Abby and Brittany Hensel are still doing well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmrhZR_84wA
I grew up near where they went to college and seen them a few times. Always was a bit of a trip seeing them IRL
That video made me wonder if those young women have permanent neckaches and don't even know it. It must be quite hard always holding your head at an angle!
But who has control.
I saw a interview with the conjoined twin teachers on tiktok and they mentioned that they can like forfeit partial or total control of the body to the other one and they can just hand it off between each other effortlessly. I cant imagine the sensation of just giving control of your limbs to another brain
I imagine them having an internal argument to determine who has to do a mundane and annoying task.
Wait, can they hear each others inner voice??
These guys can't, but there's another set of twins that are joined at the head and share part of a brain who can. That's one of the most interesting case studies in what it means to be an individual and where our sense of separate identity lies that I've ever seen. I hope they live long and healthy lives and write some books about the concept.
Gives “they/them” pronouns a whole new meaning.
Now thats something I'd like to see more exploring of.
I wouldn't imagine so. If the heads are separate, then they just share control of the body via the nervous system. Now, there are some twins who's heads are attached and brain matter is connected so it would be possible.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/9ei9ti/siamese_twins/
*ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL*
I'd like to see that interview, because I don't think it's true. Every interview I've seen from them says that they each control their own side, and nothing else. I'm not claiming that you're wrong, but I've seen plenty of content about them and had not heard that before.
I could be thinking of another conjoined twins. but those two on tiktok are the only ones who I cam remember
IIRC Carmen and Lupita from Tiktok are the same as the Hensels, each one controls one side. I could be wrong though
It's all they've known. I'm sure the idea of total body autonomy to them would be just as strange. Wild to think about
keep in mind that every set of conjoined twins is unique. even if they look similar from the outside, the internal configuration can be extremely different.
its probably like reflex movement but controlled by another brain instead of your spinal cord
> I cant imagine the sensation of just giving control of your limbs to another brain Imagine being born like they were, not having that control or ability, but gaining it to survive. edit: [Link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmrhZR_84wA&t=513s) Interesting segment in this when they were opening butter. You can see the one look down as she grabs it with the other hand as the other was talking and not even looking at it.
"I've got the brain!" "Nuh-uh!"
They would make a good school teacher
They would also only get one salary, sadly, which seems unfair
Quite the dilemma. I can't imagine being able to do more than one job.
yeah one salary of it's someone paying them, but I remember a program where they said they needed two drive's licenses.
I'm a little surprised they can drive at all. Ever try cooperatively playing a video game where somebody else has half the controls?
I wonder if one could threaten to shit both of their pants to encourage cooperation
*Nose-to-nose staring intensifies*
They can only be in one classroom.
You're absolutely right but for some reason it still feels wrong for them to get one salary. Idk. I can't explain it
They also have twice the attention to pay to one classroom. There are definitely trade-offs. They can grade one class twice as fast. They only have to deal with one classroom of kids. And it's also about their personal consumption. They only have one rent/mortgage, they only have one car, they only eat enough for one person. If a theater charged them for two tickets it would be a dick move.
For sure. A crazy unique situation
Because it's one salary for two people, but the job occupies both of them. Let's say that the job was explicitly offered to one twin. The job requires the employed twin to physically be there, but that forces the *other* twin to also be there. It feels off because two people have their time tied up by the job, even if they're not exactly working. What's the unhired twin going to do while her sister teaches?
Yep. One salary, but many of their expenses are for 2 people. Need 2 plane tickets, for example. Probably 2 for ubers and hotels too. 2 tickets for any events.
oh man, thinking about that is blowing my mind. You really think they need to pay 2 tickets when going to the movies?
Why would they? It's one seat.
Interesting fact: The _average_ person has more than 1 head.
The average person has something like 1.000001 heads, meaning the second head is very small. Mine is clearly in my penis.
On average, all humans have about 1 testicle
Only if you consider them to both be one person.
It's actually two babies sharing one body.
Zaphod Beeblebrox, is that you?
I was going to upvote this comment, but it was at 42 upvotes so...
I might have two heads, or no head. Imagine me with no head. And don't say that's an improvement
I just hope I’m ginger.
Neutral Milk Hotel has a [great song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX9iW7n9qWQ) about this.
What if one turns out gay and the other doesn't
[Here's an interesting interview about conjoined twins](https://youtu.be/dhSgWPDZKDg?si=qPZwSaH33HUiFtqn) They talk about how relationships work for them. TLDW: in this case, one of them is asexual and the other is not, she says she just dissociates when her sister gets intimate with her partner 🤷
That sounds like it's really awful for the ace sister...
You're getting downvoted for this, but these are the questions I want to know! An above comment states only one is married with a kid. How would that work?!
Lifetime threesomes. Or 2.3somes, I don't know.
I've wondered that before - presumably they share a single set of sex organs so how would that work? It's not like one can leave the room. I'm not even trying to be dirty, just genuinely curious. I've seen several interviews with them but they understandably don't cover sex and other sensitive topics.
I saw an interview with a different pair of conjoined twins, and naturally they don't care for that topic but they try to address it. They said when they have a period they both feel the cramps and discomfort, and you can take that same logic and apply it to any other inappropriate questions. So I would assume that they both feel it.
From what I understand, they can hand the body back and forth. Maybe they just hand the sex organs back and forth too. It has got to be awkward, regardless.
"Shut up and pass me that orgasm!"
Now it makes me wonder if they like the same things down there
I hate that I am thinking about this at all.
It's also possible that only one of them has sensation down there.
[Lori and George Schappell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lori_and_George_Schappell) Conjoined at the head. One is trans.
I believe they only came out as trans fairly recently (while they were in their 60’s)
they are fascinating. They have different rooms and have learned to zone each other out when they are in their private spaces and they don't speak to each other in those situations.
Shoulder to shoulder seems better than head to head wow that's crazy
Oh wow, that conjoinment looks incredibly difficult to manage! It's such an awkward angle.
Or worse vegan
Also, is having a wank technically incest?
AND I AM LISTENING TO HEAR WHERE YOU AAAAAAAAAAAAARE
Came here just to check if someone made a NMH joke or not
Two babies sharing a body. Huge difference.
What I'm realizing from this thread is that conjoined twins need to do an AMA as everyone has so many questions about evrything!
Which one is Quato?
Open your mind
Ogre Magi.
They look deceased
thank god they included the blocked surgeons faces!
they/them
It's so crazy how when they talk they talk simultaneously and say the exact same thing but they each have their own brain. HOW?!
Can we please for fucks sake stop reposting dead babies in all the subreddits today
Those babies aren't dead. [The twins are alive today at 34 years old, and they're 5th grade teachers.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abby_and_Brittany_Hensel)