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FREAKS
:
The
Sisters of Mystery |
Date
Added
DEC 2003 |
Twins Greta and Freda Chaplin are
Britain's sisters of mystery. A quirk of nature has created them
totally identical in mind, body, behaviour and even emotion.
They are absolute mirror images of one another; living so perfectly in
unison that they sometimes conjure up the idea that they might have
been cloned in the style of only the wildest of science fiction
fantasies.
They have been called 'The Terrible Twins', 'The Pests' and various
other names in a blaze of newspaper publicity which has driven them
into deep retreat from prying eyes. And, as though they were
singing in duet, they say together with impeccable timing: 'We want to
get away from people staring at us, laughing at us... the unkindness.'
It is true that their bizarre, unrequited love-in-tandem for a
Yorkshire lorry driver landed them in a courtroom and at the centre of
controversy. But, equally, they have become victims too;
time-warped back to the days of the Victorian peep show by a new
public lust for the true freak.
Greta and Freda, 39, spent six weeks in jail between May and June
1981. They were sentenced after a series of court warnings to
stop their 20 year pursuit and harassment of 56 year old neighbour Ken
Iveson, the unwilling object of their duel passion. Medical
experts called to give evidence admitted that they were completely
baffled by the twins' exact physical and mental make up, let alone
their illegal duplicity. The judge who sentenced them released
them two weeks early 'as an exercise purely of mercy'.
Lorry driver Iveson, who lived near the twins in Moore Avenue, York
for many years, later explained: 'Wherever one went, the other was
walking behind. They never played with other kids in the street
when they were young. My trouble with them began when I ticked
them off for throwing torn newspapers in my parents' garden.
After that, they were always hanging round me and pulling faces at me.
Their obsession grew and grew. They followed me everywhere,
popping up from behind walls.'
Into adulthood, the infatuation followed, until a mighty legal
hand fell at the same time upon the shoulders of Greta and Freda.
Now they live together in a hostel in York, maintaining their
remarkable double act.
They have always worn the same clothes, even to the extent as
schoolgirls of swapping a sock each if their mother sent them out in
different pairs. And, uncannily, they burst into tears at the
same time at the slightest hint of being separated. They sob:
'Nothing will ever make us hate each other. We will always do
everything together.'
On the twins' release from prison, a social worker gave them each a
bar of soap as a present. The bars were different colours, so
they cut each in two and swapped halves. Their eating habits are
identical. They have been seen to put food in their mouths
simultaneously and finish their meals at precisely the same time.
Their powers of telepathy, explored to the limit of current
understanding, remain as mysterious as their facsimile lifestyle.
Sometimes they speak in unison. Sometimes one begins a sentence
and the other finishes it.
Dr Wilfred Hume, of Leeds University Department of Psychiatry, who has
studied Greta and Freda at length, has said: 'I have never come across
anything like this case. They are very dependant on each other.
And now they have got to this stage in their lives it is unlikely they
will change. The only problem is going to come when one of them
dies. The remaining one would either cope, eventually, after a
period of stress, or, perhaps more likely die shortly afterwards.'
Following their release from jail, Greta and Freda reported to a local
hospital everyday for occupational therapy. Their efforts would
include flower arrangements and handicrafts, and very often their work
was identical.
The twins still do their shopping together, carrying their identical
purchases in identical plastic bags, from the same local supermarket.
According to their social worker at the hostel: 'They are free to walk
away from here whenever they choose. But they don't want to go.
They do absolutely everything together. I have never seen them
apart.'
In a frank interview with the London Daily Star, Greta and Freda have
spoken of the strange mental bond that ties them together like
inseparable Siamese twins. At school, they say, they always
insisted on sitting together, and would scream if any teacher tried to
separate them. And, speaking virtually in unison, they add: 'We
have always been like this, all our lives. Speaking together
just comes naturally to us. We do everything together, we dress
the same, have a bath together and we like the same kind of food.
We go everywhere together. We are never apart.'
Sadly, and almost like fairytale caricatures of themselves, they
explain public reaction to them: 'People are always looking at us,
laughing in the street. But they hadn't better say anything.
No they hadn't better. People have been hurtful and unkind to
us. We want to find a nice place of our own to live together.
We must be together. Nothing interests us much. We are
only happy together.'
Dr David Westbury, of Winterburn Hospital, Tees-side, who has also
studied the twins in depth, says: 'There is certainly no medical
explanation or medical solution. All that can be done... has
been done.' Which means that Greta and Freda Chaplin must
remain, together, sisters of misery. |
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