Pop culture will identify the twins as creepy according to the Grady Sisters from the shinning but science considers them fascinating. Twins have played a big part in the study of Nature vs. Nurture. Researchers have been captivated by these genetic photocopies. Science however fails to explain some of the coincidences that occur with twins that are identical. The tales involving the twins combine the real and uncanny; from the identical twins who earned perfect scores to the British school that has admitted 20 sets of twins. Read on to get more…

1 Twin mothers who gave birth on the same day 

Twin sisters Aimee and Ashlee Nelson had an exciting New Year’s when they both gave birth within a two hour span to their respective sons, in an Ohio hospital. It was unexpected for them since their due dates were two weeks apart. Ashley’s call to her mom came two hours after Aimee’s, saying that she was headed to the hospital. Aiden, Ashley’s son was born at 2.03 pm some hours after Donavyn, Aimee’s son who was born at 12: 11 pm.(source)

2 The 20 sets of twins in a British School

A middle school in Lincolnshire, England, is in the Guinness book of records for having 20 sets of twins in attendance. They blew the record of a previous holder by 12 sets! Incredibly, six sets of the twins are in 7th grade, a phenomenon even the teachers can’t explain. The twins are hard to tell apart since the school requires students to be dressed in identical blue and white uniforms. Due to this, teachers are thinking of getting the twins little name badges to pin on the lapels of their blazers.(source)

3 Identical twins who got re-united after 35 years

Paula Bernstein and Elyse Schein were adopted by different parents after being separated at birth. Their lives were so much similar though. They were both editors of their high school newspapers, studied film at their respective universities and finally became writers. They realized this only after they met for the first time at the age of 35, in 2003. They also found out that a scientist had separated them deliberately and hidden the truth from their adoptive parents. He was carrying out a controversial study of Nature vs. Nurture. He stashed the research in an archive in Yale University with the knowledge that it would be criticized. We cannot exactly pinpoint how he tracked their lives or what his final take was on the study but the twins have a conclusion of their own. “Since meeting Elyse, it is undeniable that genetics play a huge role – probably more than 50 percent,” Bernstein told the Telegraph. “It’s not just our taste in music or books; it goes beyond that. In her, I see the same basic personality. And yet, eventually we had to realize that we’re different people with different life histories.”(source)

4 Identical twins who earn perfect ACT scores.

College entrance exams are dreaded by high school students looking to join colleges. The ACT and SAT’s are only aced by exceptional students. However, in 2008, Brian and Ross DeVol, identical twins from Nebraska, managed to both earn perfect ACT scores.(source)

5 Identical twins adopted from China by two different Ontario families live 250 miles apart.

The Shaws and MacLeods received the good news of the successful approval of their adoption application on Christmas Eve, 1999. They were each to adopt a Chinese girl. They were both part of a small Canadian based adoption agency but didn’t previously know each other. It didn’t take long however for them to notice the similarities of both girls when they shared photos of their soon to be kids. The Chinese orphanage assured them that they were not twins but after picking them up in China, there was no mistaking and a DNA test proved it. The two families became friends after this and promised to raise the girls as sisters regardless of the 250 mile distance between them. The twins, Lily and Gillian, still visit each other after every eight weeks and constantly email each other. They would both like to see each other more often but agree they would not change their situation since it wouldn’t be as interesting.(source)

6 Identical twins that on the same day, broke the same arm.

In 2004, identical twins Mitchell and Elliot Cocks from Manchester, England broke their left arms. Mitchel fell off his backyard slide while Eliot tripped over the base of the same slide hours later. On check up at the hospital, the twins were found to have broken both their left arms.(source)

7 The couple that got two sets of identical twins. 

For more than a decade, Stephen and LeAnn Beloyan, had struggled to get pregnant. They were therefore very excited when their doctor informed them that were expecting twins. Another surprise came 7 weeks into the pregnancy, when the doctor informed them that they were not only expecting one but two sets of identical twins. Doctors put the odds of getting two sets of identical twins at one in 25 million and theirs was a rare occurrence. LeAnn gave birth on 7th June 2005, to Lauren, Sarah, Benjamin and Samuel in that order, each a minute apart from the next.(source)

8 Identical twin children from identical twins.

The year 1998, in Twinsburg, Ohio, at the annual Twin Day Festival, Identical twin brothers Mark and Craig Sanders met identical twin sisters, Diane and Darlene Nettemeir. They got serious and on a trip to Las Vegas got lucky at poker. They took these odds to their favor, got engaged on the same day and later married in a joint ceremony. They built their homes side by side in Texas and despite the odds of one to a million, one of the couples, Craig and Diane, got identical twins of their own.(source)

9 The “Twin Jims” 

These twin set beats all the other twins’ stories out of the picture. Jim Lewis and Jim springer were born in 1940. They were adopted by separate families who named them James. They grew up 45 miles apart from each other, married twice -first to women named Linda and later to women named Betty, had children and named their sons James Allen and both had dogs named Toy. After 39 years of separation, they were reunited in 1979. They were both recruited for a study that found their results extraordinary. They shared the same medical histories, habits and a fondness for Chevy’s. They both vacationed on the same beach in Florida and had woodworking workshops in their garages. Beat that!(source)