The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 231 - The Siamese Twins - Chang and Eng

Episode Date: December 30, 2016

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine the first famous conjoined twins, Chang and Eng of Siam. SOURCES TOUR DATES REDBUBBLE MERCH 

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you're listening to the dollop what then let's we'll cut it out in post I don't think so talk to the editor to know what you're like talk to the editor you listen to the dollop this is a bi-weekly American History podcast each week I read a story to a very rude man my name's Dave Anthony and the rude man's name is it's like Garrett Threadles who has no idea what the topic is going to be about which I don't even know if that connects or cares to be slightly professional I'm being very professional I'm in a tuxedo cat and coughing in inappropriate times I am this is he first of all he's a majestical beast this

may as well be a furry unicorn he's a furricorn so you you pet him when he's in your orbit and secondly I'd like to be who I am I I like me my wife likes me you're not my kids like me no that's just that's the speech from planes trains and automobiles John candy can't you can't you can't get out of this that way okay not Gary Gara okay someone or something is tickling is it for fun and this is not gonna come to tickling clock okay you are queen fakie of made-up town all hell queen shit of lies though a bunch of religious virgins go to mingle and do what free may 11th 1811 11 set a cockney 11 I actually I met I met I

met someone who speaks speaks cockney sure well it's an accent that they speak English 1811 I'd never met a person who speaks cockney before they're real no but it's a cool I like to hear all accents yeah get a taste of the flavor well there's YouTube you know I mean you don't need to it doesn't I mean look I don't want to anyway may 11th 1811 but again you know if you're really enticed by these accents you can hear them you don't have to wait for someone to walk through your door as all I'm saying anyway May 11th a 11 I know there was gonna be a salt a 11 night twin boys were born on a fishing boat in a Thai

village near Bangkok wow all right yeah wow well you know that's what happens if you Bangkok you get two babies out of it huh back then Thailand was known as the kingdom of Siam why they changed it we don't know the twins were connected by a band of flesh just below one side of their rib cages see now you didn't reveal that and I'm also now yeah it already it already is worrying me already well yeah I'm putting it together as much as the flesh between those two boys they're Chinese parents so they were Thai with Chinese parents Chinese parents who lived in Thailand okay name the boys Chun and in okay Chun and that meant

left and right mm so they were keeping it really super family names super literal we're naming him after uncle left and grandpa right well they're connected so that one will call left and that one right but wait should it be their left or our left oh god oh boy of course the villagers saw two twins being connected as a bad omen obviously it's 1811 a village midwives would not touch the twins because they thought they would be cursed if they did isn't that just such an easy thing to figure out it whether or not you're cursed by touching the babies yeah whether or not like if you touched the Siamese twins that you

are cursed did you call them Siamese twins well twins to conjoin twins sorry horrible term okay okay see wait a minute you are these the right brothers I thought you were putting stuff together but you're not Dave Dave you're the foolish one here some you're thinking I got it some in the village wanted to put them to death why can't you just kill left and keep right that's a good saw him off others decided it would be a good idea to separate them they came up with ideas like suspending them over a wire that would slowly cut through the connective area what were some of the bad ideas I don't know were there any I'm

sure they were horrible all right well jump to the wire cutting ceremony a hatchet or using a couple dogs chew them apart what about a crows let's put carrots on sticks attach them to their heads and get them to run in opposite directions real fast that's actually what they did their mother protected the boys and hid them away and the twins learn to function and prospered as young boys they learned to run play and swim together and we're just as nimble as other children well yeah well you can be nimble with just as nimble just as just as nimble I wouldn't they be if you're fucking hustling four legs there's so

much instinct in what we do so you have you share a brain with a son or you have a separate brain and share a body it feels like but I think that they instinctively would be doing the same thing really yeah even with separate brains betcha it's like Laverne and Shirley at the beginning exactly like Vernon Shirley being so active help stretched stretch their connecting ligament right so they're stretching it so they're there can join by taffy it's like a it's like it's a lot yeah it's elastic he it's like what you find in your underpants all right I want to move on because the twins were such a

rarity they became rather famous and eventually came to the attention of the tie king Rama the third uh-huh the king liked the boys so much he made them his personal diplomats and took them on his trips as representatives of good will okay that's that's great as a show of faith these boys are connected yeah so the a I mean is the the angle there I guess is a little bit like it's just kind of rare yeah I think so here seems like here are a rare connected boy as you can see when I hire a worker he's got two heads yeah stick with me when the boys were eight years meet left and right I don't know if it's all right or

they're right nobody knows just look at the taffy in between them and that's the good place to focus on it's a very sore point don't bring it up yeah so when they're eight years old a cholera epidemic hit Thailand their family was not spared of their father and five of their brothers and sisters died well so just pretty pit pretty hard yeah yeah now the twins had to become the main breadwinners for the family okay there's still family left yeah but I think they're the oldest or something okay right right really care enough to do that sure sure sure sure sure to do this they went back they sorry they went

into the duck and duck egg trade uh-huh okay village people would come out to the riverbanks to watch them trading up and down the river okay okay okay so they're trading ducks and duck they're getting in the duck and egg game sure which is a big game up shirts it's huge right okay didn't realize there was such a boom oh it was giant right back then okay 18 20s you're talking tons of eggs oh right the duck era this went on for a few years then when they were 13 a Scottish trader named Robert Hunter saw Chun and in hello his eyes just turned a dollar signs Jack bloody pot do you mind a's deceive me what is that boy twice

Hunter sold imported goods in Thailand like European fabric Western medicines and weapons and he was trusted by the Siamese government and was allowed for a lot to move freely more than like a normal foreigner would be so he was fishing on a boat in 1824 when he saw the boys quote they were naked from the hips upward were very thin in their persons they were naked from the hips upward yeah so that's the weirdest way to call someone shirtless that it I mean you know it makes it sound so pervy it's a longer version they were I was one bit of pants away from seeing their dicks like their pants they had no

shirts on it was duskin a bit dark Hunter thought he was looking at a strange animal with two heads bloody hell kill it then he realized they were conjoined twins I got nothing capture it yeah put it in a box right Hunter tried to talk the king and the boys mother into letting the boys tour in exhibitions in the United States in Europe telling them there was lots of money to be made in the booming market of Oriental curiosities oh that is just you do not so you know look here's freakish Asians about here's the deal anytime a white man comes to your area and talks about big upside with like

some grandiose scheme where you can't really like check him probably say no yeah I based on the dollop I would avoid anytime it's like locked it's like every locked up abroad episode it really is like anytime a white guy comes in with like a crazy idea that's where yeah if it's too good to be true it probably is but the king ended up denying they were can they sing can they dance it anything like that which one good juggle can I left that's about punching each other that's it right great show unbelievable but just beautiful left the hell's your problem it's making you look unbelievable out there you look

like you don't know what you're doing right stealing the spotlight literally it's not big enough for both bodies hunter hunter was persistent and continued trying five years past that's when hunter teamed up with American Abel coffin here's another thing Abel coffin there's a guy okay named Abel coffin do anything he said let's just change these few red flags into the Chinese flag at this point it's that it's the red flag iest of red flags yeah you know I don't know if we should let the boys go but and I don't often showed up Jimmy dead boxes yeah and his wife for sure they'll

die so coffin was a veteran mariner and trader who was interested in curiosities he had made trips to see white elephants tied up in stalls as well as the royal family of a Laos that was chained they had been captured and chained by their legs and arms so I guess in the Kingdom as I am they had captured the Laotian royalty and that's a curiosity they just have a chain up somewhere like and that wait and that is sorry and he is he is touring that yeah well you know what to go see it okay that's interesting like wanted to tour it hey where you're tied up royal sorry but is it is there not is that not curious when

a key undoes the ailment I mean it's not it's not a typical curiosity in the sense that they were born that way but it is curious to see super rich royal people chained up I mean if you could go see the the the British Royals chained up would you of course I mean I'll I'll like get a tent please free me Charles wants to get out of here please I'll do anything let me out of here grab his ears don't shoot his ears his ears he's getting mad if I ever get out of this cage you an idiot let's go to the souvenir store so they're just on display the king is kids okay hunter should coffin showed coffin the twins and

coffins mind exploded okay we knew these two joined boys could make tons of money because white people love to look at shit like that coffin and hunter together pushed the coffin and hunter I mean it just it's that they're not it's not a great it's like if you call him hunter and coffin I mean there's a chronology to them it's a bad omen yeah so they they pushed the king to allowed the boys to leave and they promised that the boys would be away for just a few years and their mother would be paid $3,000 as I soon was a shitload of money about hopefully it worked so in 1820 years is quite a

while too yeah when the boys turned 18 they set sail on coffins ship for Massachusetts okay their mom was only paid $500 oh wait what already she got up front they're fucking how do you not get how do you not close that deal if they're probably like no we're gonna get it off the show no no no drop the money then I let the boys lose no the boys let the boys no no no look I sold twins before not joined one well hey I'm not an idiot you drop the money I let the boys go how do I know they can get on the boat all right boys test getting on the boat and then I'm gonna oh god damn it here's 500 shit the boys enjoyed the

ship running and jumping and showing off their agility to the crew one brother sometimes climbed the ship's mast quote no no no both one brother sometimes climbed the ship's mast quote the other following as well as he could without complaining honestly makes it even more of a feat because he only has the one guy only has one arm yeah well no he has two arms they have two arms they both have two arms okay okay they're just joined by like flesh in between so they're too light they have four legs yeah okay see I was kind of picturing yeah they share some organs but I think well who doesn't I mean you know it was the

1800s yeah yeah of course he did yeah wait they arrived in Boston in 1829 I'm sure those the people were very very ready to accept them with open arms is this the but this is the story of when someone invented batteries to throw that's when they get to Philadelphia they were in an alien land with only a rough grasp of like for the first few months they had an interpreter chun and in had their names changed to Chang and yin okay or simply Chang yin okay Chang was on the left and was on the right sure they but we still don't know doesn't our left their left it really doesn't matter state stage left or yeah

they were introduced to the American public by Hunter and Coffin on August 17th 1829 under the banners of the double Siamese boys hmm and the monster oh yeah don't teach them English no don't teach them don't let them know what these signs say the monster father can we see the monster I suppose Hunter is not heard it's so terrible yeah for especially like the one again don't take the deal don't take the deal I've got great news a boat trip away nope nope so Hunter was that's it for him we don't hear from him again he's just off probably went back to Asia you know back to right his deal there

yeah he was finding other curiosities they brought on a new manager James Hale and who claimed he came up with the term Siamese twins okay which is you know for very long time was what we called people can join yes now we don't right now we call them together's mmm he said it would attract more attention than calling them Chinese okay right because Chinese is so well known what Chinese were thought of as a higher higher in status than Siamese okay because they were lighter in color and taller whereas the Siamese were shorter and darker and based on how things went in the 1820s that's how you determine I'm honestly

shocked that somebody put that much that that somebody would allow even a tier to racism that's interesting Jangan and we're shown we only kind of hate them kind of a little bit yeah not like these Siamese monsters Jangan and we're shown in hotel parlors and concert halls from Vermont to Louisiana and back again always performing for packed crowd what are they doing well they're billed as the eighth one or the world okay admission is 25 cents but seventh and eight could go as high as 50 cents depending on demand okay which is a actually a pretty fucking some sets nice markets at first the twins just stood on

stage showing how they walked and ran and answered and answered questions from the audience okay people be like like let's see you walk all right how about now quicken up the pace okay what's your favorite color red these guys are great hey but they quickly became bored of this and soon were amazing audiences with somersaults and backflip whoa all right I told you they're fucking agile yeah you didn't believe it you do a backflip I didn't realize that I was picturing two arms between them and two legs between them okay much different they even swam sometimes they would ask the biggest audience member to come up on stage

and then they would lift him up onto their shoulders the act became slick and soon they were international sensations and drew hundreds of thousands of paying customers to see them performing acrobatics play chess and answer questions okay play chess what you do yesterday went down and saw these connected guys playing chess playing chess I guess I guess against each other yeah it has to be which has to be well you got to keep staging in mind yeah to upstage the conjoined part what I'm a stage manager got you on weekends some claim the twins were a fraud so coffin paid doctors to examine and validate

the connected tissue between the boys and this was a continuing process in every new town they visited they would get a medical inspection in front of a large audience wow it's great yeah normal that's just good yeah fine doctors revealed the brothers were joined by a five inch long three inch wide and two inch thick piece of connecting tissue which was tough like cartilage some described it as gristle I'm assuming that guy had a bite yeah well that's a guy who like hasn't eaten in a while let me let me get down here and see yeah it's shape resembled an hourglass or a hand oh so they had the hourglass figure

it's weird often you wouldn't say is that an hourglass or a hand what is that an hourglass or an actual hand those are two completely different shaped things hey also what's an hourglass and where am I you know it was either an hourglass or a car was either shaped like a shoe or a tree I don't know yeah so it connected them from the bottom of their breastplate to their stomach okay so that's not a tremendous amount no well and it's I mean it's long and you know yeah yeah basically their torso middle of their torso right we're talking yeah their natural position was was to face each other but over time and due to their

active lives the connected tissue became elastic and they could now sleep walk etc side-by-side when they first born they were looking each other or time they they peeled that shit apart right I'm worried that they're growing apart I am the road you know what if they what if they end up feels like there's more distance between them than there was at the beginning of the story you know what I mean the band was loosest when they faced each other right so when they're okay so we're just all gonna have to get very comfortable now with this kind of rubber bandy piece of flesh and what it's doing and it's jostling and it's

grizzly as comfortable as they were okay one doctor tested their connecting tissue with needles to find out how sensitive it was oh cool that's always a good thing to start with I'm gonna go ahead jab you now to see if you can feel it maybe poke he found that quote both boys drew away from punctures at the middle of the band whereas an inch and a half or more from the center only the twin on that side well okay so now I get closer to this twin it hurts him oh but if I go closer to this one it hurts him oh but I do it right in the middle they both hurt now I am studying them now again to be clear left one now right

one middle the doctor also found that quote when one experienced a sour taste the other did as well I don't believe that for a second also what fun they're having here eat another lemon while we poke you with needles what do you think left thank you dick haha another experiment was tickling one twin without the other's knowledge very you know you got a I mean that's a it's hard that's like look away hey hey hey don't tell your brother don't do not tell your brother but you know when we were talking about putting needles in you before I made you a lemon now we're gonna tickle she's looking over she's

looking over okay are you a doctor I'm not a doctor have you seen the movie tickled yeah yeah really these there's a podcast it is commentary on it dude let me finish what I was saying okay I'm gonna come going yeah later I'm out of here take my needles so this caused the other one to angrily demand that the tickling stop stop it so you tickle one of the other one be like knock it off was were they both ticklish or was it like the other one was only ticklish I don't know okay it just sounds like bullshit to me yeah in another experiment strong pressure was applied to the band which caused the twins to faint what that is

like a fucking Star Trek terrible Spock walks up and squeezes there it's a little it's a little no it's a little easier to understand why they passed out from this one this isn't finding a pressure point this is like oh look tremendous pain affects them like all people interesting I mean making them hurt so bad they pass out yeah I mean you know it's experiments sure and then there was the best test ever one was given ex asparagus to eat and then they waited a while and finally discovered that only the one who ate ex asparagus had smelly pee so that we've just known that a pairing asparagus makes your

pee smell forever yeah okay that's good to know each twin had a weak eye Chang's left eye and Ing's right eye so their outer eye was both weak okay both of them they did not have any interest in discussing being separated the subject was sensitive almost taboo and an angry Chang allegedly tried to kick a Philadelphia doctor named Thomas Harris who suggested he could possibly do the search why why why separate them because you can but they they are adverse they're against it yeah but you can do it but they have wishes and human will right but it's a thing that can it doesn't matter if it can right but

they're together and you can cut them apart right but like a doctor could say you know so are nipples together right well but okay if he came over and said that he was going to do that because he could I feel like we'd both push back or at least I hope we would so does a cake want to be whole does a what a cake are you are we arguing about a cake's feelings does a cake want to be whole I think we should just I think we should just stop I mean I eat no right okay so we're on the same page okay they also shared one long Audi belly button wait wait really long wait so they had like a little there was a really a creepily

long they had like a yeah they had a connective dick out he did like a connective tummy dick to be a tummy dick I don't think that's the technical term it's still yeah well let's talk to some of the doctors in this story the medical reports helped counter accusations of fraud and lent credibility to the shows whose posters now included the medical reports newspaper articles that were written about the examinations also made for good publicity so it's all picking up but but why but they but them then don't worry about it twins were short about five foot tall eng was an inch taller they were

charming and handsome with a side parted hair and dark eyes they shared common tastes habits and opinions to the point that it was strange both like no it isn't it's a little strange oh wait this guy's always been there yeah we both love milk and hiking and sleeping and watching the same shows and going to the bathroom with your brother and showering at the same time and all the stuff that everyone likes they both like fine clothes books and theater Cheng was friendly outgoing but had a bit of a temper also Cheng liked to drink he would get changry very changry you'd like to drink unfortunately the liquor did not

fortunately the liquor did not affect eng because they did not share a circulatory system well I mean you know honestly and I don't eat I mean not to make too much light but comedically you win either way yeah either they both get drunk over one's actions the other gets drunk over one's actions or the one who doesn't drink has a like wasted shithouse brother attached to me like oh god that's the that's the best scenario I I kind of like the one where you get to get your your your brother drunk by drinking and you feel fine I don't know because I'm for prank week I like the idea of but I think the movie's

name is connected shithouse brother right right and he's just always there plowed right right he's saying shit yeah I'm moving out you can't move out I am I'm sick of this I've taken my half of the belly button and I'm getting out of here I'm sorry I didn't mean that I can't leave you I love you too much let's hug oh we are always hugging wait a minute who are you I'm your brother oh right now aim was quiet withdrawn and a teetotaler who had more intellectual interests a teetotaler he liked tea doesn't drink okay even with all their differences the twins amazed audiences with the synchronicity of their

relationship they were both equally skilled at chess yeah they that they had really competitive matches at chess just think of one was always beating yeah damn it can't fucking walk away yeah no I get it you won one observer noted that one twin quote playfully leans against his mate for support or the one pats the cheek or presses the forehead or just the shirt collar of the other in such a way as betrays their kindliest feelings in each and the tenderest affection for each other so I think it's almost like you would brush your hair you would like rubber yeah or no but you take care of your you know

you're looks like your collars you know that's like what brothers are I mean if you literally never spent a moment apart from your brother you would constantly be like this is wrong yeah yeah got your back brother literally I got your back it's right here connected by this belly button almost have the same back got your back Chang being Chang was the more dominant twin some people thought they were telepathic because the two rarely were heard talking to one another one doctor reported quote there can be no doubt of a communication of some sort between the two boys through the internal part of

this ligament wait so he thinks it's like some sort of together so much they learned yeah if someone was next to you all the time you would know everything they were gonna fucking say in every minute their mailing thoughts between their skin tube there could be a no other explanation yes as right here is where a lot of their shared ideas are going on while we're standing up here and they're saying nothing they could very well be having an argument through this fleshy part of skid they're argue tube yes I'm a doctor yes well well I'm also a gardener yes more gardening anyway I'm not even much of a gardener if

I'm gonna be honest kind of a drifter I live under the docks so I collect P thank you the oddities like as oddities like this were the rage in the early 1800s Chang and Ng became two of the most famous personalities in America newspapers followed their lives and asked questions for example some of the questions how can we hurt them what if one converted to Christianity but the other Buddhism wow yeah well imagine being at that dinner table what would happen if one twin were indicted for a crime but the other was innocent okay well well then you just very dark in a cell very yeah build the cell around

them yeah the other ones free you just spend the rest of their lives making them have 10 foot of sort of bungee flesh between them so one can be in the jail and the other can be in the yard shooting hoops or something there you go see those answers for everything mm-hmm one new paper story stated that Chang interfered in one of Ng's female pursuits and that quote the brothers would have engaged in a duel but the parties could not agree on a distance now this is obviously horseshit but but many were taking the opportunity to mock at their situation what was the lady situation we'll get there oh boy the

twins helped to confirm the white man's prevailing ideas of racial superiority at the time they sorry they perpetuated that further they helped confirm the white man right because they're like look they're weak no white man would be connected in the middle yes never what most disturbed people was the twins sex lives oh boy well that's right on time get it out the idea of the twins having sex with women disturbed 19th century sensibilities oh boy some were concerned about the impact the twins conjoined in this would have on women of childbearing age so that's not even what you think oh boy when a woman in

Kentucky gave birth to stillborn conjoined twin girls that's what I was gonna say she said quote she had seen numerous representations of the twins in newspaper advertisements around the time she conceived her children which affected her imagination whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa yeah whoa so if you're pregnant and you see these guys your eyeballs can make your babies get together and then come out dead so this lady thought her womb was a 3d printer basically yeah oh my god and it sort of is if you think about it I would rather not well you know I just wish I'd been thinking about a beautiful baby boy

instead yeah yeah I was thinking about money people are right great one paper wrote that if the twin girls had lived they quote might have been given in marriage to the boys of Siam and thus become the mothers of a new race of quadruple pets oh my god who at some point you have to like fear rising has to stop you know what someone's got to ask the philosophical questions oh my god but how do you explain the race of quadruples that we now have yeah no true true it's a good thing we started that breed thank you yeah that was smart of us most of the world dismissed the idea that the twins could have sex as a joke

they can't even have sex how could they they have two penises and hold on regular balls wait a minute I'm thinking of a movie yes I'm making a movie in my head yeah I'll be in the bar oh god anyone else after several months in America Chang and Ng went to England in 1830 they were exhibited in famous theaters and met members of the royal family a charm hey we saw guys like you chained up and in another country like you King but chained this is the queen hello everything's normal hello Chang and Ng were once again subjected to numerous metal examinations to determine the true nature of their connection and the feasibility

of surgical separation which was called impossible while in England Chang and Ng learned a badminton like game called battle door and shuttle cock mm-hmm which they added to their act sure oh okay now I would like to see conjoined twins playing badminton against each other yeah that sounds like great interesting undertaking for the net industry thank you yeah um because you could just stop your opponent from going to get the shuttle cock yeah I mean that's one way just don't let him move I just think that's against the rules though yeah you have to help your conjoined brother right you know the rules says here

plainly but when it was announced that the Siamese twins were planning to come to France in 1831 oh boy the French government denied them what saying that such an exhibit quote might deprave the minds of children and cause deformities in unborn children okay so now we're just on the level that thoughts control matter yeah and we're very comfortable with that and this has never happened before but now because of the introduction of these conjoined twins everyone's gonna be thinking about them you know right so like you shouldn't think of the plague or measles either

because that's that one no oh no different it's only works with conjoined twins okay I didn't realize it's not some crazy no right right right talking about science right right right right okay well that's good everything seems fine yeah all right okay okay but who cares about France they were a hit hundreds of thousands of people paid to see them on the European tour their managers made tons of money not so much for the twins really shocked and they started to get angry the tour base was pushing them to exhaustion as they were on stage for four hours a day every day they're pulling the spring steam yeah

they're fucking but I mean the closer so great and it's an hour right it's when they can't get apart yeah they toured constantly with little rest and in poor conditions they were even exhibited when they should have been in a hospital the boat ride to England was the beginning of their rage on the month-long steamboat trip Chang and Aang were put in steerage class along with the passengers servants and ships crew this was in the lower deck usually it converted cargo holds people were cramped slept in bunks we serve poor food and have little privacy and toilet access I just don't even get like even if you buy into this

being okay to do this just makes no sense yeah because you as a business yeah you wish you should like you know whatever I mean even if you're ripping them off be like hey look at this huh what do you guys want to eat anything you want think how Mike the chicken lift right this is very Mike the chicken issue is I mean in an awful way it's like take care of your product if so even when you make that leap of them not being humans to these people you're still like why are you why would you put them in peril right there's any advice we can give people it's that if you have slave conjoined people or a headless chicken

treat them well treat them well although Mike the chicken was treated well great he was treated great got drunk one night and put a big big piece of corn in the throat I didn't even know he was drunk yeah he was drunk that night that's interesting meanwhile while they were down in the lower parts of the ship coffin booked first-class tickets for himself his wife Susan and the manager Hale sure all the important people I mean when they had first begun touring America Chang and Ng were only given $10 a month plus expenses okay eventually was increased to $50 a month which was still shit since receipts

averaged $1,000 a month wow not even 10% wow so in 1831 they wrote to Susan Coffin who was in charge because Abel had gone back to Asian business the twins asked for an extra at $3 in expenses per month to maintain a horse and cart ending their letter quote I should like very much to have an immediate answer to this and they got one Susan Coffin said no which really pissed them off they wanted three dollars three dollars three more dollars three dollars out of a thousand and you're not even doing anything nothing you're just literally taking all the money book in the shows sure but the

shows booked themselves the shows do book themselves but you're booking the show all right you're putting together the posters get in the green room nice forum get in the green room nice you know nice for yourself obviously they'll be in some sort of caged pen like a salami plate when they came back from London in March 1831 their English was much much better and they now had an understanding of class okay they've seen how it all works over there right their posters began to target more respectable people emphasizing a chance to learn about human nature and natural science instead of just conflict nickels at

weirdos when they were moving away from that yeah that's nice instead of the the creepy joy of staring at weirdos yeah now it was like oh it's a science you know we're trying to cut out the strangers putting needles inside us yeah we don't want the guys who come and throw coins at us yeah yeah when they first came to the States the twins were dressed in oriental outfits and performed physical acts but now Ching and Aang sat on stage in suits and ties and answered questions and made clever wordplays they've reinvented themselves yeah they love logic and arguing a point it's kind of like when a youtuber needs to come up

with a stand-up act I don't think that's ever happened well they still get booked in clubs they love logic and arguing a point but would not pass up the chance to use violence if that failed wow when they were exhibiting in a hotel parlor in in Alabama a doctor already just doesn't sound good no it's not good at all a doctor kept asking to examine their connective band hey I don't mean to creep you all out but can I take a look at that band between y'all again me I'm a doctor may I may I go ahead and touch that part of you excuse me yeah guys I don't mean to keep a beating a dead horse but I would love to just be

able to play with that flubber between y'all just get on in there you know mind if I punch it a little you know when the world I'm a doctor when the world's tiniest man came through he let me touch his beehive anything you know what I mean this is Alabama touch I could touch anywhere I want it go to let me rub the middle part there let me just put a bunch of iodine on it see what happens yeah you know what let's rub some pickle juice on there how about this I get drunk and try to run through it like it's a finish line boom doctor the twins refused explaining they hadn't been examined for two years and that the

doctor could look at them at the same way everyone else in the hotel would be allowed to part of the exhibit was many medical reports that have been made over the years and they can make sure the doctor could look at those sure but the doctor was livid I have a doctor I can touch whatever person I want I'm very offended plus the word doctor has no meaning now really I went to yard university the doctor got out of a seat and headed toward the twins oh boy saying quote you're all a set of imposters in pickpockets what so this is bigger than this moment for him the this is the guy who's lost his mind and goes

to work the pickpocket thing really out of nowhere what is he saying well what is he talking about well imposters you're right fraud right they're committing fraud but why why are they committing oh he because so I thought he just wanted to have a gander at the thing and maybe and I might have invented that through our character maybe he assumes that one of the angles of being conjoined of pretending they're joined is that they're gonna use that to pick pockets they stash gold inside of that tube you cut them open it's like hitting a pinata as he rushed forward the twins asked him we'll see who's vindicated when money

falls out of them okay doctor thank you for respecting my degree sure it's not a degree yep you just got Johnny Earl to put that on there in crayon fair enough thank you the twins asked the doctor repeat to repeat himself as he marched forward giving him the chance to apologize I don't know if that's what you're giving him a chance to do the doctor did not take that option and continued his yelling quote you are a set of grand rascals well he's got a deep bench of that times digs holy shit you did not call me a grand rascal you are nothing but skin and malarkey gentlemen and now the band grand rascals

hello Chang and Aang then started throwing things at the doctor okay this included a chair an iron a club a dagger and a coffee pot full of water sorry they're animated just to be clear that's quite a well so it's in a hotel Mel Brooks Ian order it's in a hotel parlors I assume it was sort of set up how in the amount of time you're throwing that why not just run well I'm assuming that this man's not coming off to get his cleavage signed I think that they like to throw things at people all right then that's all the answer I need I hope they're I hope they're you know one's left-handed ones right-handed I

mean it's hard yeah good wind up right or you both grab the same thing let me throw the chair let me throw the chair then the entire crowd joined in and went after the twins okay interesting wrinkle they barely escape with their lives and we're then arrested and forced to pay for the damage as well as a $350 fine ordered by a judge the twins yeah well they caused the riot they started throwing shit first we find you guilty guilty we find you Asian guilty and guilty and that so that's guilty so that's guilty here here that's guilty hey don't come to Alabama at this time no or any time oh sorry Birmingham in July

1831 they went to Linfield Massachusetts a small town to take some time off and do some hunting okay so weird if one of them shot the other one sorry I thought you were a dog I guess they're dog hunting in my story yeah yeah for sure my story the dog yeah this was an example of how they now saw themselves as respectable gentlemen right so they're not doing what a respectable gentlemen sport is right hunting while out shooting two men walked up to them the twins assistant told the men to stay away and that if they did not the twins would shoot them oh no so it's off to a fucked up terrible start the men then dared the twins to

shoot okay and they refused it sounds like the assistant was kind of yeah jumped early a little bit and then after they refused the men accused the twins of being liars the twins were not pleased at this accusation and one of them hit one of the men on the head with the butt of his gun okay so don't call him liars yeah well this whole thing is very random and not going well then one of the men picked up a rock and hit one of the twins on the head oh gosh one of the twins then shot at the man but the gun was only full of powder it wasn't loaded still very scary oh fuck yeah scary to go through the twins then ran off to the

hotel with the plan to load their gun with a ball and come back don't move that's for 20 minutes such a great picture to see two controlling guys running off to get a bullet I mean how's that not a movie that is if you're like at a cafe across the street like the hell just running with a gun this is a hell are they running out with a gun so the two men ran to get the law the next day a magistrate convened a special court at the hotel and charged the twins with disturbing the peace this time they had to pay a fine of $200 okay so their tempers yeah it's not great yeah I don't know why they would be so

angry well look there they're kids celebrities what's wrong with your life yeah no this is like this is the different stroking of the curiosities of the 1800s thank you part of the deal when the twins had agreed to go to America was that they would gain independence when they turned 21 okay well Dave I'm shocked I'm shocked to hear that this might not happen the twins started writing Susan Coffin in early 1832 before their birthdays in May but she just stalled telling them Abel would deal with it when he returned from Asia five months passed and Abel still had not returned so the twins told Susan they

were separating from the coffins and going their own way well Susan metaphorically metaphorically they're going well be going the exact same way no it's gonna be alone obviously you know how we are I mean you know what you know we can't separate ourselves Susan called the twins liars saying they had broken their promise the twins were pissed and gave examples of the coffins greed and produced evidence of the agreement to let them go and this is through letters I mean do you think of like today like when someone doesn't text you back for three hours you're like what is happening like you are arguments through

letters yeah I mean just how do you how do you keep your rage up for five seven days slowest Twitter war oh my god refresh refresh refresh just going to the mailbox refresh six days later Susan and the twins were Susan said the twins were hurting the coffins financially but the twins gave an extensive list I know they ran the twins all of our money that we earned from putting you on a post and the twins ran out of ink the twins gave an extensive list of unnecessary expenses Susan and her husband had claimed on the England tour the list included a large

number of people and animals hired to attend to their needs including a cook a chambermaid a servant a coachman a cleaner a doorkeeper a checktaker and two horses I mean that's a lot of quite a rider you don't need a checktaker no the fuck's a checktaker what's a doorkeeper for yeah I mean honestly all right sir I have the door well it's gonna be a slow grind of 5 p.m. for me where's the chambermaid my pot of piss is full we'll take the check please yeah I'll hand it to them I'm the checktaker they also reminded Mrs. Coffin of her lavish spending she claims she loved them mm-hmm of course to which they

responded a quote they have no doubt that the number of thousand of hard earned dollars which they have enabled her to spend have made her like them yeah I love you money they're twins sorry double people's I love you dollars sorry money gold silver but currency let me say something change give me money bank accounts money oil make it all travelers checks just listen to me I need the money I love the money I love you money money money money so after several back-and-forth letters in which the twins said Susan only saw the most tools for making money the twins got their new manager Charles Harris to set

settle their accounts with the coffins and sever ties when Abel returned to the U.S. he was furious surely he tracked them across New York State on what he called a wild goose chase okay or a double goose chase sure Collins traveled the night and day and finally found them in Bath New York okay but they just told him it was over and that they were now their own men coffin kind of up and left okay well I wanted to hear it from you yeah both of your mouths I wasn't sure if one of you was doing it and the other one didn't want it you understand why it came well both on board well gentlemen this sounds extremely level

headed good day good day good day to you I came all this way to hear this simple explanation that you oddly don't want to be kept as slaves so and treated like fruit just wanted to hear it from you guys okay thank you thanks so coffin told his wife and they talked for a while and and said that now the twins believe they were free that's what it was but that's not what he told others okay in Boston he would tell acquaintances that the twins were now involved in quote whoring gaming and drinking and that he gave them the damnedest thrashing of their lives yeah and he said before he left them they

agreed he was right to beat them and that it was for their own good just like like that totally just sounds like the first time you've said it yeah like like that's your story here's the worst lie I can think of well they were whoring and gaming and then I beat the shit out of both of them and they said you should have done that I'm a bad man so sad there's no respect lost for me in this tale no sir the twins now had to make the public understand they were no longer slaves because race was the most important thing at this time we're quick to place themselves above people of color sure well it's good to see that

they've absorbed America yep they published letters and newspapers that emphasized their relationships with the royalty of Europe their success as duck and egg you don't understand how many eggs we had you have no idea what we did on that river we were the best so many so many ducks and they they push their Chinese heritage which meant they weren't just common Siamese right the Chinese were seen as above the Siamese who were considered smaller and darker in color but even with their even with what their PR they could not achieve equality in a racially divided north okay so in the north there's all these you

know black people escape it's and then they're competing for jobs so it's a lot more tense so as opposed to the south where you're a slave or you're a white guy so they the smarter move would have been to go south for them yeah for them right yeah for them because they could at least then be like we have slaves too they'd be like you're not so bad right okay so they decided to head to the south where they decided to retire at the age of 28 okay sure so it's 1839 they chose Wilkes County North Carolina because they liked the countryside and had toured there they wanted to create lives for themselves as

proper southern mother ever get enclosure on any of this no we never heard from her okay she got her 500 yeah in the south with slavery and a lack of diversity that was causing strains in the north there was an order to things and that meant they could position themselves in terms of class and race man they did this through connections with the establishment Chang and Aang had been invited to Wilkes by a doctor they had met while touring he introduced them to the country county's most prominent families and soon they were positioned as respectable gentlemen okay Larry I'd like you to meet my two yellow friends

who are connected in the middle well nice to meet both y'all Larry's a dentist that's right hey what do you guys think of black people don't like all right well you're gonna fit in fine here they had a reported 60,000 in savings okay pretty good these their manager Charles Harris also settled in with Wilkes and married the daughter of a prominent local man which also helped their cause okay the twins got US citizenship that is a shocking and yet not shocking they were two of the first Asian people to do so in America and were allowed to because there were no Asian people and few immigrants in Wilkes County which meant

prejudices against Asians and not informed it's so crazy well since they're the first ones and they're connected I don't know whether to hate them or not it's gonna take my brain a couple years to stereotype you because you're not black which I like you're not white which I find confusing and you're stuck together which is just kind of an X factor for me yeah I like to I like to watch you hop yeah there's just some guy was like there don't know whether to hug or beat okay I'll hug one of beat the other fair so citizenship before the 1870s was decided by counties not national laws wait a county would decide

whether or not you could be fewer citizens okay well sounds a lot easier and these guys weren't black they chose a new last name a bunker okay sure sure sure sure sure sure look North Carolina bunker that is just playing right into the hand of whitey Chang'ning bought 150 acres besides Little Sandy Creek in Trapp Hill and built a house okay they set up a dry goods shop for a short time which even further cemented their place in the community they had an elegant house with dormer windows and parlors that put them in a higher social order above many of their neighbors so

they built the fancy fucking sure shit house or whatever it is they also ate with a knife and fork instead of a spoon oh as was normal in the south sure but okay didn't realize most people were just spooning the stakes better than you cut cut cut eat eat eat so other people are just using spoons all the time I think that I think the people shit the way this is written I should have checked because it is a little ambiguous so it could be that people in the north you with you eat with a knife and fork and in the southeast a spoon yeah it must be this day again there's just so many things that you would just you would

just love to see the moment of first like somebody for the first time saw a knife and fork after using a spoon for like 40 years how the hell you put it in your mouth what the hell is both of them why they're little slots in that spoon it's like I'm looking at the spoons parents they had a special furniture made including a large chair would they had to yeah you mentioned the nightmare of these guys trying to sit down well they were probably just sick of like you know those little patio swing chairs they're like that's all we sit in the worst and as they saw themselves getting married they had a double double bed

made so just the what sounds like those wives are gonna get the in and out burger huh wait did you purve out and then I purve too I think so whoops we don't want to do the double purve but despite all their in rows and success in the county so there's just women who have just been they're like yep no not yet oh they they they don't have wives they bought the beds they're manifesting it's the secret that's right is the secret okay they were very lonely okay they were now in their late 20s and hadn't been with any women and they became determined to start families okay it is believed they first met sisters Adelaide and

Sarah Yates at a wedding and the four kept me each other's eyes until Cheng and Ng finally walked over man the like the like pep talking between you know like guys have pet like go over there talk to her you know but like between those two I'll be right here no dude you got to come with me all right what should we do what's the angle I'll do I'll do you do old friend I'll do new in town okay wait no no the skin the skin the skin okay all right let's do we are I know we took an Uber here together no no no that's not gonna work okay oh oh okay okay we we we met we met when we were born and we're Siamese twins who are miserably

lonely and have weird beds to fornicate it go oh they they're staring at us cuz not cuz they're attracted to us because but because we're freaks all right how's my breath so they walk over it in says quote you ready oh boy my brother would like to get married today do you know anyone available wow they really are they are that's like it's a strong pickup line but it's also like well from a quadruped that's terrifying but it's it's like the it's kind of like the sleazy move of like hey my friend over there like to buy you a drink but since you can't do it like since you're conjoined in your limited you have to

be like hey my brother over here and I were talking we don't share a brain to be clear and Adelaide was tall and pretty Sarah was shorter and portly Chang and Adelaide fell in love while Aang and Sarah tolerated each other but weren't instantly in love wait so the the hot one and Chang fall in love right away and then the other two are like all right so they just kind of like yeah it's a numbers thing I'll fuck the unattractive one I guess he just doesn't know that he can marry outside of siblings just want some action okay so the problem was Chang's romance couldn't go forward unless Sarah and Aang's evolved

into the same level how many different stories are in this one it's saying store I don't know why I don't know why they couldn't date women from different families it's just awful to think that he's like that the whole like the whole life your whole life you share in in some version of misery or frustration with this other being attached to you so that if there's one thing you depend on your whole life it's a my brother you know my brother at gets it he gets it and then at one point your brother meets a hot girl and he's like dude come on take the grenade don't be a dick about this man be a fucking wingman don't be a dick

about this you'll grow to lover that's easy to say for you you've got the smoking one all right look like a potato oh come on they're both gorgeous I would take either one I mean that take the potato no way I'm taking this one we already have a thing going on but I'm happy for you you know it'll be great okay well guess what huh you're gonna have to watch us fuck fine that's fine with me it took some time I mean that is just imagine next to each other it's more oh I love it more than just next I love it I love it I love it so so do you what did you say do you say you work you did work or you don't work I forget

what you were did you do you know I was working but then I stopped oh my god I'm gonna finish that's awesome I was gonna um what was the other thing I want to try I'm sorry I'm shaking so much yeah sorry about that I'm gonna come in a finish I'm gonna fit oh yeah oh so hobbies do you have hobbies it took some time but after three or four years of courting the sisters and befriending the Yates family both couples were ready to marry Dave it's a pyramid scheme it's it's they they wore down the side brother and the potato girl I like that you've called her the potato like you're referring to it now as you'll find in

the notes potato girl some believe that after potato girl I'm a potato some believe that after the marriages were announced the town went nuts nuts like that's that's the common belief in a bad way yeah right that's not true at all the Yates sister parents initially objected to the marriages because of the twins race and because they were connected mm-hmm okay so they're fundamental issues but they finally relented and on April 13th 1843 the two couples married in a double wedding kind of had to do yeah no choice no choice this was probably one of the first legal marriages between people of European

and Asian descent in America well I think there's also other new trends that they're breaking sure like a quarter-ped marrying two sisters correct marriage between free black people and whites was illegal in North Carolina but Chang and Aang were able to do it because Asian people had not even classified as a race what I mean it's so terrible but if in that America you are just it like you're in the enviable position if people haven't figured out what your race exactly means yet right they don't like what they haven't worked their angle they don't have their talking point yet on you so you're kind of in the eye of a

hurricane for a moment only ones and yours and you're weird yeah so they were also American citizens which you could only be if you were white right so in the eyes of the law they were white right even when Chinese eventually became a rash racial racial category in the 1870s Chang and Aang were still listed as white okay all right local papers had mixed reactions to the marriages the Carolina Watchman under the headline marriage extraordinaire wished for the marriage to be as happy as it will be close that's nice but another southern paper asked whether the women ought to be indicted for quote marrying a

quattroped that's a little less nice interesting northern papers were horrified abolitionist papers placed quote responsibility for the union squarely on a south contaminated by the sin of a slavery wait yeah what is the north's problem that they just didn't like the idea that a white white person was marrying an Asian for four-footed double so like the the side of like equality is like no south you gotta hate them they're like but all we do is hate well why not them well I guess we never thought about it just some kind of a trap I would also imagine that abolitionist papers are using anything

they can get their hands on for PR purposes right yeah right one northern paper called the marriage bestial and referred to the tolerant local residents as quote a community sunk below the very sodomites in lessiveness wow all right now how did it work well Chang, Aang, Adelaide, and Sarah all slept together in the double-double bed oh boy I'm like nervous and like excited and my palms are sweating we all are the sex lives of the conjoined twins concerned all of society sure as it should some sought as a kind of incest with the siblings involved well look nobody's gonna call it normal for the sisters it's not normal

or the brothers or the brothers never did anybody there yeah in town there's a lot of curiosity about how the couples actually managed to do the act oh god imagine the idiots in bars oh just the dumb the dumbest you guys putting one shirt yeah yeah yeah exactly yeah yeah yeah one theory was that whenever one couple I heard if he if he screws are hard enough she's gonna be conjoined to his becker now I tell you I don't think that's true yeah that can happen or you know it's even worse he finishes inside the one the sister gets pregnant with his baby that's magic you're talking about magic now that's not a thing well

you know what is possible yeah they're actually fish okay I'm sorry that one got away from me even that one I agree that one's not right one theory was that whenever one couple was getting it on the other couple zoned out like in a trance well I'm I am genuinely curious what the angle is too I don't know if that would be a trans as much as it would be going into horror yeah like your safe place yeah but I think we're gonna get the answer here one theory while there are no details about how the couples made sweet love the brothers first children were born six days apart okay wow so they are well that doesn't say

that they're doing it at the same time they might just be doing it a bunch but just think about how it works like if a couple of people are fucking right there you're not just gonna lay there no gonna be like all right let's do it too I'm suddenly in the moon to also but they're also side-by-side so everybody's touching each other yeah they are all fucking thing yeah like the one brothers just looking away from the well potato girl just like hey quit looking at her sorry hey sorry sweetie were you looking at her again no I promise stop looking at her I'm not sorry hey potato so another pair of kids were born eight

days apart they would go on to produce between them 21 children so once these guys started fucking they didn't stop they were all for it well yeah but I mean again like they they waited their whole lives and now they can make it up for yeah reporters started calling in on the brothers to see what their domestic situation was in 1845 with their growing families the twins bought 650 acres in the next county they built two houses on the land about a mile apart you see the problem how how big is the how big is the skin stretched at this point a mile it's not a mile okay I would have built two houses with a doorway shaped like

ink yeah and then he would slide through and then I pretend like I was in in my own house right right you just got to switch your sleep schedules and become deep sleepers so but they built houses right a mile apart yep by 1847 they had seven children and 20 slaves owning slaves was I can't believe that they had slaves but it's their whole they're their whole the whole act with them as we are white we want to be accepted as white people high and members of society right they've seen it everywhere they've been on the other end right they want to be I yeah I'm not it's just I don't know why yeah I really thought they would

have gone for socialism yeah I mean it is raised in this country essentially something they built two houses because the sisters fought but it is more likely the twins wanted to carve out their separate lives for the rest of their life how the twins would alternate between houses spending three nights with one white one wife and then three nights with the other wow they stuck to the schedule religiously so much so that on one occasion when they were at Ing's house one of the babies died on switch day but they stuck to their routine and still switched to Chang's house no that seems like maybe a

time to bend I get it I get it the baby died we just a schedule we have such a great I have such a great night plan for reaching for the bell I'm gonna ring the bell no no no I wonder if while if while they're in the other house if the guy that's not married yet wife just stays quiet and acts like he's not there he probably does I bet he does I bet that's exactly what have to piss he's got a pee you only speak up for like functionings like body functionings hungry now he needs to eat I didn't even think about the shitting thing come on just the worst part of it all you know I mean at some point you were just like I

mean you're born into it so you are probably comfortable with it to some extent but yeah once you realize there's a world out there of people who aren't shitting next to their brother their whole lives you're like boy that must be interesting what do you talk about do you think they had a double-out house I mean I don't know I yeah I mean I don't know that they did well especially if they're like joined right there like it feels I don't know I bet they had a double-out house because they're eating they're eating at the same time I'm sure and then it all happens well we have to poop

Chang and Eng became southern farmers joined at the hip they raised cattle sheep pigs and grew wheat rye corn oats and potatoes most of the food they made went to feeding their large families but still curiosity seekers would track down the twins and write about their dress habits routine and family so they're always being watched yeah pop rocks you're always right right in 1849 they felt they had to go on tour again to support their growing family oh boy yep they went to New York with the two oldest daughters who were both five but the tour was a bust due to poor management I think they brought the kids to

be like see we're fucking these are our things yeah it's like yeah proof like when an actor has kids and he's like I'm doing a lot more animated stuff because my kids love it it's like it come on just do the good stuff in 1853 they again went on a summer tour of the north this time with a son and daughter they now held viewings instead of exhibitions in parlor rooms of hotels they gave political insights showed off their wit English skills and their intelligent children they were making a claim for middle-class normality but the problem was their age was starting to show and that disappointed the audience what the you

know I know but it's like yeah like that like that is the attitude that gave them all the money was this you know stupid weird true level of expectation put upon them and now that you know now you feel the other side of that a little bit like two conjoined twins yeah yeah yeah right yeah right all some Johnny Knoxville is not jumping around anymore people like I don't want to see you act his stand-up's got a weird next in 1860 Chang and Ing had went with two sons Patrick and Montgomery in to New York City to appear in PT Barnum's American Museum hopefully they spent a month there exhibiting themselves alongside zip

the man monkey who was a small-headed man suffering from microcephaly a zika virus type things a tiny head and the albino family they even performed there for the Prince of Wales I mean just even like thinking of this time it just honestly makes sense that a man just thought he was in charge of a bunch of mammals I'm in charge of these animals look at these freaks those are people yeah no no in December 1860 they went to San Francisco with their sons but things were different there in San Francisco the Chinese were seen as a problem and there was a great debate about the quote Chinese question the

middle class was in favor of integrating Chinese immigrants for economic benefits but the working class resented the competition for jobs okay Chang and Ing spent their lives positioning themselves favorably against other races but in California they were just seeing the symbols of the Chinese push into the state you're coming here taking away our white man can join jobs thing this one's taken one job for twice the work for the exhibition the twins sat in the middle of a hall with their sons and shook hands and talked with visitors but for the first time in their lives they were

referred to as yellow and were once again being called orientals since they first came to America the Sinai's twins had been used as symbols of American unity right right in one of their very first promotional pamphlets the cover had a bald eagle carrying a banner that read e plurbous a unum and the phrase united we stand wow right so they're like saying that yeah they were they literally because they're joined they're united yeah they put they push all right and like the United States the United right dudes right the United dudes of Siam but in now in 1860 with the country on the verge of a civil war it

resonated some Americans saw their own political struggle embodied in Chang and Ng others saw the twins connectedness as an argument for the Union while others used it to say the Union of the States was monstrous and unnatural good Lord look at them we shouldn't be together as a country you just can't win you're like no you're all wrong we don't mean we're just it's just like a cart a weird thing that happened in the womb it's gristle so the New York Tribune report a New York Tribune report claimed that Chang and Ng were themselves split politically oh my no it said Chang was a secessionist and he

painted their connecting ligament black to symbolize the wow wow what when Ng demanded the bait be removed Chang demanded to be separated from his brother what so he's a secessionist for himself the report claimed that Dr. Lincoln was brought in and surgery not that Dr. Lincoln no but still it doesn't matter who Lincoln no it's a really they're really taking a strike that Dr. Lincoln was brought in and said that the surgery would be dangerous for both parties and that the Union must and shall be preserved the twins were just pure propaganda pieces at this point oh my god they took it to a next level when

they disagreed politically we sit on different sides of the aisle on the same bench when it looked like the Civil War was about to start the twins hurried back to North Carolina their plantations were some of the richest in Surrey County during the war their estates grew mostly in slaveholdings Ng brought five more slaves Chang sold one and so they had a total of ten I love that during the war like what I wish you keep buying keep buying by and that the slaves must have been like oh thank god I was starting to think it was gonna be a white man get to work excuse me double the whips yeah each twin had a son

fighting in the war who both survived but the war was the twins undoing emancipation decreased property values and investments in Confederate currency destroyed their finances well I mean why would you buy yeah yeah the only chance they had was to tour once again they planned another tour the we need money tour hey let's do this yeah want to but they planned another tour of northern states which were much better off than southern states the first notices appeared in Boston and New York papers on August the 1st 1865 they described the devastating effect of the war on the twins family but left out the part about

the twins being slave owners they presented themselves as family men who have been caught up in the war what do we know we're just simple twins but the north was not interested in their sob story and attacked them for being lazy sigmes slave owners who were just exploiting their own deformity for cash oh I mean yeah yeah yeah it's the but it's the system they were brought into no nothing has changed yeah it's just the perspits just like perspective has changed but they're the same yeah the same thing yeah they were portrayed as duplicitous and greedy now older with gray hair they became bitter that their

lives work had been for nothing in 1968 they accepted PT Barnum's proposal to travel through Europe in in hopes that they could escape the anger of America and make some money there this time they took two daughters Kate and Nanny who were in their 20s Barnum requested for promotional purposes that they consult with the best physicians to answer the question of whether or not they could be surgically separated before this Ching and Ang categorically refused to even think about separation but as they were becoming older mortality was rearing its head and they realized two linked bodies aging in different ways

would be a problem oh no oh my god that's such a dark thought yeah what if one of us dies right oh yeah yeah no I'm gonna keep eating back fat not ours no yours but no doctor could recommend the separation and England turned out to not be the profitable place they had hoped they also came up against the same racism and lack of sympathy in Britain as in America shakers depicted them as old haggard and pitiful the old shitty twins yeah in 1870 Chang and Ing and two of their sons traveled to Germany Russia where they met the czar then on the way back from Europe Chang suffered a stroke oh boy he was paralyzed on his

right side which was the side that was connected to which is actually the perfect side better yeah that's how you would like carry an injured person middle yeah okay Ang was in perfect health but he had to wait patiently while Chang recovered oh my gosh he nursed his brother and kept him in good spirits Ang brought his brother back to good health except for Ching's right leg which was now of little use right but we got three other ones whatever well yeah look what people are gonna stare Ching tied up the leg in a sling and used a crutch under his left arm in order to walk okay Chang then started drinking

heavily Chang did yeah yeah they had recovered enough he had recovered enough to move between the two family houses and keep their three-day policy okay then in January 1874 now this is this is a hard one to wrap your bait around then in January 1874 Chang came down with a cough a doctor advised him to stay in doors and not to travel but he ignored the advice and despite the pleas of his brother he rode in an open wagon with his brother to Ing's place how how do you not you can't disagree about where you're you can't I could hold down a stroke guy with one or I goes to the guy who doesn't want to go like there's

just yeah and also in the open wagon like it's insane like you wanted to go or something the next night the coughing became worse and at forehand in called out his son William ran down Ing said he felt very sick and asked his son to check on Chang uncle Chang is dead yell William and Ing replied then I am going oh my god over the next hour Ing had cold sweats and suffered in intense pain he complained of a choking sensation and asked to be raised in his bed finally looked at Sarah and said potato I am dying wait a minute that's I feel like Ing then fell into a stupor and an hour later he died

he mostly likely died of heart failure caused by toxins entering his blood stream from yeah dying shared liver yeah yeah the deaths of Chang and Ing wasn't the end of the lunacy the medical community believed they were owed an autopsy because they had promoted the twins with their reports oh god never ends but the family will find a way to disrespect them further good lord yes I want to be the one to cut them in half but the family did not want a public autopsy as news of the death spread crowds started gathering outside the house wanting one final show I mean people you don't cut this is this is not

the time for an encore no the fan on core they're out there with lighter all right let's do back in black the family became worried someone might steal the twins bodies within days of the deaths the family be entered see letters from strangers offering to buy the bodies one asked them to madam this might sound a bit disruptive and strange but I would pay top dollar for the body of your deceased husband and his brother so get back to me when you can I've already spoken to your sister love the other widow please write me at dr. weirdo p.o. box 999 yes also I like to buy them please write Larry fuckface I know

you've probably been getting a lot of strange letters so I hope this one finds you well I have zero interest in exhuming the body of your deceased or using them for some sort of show I merely want to roll around with them and fornicate nothing filthy nothing weird just a simple afternoon I'd pay top dollar for that I have one fetish I've had it all my life this is the only chance I have dear madam how much to wear them as a costume the family doctor started to advise them that it would be no disgrace to make a profit from the bodies the twins were stored really dr. morals yeah the twins were stored in the

cellar in a tin coffin to preserve them and guarded by family members just how they wanted it they remained in the cellar for over two weeks and the whole time a group of doctors and businessmen tried to talk the family into selling they were offered as much as ten thousand dollars finally a deal was made the twins would be embalmed and taken to Philadelphia to undergo an autopsy at the College of Physicians the contract stated that the connecting band could only be cut from the back so as not to be visible from the front some commentators said this was proof the family wanted to exhibit Chang and Ang later and that

they were being paid but the family denied it I think they were just saying they were like they're they're casket or just or that it's like maybe they want to hang them on a wall maybe they loved them yeah and then they were like in a really conflicted situation and they were just sort of like you know what they we've never seen them apart we even if it sounds weird we don't want them to be apart right they didn't want it in death they shouldn't be madam that's why my offer to have sex with them still stands can he go in death any gains the twins had made as respectable southern gentlemen that they'd worked so hard to

achieve were wiped out newspapers referred to them as monsters and doctors made names for themselves through sensational stories one doctor classified the twins as belonging to quote the third order of double monsters a doctor talking about first there's the first order of double monsters and then the second order of double monsters and they belong in the third and here's why their wives were criticized for selling their husbands bodies even though they were adamant they received nothing Chang's eldest daughter nanny was that's not a great defense no it's not nanny was seriously affected by her

father and uncles desk and she contracted tuberculosis and died exactly one month after them the autopsy made and broke the careers of many young doctors the shared liver was discovered the interior of the band was so complex that doctors concluded that the twins could not have been separated and survived that's the same story with Nelson yeah a plaster cast was made of the body the autopsy results were printed widely and in graphic detail describing their skin color genitalia and Asian ancestry cool cool always good to get the genital breakdown the twins were once again oriental curiosities all

the articles while they were alive focused on their wit and intellect were now forgotten the New York Sun wrote quote both were ignorant and had intelligence that scarcely rose above low cunning their faces were particularly repelling yellow and hue and closely resembling those of the Chinese cigar sellers on Chatham Street just took everything about them I love how it's like I love how like we I mean again I think that is that is what the that's what happened is white people didn't have their racist take on Asian people locked down yet and by the time they died we did yeah they're ready to

go it's fake news it's fake yeah anti-Chinese sentiment that now ran across the country influenced these depictions the bodies were returned and buried under Eng's house minus several internal organs which remain to this day in the Muter Museum in Philadelphia after two years for some reason the bodies were moved to the other house and buried under the living room window well they said they would switch houses oh my god that's what it must have been of course oh my god listen a deal's a deal oh shit Sarah Bunker Eng's widow died in 1892 an Adelaide Bunker Chang's widow died in 1917 after Adelaide died the twins were

buried again in this time in the cemetery of the White Plains Baptist Church near Mount Erie in North Carolina many of the twins descendants still live in the vicinity of Mount Erie and descendants of both brothers continued to hold joint reunions 200 descendants descendants reunited in Mount Erie in July 2011 for their 200th birthday wow prominent descendants include an Air Force major as well as a Democratic nominee for governor in Florida a president of the Union Pacific Railroad in the 40s composer Caroline Shaw the youngest winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music 2013 wow the family includes

several sets of twins though none are conjoined the first set to be born were named Chang and Eng and they are now 73 years old wow in modern times the twins could have been separated wow what a little ride we just went on we went on a double ride my friend wow that is so crazy that's all I got that's all you got that's just nuts I you know like yeah I don't know I you know there's this video there's this I don't remember like what the context of it is but it's basically this like tribe deep in Africa or somewhere where the it's the first time this these Brazil Brazil so it's the first time this sort of tribe has

like ever seen a white person yeah so you I mean they've really only seen each I mean you know talking like that I mean this is probably what in the 70s but with still like you know face paint very tribal and they see these white people and they just can't believe it and it takes them so long to actually go up to them and quote-unquote trust them which again would probably be a huge mistake at any other time but they like so there is this thing where you like haven't and I think maybe you suffer for it more like in history because we haven't gone through it enough now it feels like we accept things a lot faster

but then like you just your brain couldn't believe it and so it just took you so long to and if you're if you're you know like how our history is yeah like obviously at some point we're going like the trend of our culture will turn against them and be vicious towards them and mean but you know they kind of thrived in that really interesting gray area yeah it was a super weird time yeah for them to be conjoined twins from Siam God I would literally the only I would just I would just love to know the sex policy that's it yeah I mean and but it's funny that's this they are why conjoined twins were called Siamese

twins right for so long right and now they're called a bros yep lifetime bros lifetime bros we sign twins