The eerie tale of the ‘silent twins,’ June and Jennifer Gibbons, captivates as much as it confounds. Born in the UK, the sisters forged a secretive bond, speaking only to each other in a rapid Bajan Creole—a nod to their Barbadian heritage—that left everyone else out, including their own family. June explains that their unique language and speech impediments made communication with others nearly impossible, cementing their reliance on each other from a very young age.
Their extraordinary closeness, however, spiraled into darkness as they grew older. Engaging in acts of vandalism, theft, and even arson, the twins soon found themselves on the wrong side of the law, leading to their incarceration at Broadmoor Hospital, a high-security psychiatric facility, when they were just 19.
Their story took a tragic turn during a transfer from the hospital 11 years later, as Jennifer suddenly became unresponsive and died from myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart. In a haunting twist, June began to speak and engage with the world around her shortly after her sister’s death.
Since that pivotal moment in 1993, June has faced the world without her other half, save for the companionship of Marjorie Wallace, an investigative journalist who chronicled their lives in the book “The Silent Twins,” later adapted into the 2022 thriller/drama starring Letitia Wright. Wallace spent considerable time with the twins, drawing from their diaries filled with daily entries that detailed their intense, complex relationship. She believes their pact—one sister sacrificing her life for the other’s freedom—was a predetermined fate, a necessary act for June’s eventual liberation.
“One of the girls had to die, to sacrifice themselves so the other would be truly liberated, and they decided it would be Jennifer,” Wallace shared in an interview with BBC Radio Wales. The gravity of this decision left June both grieving and liberated, a duality that Wallace describes as June being “suspended by both grief and liberation.”
Reflecting on her longstanding connection with the twins, Wallace adds, “I have never really left the story, because I met June and Jennifer when they were 18 years old and have remained with them ever since. In a way, their story has been my story, we have had our lives intertwined for 40 years.” Despite the somber visits, Wallace recalls their time together fondly, noting the twins’ wonderful sense of humor and June’s infectious laugh that endures to this day.
The saga of the Gibbons twins, marked by mystery, tragedy, and a deep-seated bond, continues to intrigue and inspire, revealing the profound and often puzzling nature of human connections.