0:03

It's July and I'm in

0:05

mount Airy, North Carolina, population

0:08

ten thousand three. Located

0:11

at the foothills of the beautiful Blue

0:14

Ridge Mountains. This

0:16

is the birthplace of beloved American

0:18

actor Andy Griffith and the model

0:21

for Mayberry, the setting for his classic

0:23

sitcom The Andy Griffith Show.

0:26

Griffith played Sheriff Andy Taylor,

0:29

keeping watch over his sleepy town and

0:31

his young son Opie, played by little

0:34

Ronnie Howard. When you give you word,

0:36

never go back on you.

0:38

You understand that day? Okay,

0:40

Pa, you can trust me. If

0:43

the name sounds familiar. Opie grew

0:45

up to become Happy Days actor and

0:47

Hollywood movie director ron Howard.

0:51

To bring in the tourists, mount Airy

0:53

does its best to recreate the

0:55

Maybury experience. You

0:58

can eat at Snappy Lunch, which

1:00

was mentioned on the show that

1:02

the same as the port Untamemad

1:08

show. You can ride

1:10

around in a replica Maybury police

1:12

car, or you

1:14

can spend a couple of hours at

1:16

the Andy Griffith Museum

1:19

at our house. Every day we have

1:21

they're recorded and rewatched all the

1:23

time. Growing up, we watched it in reruns.

1:26

It was my father's favorite show. Six

1:28

thirty PM, Channel five. But

1:32

not many of these people know that the price

1:34

of admission to the Anti Griffith Museum

1:37

will allow them entrance into another smaller

1:40

museum just downstairs in

1:42

the basement. The eight dollars prize

1:44

includes the Siamese Twin exhibit as

1:46

well as Andy Griffith Museum.

1:48

Take a peek at It The Siamese

1:51

Twins, mount Airy's second

1:53

and third favorite sons.

1:56

Simon Selection, Yeah, a

1:59

part of them. This is

2:01

fascinating, It really is. I don't

2:03

know if they died together or I'm trying to

2:05

figure out what happened at the end

2:07

of their lives. Tanya Jones runs

2:09

both places and talks about a

2:11

common reaction from the people who visit

2:14

the exhibit downstairs. The

2:16

surprise is why is

2:18

it here? And it's here because this is

2:20

where they settled and raised their families.

2:26

Chang and Ang Bunker, the

2:28

once world famous joined twins,

2:31

were born in Thailand called Siam

2:33

at the time in eighteen eleven, and

2:35

later in life, settled right here in Mount

2:37

Airy, many years before

2:39

people even heard about Mayberry. This

2:42

episode is about those remarkable twins.

2:45

It's a complicated and not always

2:47

happy story, but this

2:49

story is real. So

2:52

I mean they weren't a part of the show or

2:54

anything though, were they definitely

2:56

know they was only any different show.

2:59

I'm Murrah go, and this is

3:01

mobituaries. This

3:08

MOPI Chang and Ang Bunker,

3:10

a messy American dream.

3:22

This is Francis and Caroline. I've

3:24

seen you before, You've

3:27

seen him on television. I'm CBS. I'm

3:30

Francis Hall, okay, and I'm at

3:32

a family reunion here in mount Airy,

3:34

North Carolina. And he must

3:36

be the youngest Bunker here. Yeah,

3:39

oh my gosh, look at him.

3:42

Okay, So it's not my family reunion,

3:44

but I'm happy to be crashing it for the food alone,

3:47

a sticky rice milk

3:50

and needed the mano or for

3:53

this different, different than biscuits and gravy.

3:56

While this family's North Carolina

3:58

roots stretched back nearly two centuries,

4:01

it's tie roots stretched back much

4:04

farther. Greedys

4:07

and high to descendants. Welcome

4:10

to the I believe twenty ninth Annual

4:12

Bunker Reunion. This

4:17

is the Bunker family. Bunker

4:19

is the name Chang and Ang adopted when they came

4:21

to North Carolina. At this reunion,

4:24

family members take sides. I'm

4:26

a fourth grade grandson of Chang Bunker,

4:29

I'm a great grandson of E. I'm

4:33

a descend to mean. He had the strongest

4:36

body, but his face was kind

4:38

of like a plowdboars face. Little

4:40

uncle Chang he had the weaker body, the crooked

4:43

the backbone, but he had to pretty

4:45

his face and hair. Everyone

4:47

here seems proud to be descended from the

4:49

twins. Let's read the back of your shirt.

4:52

It says our family sticks together, and there's

4:54

a picture of Ing and Chang on the back. But

4:56

apparently it wasn't always something the

4:59

family celebrates. Did as Caroline,

5:01

how she found out about the Sammy's twins?

5:04

How did you find out about Sammy's twins? I

5:06

was in the Living Wind one day as a little girl,

5:08

and I just opened up the secretary and I saw

5:11

all these articles and pictures of

5:13

the twins and stashed away.

5:15

You felt like you were discovering family secrets.

5:17

Yes, turns out many

5:20

of the almost one thousand, five hundred

5:22

descendants of Chang and Ang, I know,

5:24

it's a crazy number. We'll explain have

5:27

been on journeys of their own. And

5:29

that's the other story we're going to tell you.

5:32

Remember walking down the streets of Little Mount

5:34

Airy, North Carolina, and going into a

5:36

store and somebody would look at me and say, you

5:39

must be one of those Bunkers.

5:41

So I was a little bit labeled.

5:44

Alex Sink is a great granddaughter

5:46

of Chang Bunker. But I have to

5:49

give a credit to my father because he said,

5:51

he said, well, you should be so proud

5:53

of the fact that you come from

5:56

the Sammy's twins who overcame

5:59

so many ops tickles, and it's an

6:01

incredible story to tell. The

6:06

twins story begins on the other

6:08

side of the planet in a fishing

6:10

village in Siam. The

6:12

boys family was actually ethnically Chinese.

6:16

The twins were born on a houseboat,

6:18

perfectly healthy except

6:21

for a four inch long band of flesh

6:23

and cartilage joining them at the

6:25

mid section. Trace your

6:27

finger down the lower part of your chest, right

6:30

where the bone stops. That's where they were

6:32

connected. They shared one belly

6:34

button right in the center of that band. Despite

6:37

this connecting band, they led a relatively

6:39

normal life. They learned to walk and

6:41

to swim, and to help the family make

6:43

ends meet, they raised ducks and

6:46

sold the exit market in Thailand.

6:48

They weren't raised as curiosities the

6:50

way that they would become in the United States. That's

6:53

Joe Orser, a history professor

6:55

at the University of Wisconsin, eau Claire.

6:58

He's the author of the Lives Chang and

7:00

Eng, Siam's Twins. In nineteenth

7:02

century America, they were given a

7:04

great amount of freedom

7:07

to run around and play.

7:10

One day, when the boys are just twelve years

7:13

old, a British merchant named Robert

7:15

Hunter comes sailing down the river and

7:17

he spots something in the distance, and

7:20

he saw what he would later describe

7:22

a monstrosity. He thought it was some sort of

7:24

animal playing in the water. Then he would ultimately

7:26

discover that it was these conjoined

7:28

brothers, and immediately he thinks we

7:31

can make a lot of money exhibiting these two

7:33

young boys. Hunter spends five

7:35

years lobbying the King of Siam

7:37

for permission to take the boys with him,

7:43

and if you're picturing Youle Brinner, sorry

7:46

the King his character is based on in the musical,

7:49

and doesn't come on the scene for a few more decades.

7:55

Finally, after Hunter teams up

7:57

with American ship captain Able Coffin,

7:59

that King signs off and in eighteen

8:02

twenty nine, the seventeen year old

8:04

twins set sail for America,

8:07

and I don't think they had any idea what they

8:09

were getting into. They had no idea when they left

8:11

in eighteen twenty nine that they're not ever going

8:13

to see their home man again, they're not going to see

8:16

their mother again, that for the rest of their

8:18

lives they're going to be in the West. They spend

8:20

four months on the ship, climbing

8:22

the mast, learning to play chess, picking

8:24

up English from the sailors. The

8:28

America that greets them is in

8:30

the middle of a transformation. Andrew

8:32

Jackson is the brand new president. The

8:34

country's industrializing, and

8:37

it's a super boring place. There

8:40

are basically three options for entertainment,

8:43

card games, cider drinking, and

8:45

cock fights. That's pretty much

8:47

it. No surprise

8:50

Chang and Eng become instant stars.

8:56

People Magazine existed back then. They would

8:58

be in at every other week, some of the first

9:00

entertainers in America. I think at least

9:02

famous ones. Within months, they

9:05

are household names. The phrase

9:07

that would come to describe them, Siamese Twins,

9:09

becomes very famous very quickly as well.

9:11

That's right there, the original Siamese

9:14

Twins. That's where the expression comes from

9:17

by now that four inch band has

9:19

stretched to five and a half inches,

9:21

no small difference. They were able to stand side

9:23

by side. If you've ever seen pictures

9:26

of them, they're dressed nicely and

9:28

each has one arm over the other's

9:30

shoulder. That was the most comfortable

9:32

position for them. To me. They kind

9:34

of looked like two best friends coming

9:37

home from a late night out. As

9:40

for the show they put on, there

9:42

were some acts of acrobatic

9:45

feats that they would be asked to do. These

9:47

included somersaults, or lifting

9:50

weights or playing badminton,

9:53

you know when each of them holding a racket

9:55

and hitting the birdie back and forth. They're

9:58

being asked to perform these types of physical

10:00

feats for an audience that's paying

10:02

money just to watch them, just because they're

10:05

a pair of conjoined twins. But they're

10:07

not just being docked at. They give

10:09

as good as they get. Were they funny,

10:12

Yeah, Some of the commenters said

10:14

that they had a great sense of humor. They were very quick

10:16

witted, so you could ask a question

10:18

and they would be, you know, quick with a response.

10:21

During one show, they notice a one eyed man

10:23

in the audience and they tell him they'll

10:25

re fund half of his admission, because after all,

10:28

he's only seeing half the show. They

10:31

traveled the country. In New York City,

10:33

they're exhibited at the Grand Saloon of

10:35

the Basonic Hall. In small

10:37

towns, they perform in living rooms or tents.

10:40

The small rural communities, they hold

10:42

exhibits, and you've got wagons

10:44

full of people kind of converging on the

10:46

small towns to see the twins

10:49

and to talk about the twins, and

10:51

to spread rumors about the twins. There's

10:55

this one story, a superstition surrounding

10:57

them that's especially wild. So

11:00

in Kentucky, shortly after

11:02

their visit, a woman gives birth

11:04

to conjoin twins. And immediately the

11:07

thought is did she see the twins?

11:09

Was their conditions somehow contracted by

11:12

her because she saw the twins? And no, she hadn't

11:14

actually gone to the show, but she had seen

11:16

pictures of the twins being advertised, And so

11:18

the question is, well, did that cause almost

11:21

like a viral exactly we're

11:23

all wired to find the

11:25

idea of conjoined

11:27

twins sign These twins

11:30

just completely and totally riveting.

11:32

I remember being a kid and you

11:35

you'd hear about a set being born

11:37

and it's just it's you just can't

11:39

help but be fascinated. Why do you think that is?

11:44

Because at once it's so familiar and

11:46

yet also so different,

11:49

so alien. They had the ideal physical

11:51

form. It's the fact that they have this extra

11:53

band of flesh that connects them, and

11:56

at once it's appealing, it draws

11:58

your attention, but you also feel a slight

12:01

sense of horror. They are

12:03

an early version of, ultimately what would

12:05

become known as a freak show, a traveling freak

12:07

show, and those kind of experienced

12:09

a tremendous level of

12:11

success in the nineteenth century. Part

12:16

of the fascination is that Chang and

12:18

Ang are among the very first Asians

12:20

in America. This is decades before

12:23

Chinese immigrants come to work on the railroads.

12:25

Philosophers opine about their souls,

12:28

doctors prod them with needles. There's

12:30

a rom com written about them. Herman

12:33

Melville alludes to them in Moby Dick

12:35

Oh, and none other than Mark Twain

12:38

speculates on them. He writes this,

12:40

when one is sick, the other is sick. When

12:43

one feels pain, the other feels it. When

12:45

one is angered, the other's temper takes

12:48

fire. And are people actually questioning

12:50

whether they are one person or

12:53

two. They're in Alabama and a

12:55

doctor in the crowd and the audience of one

12:57

of their shows thinks that they're in some

12:59

way trying to pull a fast one over on

13:01

him. So the doctor asks one brother,

13:04

what will happen if I poke you in the arm

13:06

with a needle, And the other one says, if you poked

13:08

my brother in the arm with the needle, I'm gonna punch you.

13:11

Temper

13:14

Temper, that's Jasper Bunker.

13:16

He's a great grandson of Anger. It

13:19

said that the twins had opposite personalities.

13:21

Ang was more gentle and well mannered.

13:24

Chang was cranky and love to fight. Sometimes

13:27

they fought with each other, and sometimes

13:29

that temper was directed at those who got

13:31

in their faces. They got in a

13:33

scuffle and they had at of fight and full fish

13:36

and started to go, you know, because

13:38

if you mess with one brother, you're gonna get the

13:40

other brother got full full fifth go

13:42

in color. Increasingly

13:45

their temper was directed at Able Coffin.

13:47

He'd bought out Robert Hunter for full

13:50

ownership of the twins contract. They

13:52

had started to understand that Americans

13:56

saw them as bonded

13:58

labor. Uh the money they earned

14:00

was not going to them but to their

14:03

owner, and so they knew

14:05

that Americans believed

14:08

that they were slaves. Just one

14:10

of many indignities they suffered. When

14:12

the twins traveled to England, Coffin

14:15

and his wife luxuriated in first

14:17

class while Chang and Eng stayed

14:19

in steerage with the servants.

14:22

Soon enough, they'd had enough.

14:25

Pere's just sent an alex sink again.

14:27

And they had the courage at

14:29

the age of twenty one or write the guy

14:32

letter and said we're done. We

14:35

can do this on our own, and so

14:37

they did. It helped that they planned

14:39

ahead for life as independent men.

14:42

They were very frugal and

14:45

saved enough money because I think they had

14:47

in their mind that they didn't want to spend the risk of

14:49

their lives and display. There

14:51

are journals that outline every

14:53

single penny they spent on their tour.

14:56

At the age of twenty eight, they traveled

14:58

through rural North Carolina. When

15:01

they saw the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance,

15:03

they were reminded of Siam.

15:06

It was a sign they wanted

15:08

to have a normal life. They were young men.

15:11

There were normal young men who

15:14

wanted to have a family, Chang and

15:16

Ang were ready to settle down and

15:18

make new connections. And

15:21

this is where the story gets really

15:23

interesting. Did

15:28

you see the bridge yet? No? Chang

15:30

eventually and this side of the creek, and

15:33

Ings family had the other

15:35

side of the creek. During the Bunker Family

15:38

reunion, I wanted to get a little closer

15:40

to the life the Chang and Ang led here

15:42

in mount Airy, North Carolina, so

15:44

I asked Alex to show me around. And

15:47

then the outhouse was down the hill. Do

15:49

we know what the house looked

15:52

like? We know it was a two holer for

15:56

the twins.

15:59

The story of Chang and Ang taking

16:01

the country by storm and then winning their

16:03

freedom is so triumphant. So

16:06

it's a little surprising that some of the family

16:08

members the reunion drew up

16:10

not even knowing they were related to them.

16:13

When I was growing up, nobody talked about the twins

16:15

very much. Really, why, oh, my grandmother,

16:18

wouldn't they even let us spring up their name? Why

16:21

it's because they know the Victorian age

16:24

nobody wanted to talk about Now

16:26

they created one children,

16:28

yes, twenty one children.

16:31

But before we get ahead of ourselves,

16:34

after a decade on the road, Chang

16:37

and Ang retired to rural North Carolina,

16:40

where they could start building a life undisturbed

16:43

by curiosity seekers. They

16:46

became American citizens, and

16:48

as they established themselves in town,

16:50

they started looking around for potential

16:52

wives. The story goes that

16:55

at a friend's wedding, Chang fell

16:57

hard for Adelaide Eights. It

17:00

mutual, but

17:02

as one half of conjoined twins, Chang

17:05

realized the relationship was going to be

17:07

extremely awkward unless Ang

17:10

also found a spouse. The good

17:12

news was that Addie Yates had a sister,

17:15

Sarah. The bad news was that

17:17

Sarah didn't particularly like Hang.

17:20

So the twins hatched a plan have

17:23

all the women from neighboring towns over for

17:25

a quilting party. The era's version

17:27

of a group hang Ang doated

17:30

on Sarah sharing tales of life

17:32

on the road. It

17:36

worked. The twins had

17:38

found their other halves. What

17:41

do you think They overcame in the mountains

17:43

of North Carolina at by saying

17:46

they wanted to get married, right,

17:49

my God, And somehow,

17:51

through their charm and with these

17:54

two girls fell in love with them and

17:56

agreed to Can you imagine how scandalous

17:58

that was the

18:01

courage of those two sisters too. Absolutely

18:04

the sisters. For sure. It

18:07

didn't hurt that the twins were funny and well

18:10

rich, and that Addie and Sarah

18:12

were used to not caring what other people

18:14

thought. I think probably the fact that

18:16

their mother was was

18:20

different because of being

18:23

enormously overweight. Remember

18:25

Tanya Jones, She's not only head

18:27

of the Andy Griffith Museum slash Samese

18:30

Twins exhibit, she's also a descendant

18:32

of Anger and chair of the Bunker

18:34

reunion this year. Um She

18:36

supposedly was the largest person

18:40

in the area and reportedly weighed

18:42

over five pounds. And

18:45

they were used to being in

18:48

the presence of someone who was

18:50

looked at as different, so

18:52

possibly that made them more open

18:55

minded. It was around this time that

18:57

the twins considered being separated.

19:00

They figured if they were going to have normal lives.

19:02

This was the moment Adelaide

19:05

and Sarah were against it. I

19:07

choose to believe that the girls preferred

19:10

to have them alive

19:13

together conjoined, rather

19:15

than possibly dead separated.

19:20

Both couples were ready to tie their respective

19:23

knots, but this was uncharted

19:25

legal territory, and not because of

19:27

the brothers being conjoined. Marriage

19:29

between whites and non whites was

19:32

illegal. The twins were

19:34

not white, but they also weren't

19:36

black, so in this case, hoping

19:38

to avoid any problems, each brother

19:40

posted a bond of one thousand dollars,

19:44

and in April eighteen forty three,

19:47

in a small double wedding, and can I just say

19:49

I love double weddings, Chang and

19:51

Ang Bunker married Sarah

19:53

and adelaide the eights and commenced

19:56

building their families. But

19:59

exactly how did they do that? All

20:01

right, you knew it was coming. Let's talk

20:03

about their sex lives. Well,

20:07

let me give you a few facts and then leave

20:09

the rest for the imagination. This is unto

20:12

Huang. He's a professor at the University

20:14

of California, Santa Barbara and author

20:17

of a biography about the twins called

20:19

Inseparable. When they first married,

20:22

Leah had only one house to the four of them,

20:25

but later on they set up to separate households.

20:27

They set up this kind of very

20:30

rigid, uh schedule.

20:32

Here's how it worked. For three days and nights

20:34

they stayed at one brother's house, and

20:37

then they moved to the other brothers. Let's

20:39

say they were at Chang's house Chang

20:42

on the in those three days, can do whatever

20:44

he likes, whatever he

20:46

does with his wife, and Ang

20:49

during this time would go into a passive

20:52

meditative state. Imagine

20:55

a computer in sleep mode, not shutting

20:58

down, but inactive unto.

21:01

Kwang describes the arrangement as

21:03

one of alternate mastery.

21:06

It's what allowed each brother to enjoy intimate

21:08

relations with his spouse while

21:10

the other brother was right there was

21:13

the bad sort of big enough for three

21:15

people. Then yes, really,

21:19

if you're giggling at the description of this unorthodox

21:22

arrangement, I get it. But

21:24

it's also kind of beautiful, the very

21:26

definition of selflessness, to

21:28

surrender, free will, to sacrifice

21:30

like that, to give your brother some meaningful

21:33

time with his wife. The marriages

21:36

were fruitful. Chang

21:38

and Adelaide had ten kids. Ang

21:42

and Sarah edged them out with eleven,

21:47

and they were very loving parents.

21:50

I mean, you can tail from dislocated even some

21:52

of the photographs, you know, I was

21:54

looking today the way Chang had his arm

21:56

around my grandfather, and it

21:58

wasn't stage journey thing. It was just

22:02

they love their children. Loving

22:05

your children is natural for

22:07

Chang and Ang brought to this country

22:09

for exhibition. For these men

22:11

to even have children and raise families

22:15

strikes me as nothing short of radical,

22:18

But being Southern gentleman in the Antebellum

22:21

South meant something else.

22:23

Altogether, everything

22:29

you see around here was part

22:32

of our farm. If you had been

22:34

here, those fields would have been covered in

22:36

tobacco plants. While Chang and Ang

22:38

objected to themselves being seen as slaves,

22:41

they had no problem owning slaves.

22:45

The slavery was a fact and antibell

22:48

themselves. So it was their

22:50

tickets. I should emphasize

22:52

into the southern white world. This

22:55

is the point at which the narrative

22:57

becomes very

23:00

complicated and uncomfortable, right

23:02

because up until this point you're really root for

23:04

them. But at this point the story

23:07

you kind of you head a brick wall. They

23:10

did treat this as business. They tend to

23:12

buy rather young slaves.

23:14

They will raise them and then sell them later

23:17

at a profit when they grow older,

23:19

almost like investment property. Right.

23:22

They ended up owning thirty two slaves,

23:25

including children. Because

23:27

of their wealth and the paucity of Chinese

23:29

in America, yout Wong says,

23:32

the twins were able to position themselves

23:34

as honorary whites as

23:36

in North Carolinian. I'm really, really

23:38

proud of the fact that my great grandfather

23:42

could come and settle down there as an

23:44

Asian Chinese heritage

23:46

and make a successful life for himself.

23:48

I'm not proud of the fact that they

23:51

owned slaves. That's

23:53

not a source of pride, but

23:57

we have to recognize that at that point in time

23:59

in history, that's how you got work done

24:01

in a large farm. Earlier

24:03

they were treated and they worked like

24:05

slaves, certainly, and now the table

24:08

is turned. Now they are masters slaves,

24:10

the victimize becoming the victimizer.

24:13

Yes. Absolutely. After

24:16

Abraham Lincoln was elected president

24:18

in eighteen sixty, the nation was

24:20

thrown into crisis, and the twins

24:22

once again became a convenient literary

24:24

device for journalists. The

24:26

New York Tribune wrote, Jang

24:28

resolved to sever the union with Ang,

24:31

which he declared to be no longer worth

24:33

preserving. But this

24:35

wasn't brother against brother. The twins

24:38

were united in their allegiance to the

24:40

South. They sent two of their sons

24:42

off to war and converted their fortune

24:45

into Confederate currency and

24:47

ultimately disastrous decision.

24:50

They were wiped out financially, so they

24:52

have no choice. They only have one

24:54

major asset left, which is their

24:56

conjoined body, and that's why

24:59

they decided to go back on the road again after

25:01

many years. They

25:04

were in their mid fifties, now forced

25:06

to return for a grueling five years

25:09

to the life they thought they'd left behind.

25:12

They briefly teamed up with P. T. Barnum,

25:14

whom they deeply mistrusted. They

25:17

did a stint with a traveling circus in Europe.

25:20

It was humiliating, and

25:22

then Chang, a lifelong drinker,

25:25

suffered a stroke and they

25:27

came home to North Carolina. Yet

25:31

even in their final years, Chang

25:33

and Ang couldn't escape the spotlight.

25:37

I think there's something very

25:40

sweet about the fact that in

25:42

order to negotiate the world they had to

25:44

put their arms around each other's shoulders.

25:47

That's such a great thought. Yes,

25:50

I love that. That's my friend

25:52

Dr John Lapouk, he's CBS

25:55

News is senior medical correspondent.

25:57

He's giving me some perspective on what life

26:00

for the twins must have been like. Think

26:02

about it, MO, when you're doing something just

26:04

even just walking up on a curb that

26:07

takes split second timing, how

26:09

did they do that? Okay, now we're going to lift our

26:11

left leg. Now we're going to lift their right leg. But after

26:13

Chang had a stroke and they returned to North

26:16

Carolina, Ang had to drag

26:18

him around quite literally for the

26:20

next four years. Can you imagine.

26:23

I mean, they were told from what I read,

26:26

that if one of them

26:28

died that they'd have to try to separate

26:30

the two of them asap right

26:32

away, uh, in order to for the

26:34

other person to have a chance. Now, the

26:36

odds of that happening had to be zero

26:39

back then. I mean, they couldn't do it when they were healthy.

26:45

One morning, after a particularly

26:47

cold night, Ang's son came

26:49

into his father's bedroom.

26:51

His uncle Chang was dead. Ang

26:54

was still alive. To your attach

26:56

it to a corpse, and that corps is probably pretty

26:58

quickly getting cold. I cannot

27:01

imagine what that moment is like. And so when I think

27:03

about Chang and Ang, and I think about those final

27:05

moments of Ang, his brother has

27:07

died in and now the clock is ticking.

27:09

And not only is it ticking, but

27:12

he's having two things happen simultaneously.

27:16

Physically, he's getting weaker, his blood

27:18

pressure is probably dropping, he's probably getting infected

27:20

septic from the toxins. Something's happening

27:22

by physical pain, physical pain, and

27:24

he knows he's dying. Maybe he's feeling cold and

27:27

emotionally, emotionally,

27:29

and you just wonder what his last thoughts were,

27:32

if he was able to think. Ang

27:37

surrounded by family, would live for

27:39

another few hours, his wife

27:41

and children rubbing his arms and

27:43

stretching his legs. I mean, like there

27:45

is a ticking clock. I mean, it's just

27:47

it's it's like a horror movie. It

27:50

is a horror movie. But you wonder for them.

27:54

They lived sixty two years, they

27:57

were able to actually have a life.

27:59

It's a mirror that they even had a life

28:01

at Almo. I wouldn't

28:03

want to have been in their shoes, but it's

28:07

remarkable. The

28:12

brothers died on January seventeenth,

28:14

eighteen seventy four. Their

28:17

obituary made the front page of newspapers

28:20

across the country. In death,

28:22

they were celebrated and

28:24

once again exploited. A

28:27

public autopsy was performed in

28:29

Philadelphia. Doctors discovered

28:32

that the brothers livers were connected.

28:34

Indeed, they wouldn't have survived separation

28:37

surgery in the mid nineteenth century. Today,

28:40

they could have been separated. John Lapuke

28:42

says, without question, doctors

28:46

had promised the grieving widows

28:48

to return the bodies intact. Instead,

28:51

Chang and Ang were shipped back with some

28:53

of their internal organs removed. You

28:56

can still see their conjoined livers on display

28:58

at Philadelphia's Mood Museum.

29:01

Eventually, they were laid to rest in a double

29:03

wide casket with a single headstone

29:06

in a cemetery in Mount Airy. But

29:10

it's to the village in Thailand where their

29:12

story began that their descendants

29:15

recently traveled.

29:20

We were on the bus one day and

29:23

and I disapplorted out, oh my gosh,

29:25

that looks exactly like the Blue Ridge Mountains.

29:27

For Alex Sink and nine other descendants,

29:30

including her cousin Robin Craver, it

29:33

was an emotional experience. I'm

29:36

where I came from. My ancestors

29:38

were here. They didn't make it back, but

29:40

I did. They told me all about it at

29:42

the reunion. Here's Alex. I

29:45

just felt a connection of knowing that

29:48

part of my blood, part of my genetic

29:51

makeup, my d n A started

29:54

in this river in this town.

29:57

Uh and a little boat

30:00

with my great grandfather selling

30:02

duck eggs. How cool

30:04

is that? Homer Bunker is a descendant

30:07

on the Ang side. Before we

30:09

went on the trip, they said, you will be treated

30:11

royally, and that can be interpreted

30:14

in a number of ways. And when we got

30:16

there, as they have pointed out, we

30:18

were genuinely treated royally

30:22

from the time we arrived at there. For oh

30:26

my goodness, that was we are

30:28

now and somebody wrong, largely

30:31

forgotten in their adopted country. The

30:34

twins have superstar status

30:36

in Thailand. A lady was

30:38

brought to tears from meeting

30:40

me. I'm just little Robin Cramer from

30:42

North Carolina. They have this huge

30:45

park. In the center of the park

30:47

is an enormous statue

30:50

of the Siamese Twins. And as I went

30:52

around the memorial and read the

30:54

inscriptions or whatever, and it's

30:57

at that point that I thought, Hey, I need

30:59

to write a song about this. All

31:01

right, old toomer, you can't tease us this way.

31:04

Yeah, well, would you like to hear my song?

31:06

Gee? I thought you could ask two

31:09

precious little Sammy's boys, Ing

31:12

and Chain born to bring the world so

31:14

many joys. May eleve and

31:16

eighteen eleven was the date of their arrival.

31:19

Attached at the chest, they struggle

31:21

for survival. Why

31:26

do you think their story matters?

31:29

Oh my gosh, America

31:31

was always the beacon of the place where somebody

31:34

could come and build a successful life,

31:37

and they came here with nothing. In

31:39

fact, they themselves were in effect

31:41

owned. The twins

31:43

decided, We're going to go off and create our

31:45

own business and our own entertainment,

31:48

and so they worked really,

31:50

really hard. I mean, you

31:53

know, we talk a lot about people with disabilities.

31:56

I mean, they had the ultimate disability. So

31:58

I think it's an incredible, in sparing

32:01

American immigration story. You

32:05

know, it's really not weird at all that some of

32:07

the family members used to be self conscious

32:09

about being descended from the twins. Who

32:12

isn't self conscious about your family when

32:14

when you're a kid. I remember

32:17

being afraid that people would find out

32:19

that I called my mother mamita instead

32:21

of mom. She's Colombian. I

32:24

know it sounds silly, but I was afraid

32:26

I'd get made fun of that it would mark

32:28

me as different. I outgrew

32:31

that now I'm happy to let you know that I

32:33

called her Mamita. I still do today.

32:37

The Bunkers have a lot to be proud

32:40

of. Alex Sink, whose

32:42

real name is Adelaide. She's named after

32:44

her great grandmother, was the Democratic

32:46

nominee for Governor of Florida in two

32:48

thousand ten. Another descendant,

32:50

Caroline Shaw, recently won

32:53

the Pulitzer Prize for Music, and

32:55

the late Caleb Haines was a decorated

32:57

veteran of both World Wars, and

33:00

every summer a whole bunch of bunkers

33:03

descend on Mount Airy to celebrate

33:05

the twins as well they should.

33:08

Chang and Eng were extraordinary.

33:11

They may not have been perfect, far from it,

33:14

but they had courage. You

33:16

would have thought there would have been at least one episode

33:19

of the Andy Griffith Show that

33:22

included that nodditude that referred

33:24

to Chang and Hang. But that's

33:26

that just proves how little it

33:29

was in people's radars.

33:31

I would have loved don nods

33:33

as Barney Fife coming in and say, I swear

33:36

I saw them right, or

33:38

I saw one of those buckers downtown

33:41

today. Next

33:48

time on Mobituaries, the

33:51

death of a Tree and

33:53

how it uprooted the sports world.

33:56

You know, I just

33:58

don't like all I wanted all

34:01

people to hate me as much as I hate down. I

34:04

certainly hope you enjoyed this moment. If

34:06

you would please rate and review our podcast.

34:08

You can follow Mobituaries on Facebook

34:10

and Instagram, and you can follow me on

34:13

Twitter at morocco. For more

34:15

great content, please visit mobituaries

34:17

dot com. You can subscribe to Mobituaries

34:20

wherever you get your podcasts. This

34:22

episode of Mobituaries was produced by

34:25

Megan Dietree and Gideon Evans.

34:27

Our team of producers also includes Megan

34:29

Marcus, Kate mccauliffe, and me Morocca.

34:33

It was edited by Megan Dietree and

34:35

engineered by Dan de Zula, with

34:37

additional editing by Sophia Steinerd

34:39

Evoy. Indispensable

34:41

support from Kay limb Young,

34:44

Kim Genius Taneski, Kira

34:46

Wardlow, Richard Roher, and

34:48

everyone at CBS News Radio. Special

34:51

thanks to Dr Henore Ford, Alberto

34:53

Robina, Tanya Jones, Alex

34:56

Sink, Zach Blackman, Gary Rash,

34:58

Hebert Yates, and the tire

35:00

Bunker family. Our theme music

35:02

is written by Daniel Hart and, as

35:04

always, undying thanks to Rand

35:06

Morrison and John Carp without

35:09

whom Mobituaries couldn't

35:11

live. Hi,

35:29

It's mo. If you're enjoying Mobituaries

35:32

the podcast, may I invite you

35:34

to check out Mobituaries the book.

35:37

It's chock full of stories not

35:39

in the podcast. Celebrities

35:41

who put their butts on the line, sports

35:43

teams that threw in the towel for good, forgotten

35:46

fashions, defunct diagnoses,

35:49

presidential candidacies that cratered

35:51

whole countries that went could put and

35:53

dragons, Yes, dragons, you

35:56

see. People used to believe the dragons were real until

35:59

just get the book. You can order Mobituaries

36:02

the book from any online bookseller,

36:04

or stop by your local bookstore and

36:06

look for me when I come to your city.

36:08

Tour information and lots more at

36:10

mobituaries dot com

36:13

m H