February 28, 2019 • 36 mins
Many of us have seen pictures of the original "Siamese Twins" Chang and Eng. But their story is so much more than a medical case study. Mo travels to Mount Airy, North Carolina - the inspiration for Andy Griffith's Mayberry and the real life home of the conjoined twins - to join the many descendants of Chang and Eng for their annual family reunion.Learn more about the Mobituaries book: http://bit.ly/MobituariesBook
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's July and I'm in mount Airy, North Carolina, population
ten thousand three. Located at the foothills of the beautiful
Blue Ridge Mountains. This is the birthplace of beloved American
actor Andy Griffith and the model for Mayberry, the setting
for his classic sitcom The Andy Griffith Show. Griffith played
(00:27):
Sheriff Andy Taylor, keeping watch over his sleepy town and
his young son Opie, played by little Ronnie Howard. When
you give you word, never go back on you. You
understand that day? Okay, Pa, you can trust me. If
the name sounds familiar. Opie grew up to become Happy
Days actor and Hollywood movie director ron Howard. To bring
(00:51):
in the tourists, mount Airy does its best to recreate
the Maybury experience. You can eat at Snappy Lunch, which
was mentioned on the show that the same as the
port Untamemad show. You can ride around in a replica
Maybury police car, or you can spend a couple of
(01:15):
hours at the Andy Griffith Museum at our house. Every
day we have they're recorded and rewatched all the time.
Growing up, we watched it in reruns. It was my
father's favorite show. Six thirty PM, Channel five. But not
many of these people know that the price of admission
to the Anti Griffith Museum will allow them entrance into
(01:38):
another smaller museum just downstairs in the basement. The eight
dollars prize includes the Siamese Twin exhibit as well as
Andy Griffith Museum. Take a peek at It The Siamese Twins,
mount Airy's second and third favorite sons. Simon Selection, Yeah,
(01:58):
a part of them. This is fascinating, It really is.
I don't know if they died together or I'm trying
to figure out what happened at the end of their lives.
Tanya Jones runs both places and talks about a common
reaction from the people who visit the exhibit downstairs. The
surprise is why is it here? And it's here because
(02:20):
this is where they settled and raised their families. Chang
and Ang Bunker, the once world famous joined twins, were
born in Thailand called Siam at the time in eighteen eleven,
and later in life, settled right here in Mount Airy,
many years before people even heard about Mayberry. This episode
(02:43):
is about those remarkable twins. It's a complicated and not
always happy story, but this story is real. So I
mean they weren't a part of the show or anything though,
were they definitely know they was only any different show.
I'm Murrah go, and this is mobituaries. This MOPI Chang
(03:09):
and Ang Bunker, a messy American dream. This is Francis
and Caroline. I've seen you before, You've seen him on television.
I'm CBS. I'm Francis Hall, okay, and I'm at a
(03:32):
family reunion here in mount Airy, North Carolina. And he
must be the youngest Bunker here. Yeah, oh my gosh,
look at him. Okay, So it's not my family reunion,
but I'm happy to be crashing it for the food alone,
a sticky rice milk and needed the mano or for
(03:53):
this different, different than biscuits and gravy. While this family's
North Carolina roots stretched back nearly two centuries, it's tie
roots stretched back much farther. Greedys and high to descendants.
Welcome to the I believe twenty ninth Annual Bunker Reunion.
(04:17):
This is the Bunker family. Bunker is the name Chang
and Ang adopted when they came to North Carolina. At
this reunion, family members take sides. I'm a fourth grade
grandson of Chang Bunker, I'm a great grandson of E.
I'm a descend to mean. He had the strongest body,
but his face was kind of like a plowdboars face.
(04:40):
Little uncle Chang he had the weaker body, the crooked
the backbone, but he had to pretty his face and hair.
Everyone here seems proud to be descended from the twins.
Let's read the back of your shirt. It says our
family sticks together, and there's a picture of Ing and
Chang on the back. But apparently it wasn't always something
the family celebrates. Did as Caroline, how she found out
(05:02):
about the Sammy's twins? How did you find out about
Sammy's twins? I was in the Living Wind one day
as a little girl, and I just opened up the
secretary and I saw all these articles and pictures of
the twins and stashed away. You felt like you were
discovering family secrets. Yes, turns out many of the almost
one thousand, five hundred descendants of Chang and Ang, I know,
(05:24):
it's a crazy number. We'll explain have been on journeys
of their own. And that's the other story we're going
to tell you. Remember walking down the streets of Little
Mount Airy, North Carolina, and going into a store and
somebody would look at me and say, you must be
one of those Bunkers. So I was a little bit labeled.
Alex Sink is a great granddaughter of Chang Bunker. But
(05:48):
I have to give a credit to my father because
he said, he said, well, you should be so proud
of the fact that you come from the Sammy's twins
who overcame so many ops tickles, and it's an incredible
story to tell. The twins story begins on the other
side of the planet in a fishing village in Siam.
(06:12):
The boys family was actually ethnically Chinese. The twins were
born on a houseboat, perfectly healthy except for a four
inch long band of flesh and cartilage joining them at
the mid section. Trace your finger down the lower part
of your chest, right where the bone stops. That's where
they were connected. They shared one belly button right in
(06:34):
the center of that band. Despite this connecting band, they
led a relatively normal life. They learned to walk and
to swim, and to help the family make ends meet,
they raised ducks and sold the exit market in Thailand.
They weren't raised as curiosities the way that they would
become in the United States. That's Joe Orser, a history
(06:55):
professor at the University of Wisconsin, eau Claire. He's the
author of the Lives Chang and Eng, Siam's Twins. In
nineteenth century America, they were given a great amount of
freedom to run around and play. One day, when the
boys are just twelve years old, a British merchant named
Robert Hunter comes sailing down the river and he spots
(07:18):
something in the distance, and he saw what he would
later describe a monstrosity. He thought it was some sort
of animal playing in the water. Then he would ultimately
discover that it was these conjoined brothers, and immediately he
thinks we can make a lot of money exhibiting these
two young boys. Hunter spends five years lobbying the King
of Siam for permission to take the boys with him,
(07:43):
and if you're picturing Youle Brinner, sorry the King his
character is based on in the musical, and doesn't come
on the scene for a few more decades. Finally, after
Hunter teams up with American ship captain Able Coffin, that
King signs off and in eighteen twenty nine, the seventeen
year old twins set sail for America, and I don't
(08:07):
think they had any idea what they were getting into.
They had no idea when they left in eighteen twenty
nine that they're not ever going to see their home
man again, they're not going to see their mother again,
that for the rest of their lives they're going to
be in the West. They spend four months on the ship,
climbing the mast, learning to play chess, picking up English
from the sailors. The America that greets them is in
(08:30):
the middle of a transformation. Andrew Jackson is the brand
new president. The country's industrializing, and it's a super boring place.
There are basically three options for entertainment, card games, cider drinking,
and cock fights. That's pretty much it. No surprise Chang
(08:50):
and Eng become instant stars. People Magazine existed back then.
They would be in at every other week, some of
the first entertainers in America. I think at least famous ones.
Within months, they are household names. The phrase that would
come to describe them, Siamese Twins, becomes very famous very
quickly as well. That's right there, the original Siamese Twins.
(09:14):
That's where the expression comes from by now that four
inch band has stretched to five and a half inches,
no small difference. They were able to stand side by side.
If you've ever seen pictures of them, they're dressed nicely
and each has one arm over the other's shoulder. That
was the most comfortable position for them. To me. They
kind of looked like two best friends coming home from
(09:37):
a late night out. As for the show they put on,
there were some acts of acrobatic feats that they would
be asked to do. These included somersaults, or lifting weights
or playing badminton, you know when each of them holding
a racket and hitting the birdie back and forth. They're
(09:58):
being asked to perform these types of physical feats for
an audience that's paying money just to watch them, just
because they're a pair of conjoined twins. But they're not
just being docked at. They give as good as they get.
Were they funny, Yeah, Some of the commenters said that
they had a great sense of humor. They were very
quick witted, so you could ask a question and they
(10:18):
would be, you know, quick with a response. During one show,
they notice a one eyed man in the audience and
they tell him they'll re fund half of his admission,
because after all, he's only seeing half the show. They
traveled the country. In New York City, they're exhibited at
the Grand Saloon of the Basonic Hall. In small towns,
they perform in living rooms or tents. The small rural communities,
(10:41):
they hold exhibits, and you've got wagons full of people
kind of converging on the small towns to see the
twins and to talk about the twins, and to spread
rumors about the twins. There's this one story, a superstition
surrounding them that's especially wild. So in Kentucky, shortly after
(11:02):
their visit, a woman gives birth to conjoin twins. And
immediately the thought is did she see the twins? Was
their conditions somehow contracted by her because she saw the twins?
And no, she hadn't actually gone to the show, but
she had seen pictures of the twins being advertised, And
so the question is, well, did that cause almost like
a viral exactly we're all wired to find the idea
(11:27):
of conjoined twins sign These twins just completely and totally riveting.
I remember being a kid and you you'd hear about
a set being born and it's just it's you just
can't help but be fascinated. Why do you think that is?
Because at once it's so familiar and yet also so different,
(11:49):
so alien. They had the ideal physical form. It's the
fact that they have this extra band of flesh that
connects them, and at once it's appealing, it draws your attention,
but you also feel a slight sense of horror. They
are an early version of, ultimately what would become known
as a freak show, a traveling freak show, and those
kind of experienced a tremendous level of success in the
(12:12):
nineteenth century. Part of the fascination is that Chang and
Ang are among the very first Asians in America. This
is decades before Chinese immigrants come to work on the railroads.
Philosophers opine about their souls, doctors prod them with needles.
There's a rom com written about them. Herman Melville alludes
(12:34):
to them in Moby Dick Oh, and none other than
Mark Twain speculates on them. He writes this, when one
is sick, the other is sick. When one feels pain,
the other feels it. When one is angered, the other's
temper takes fire. And are people actually questioning whether they
are one person or two. They're in Alabama and a
(12:55):
doctor in the crowd and the audience of one of
their shows thinks that they're in some way trying to
pull a fast one over on him. So the doctor
asks one brother, what will happen if I poke you
in the arm with a needle, And the other one says,
if you poked my brother in the arm with the needle,
I'm gonna punch you. Temper Temper, that's Jasper Bunker. He's
(13:16):
a great grandson of Anger. It said that the twins
had opposite personalities. Ang was more gentle and well mannered.
Chang was cranky and love to fight. Sometimes they fought
with each other, and sometimes that temper was directed at
those who got in their faces. They got in a
scuffle and they had at of fight and full fish
and started to go, you know, because if you mess
(13:39):
with one brother, you're gonna get the other brother got
full full fifth go in color. Increasingly their temper was
directed at Able Coffin. He'd bought out Robert Hunter for
full ownership of the twins contract. They had started to
understand that Americans saw them as bonded labor. Uh the
(14:00):
money they earned was not going to them but to
their owner, and so they knew that Americans believed that
they were slaves. Just one of many indignities they suffered.
When the twins traveled to England, Coffin and his wife
luxuriated in first class while Chang and Eng stayed in
steerage with the servants. Soon enough, they'd had enough. Pere's
(14:25):
just sent an alex sink again. And they had the
courage at the age of twenty one or write the
guy letter and said we're done. We can do this
on our own, and so they did. It helped that
they planned ahead for life as independent men. They were
very frugal and saved enough money because I think they
(14:46):
had in their mind that they didn't want to spend
the risk of their lives and display. There are journals
that outline every single penny they spent on their tour.
At the age of twenty eight, they traveled through rural
North Carolina. When they saw the Blue Ridge Mountains in
the distance, they were reminded of Siam. It was a
(15:07):
sign they wanted to have a normal life. They were
young men. There were normal young men who wanted to
have a family, Chang and Ang were ready to settle
down and make new connections. And this is where the
story gets really interesting. Did you see the bridge yet? No?
(15:30):
Chang eventually and this side of the creek, and Ings
family had the other side of the creek. During the
Bunker Family reunion, I wanted to get a little closer
to the life the Chang and Ang led here in
mount Airy, North Carolina, so I asked Alex to show
me around. And then the outhouse was down the hill.
Do we know what the house looked like? We know
(15:52):
it was a two holer for the twins. The story
of Chang and Ang taking the country by storm and
then winning their freedom is so triumphant. So it's a
little surprising that some of the family members the reunion
drew up not even knowing they were related to them.
(16:13):
When I was growing up, nobody talked about the twins
very much. Really, why, oh, my grandmother, wouldn't they even
let us spring up their name? Why it's because they
know the Victorian age nobody wanted to talk about Now
they created one children, yes, twenty one children. But before
we get ahead of ourselves, after a decade on the road,
(16:36):
Chang and Ang retired to rural North Carolina, where they
could start building a life undisturbed by curiosity seekers. They
became American citizens, and as they established themselves in town,
they started looking around for potential wives. The story goes
that at a friend's wedding, Chang fell hard for Adelaide Eights.
(16:59):
It mutual, but as one half of conjoined twins, Chang
realized the relationship was going to be extremely awkward unless
Ang also found a spouse. The good news was that
Addie Yates had a sister, Sarah. The bad news was
that Sarah didn't particularly like Hang. So the twins hatched
(17:22):
a plan have all the women from neighboring towns over
for a quilting party. The era's version of a group
hang Ang doated on Sarah sharing tales of life on
the road. It worked. The twins had found their other halves.
What do you think They overcame in the mountains of
(17:44):
North Carolina at by saying they wanted to get married, right,
my God, And somehow, through their charm and with these
two girls fell in love with them and agreed to
Can you imagine how scandalous that was the courage of
those two sisters too. Absolutely the sisters. For sure. It
(18:07):
didn't hurt that the twins were funny and well rich,
and that Addie and Sarah were used to not caring
what other people thought. I think probably the fact that
their mother was was different because of being enormously overweight.
Remember Tanya Jones, She's not only head of the Andy
(18:28):
Griffith Museum slash Samese Twins exhibit, she's also a descendant
of Anger and chair of the Bunker reunion this year.
Um She supposedly was the largest person in the area
and reportedly weighed over five pounds. And they were used
to being in the presence of someone who was looked
(18:51):
at as different, so possibly that made them more open minded.
It was around this time that the twins considered being separated.
They figured if they were going to have normal lives.
This was the moment Adelaide and Sarah were against it.
I choose to believe that the girls preferred to have
them alive together conjoined, rather than possibly dead separated. Both
(19:20):
couples were ready to tie their respective knots, but this
was uncharted legal territory, and not because of the brothers
being conjoined. Marriage between whites and non whites was illegal.
The twins were not white, but they also weren't black,
so in this case, hoping to avoid any problems, each
brother posted a bond of one thousand dollars, and in
(19:45):
April eighteen forty three, in a small double wedding, and
can I just say I love double weddings, Chang and
Ang Bunker married Sarah and adelaide the eights and commenced
building their families. But exactly how did they do that?
All right, you knew it was coming. Let's talk about
their sex lives. Well, let me give you a few
(20:08):
facts and then leave the rest for the imagination. This
is unto Huang. He's a professor at the University of California,
Santa Barbara and author of a biography about the twins
called Inseparable. When they first married, Leah had only one
house to the four of them, but later on they
set up to separate households. They set up this kind
(20:29):
of very rigid, uh schedule. Here's how it worked. For
three days and nights they stayed at one brother's house,
and then they moved to the other brothers. Let's say
they were at Chang's house Chang on the in those
three days, can do whatever he likes, whatever he does
with his wife, and Ang during this time would go
(20:50):
into a passive meditative state. Imagine a computer in sleep mode,
not shutting down, but inactive unto. Kwang describes the arrangement
as one of alternate mastery. It's what allowed each brother
to enjoy intimate relations with his spouse while the other
(21:10):
brother was right there was the bad sort of big
enough for three people. Then yes, really, if you're giggling
at the description of this unorthodox arrangement, I get it.
But it's also kind of beautiful, the very definition of selflessness,
to surrender, free will, to sacrifice like that, to give
(21:32):
your brother some meaningful time with his wife. The marriages
were fruitful. Chang and Adelaide had ten kids. Ang and
Sarah edged them out with eleven, and they were very
loving parents. I mean, you can tail from dislocated even
some of the photographs, you know, I was looking today
(21:54):
the way Chang had his arm around my grandfather, and
it wasn't stage journey thing. It was just they love
their children. Loving your children is natural for Chang and
Ang brought to this country for exhibition. For these men
to even have children and raise families strikes me as
(22:15):
nothing short of radical, But being Southern gentleman in the
Antebellum South meant something else. Altogether, everything you see around
here was part of our farm. If you had been here,
those fields would have been covered in tobacco plants. While
(22:37):
Chang and Ang objected to themselves being seen as slaves,
they had no problem owning slaves. The slavery was a
fact and antibell themselves. So it was their tickets. I
should emphasize into the southern white world. This is the
point at which the narrative becomes very complicated and uncomfortable,
(23:02):
right because up until this point you're really root for them.
But at this point the story you kind of you
head a brick wall. They did treat this as business.
They tend to buy rather young slaves. They will raise
them and then sell them later at a profit when
they grow older, almost like investment property. Right. They ended
(23:22):
up owning thirty two slaves, including children. Because of their
wealth and the paucity of Chinese in America, yout Wong says,
the twins were able to position themselves as honorary whites
as in North Carolinian. I'm really, really proud of the
fact that my great grandfather could come and settle down
(23:43):
there as an Asian Chinese heritage and make a successful
life for himself. I'm not proud of the fact that
they owned slaves. That's not a source of pride, but
we have to recognize that at that point in time
in history, that's how you got work done in a
large farm. Earlier they were treated and they worked like slaves, certainly,
(24:07):
and now the table is turned. Now they are masters slaves,
the victimize becoming the victimizer. Yes. Absolutely. After Abraham Lincoln
was elected president in eighteen sixty, the nation was thrown
into crisis, and the twins once again became a convenient
literary device for journalists. The New York Tribune wrote, Jang
(24:28):
resolved to sever the union with Ang, which he declared
to be no longer worth preserving. But this wasn't brother
against brother. The twins were united in their allegiance to
the South. They sent two of their sons off to
war and converted their fortune into Confederate currency and ultimately
disastrous decision. They were wiped out financially, so they have
(24:52):
no choice. They only have one major asset left, which
is their conjoined body, and that's why they decided to
go back on the road again after many years. They
were in their mid fifties, now forced to return for
a grueling five years to the life they thought they'd
left behind. They briefly teamed up with P. T. Barnum,
(25:14):
whom they deeply mistrusted. They did a stint with a
traveling circus in Europe. It was humiliating, and then Chang,
a lifelong drinker, suffered a stroke and they came home
to North Carolina. Yet even in their final years, Chang
and Ang couldn't escape the spotlight. I think there's something
(25:39):
very sweet about the fact that in order to negotiate
the world they had to put their arms around each
other's shoulders. That's such a great thought. Yes, I love that.
That's my friend Dr John Lapouk, he's CBS News is
senior medical correspondent. He's giving me some perspective on what
(26:00):
life for the twins must have been like. Think about it, MO,
when you're doing something just even just walking up on
a curb that takes split second timing, how did they
do that? Okay, now we're going to lift our left leg.
Now we're going to lift their right leg. But after
Chang had a stroke and they returned to North Carolina,
Ang had to drag him around quite literally for the
(26:20):
next four years. Can you imagine. I mean, they were
told from what I read, that if one of them
died that they'd have to try to separate the two
of them asap right away, uh, in order to for
the other person to have a chance. Now, the odds
of that happening had to be zero back then. I mean,
they couldn't do it when they were healthy. One morning,
(26:45):
after a particularly cold night, Ang's son came into his
father's bedroom. His uncle Chang was dead. Ang was still alive.
To your attach it to a corpse, and that corps
is probably pretty quickly getting cold. I cannot imagine what
that moment is like. And so when I think about
Chang and Ang, and I think about those final moments
(27:06):
of Ang, his brother has died in and now the
clock is ticking. And not only is it ticking, but
he's having two things happen simultaneously. Physically, he's getting weaker,
his blood pressure is probably dropping, he's probably getting infected
septic from the toxins. Something's happening by physical pain, physical pain,
and he knows he's dying. Maybe he's feeling cold and emotionally, emotionally,
(27:29):
and you just wonder what his last thoughts were, if
he was able to think. Ang surrounded by family, would
live for another few hours, his wife and children rubbing
his arms and stretching his legs. I mean, like there
is a ticking clock. I mean, it's just it's it's
like a horror movie. It is a horror movie. But
(27:51):
you wonder for them. They lived sixty two years, they
were able to actually have a life. It's a mirror
that they even had a life at Almo. I wouldn't
want to have been in their shoes, but it's remarkable.
(28:11):
The brothers died on January seventeenth, eighteen seventy four. Their
obituary made the front page of newspapers across the country.
In death, they were celebrated and once again exploited. A
public autopsy was performed in Philadelphia. Doctors discovered that the
(28:32):
brothers livers were connected. Indeed, they wouldn't have survived separation
surgery in the mid nineteenth century. Today, they could have
been separated. John Lapuke says, without question, doctors had promised
the grieving widows to return the bodies intact. Instead, Chang
and Ang were shipped back with some of their internal
(28:54):
organs removed. You can still see their conjoined livers on
display at Philadelphia's Mood Museum. Eventually, they were laid to
rest in a double wide casket with a single headstone
in a cemetery in Mount Airy. But it's to the
village in Thailand where their story began that their descendants
(29:15):
recently traveled. We were on the bus one day and
and I disapplorted out, oh my gosh, that looks exactly
like the Blue Ridge Mountains. For Alex Sink and nine
other descendants, including her cousin Robin Craver, it was an
emotional experience. I'm where I came from. My ancestors were here.
(29:39):
They didn't make it back, but I did. They told
me all about it at the reunion. Here's Alex. I
just felt a connection of knowing that part of my blood,
part of my genetic makeup, my d n A started
in this river in this town. Uh and a little
(29:59):
boat with my great grandfather selling duck eggs. How cool
is that? Homer Bunker is a descendant on the Ang side.
Before we went on the trip, they said, you will
be treated royally, and that can be interpreted in a
number of ways. And when we got there, as they
have pointed out, we were genuinely treated royally from the
(30:22):
time we arrived at there. For oh my goodness, that
was we are now and somebody wrong, largely forgotten in
their adopted country. The twins have superstar status in Thailand.
A lady was brought to tears from meeting me. I'm
just little Robin Cramer from North Carolina. They have this
(30:44):
huge park. In the center of the park is an
enormous statue of the Siamese Twins. And as I went
around the memorial and read the inscriptions or whatever, and
it's at that point that I thought, Hey, I need
to write a song about this. All right, old toomer,
you can't tease us this way. Yeah, well, would you
(31:05):
like to hear my song? Gee? I thought you could
ask two precious little Sammy's boys, Ing and Chain born
to bring the world so many joys. May eleve and
eighteen eleven was the date of their arrival. Attached at
the chest, they struggle for survival. Why do you think
(31:27):
their story matters? Oh my gosh, America was always the
beacon of the place where somebody could come and build
a successful life, and they came here with nothing. In fact,
they themselves were in effect owned. The twins decided, We're
going to go off and create our own business and
our own entertainment, and so they worked really, really hard.
(31:52):
I mean, you know, we talk a lot about people
with disabilities. I mean, they had the ultimate disability. So
I think it's an incredible, in sparing American immigration story.
You know, it's really not weird at all that some
of the family members used to be self conscious about
being descended from the twins. Who isn't self conscious about
(32:14):
your family when when you're a kid. I remember being
afraid that people would find out that I called my
mother mamita instead of mom. She's Colombian. I know it
sounds silly, but I was afraid I'd get made fun
of that it would mark me as different. I outgrew
that now I'm happy to let you know that I
called her Mamita. I still do today. The Bunkers have
(32:38):
a lot to be proud of. Alex Sink, whose real
name is Adelaide. She's named after her great grandmother, was
the Democratic nominee for Governor of Florida in two thousand ten.
Another descendant, Caroline Shaw, recently won the Pulitzer Prize for Music,
and the late Caleb Haines was a decorated veteran of
both World Wars, and every summer a whole bunch of
(33:02):
bunkers descend on Mount Airy to celebrate the twins as
well they should. Chang and Eng were extraordinary. They may
not have been perfect, far from it, but they had courage.
You would have thought there would have been at least
one episode of the Andy Griffith Show that included that
(33:23):
nodditude that referred to Chang and Hang. But that's that
just proves how little it was in people's radars. I
would have loved don nods as Barney Fife coming in
and say, I swear I saw them right, or I
saw one of those buckers downtown today. Next time on Mobituaries,
(33:51):
the death of a Tree and how it uprooted the
sports world. You know, I just don't like all I
wanted all people to hate me as much as I
hate down. I certainly hope you enjoyed this moment. If
you would please rate and review our podcast. You can
follow Mobituaries on Facebook and Instagram, and you can follow
(34:12):
me on Twitter at morocco. For more great content, please
visit mobituaries dot com. You can subscribe to Mobituaries wherever
you get your podcasts. This episode of Mobituaries was produced
by Megan Dietree and Gideon Evans. Our team of producers
also includes Megan Marcus, Kate mccauliffe, and me Morocca. It
(34:33):
was edited by Megan Dietree and engineered by Dan de Zula,
with additional editing by Sophia Steinerd Evoy. Indispensable support from
Kay limb Young, Kim Genius Taneski, Kira Wardlow, Richard Roher,
and everyone at CBS News Radio. Special thanks to Dr
Henore Ford, Alberto Robina, Tanya Jones, Alex Sink, Zach Blackman,
(34:57):
Gary Rash, Hebert Yates, and the tire Bunker family. Our
theme music is written by Daniel Hart and, as always,
undying thanks to Rand Morrison and John Carp without whom
Mobituaries couldn't live. Hi, It's mo. If you're enjoying Mobituaries
(35:32):
the podcast, may I invite you to check out Mobituaries
the book. It's chock full of stories not in the podcast.
Celebrities who put their butts on the line, sports teams
that threw in the towel for good, forgotten fashions, defunct diagnoses,
presidential candidacies that cratered whole countries that went could put
(35:53):
and dragons, Yes, dragons, you see. People used to believe
the dragons were real until just get the book. You
can order Mobituaries the book from any online bookseller, or
stop by your local bookstore and look for me when
I come to your city. Tour information and lots more
at mobituaries dot com m H
It's July and I'm in mount Airy, North Carolina, population
ten thousand three. Located at the foothills of the beautiful
Blue Ridge Mountains. This is the birthplace of beloved American
actor Andy Griffith and the model for Mayberry, the setting
for his classic sitcom The Andy Griffith Show. Griffith played
(00:27):
Sheriff Andy Taylor, keeping watch over his sleepy town and
his young son Opie, played by little Ronnie Howard. When
you give you word, never go back on you. You
understand that day? Okay, Pa, you can trust me. If
the name sounds familiar. Opie grew up to become Happy
Days actor and Hollywood movie director ron Howard. To bring
(00:51):
in the tourists, mount Airy does its best to recreate
the Maybury experience. You can eat at Snappy Lunch, which
was mentioned on the show that the same as the
port Untamemad show. You can ride around in a replica
Maybury police car, or you can spend a couple of
(01:15):
hours at the Andy Griffith Museum at our house. Every
day we have they're recorded and rewatched all the time.
Growing up, we watched it in reruns. It was my
father's favorite show. Six thirty PM, Channel five. But not
many of these people know that the price of admission
to the Anti Griffith Museum will allow them entrance into
(01:38):
another smaller museum just downstairs in the basement. The eight
dollars prize includes the Siamese Twin exhibit as well as
Andy Griffith Museum. Take a peek at It The Siamese Twins,
mount Airy's second and third favorite sons. Simon Selection, Yeah,
(01:58):
a part of them. This is fascinating, It really is.
I don't know if they died together or I'm trying
to figure out what happened at the end of their lives.
Tanya Jones runs both places and talks about a common
reaction from the people who visit the exhibit downstairs. The
surprise is why is it here? And it's here because
(02:20):
this is where they settled and raised their families. Chang
and Ang Bunker, the once world famous joined twins, were
born in Thailand called Siam at the time in eighteen eleven,
and later in life, settled right here in Mount Airy,
many years before people even heard about Mayberry. This episode
(02:43):
is about those remarkable twins. It's a complicated and not
always happy story, but this story is real. So I
mean they weren't a part of the show or anything though,
were they definitely know they was only any different show.
I'm Murrah go, and this is mobituaries. This MOPI Chang
(03:09):
and Ang Bunker, a messy American dream. This is Francis
and Caroline. I've seen you before, You've seen him on television.
I'm CBS. I'm Francis Hall, okay, and I'm at a
(03:32):
family reunion here in mount Airy, North Carolina. And he
must be the youngest Bunker here. Yeah, oh my gosh,
look at him. Okay, So it's not my family reunion,
but I'm happy to be crashing it for the food alone,
a sticky rice milk and needed the mano or for
(03:53):
this different, different than biscuits and gravy. While this family's
North Carolina roots stretched back nearly two centuries, it's tie
roots stretched back much farther. Greedys and high to descendants.
Welcome to the I believe twenty ninth Annual Bunker Reunion.
(04:17):
This is the Bunker family. Bunker is the name Chang
and Ang adopted when they came to North Carolina. At
this reunion, family members take sides. I'm a fourth grade
grandson of Chang Bunker, I'm a great grandson of E.
I'm a descend to mean. He had the strongest body,
but his face was kind of like a plowdboars face.
(04:40):
Little uncle Chang he had the weaker body, the crooked
the backbone, but he had to pretty his face and hair.
Everyone here seems proud to be descended from the twins.
Let's read the back of your shirt. It says our
family sticks together, and there's a picture of Ing and
Chang on the back. But apparently it wasn't always something
the family celebrates. Did as Caroline, how she found out
(05:02):
about the Sammy's twins? How did you find out about
Sammy's twins? I was in the Living Wind one day
as a little girl, and I just opened up the
secretary and I saw all these articles and pictures of
the twins and stashed away. You felt like you were
discovering family secrets. Yes, turns out many of the almost
one thousand, five hundred descendants of Chang and Ang, I know,
(05:24):
it's a crazy number. We'll explain have been on journeys
of their own. And that's the other story we're going
to tell you. Remember walking down the streets of Little
Mount Airy, North Carolina, and going into a store and
somebody would look at me and say, you must be
one of those Bunkers. So I was a little bit labeled.
Alex Sink is a great granddaughter of Chang Bunker. But
(05:48):
I have to give a credit to my father because
he said, he said, well, you should be so proud
of the fact that you come from the Sammy's twins
who overcame so many ops tickles, and it's an incredible
story to tell. The twins story begins on the other
side of the planet in a fishing village in Siam.
(06:12):
The boys family was actually ethnically Chinese. The twins were
born on a houseboat, perfectly healthy except for a four
inch long band of flesh and cartilage joining them at
the mid section. Trace your finger down the lower part
of your chest, right where the bone stops. That's where
they were connected. They shared one belly button right in
(06:34):
the center of that band. Despite this connecting band, they
led a relatively normal life. They learned to walk and
to swim, and to help the family make ends meet,
they raised ducks and sold the exit market in Thailand.
They weren't raised as curiosities the way that they would
become in the United States. That's Joe Orser, a history
(06:55):
professor at the University of Wisconsin, eau Claire. He's the
author of the Lives Chang and Eng, Siam's Twins. In
nineteenth century America, they were given a great amount of
freedom to run around and play. One day, when the
boys are just twelve years old, a British merchant named
Robert Hunter comes sailing down the river and he spots
(07:18):
something in the distance, and he saw what he would
later describe a monstrosity. He thought it was some sort
of animal playing in the water. Then he would ultimately
discover that it was these conjoined brothers, and immediately he
thinks we can make a lot of money exhibiting these
two young boys. Hunter spends five years lobbying the King
of Siam for permission to take the boys with him,
(07:43):
and if you're picturing Youle Brinner, sorry the King his
character is based on in the musical, and doesn't come
on the scene for a few more decades. Finally, after
Hunter teams up with American ship captain Able Coffin, that
King signs off and in eighteen twenty nine, the seventeen
year old twins set sail for America, and I don't
(08:07):
think they had any idea what they were getting into.
They had no idea when they left in eighteen twenty
nine that they're not ever going to see their home
man again, they're not going to see their mother again,
that for the rest of their lives they're going to
be in the West. They spend four months on the ship,
climbing the mast, learning to play chess, picking up English
from the sailors. The America that greets them is in
(08:30):
the middle of a transformation. Andrew Jackson is the brand
new president. The country's industrializing, and it's a super boring place.
There are basically three options for entertainment, card games, cider drinking,
and cock fights. That's pretty much it. No surprise Chang
(08:50):
and Eng become instant stars. People Magazine existed back then.
They would be in at every other week, some of
the first entertainers in America. I think at least famous ones.
Within months, they are household names. The phrase that would
come to describe them, Siamese Twins, becomes very famous very
quickly as well. That's right there, the original Siamese Twins.
(09:14):
That's where the expression comes from by now that four
inch band has stretched to five and a half inches,
no small difference. They were able to stand side by side.
If you've ever seen pictures of them, they're dressed nicely
and each has one arm over the other's shoulder. That
was the most comfortable position for them. To me. They
kind of looked like two best friends coming home from
(09:37):
a late night out. As for the show they put on,
there were some acts of acrobatic feats that they would
be asked to do. These included somersaults, or lifting weights
or playing badminton, you know when each of them holding
a racket and hitting the birdie back and forth. They're
(09:58):
being asked to perform these types of physical feats for
an audience that's paying money just to watch them, just
because they're a pair of conjoined twins. But they're not
just being docked at. They give as good as they get.
Were they funny, Yeah, Some of the commenters said that
they had a great sense of humor. They were very
quick witted, so you could ask a question and they
(10:18):
would be, you know, quick with a response. During one show,
they notice a one eyed man in the audience and
they tell him they'll re fund half of his admission,
because after all, he's only seeing half the show. They
traveled the country. In New York City, they're exhibited at
the Grand Saloon of the Basonic Hall. In small towns,
they perform in living rooms or tents. The small rural communities,
(10:41):
they hold exhibits, and you've got wagons full of people
kind of converging on the small towns to see the
twins and to talk about the twins, and to spread
rumors about the twins. There's this one story, a superstition
surrounding them that's especially wild. So in Kentucky, shortly after
(11:02):
their visit, a woman gives birth to conjoin twins. And
immediately the thought is did she see the twins? Was
their conditions somehow contracted by her because she saw the twins?
And no, she hadn't actually gone to the show, but
she had seen pictures of the twins being advertised, And
so the question is, well, did that cause almost like
a viral exactly we're all wired to find the idea
(11:27):
of conjoined twins sign These twins just completely and totally riveting.
I remember being a kid and you you'd hear about
a set being born and it's just it's you just
can't help but be fascinated. Why do you think that is?
Because at once it's so familiar and yet also so different,
(11:49):
so alien. They had the ideal physical form. It's the
fact that they have this extra band of flesh that
connects them, and at once it's appealing, it draws your attention,
but you also feel a slight sense of horror. They
are an early version of, ultimately what would become known
as a freak show, a traveling freak show, and those
kind of experienced a tremendous level of success in the
(12:12):
nineteenth century. Part of the fascination is that Chang and
Ang are among the very first Asians in America. This
is decades before Chinese immigrants come to work on the railroads.
Philosophers opine about their souls, doctors prod them with needles.
There's a rom com written about them. Herman Melville alludes
(12:34):
to them in Moby Dick Oh, and none other than
Mark Twain speculates on them. He writes this, when one
is sick, the other is sick. When one feels pain,
the other feels it. When one is angered, the other's
temper takes fire. And are people actually questioning whether they
are one person or two. They're in Alabama and a
(12:55):
doctor in the crowd and the audience of one of
their shows thinks that they're in some way trying to
pull a fast one over on him. So the doctor
asks one brother, what will happen if I poke you
in the arm with a needle, And the other one says,
if you poked my brother in the arm with the needle,
I'm gonna punch you. Temper Temper, that's Jasper Bunker. He's
(13:16):
a great grandson of Anger. It said that the twins
had opposite personalities. Ang was more gentle and well mannered.
Chang was cranky and love to fight. Sometimes they fought
with each other, and sometimes that temper was directed at
those who got in their faces. They got in a
scuffle and they had at of fight and full fish
and started to go, you know, because if you mess
(13:39):
with one brother, you're gonna get the other brother got
full full fifth go in color. Increasingly their temper was
directed at Able Coffin. He'd bought out Robert Hunter for
full ownership of the twins contract. They had started to
understand that Americans saw them as bonded labor. Uh the
(14:00):
money they earned was not going to them but to
their owner, and so they knew that Americans believed that
they were slaves. Just one of many indignities they suffered.
When the twins traveled to England, Coffin and his wife
luxuriated in first class while Chang and Eng stayed in
steerage with the servants. Soon enough, they'd had enough. Pere's
(14:25):
just sent an alex sink again. And they had the
courage at the age of twenty one or write the
guy letter and said we're done. We can do this
on our own, and so they did. It helped that
they planned ahead for life as independent men. They were
very frugal and saved enough money because I think they
(14:46):
had in their mind that they didn't want to spend
the risk of their lives and display. There are journals
that outline every single penny they spent on their tour.
At the age of twenty eight, they traveled through rural
North Carolina. When they saw the Blue Ridge Mountains in
the distance, they were reminded of Siam. It was a
(15:07):
sign they wanted to have a normal life. They were
young men. There were normal young men who wanted to
have a family, Chang and Ang were ready to settle
down and make new connections. And this is where the
story gets really interesting. Did you see the bridge yet? No?
(15:30):
Chang eventually and this side of the creek, and Ings
family had the other side of the creek. During the
Bunker Family reunion, I wanted to get a little closer
to the life the Chang and Ang led here in
mount Airy, North Carolina, so I asked Alex to show
me around. And then the outhouse was down the hill.
Do we know what the house looked like? We know
(15:52):
it was a two holer for the twins. The story
of Chang and Ang taking the country by storm and
then winning their freedom is so triumphant. So it's a
little surprising that some of the family members the reunion
drew up not even knowing they were related to them.
(16:13):
When I was growing up, nobody talked about the twins
very much. Really, why, oh, my grandmother, wouldn't they even
let us spring up their name? Why it's because they
know the Victorian age nobody wanted to talk about Now
they created one children, yes, twenty one children. But before
we get ahead of ourselves, after a decade on the road,
(16:36):
Chang and Ang retired to rural North Carolina, where they
could start building a life undisturbed by curiosity seekers. They
became American citizens, and as they established themselves in town,
they started looking around for potential wives. The story goes
that at a friend's wedding, Chang fell hard for Adelaide Eights.
(16:59):
It mutual, but as one half of conjoined twins, Chang
realized the relationship was going to be extremely awkward unless
Ang also found a spouse. The good news was that
Addie Yates had a sister, Sarah. The bad news was
that Sarah didn't particularly like Hang. So the twins hatched
(17:22):
a plan have all the women from neighboring towns over
for a quilting party. The era's version of a group
hang Ang doated on Sarah sharing tales of life on
the road. It worked. The twins had found their other halves.
What do you think They overcame in the mountains of
(17:44):
North Carolina at by saying they wanted to get married, right,
my God, And somehow, through their charm and with these
two girls fell in love with them and agreed to
Can you imagine how scandalous that was the courage of
those two sisters too. Absolutely the sisters. For sure. It
(18:07):
didn't hurt that the twins were funny and well rich,
and that Addie and Sarah were used to not caring
what other people thought. I think probably the fact that
their mother was was different because of being enormously overweight.
Remember Tanya Jones, She's not only head of the Andy
(18:28):
Griffith Museum slash Samese Twins exhibit, she's also a descendant
of Anger and chair of the Bunker reunion this year.
Um She supposedly was the largest person in the area
and reportedly weighed over five pounds. And they were used
to being in the presence of someone who was looked
(18:51):
at as different, so possibly that made them more open minded.
It was around this time that the twins considered being separated.
They figured if they were going to have normal lives.
This was the moment Adelaide and Sarah were against it.
I choose to believe that the girls preferred to have
them alive together conjoined, rather than possibly dead separated. Both
(19:20):
couples were ready to tie their respective knots, but this
was uncharted legal territory, and not because of the brothers
being conjoined. Marriage between whites and non whites was illegal.
The twins were not white, but they also weren't black,
so in this case, hoping to avoid any problems, each
brother posted a bond of one thousand dollars, and in
(19:45):
April eighteen forty three, in a small double wedding, and
can I just say I love double weddings, Chang and
Ang Bunker married Sarah and adelaide the eights and commenced
building their families. But exactly how did they do that?
All right, you knew it was coming. Let's talk about
their sex lives. Well, let me give you a few
(20:08):
facts and then leave the rest for the imagination. This
is unto Huang. He's a professor at the University of California,
Santa Barbara and author of a biography about the twins
called Inseparable. When they first married, Leah had only one
house to the four of them, but later on they
set up to separate households. They set up this kind
(20:29):
of very rigid, uh schedule. Here's how it worked. For
three days and nights they stayed at one brother's house,
and then they moved to the other brothers. Let's say
they were at Chang's house Chang on the in those
three days, can do whatever he likes, whatever he does
with his wife, and Ang during this time would go
(20:50):
into a passive meditative state. Imagine a computer in sleep mode,
not shutting down, but inactive unto. Kwang describes the arrangement
as one of alternate mastery. It's what allowed each brother
to enjoy intimate relations with his spouse while the other
(21:10):
brother was right there was the bad sort of big
enough for three people. Then yes, really, if you're giggling
at the description of this unorthodox arrangement, I get it.
But it's also kind of beautiful, the very definition of selflessness,
to surrender, free will, to sacrifice like that, to give
(21:32):
your brother some meaningful time with his wife. The marriages
were fruitful. Chang and Adelaide had ten kids. Ang and
Sarah edged them out with eleven, and they were very
loving parents. I mean, you can tail from dislocated even
some of the photographs, you know, I was looking today
(21:54):
the way Chang had his arm around my grandfather, and
it wasn't stage journey thing. It was just they love
their children. Loving your children is natural for Chang and
Ang brought to this country for exhibition. For these men
to even have children and raise families strikes me as
(22:15):
nothing short of radical, But being Southern gentleman in the
Antebellum South meant something else. Altogether, everything you see around
here was part of our farm. If you had been here,
those fields would have been covered in tobacco plants. While
(22:37):
Chang and Ang objected to themselves being seen as slaves,
they had no problem owning slaves. The slavery was a
fact and antibell themselves. So it was their tickets. I
should emphasize into the southern white world. This is the
point at which the narrative becomes very complicated and uncomfortable,
(23:02):
right because up until this point you're really root for them.
But at this point the story you kind of you
head a brick wall. They did treat this as business.
They tend to buy rather young slaves. They will raise
them and then sell them later at a profit when
they grow older, almost like investment property. Right. They ended
(23:22):
up owning thirty two slaves, including children. Because of their
wealth and the paucity of Chinese in America, yout Wong says,
the twins were able to position themselves as honorary whites
as in North Carolinian. I'm really, really proud of the
fact that my great grandfather could come and settle down
(23:43):
there as an Asian Chinese heritage and make a successful
life for himself. I'm not proud of the fact that
they owned slaves. That's not a source of pride, but
we have to recognize that at that point in time
in history, that's how you got work done in a
large farm. Earlier they were treated and they worked like slaves, certainly,
(24:07):
and now the table is turned. Now they are masters slaves,
the victimize becoming the victimizer. Yes. Absolutely. After Abraham Lincoln
was elected president in eighteen sixty, the nation was thrown
into crisis, and the twins once again became a convenient
literary device for journalists. The New York Tribune wrote, Jang
(24:28):
resolved to sever the union with Ang, which he declared
to be no longer worth preserving. But this wasn't brother
against brother. The twins were united in their allegiance to
the South. They sent two of their sons off to
war and converted their fortune into Confederate currency and ultimately
disastrous decision. They were wiped out financially, so they have
(24:52):
no choice. They only have one major asset left, which
is their conjoined body, and that's why they decided to
go back on the road again after many years. They
were in their mid fifties, now forced to return for
a grueling five years to the life they thought they'd
left behind. They briefly teamed up with P. T. Barnum,
(25:14):
whom they deeply mistrusted. They did a stint with a
traveling circus in Europe. It was humiliating, and then Chang,
a lifelong drinker, suffered a stroke and they came home
to North Carolina. Yet even in their final years, Chang
and Ang couldn't escape the spotlight. I think there's something
(25:39):
very sweet about the fact that in order to negotiate
the world they had to put their arms around each
other's shoulders. That's such a great thought. Yes, I love that.
That's my friend Dr John Lapouk, he's CBS News is
senior medical correspondent. He's giving me some perspective on what
(26:00):
life for the twins must have been like. Think about it, MO,
when you're doing something just even just walking up on
a curb that takes split second timing, how did they
do that? Okay, now we're going to lift our left leg.
Now we're going to lift their right leg. But after
Chang had a stroke and they returned to North Carolina,
Ang had to drag him around quite literally for the
(26:20):
next four years. Can you imagine. I mean, they were
told from what I read, that if one of them
died that they'd have to try to separate the two
of them asap right away, uh, in order to for
the other person to have a chance. Now, the odds
of that happening had to be zero back then. I mean,
they couldn't do it when they were healthy. One morning,
(26:45):
after a particularly cold night, Ang's son came into his
father's bedroom. His uncle Chang was dead. Ang was still alive.
To your attach it to a corpse, and that corps
is probably pretty quickly getting cold. I cannot imagine what
that moment is like. And so when I think about
Chang and Ang, and I think about those final moments
(27:06):
of Ang, his brother has died in and now the
clock is ticking. And not only is it ticking, but
he's having two things happen simultaneously. Physically, he's getting weaker,
his blood pressure is probably dropping, he's probably getting infected
septic from the toxins. Something's happening by physical pain, physical pain,
and he knows he's dying. Maybe he's feeling cold and emotionally, emotionally,
(27:29):
and you just wonder what his last thoughts were, if
he was able to think. Ang surrounded by family, would
live for another few hours, his wife and children rubbing
his arms and stretching his legs. I mean, like there
is a ticking clock. I mean, it's just it's it's
like a horror movie. It is a horror movie. But
(27:51):
you wonder for them. They lived sixty two years, they
were able to actually have a life. It's a mirror
that they even had a life at Almo. I wouldn't
want to have been in their shoes, but it's remarkable.
(28:11):
The brothers died on January seventeenth, eighteen seventy four. Their
obituary made the front page of newspapers across the country.
In death, they were celebrated and once again exploited. A
public autopsy was performed in Philadelphia. Doctors discovered that the
(28:32):
brothers livers were connected. Indeed, they wouldn't have survived separation
surgery in the mid nineteenth century. Today, they could have
been separated. John Lapuke says, without question, doctors had promised
the grieving widows to return the bodies intact. Instead, Chang
and Ang were shipped back with some of their internal
(28:54):
organs removed. You can still see their conjoined livers on
display at Philadelphia's Mood Museum. Eventually, they were laid to
rest in a double wide casket with a single headstone
in a cemetery in Mount Airy. But it's to the
village in Thailand where their story began that their descendants
(29:15):
recently traveled. We were on the bus one day and
and I disapplorted out, oh my gosh, that looks exactly
like the Blue Ridge Mountains. For Alex Sink and nine
other descendants, including her cousin Robin Craver, it was an
emotional experience. I'm where I came from. My ancestors were here.
(29:39):
They didn't make it back, but I did. They told
me all about it at the reunion. Here's Alex. I
just felt a connection of knowing that part of my blood,
part of my genetic makeup, my d n A started
in this river in this town. Uh and a little
(29:59):
boat with my great grandfather selling duck eggs. How cool
is that? Homer Bunker is a descendant on the Ang side.
Before we went on the trip, they said, you will
be treated royally, and that can be interpreted in a
number of ways. And when we got there, as they
have pointed out, we were genuinely treated royally from the
(30:22):
time we arrived at there. For oh my goodness, that
was we are now and somebody wrong, largely forgotten in
their adopted country. The twins have superstar status in Thailand.
A lady was brought to tears from meeting me. I'm
just little Robin Cramer from North Carolina. They have this
(30:44):
huge park. In the center of the park is an
enormous statue of the Siamese Twins. And as I went
around the memorial and read the inscriptions or whatever, and
it's at that point that I thought, Hey, I need
to write a song about this. All right, old toomer,
you can't tease us this way. Yeah, well, would you
(31:05):
like to hear my song? Gee? I thought you could
ask two precious little Sammy's boys, Ing and Chain born
to bring the world so many joys. May eleve and
eighteen eleven was the date of their arrival. Attached at
the chest, they struggle for survival. Why do you think
(31:27):
their story matters? Oh my gosh, America was always the
beacon of the place where somebody could come and build
a successful life, and they came here with nothing. In fact,
they themselves were in effect owned. The twins decided, We're
going to go off and create our own business and
our own entertainment, and so they worked really, really hard.
(31:52):
I mean, you know, we talk a lot about people
with disabilities. I mean, they had the ultimate disability. So
I think it's an incredible, in sparing American immigration story.
You know, it's really not weird at all that some
of the family members used to be self conscious about
being descended from the twins. Who isn't self conscious about
(32:14):
your family when when you're a kid. I remember being
afraid that people would find out that I called my
mother mamita instead of mom. She's Colombian. I know it
sounds silly, but I was afraid I'd get made fun
of that it would mark me as different. I outgrew
that now I'm happy to let you know that I
called her Mamita. I still do today. The Bunkers have
(32:38):
a lot to be proud of. Alex Sink, whose real
name is Adelaide. She's named after her great grandmother, was
the Democratic nominee for Governor of Florida in two thousand ten.
Another descendant, Caroline Shaw, recently won the Pulitzer Prize for Music,
and the late Caleb Haines was a decorated veteran of
both World Wars, and every summer a whole bunch of
(33:02):
bunkers descend on Mount Airy to celebrate the twins as
well they should. Chang and Eng were extraordinary. They may
not have been perfect, far from it, but they had courage.
You would have thought there would have been at least
one episode of the Andy Griffith Show that included that
(33:23):
nodditude that referred to Chang and Hang. But that's that
just proves how little it was in people's radars. I
would have loved don nods as Barney Fife coming in
and say, I swear I saw them right, or I
saw one of those buckers downtown today. Next time on Mobituaries,
(33:51):
the death of a Tree and how it uprooted the
sports world. You know, I just don't like all I
wanted all people to hate me as much as I
hate down. I certainly hope you enjoyed this moment. If
you would please rate and review our podcast. You can
follow Mobituaries on Facebook and Instagram, and you can follow
(34:12):
me on Twitter at morocco. For more great content, please
visit mobituaries dot com. You can subscribe to Mobituaries wherever
you get your podcasts. This episode of Mobituaries was produced
by Megan Dietree and Gideon Evans. Our team of producers
also includes Megan Marcus, Kate mccauliffe, and me Morocca. It
(34:33):
was edited by Megan Dietree and engineered by Dan de Zula,
with additional editing by Sophia Steinerd Evoy. Indispensable support from
Kay limb Young, Kim Genius Taneski, Kira Wardlow, Richard Roher,
and everyone at CBS News Radio. Special thanks to Dr
Henore Ford, Alberto Robina, Tanya Jones, Alex Sink, Zach Blackman,
(34:57):
Gary Rash, Hebert Yates, and the tire Bunker family. Our
theme music is written by Daniel Hart and, as always,
undying thanks to Rand Morrison and John Carp without whom
Mobituaries couldn't live. Hi, It's mo. If you're enjoying Mobituaries
(35:32):
the podcast, may I invite you to check out Mobituaries
the book. It's chock full of stories not in the podcast.
Celebrities who put their butts on the line, sports teams
that threw in the towel for good, forgotten fashions, defunct diagnoses,
presidential candidacies that cratered whole countries that went could put
(35:53):
and dragons, Yes, dragons, you see. People used to believe
the dragons were real until just get the book. You
can order Mobituaries the book from any online bookseller, or
stop by your local bookstore and look for me when
I come to your city. Tour information and lots more
at mobituaries dot com m H
Host
Mo Rocca
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