9 incredible stories about identical twins

They walk alike, they talk alike, and sometimes they even give birth on the same day

Stephen and LeAnn Beloyan and their twins
(Image credit: AP Photo/Tim Larsen)

If pop culture has any say in it, identical twins are creepy — see the Grady sisters from The Shining. But if you ask science, they are downright fascinating. Researchers have long been intrigued by these genetic photocopies, and studies of twins have played an outsized role in the nature vs. nurture debate. But even science is stretched to explain some of the extraordinary coincidences that can occur involving identical twins. These serendipitous tales combine the uncanny and the real — from the twin sisters who gave birth on the same day, to the separated twin brothers who reunited only to find they had led nearly identical lives. Read on for more...

1. The twin mothers who gave birth on the same day

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Lauren Hansen

Lauren Hansen produces The Week’s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.