Today is the birthday of the original Siamese twins.
Chang and Eng were born on May 11, 1811 in Siam (Thailand). They were conjoined twins, but their mother raised them as regular kids. Around age 17, they were spotted by a Scottish merchant named Hunter when they were swimming. He “bought” them for a promised five-year tour. They never returned home. In 1829, they arrived in Boston. They were put on tour as the “Siamese Youths” (which later became “Siamese twins”). People would pay 25 cents ($6 today) to view them running, doing somersaults, playing checkers, and doing parlor tricks. They toured the country and Europe for the next ten years. Then they used their wealth to settle in North Carolina and become plantation owners. They owned slaves. In 1843, they married sisters. They kept each in a separate house and would spend three days with each and then switch houses. They ended up having a total of 21 kids. In 1849, they went back to touring, supposedly for financial reasons, but possibly because they missed it. In 1860, they worked for P.T. Barnum for a while, appearing in his American Museum. In 1868, they toured England with Zip the Pinhead. They retired in 1870 after Chang suffered a stroke. They died in 1874 at age 62. Eng survived his brother by three hours. They set the record for longest life for Siamese twins that was not broken until 2020.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang_and_Eng_Bunker
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Chang-and-Eng
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