Barbadian Welsh identical twins, writer and crime duo

June Gibbons (born 11 April 1963) and Jennifer Gibbons (11 April 1963 – 9 March 1993) were Welsh twin sisters. They became known as "The Silent Twins", since they only communicated with … Wikipedia
Factsheet
June Gibbons
Born (1963-04-11) 11 April 1963 (age 62)
British Forces Aden, Yemen
Occupation Fiction author
Factsheet
June Gibbons
Born (1963-04-11) 11 April 1963 (age 62)
British Forces Aden, Yemen
Occupation Fiction author
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Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › June_and_Jennifer_Gibbons
June and Jennifer Gibbons - Wikipedia
4 weeks ago - June Gibbons (born 11 April 1963) and Jennifer Gibbons (11 April 1963 – 9 March 1993) were Welsh twin sisters. They became known as "The Silent Twins", since they only communicated with each other. They wrote works of fiction. In 1981, the girls committed several crimes including vandalism, ...
Discussions

The Silent Twins – True story that still messes with my head
They both had a speech impediment, they felt isolated and mocked so they only spoke to each other and their younger sister. People couldn't understand them and thought they were talking in a made up language. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-67716241 More on reddit.com
🌐 r/mystery
16
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May 11, 2025
[LOST] Any footage of June and Jennifer Gibbons aka The Silent Twins.

Really fascinating, I second this. I'm especially intrigued by this from the wiki article:

according to Wallace, the girls had a longstanding agreement that if one died, the other must begin to speak and live a normal life. During their stay in the hospital, they began to believe that it was necessary for one twin to die, and after much discussion, Jennifer agreed to be the sacrifice.

More on reddit.com
🌐 r/Lost_Films
2
18
June 28, 2013
Twin sisters June and Jennifer Gibbons, known as “The Silent Twins,” refused to speak to anyone but each other, communicating in a secret language for nearly 30 years. Then, immediately after Jennifer’s sudden death in 1993, June began to speak freely for the first time in her life.
This isn't really a mystery at all. The girls were bullied, then retreated into a fantasy world to cope. One twin passed away suddenly, leaving the other twin to emerge from the fantasy world that relied on both twins. They also didn't speak a "secret language", it was very, very accented English, very hard to understand. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/nonmurdermysteries
39
516
November 3, 2025
June and Jennifer Gibbons, the “Silent Twins,” spoke only to each other in a secret language and were silent around others. After years in a psychiatric hospital, they believed one had to die for the other to be free. Jennifer died suddenly, and June went on to live a quiet, normal life.
The twin sisters were inseparable and their language, a sped-up Bajan Creole, made it difficult for people to understand them. In 2023, June said, "We had a speech impediment. Our parents couldn't understand a word that we were saying, nobody understood - so we stopped talking."[6] According to June, the twins had in fact been speaking English, which others had mistaken for an invented language due to the severity of their speech difficulties. The Gibbons children were the only black children in the community, and were often ostracized at school.[2] This proved to be traumatic for the twins, eventually causing their school administrators to dismiss them early each day so that they might avoid bullying. Their language became even more idiosyncratic at this time. Soon it was unintelligible to others. The girls' idioglossia has frequently been characterised as an example of cryptophasia, or a language devised and shared only by a set of twins, but June Gibbons has disputed this, stating that this was simply the effect of their speech impediment. According to June, the twins had in fact been speaking English, which others had mistaken for an invented language due to the severity of their speech difficulties. Speech therapy was recommended for the twins, but this was ultimately unsuccessful due to their continued unwillingness to speak out loud for fear of being misunderstood, as well as the family's frequent relocations due to their father's military occupation.[9][10] The twins became increasingly reserved, and eventually spoke to no one except each other and their younger sister Rose.[11][page needed] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_and_Jennifer_Gibbons More on reddit.com
🌐 r/interestingasfuck
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6992
July 24, 2025
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Prevea Health
prevea.com › Providers › Jennifer-Gibbons
Jennifer Gibbons, APNP, FNP-C, Prevea Nurse Practitioner
Jennifer Gibbons, APNP, FNP-C, works as a Nurse Practitioner providing family medicine services including sick visits and medication management in Gillett, WI.
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NPR
npr.org › 2015 › 05 › 08 › 405191622 › the-silent-twins
The Silent Twins : NPR
May 8, 2015 - The Silent Twins June and Jennifer Gibbons were twin sisters who hadn't spoken to anyone but each other their whole lives.
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MIT Press
mitpress.mit.edu › home › author
Jennifer Gibbons - MIT Press
January 6, 2023 - Jennifer Gibbons (1963-1993) was the twin sister of June-Alison Gibbons, author of The Pepsi Cola Addict. She wrote Discomania in the bedroom that she shared with June-Alison, who sat on a desk next to her writing The Pepsi-Cola Addict. Jennifer died on 9 March 1993, aged 29, while being ...
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Goodreads
goodreads.com › author › show › 5539927.Jennifer_Kathleen_Gibbons
Jennifer Kathleen Gibbons (Author of I Woke Up in Love This Morning)
Jennifer Kathleen Gibbons I don't think it's writer's block--it's procrastination. It's feeling like you need to do anything but write: watch TV, going on Facebook, or watching…moreI don't think it's writer's block--it's procrastination.
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The Entertainment Software Association
theesa.com › home › jennifer gibbons
Jennifer Gibbons - the ESA
May 2, 2024 - Jennifer is the former Senior Vice President of Government Affairs for the Toy Association, leading federal and state government affairs efforts on product safety, children’s online safety, intellectual property protection and sustainability.
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Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Jenni_Gibbons
Jenni Gibbons - Wikipedia
November 25, 2025 - Jennifer "Jenni" Anne MacKinnon Sidey-Gibbons (born 3 August 1988) is a Canadian astronaut, engineer, and academic. She was selected by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) as one of the two members of the 2017 CSA Group alongside Joshua Kutryk.
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All That's Interesting
allthatsinteresting.com › june-jennifer-gibbons
The Strange Story Of June And Jennifer Gibbons, The 'Silent Twins' Who Only Spoke To Each Other
October 28, 2025 - Born in 1963 and raised by Barbadian immigrants in Wales, June and Jennifer Gibbons became known as the "silent twins" after speaking only to each other for decades.
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Instagram
instagram.com › thesilenttwins
The Silent Twins (@thesilenttwins) • Instagram photos and videos
3,327 Followers, 7 Following, 38 Posts - The Silent Twins (@thesilenttwins) on Instagram: "Based on the captivating true story of June and Jennifer Gibbons. Yours to own on Digital 11/4, Blu-ray 11/29 🎬: @focusfeatures"
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Unresolved
unresolved.me › june-jennifer-gibbons-the-silent-twins
June & Jennifer Gibbons (The Silent Twins) — Unresolved
The story of the Silent Twins, June and Jennifer Gibbons is less of a scary crime story, and more of a tragic, heartbreaking story of two girls who were left behind by the system, due to a mixture of their race and their speech impediment, and as a result were forced to retreat into a world where they only really had each other to rely on - which is an unhealthy relationship dynamic for anyone, let alone two young girls facing a staggering amount of racism and prejudice.
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LADbible
ladbible.com › community › weird
Sister who 'only started speaking' after her twin died explains what life was like in Broadmoor hospital
September 3, 2024 - June Gibbons revealed how life was like as one of the 'Silent Twins' at Broadmoor hospital.
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Memorial Hermann
memorialhermann.org › doctors › advanced-practice-provider › jennifer-gibbons-1205262615
Jennifer Gibbons, DPT, Pelvic Floor Physical Therapist | Memorial Hermann
October 7, 2025 - If you are experiencing a medical emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room · Jenni earned an undergraduate degree in human nutrition, foods and exercise from Virginia Tech and a doctorate in physical therapy from Virginia Commonwealth University.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/mystery › the silent twins – true story that still messes with my head
r/mystery on Reddit: The Silent Twins – True story that still messes with my head
May 11, 2025 -

So I been reading a lot of strange real life cases lately and I found one that honestly just made me feel weird for days after. Not scary like haunted house or demons, but just deeply unsettling in a different way. It’s about two sisters from Wales called June and Jennifer Gibbons, sometimes called The Silent Twins. Their story is real, not fiction, and still no one really knows what the hell happened there.

They were identical twins, born in 1963, and moved to Haverfordwest, Wales, where they were the only Black family in a very white town. That already made them kind of outsiders. But from very early age, they started doing something very strange: they refused to speak to anyone, even their parents or teachers. But they talked nonstop to each other, in a weird language only they understood. Some people say it was a mix of English and Bajan Creole, spoken so fast it sounded like a secret code.

They would mirror each other’s movements perfectly, walk in sync, even breathe at same time. And when one got hurt or upset, the other would feel it too. Doctors and psychologists tried everything but nothing worked—no one could get between them.

As they got older, things got darker. They locked themselves in their room for years and started writing strange, violent fiction. Stories about people getting hurt, burned, trapped. They also started acting out—breaking windows, stealing things, setting fires. Eventually they were arrested and sent to a high-security psychiatric hospital in England called Broadmoor, even though they were just teens. They stayed there for 11 years, which is insane for what they actually did.

In Broadmoor, things got even worse. They were drugged, isolated, still not talking to anyone except each other. But here’s where it turns from weird to creepy.

Before they were released, Jennifer apparently told June:

"I’m going to have to die, so you can live."

And right after they were moved to a less strict place in 1993, Jennifer just died—suddenly, out of nowhere, at age 29. Cause of death: acute myocarditis (inflammation of the heart), but doctors couldn’t find any poison, no disease, nothing. She just... shut down.

After Jennifer’s death, June started speaking normally. She gave interviews, wrote books, went on to live a quiet life. It’s like the spell was broken.

So what the hell was that?

Some ideas people have:

Twin telepathy or psychic bond: Some believe they had an unnatural connection so strong it became dangerous. Like Jennifer was literally blocking June from living freely.

Mental illness: Others think it was a shared psychosis (folie à deux), where two people feed each other’s delusions and lose touch with reality.

Possession or curse: Some people online say maybe there was something more—like they were “chosen” by something dark or that one of them was possessed and had to die for the other to be free.

Co-dependency taken to extreme: Like their identities were so fused that they couldn’t function as individuals. One had to "go" so the other could survive.

Sacrifice? Honestly, that quote from Jennifer is the creepiest thing to me. "I’m going to die so you can live"—like she knew. Or worse, she caused it.

I don’t know why this story hit me so hard but it did. It’s not gory or paranormal in the usual way but there’s something off. Like there was a rule being broken, something unnatural in their bond. And Jennifer dying exactly when she said she would, no medical reason? That’s the part that I still think about.

Anyway, just thought I’d share it here because it’s real, well documented, and still feels like a big mystery with no answer.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_and_Jennifer_Gibbons

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HSHS
providers.hshs.org › provider › jennifer-a-gibbons › 2527048
Jennifer A Gibbons, APRN - Gillett, WI - Family Medicine - Request Appointment
Find information about and book an appointment with Jennifer A Gibbons, APRN in Gillett, WI, Mountain, WI, Oconto Falls, WI, Lena, WI, Oconto, WI. Specialties: Family Medicine.
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Find a Grave
findagrave.com › memorial › 157713559 › jennifer_lorraine-gibbons
Jennifer Lorraine Gibbons (1963-1993) - Find a Grave Memorial
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/157713559/jennifer_lorraine-gibbons: accessed ), memorial page for Jennifer Lorraine Gibbons (11 Apr 1963–9 Mar 1993), Find a Grave Memorial ID 157713559, citing City Road ...
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IMDb
imdb.com › name › nm13553943
Jennifer Gibbons | Soundtrack
Jennifer Gibbons. Jennifer Gibbons was born on 11 April 1963 in Aden, Yemen. She died on 9 March 1993 in Bridgend, Wales, UK.