The three twins separated in a cradle for a sociological experiment

They had not enrolled at this college, in the fall of 38, they and we would never have known anything. In addition, the protagonists of this story were positioned at a safe distance, a hundred kilometers, just to avoid chance encounters. Fate, however, had other plans. In 1980 Robert Shafran, a boy with a contagious smile, curly hair, an IQ of 148 (over 140 the intelligence is considered almost brilliant) and the well-defined physical result of intense physical activity is presented for the first time in the corridors of Sullivan County Community College, State of New York. shy and clumsy. He does not know anyone. But everyone knows him. The boys patted him on the shoulders. The girls kiss him. He is incredulous. Also because they call him Eddy. Including Michael Domitz, his new roommate. What then tells him that Robert was identical to Eddy Galland, a boy who had attended the same institute until the previous year.

The Encounter

Not enough, Michael also told him the day and place of birth of Eddy: July 12, 1961, Long Island. And he adds that he was adopted. These are the same personal data as Robert. Who decides to see Eddy. He discovers that his twin and that their cases have been managed by the agency Louise Wise Services. The meeting ends in local newspapers. The picture of the found twins comes off on the first pages. Even in the copy happened in the hands of a lady in Queens: who realizes how his David Kellman, adopted 19 years earlier, is equal to the two guys in the article. It takes little time to discover that David is the third twin. And it takes less to become famous. Boys – remember site Slate – appear in glossy magazines, are immortalized by Annie Leibovitz and interviewed by Tom Brokaw, make a cameo in a film of Madonna (19459013) Desperately Wanted Susan ). On the notoriety wave also opens a local in New York called Triplets

The Discovery

But what appears as a meeting spectacular soon opens a new chapter that is gradually becoming more and more dramatic , as the documentary tells Three identical strangers (Three identical strangers) by the director Tim Wardle during a few days in the American rooms and candidate for the next Oscars. The three young people discover – with the help of the journalist of New Yorker Lawrence Wright – the surviving twins of a quadrigemellar birth and were separated not for special needs, but for this which has turned out to be a scientific and sociological experiment of psychiatrists Peter Neubauer and Viola Bernard, held responsible for the separation of dozens of twins with the contribution of the adoption agency that kept everyone in the dark.

The Project

Neubauer – although another documentary this year, The Twinning Reaction reveals that Bernard's lead role had – wanted to see how subjects with the same genetic heritage they would ripen and behave in different environments at different stages of life. That's why each of the twins was entrusted to three families belonging to different social clbades: Robert to a wealthy couple in Scarsdale (35 kilometers from Central Park), Eddy to a middle-clbad core on Long Island, David to two spouses of the working clbad in Queens. Each year, the researchers went to see the boys – and other separated twins – and submitted them to tests, but without saying what the questionnaire was used for and that each of them had two brothers.

Tragedy

Robert, Eddy and David, in a nutshell, were guinea pigs. Their life was an experience. A discovery that, according to Robert and David, pushed Eddy, who was suffering from depression, to take his life in 1995. One more reason to pursue the adoption agency which, for, rejects any charge and claims to be a stranger to the experience. Dr. Neubauer died in 2008. He never apologized, but he baderted the importance of the study. Study whose results have not yet been published and will not be published until 2066. When Robert and David are expected to be 105 years old.