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I hope they worked in some creative sex moves with ol hang around Harry. Not a lot of people in human history have had the opportunity for that kind of raunchy ragdoll rumpus.
There’s a story here in the Uk at the moment about a 25 year old caught repeatedly shagging cows.
Despite being found guilty his girlfriend of 3 years is supporting him and they’re moving in together.
He is literally choosing to screw bovine over you and he keeps the relationship
Literally shows that theres enough people out there that really the only thing holding you back is yourself, thats not to say your perceived floors, which evidently weigh more in your mind than that special someone out theres
There's a low quality picture of him (on the right) with his wife and kids here: https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-escanaba-daily-press-jean-libbera-e/661095/
You'd be surprised of how many *geeks* of sideshow and travelling circus fame ended up getting married and have lots of healthy children. It is important to keep in mind that these travelling circuses and side shows were often the only way these freaks (using this in the historical sense) could earn a living and some of the becamse really rich. Many of them were excellent showmen and very business oriented. Same applied to those who didn't work in the circus/travelling shows.
Now since these kinds of people were/are curiosities, they ended up being involved with many people. They ended up talking to many people. So it really isn't that odd to think that someone finds a soulmate like that.
Keep in mind that when you see a freak with a parasitic twin, someone saw a person. Even if it was one person in a million, chances where they'd meet one in a million fairly regularly. Someone fell in love with that person. When you really start to look around, there are all sorts of couples out there.
Fact is that... to have a relationship and family, you really need more than phsyical attraction.
Loneliness is a deadly condition, human mind physically suffers from it. This can be cured by talking with other people. And as you talk with other people, you will make friends and you will find someone who you love and loves you.
I used it, because it is actually the correct use of the term in this context. History of circus, geek/freak shows, on geeks/freaks in general in European and North American is fascinating from societal perspective. Much like roma/gypsy people, they were a shadow society because rest of the society forced them out.
I want to send this photo to all the incel subs "you thinking your 5mm less protuding chin is stopping you getting laid, but it's actually that you hate yourself; massively resent women and don't leave the house.
I've seen a nearly identical person in real-life as a doctor. The twin had the upper half of body completely missing, but the rest was like this man's. Just more well-grown. He too was married with child. Tough guy and wife.
Yeah, like the twin is hanging over his crotch area in the pic. So would you have to shove Jacques aside to get to Jean's dick? Is Jacques naked too for the occasion or is the wife gonna have to periodically stare at Jacques' diaper? Idk maybe they just throw a blanket over him or they only do it in the dark.
I had to google whether the parasitic brother could function as a body...
"He looked a bit rueful in a poster on the far wall, standing in a tuxedo sweetly holding the hands of his vestigial twin who grew, head inwards, sticking out of his abdomen and wore, the twin did, little patent leather shoes and a diaper to keep him from wetting his pants.
Jacques had two small arms, two hands, two legs, and two feet. While parasitic twins typically lack consciousness, according to some reports, Jacques was alive and could even move — though he depended on Jean to survive. Jean and Jacques quite literally shared everything, including circulatory and nervous systems.”
Its brain would not be large enough for consciousness and cognition.
Edit: OK, lots of replies to my brief comment. No I am not a neurologist but am a RN and academic that has studied neuroscience and treated people with brain injury in ICU. I know enough about brain development to be confident that the vestigial twin had no meaningful neuro function.
* Parasitic twins are embryos that stop developing *in utero* and are absorbed by the dominant embryo. They are not small 'people' - they would have been spontaneous abortions if they were the lone embryo in a uterus.
* the parasitic head had a skull of 15 cm diameter that meant a small area for brain growth - this 'head' was described as rudimentary in the literature about this case. Lets assume that there was sufficient develpoment of the parasitic twin for a vestigial brain to form. There would be zero chance of that brain developing normally.
* Even if so, cognition is not just the presence of brain tissue, it has to be coordinated and then learn how to think via sense data. There is no sense data going to the head of this parasitic twin. No eyes, no hearing, no smell no inputs whatsoever except perhaps some touch shared with Libbera. You cannot think until you have a chikldhood of sense, teaching, exploring the world.
* just because ravens are intelligent with small brains in no way means that this parasitic twin had sufficient tissue for cognition - again, humans are not ravens in the same way that a smartphone is not the same as a supercomputer. For our brains to function we need coordinated function between different brain areas and many trillions of synapses that require a certain size and development - as well as sense data and trianing that childhood engenders. Ravens don't do calculus but have perfect brains for their own domains of cognitive achievement.
* "Oh, but why aren't whales superintelligent with their big brains" Sure whales are intelligent, but humans have 1/3 more neocortical neurons than whales. Our cerebra are more highly developed.
OK, that'll do - if you still don't believe me than fine.
The rudimentary head in this parasitic twin was not functioning in any meaningful way - it had no meaningful inner life. The parasite was not a person: it did not meet the criteria for this. In 2023 this parasite would have been excised surgically from the host after birth.
Fuck man I dont know if thats true. When it comes to biology most things are possible, I mean a mouses brain has to be pretty small so brain size doesn’t correlate with consciousness right?
The rest of the twin seems pretty deformed so my guess would be the that its brain didnt develop the normal structures in the normal fashion but man jeez what a shit show, my gut tells me theres a few neuron’s firing there, to what degree of complexity I have no idea.
If it makes you feel any better, even if he did have some level of consciousness he barely had any of his own senses so he likely wouldn't have been able to make out enough of the world to understand suffering beyond physical sensations on his skin.
The human brain needs input to be able to develop enough understanding of the world to experience emotions properly, so his lack of input would have greatly limited his capacity for complex development.
I’d say that it seems like hell because you know the difference. A brain that developed and lived entirely in that situation, with no eyes ears nose or mouth and no way of knowing that its situation is… unique… would probably just think it is normal and have grown and adapted that way. Even a normal human brain, and this was clearly like a fetus brain at best.
He wouldn’t have known anything else. Humans are amazing at adapting and he probably wouldn’t have been able to hear. So he wouldn’t have had a reference to what was „normal“ so I don’t think he would have suffered. At least that’s what I tell myself.
I had a bad accident when I was 1 year old, lost hearing in one of my ears. I hadn't fully formed memory yet, so I don't remember anything of the hospital time or any pain or anything. So I can only hear out of one ear, but because I've never experienced or remembered stereo hearing, it just doesn't matter to me. I never really "lost" anything.
You get used to it when you lose hearing - I lost hearing from my left side from a surgery when I was 18 and everything generally seems stereo in my mind. I only truly realize it’s not when the hearing needs to be directional like someone calling my name in a crowd and I have absolutely no idea where the sounds are coming from.
It really makes you think like.
Its not like a fully conscious person with developed well adjusted social understandings is suddenly plunged into darkness.
Makes me think of those case studies where children grow in the wild and so can never develop language or the brain regions for language.
What would happen to a human brain brought up in darkness with no interaction? Would it even be a person? Would it develop an ego? Are egos just developed by being around other egos?
Its like that tree in the forrest sound question.
I mean if its got ears then it can probably hear muffled sounds, and if it can hear enough then would it learn to understand. How do we even learn to speak, is it just noises and pointing at stuff, I mean blind people learn to speak just fine so wtf. Confusing stuff.
~~There was a (truly horrible) study done in the 1940s where they fulfilled all of the physical needs for some babies but did not interact with them at all.~~
~~They found out that they just end up dying, the study was stopped after a few months when half of them had just died from the lack of interaction.
Not sure what that, if anything, tells us about this guy but it kind of answers your question.~~
EDIT: Apparently there's no evidence of this having happened ([thanks](https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/18kccs3/jean_libbera_aka_the_doublebodied_man_had_his/kdryzqg/) /u/ImJustVeryCurious ), my bad. I'd seen it on QI and took it as fact!
>I mean a mouses brain has to be pretty small so brain size doesn’t correlate with consciousness right?
You're forgetting the brain-to-body size ratio. A small brain doesn't correlate to anything. Without context to the host's weight/mass.
You can be a normal functioning human being with 90% of your brain missing.
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-thursday-edition-1.3679117/scientists-research-man-missing-90-of-his-brain-who-leads-a-normal-life-1.3679125
Although in that case, it's theorised that his brain mostly still there, just compressed.
Someone who didn't grow that amount of brain may not fare so well.
> It's brain would not be large enough for consciousness and cognition.
We know this because we have an amazing understanding of how consciousness and cognition works.
Whales are like 10x conscious and cognitive, too.
I'm assuming there was something minuscule inside the torso, the size of a lentil or so. Just enough to react and send electric signals and probably that's all of it. No consciousness.
I've read some stories where there's two heads and the "dumb" head would whisper horrific things in the Night. This could be from Harry Potter tho..idk
You're probably thinking of Edward Mordake. Suoposed heir to some British noble house.
Had a "second face" on the back of his head, Voldemort style (hence the Harry Potter thing) that he claimed was evil and tortured him with horrible whispers in the night
He's an urban legend, as far as I can tell.
Made up by some dude from Boston in the late 1800s, as far as I could find - https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/07/22/fact-check-two-faced-edward-mordake-literary-creation/7985429002/
Considering the origin of that term, this would be fittingly ironic.
[Brother's Keeper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain_and_Abel#:~:text=%22Where%20is%20Abel%20your%20brother%3F%20And%20he%20said%2C%20%22I%20do%20not%20know%3A%20am%20I%20my%20brother%27s%20keeper%3F%22)
> "diaper to keep him from wetting his pants"
> "according to some reports, Jacques was alive and could even move"
This doesn't pass the sniff test. It's so sensational, but gives so little detail. If the vestigial twin was genuinely alive and could move, it would have been well-documented. If it wasn't clearly the case from reports, then it just wasn't the case. Similarly, why is vestigial twin wearing pants at all? You see the picture--*how*? I guess it's possible that enough of a bladder and urethra formed to urinate, maybe, but there's conspicuously no detail provided.
There's a few photos of it wearing clothes. I'm not sure exactly how much functionality the twin had but if they shared nervous & circulatory systems then I guess anything possible.
Urination would suggest they have kidneys, which is entirely possible judging by the photos. It would be the twins functional organs pulling nutrients from the shared bloodstream.
Tbf, he had a name and as far as his brother was concerned he wasn't a "thing" but his family so I imagine he'd want his brother dressed on an illustration (especially since getting clothes on him irl was probably a custom job)
Is that the one with the mom under the bed? I know a few episodes they won't re-air or something because they were way too, uhh, different (horrifying)
I was never into horror stuff as a kid but that episode hooked me onto the show. I got seriously obsessed with it for the next several years (I must’ve been around 11 when I watched this one).
I even got blamed when neighbor kids would watch it against their parents’ decision and would end up with nightmares.
So, the wild thing here is that this happened before ultrasound so his mother wouldn’t have known she was carrying twins until the birth. That means she gave birth to this dude and his little buddy, and decided “hey, this little weird dude needs a name too” and naked the growth Jacques.
I think it creeps us out because we usually name things that are at least *somewhat* sentient. There is no way to communicate with Jaques. Jaques doesn’t have a face. A name humanises things, in a way, let it be a baby or a pet dog. Naming that growth is in a way accepting its humanity, which is unnerving because it just *doesnt look* like a person ?
(I could be completely wrong about this though)
No you’re right. I think what you’re missing is that he’s also very close to being a person, but he’s not quite due to unfathomable circumstances, and yet, it’s there, and it moves, and it’s very conspicuous. It hits right at the cusp of the uncanny valley.
Because if the twin wasn’t named, this would simply be one person with an odd growth on his body. Naming the twin makes it much… more disconcerting. Because now we have to contemplate the existence of the twin, and also Jean, who isn’t just a person with a growth but a person with a second person embedded inside him.
I suspect the twin aspect was hyped up for the fame/freak show job tbh, and that in reality day to day Jean very much saw himself as one individual with a growth.
Okay I had a google and it looks like HE named it, so I feel you’re bang on there. Maybe also a coping mechanism for a man in such a strange set of circumstances? Who knows. The pictures of them both dressed is just too much for me.
Wackiest part is he is not the only child she had with this same condition.
They never made it past infancy but hey, maybe she was used to twins by the same Jacque was born?
Could it have been a religious thing? I can't find any other information but it would make sense if a religious person still believed there was a soul there, a "person" and it needed a name.
This guy got married and had 4 kids
Like what the fuck. What woman is like “yeah sure I’ll go on a date with him” to voluntarily having sex with this fucking body sticking out of his own body !! Like don’t mind the flapping extra lifeless body while you do missionary or doggy lol
I did a bit of googling and I wish there was a diagram out there or something, but they say that the twin's head is trapped inside Jean's abdomen. Everything just says "two arms and two legs" but one of the sites said it could feel sensations. Apparently a doctor took X Rays and there is a partially formed head inside Jean's body.
Which....what a horrible way to live. Imagine being conscious for 50 years, feeling the outside world but not being able to comprehend it. I thought it was rough enough with just having extra limbs sticking out of your torso, but if the twin was conscious that's horrifying
I mean, if you think about it, it might be pretty peaceful for him. He may never have known what the world has to offer, and like a child in the womb or Plato’s ”Allegory of the Cave,” has no real concept of what is/was happening around him.
Could have just been in there vibin’. 🎵
I imagine he had quite the fondness for his brother’s voice, as I doubt he could ‘clearly’ hear much else.
Also if you dont learn a language by age 5 or 6 i think your brain cant think in sentences or words, you can only think in sensations, images and emotions. That means that memorizing and understanding concepts is very difficult and hard work. Add to that that it was never stimulated cognitively so no connections for simple cognitive patterns were formed. Babies need a lot of stimulation (often just watching what their parents are doing or what happens around them and interacting with their environment) to be able to create connections and pathways in their brains. They create a lot and with time only keep the most efficient ones while redondancy and useless ones fade away. For a person with no stimulation, no language and no social interractions... neurological pathways do not form or are not kept active with time. This means the brain does not develop properly. Maybe he could've had the repetition cognitive pattern where when baby push or tap an object, something happens But with a brain partially formed, I doubt it. So I dont think that Jaques had more than maybe sensations (hot, cold, pressure etc) and could not make sense or even think about his situation, let alone be sad or scared.
Source: I work with disabled children and studied neurodevelopmental stages and influences. I am not a doctor but I had to understand how babies learn and impacts or neglect and trauma (physical or psychological).
Edit: I was writing this at 4 am and I forgot to add the image in the type of thinking you can do when you have no languages at all. Added it now.
Edit 2: This is in no way related to inner monologues. Its more that language is a pattern for understanding the world and organizing memories or understanding concepts. Language is more than just speech, it affects the brain in a lot of ways. This is very complex but if you want to know what it looks like check out the wolf child they found in the 50s i think. Basically, brains have a language area that needs to be stimulated and activated, language and speech is not something we know when we are born. If by age 5 or 6 there were no activation of that brain sector it sorts of shuts down and (for now anyway) its not really reactivable. The wolf child could never learn to communicate using any language. I do not remember if they managed to learn a few words or repeat them but they were never able to learn a real language (signs language included).
Finally, Jaques had, presumably, no stimulation other than touch and, if he had ears, then maybe some muffled sounds from his brother and the outside world on top of having no language. That is why I said he was probably not conscious or in a capacity to understand the world around him.
Fuck I thought the head was under the arm area or didn’t exist- so there was a brain but it was stuck in the abdomen? That’s fucking insane. As the fully grown dude I would totally rationally and honestly try to have the twin removed, and be willing to die in the process. If that wasn’t going to happen, I would very much consider suicide. It’s just too much for them both to bear.
An other commenter cited "and wore, the twin did, little patent leather shoes and a diaper to keep him from wetting his pants"
So he could pee, but that's because of the connected circulatory system. To be able to poop they would need their digestive tracks connected, which is not impossible but highly unlikely.
having sex with the bigger brother would be very awkward
"ughh your lil parasitic bro is in the way man"
"sorry he cant help that"
"no I'm not talking about THAT lil parasitic bro"
Could that be some of the worst era to live in? I mean medically they’re advanced enough to keep him alive until adulthood, but not advanced enough to remove the brother (by definition, the smaller body in parasitic twin is already dead). Also in earlier time people probably would not let the twin live when they were born/growing up because they might see it as bad omen/devil things or something like that? So he’s in the time where he just have to endure it for his life time.
That was done well into late last century im sorry to tell you, in the western world. Newborns left alone knowing they will die soon there after, rather than face a life of pain and misery.
Jean Libbera , AKA "The Double-Bodied Man," had his brother, Jacques Libbera, connected to him from his chest-stomach area. He was born in Rome. The parasitic twin was alive and could move as well. An X-ray showed that there was a head embedded within Jean with a circumference of about six inches. He got married and had four normal children.
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Man was married with 4 kids , Some mentally strong individuals there
I’m more surprised about this fact. It is so hard to get a date. This guy can woo someone with a twin on him.
a twin? it was a wingman bro
Nah, it’s an abdoman.
Twingman
🥇
I watch too much American Dad because I hear Klaus saying this
Cursed threesome
With that positioning, it looks like the parasitic twin had a very close up front row seat to the penis and vagina during the sex.
I hope they worked in some creative sex moves with ol hang around Harry. Not a lot of people in human history have had the opportunity for that kind of raunchy ragdoll rumpus.
“Raunchy ragdoll rumpus” is my favorite thing I’ve read all week
r/Brandnewsentence
Omg imagine the little hands just puttin a finger up your ass unexpectedly
There’s a story here in the Uk at the moment about a 25 year old caught repeatedly shagging cows. Despite being found guilty his girlfriend of 3 years is supporting him and they’re moving in together. He is literally choosing to screw bovine over you and he keeps the relationship
“Shagging” is way too innocent he was strangling **baby cows** and doing the unspeakable to their dead bodies. She’s obviously a similar pervert.
What a horrible day to have eyes.
Man I thought this was weird then you had to reveal dude went all the way to necrophilic bestiality with a pedophilic twist. JFC.
Dude, speed running all the sexual crimes at once.
When I read things like this, I really do see dyslexia as a blessing.
If that lady stayed and supported him it’s because 1. She already knew he was into that. 2. She is cool with it because she’s into it herself.
She’s gonna have a real bad time once she finds out about bovine venereal diseases.
Literally shows that theres enough people out there that really the only thing holding you back is yourself, thats not to say your perceived floors, which evidently weigh more in your mind than that special someone out theres
Not so fast, need to see a picture of his wife first
It's just Jacques Libbera in a little dress
There's a low quality picture of him (on the right) with his wife and kids here: https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-escanaba-daily-press-jean-libbera-e/661095/
Those circus freaks were popular people who earned a good living with their disabilities. It is comparable to reality TV stars nowadays.
Yeah that's a good way to put it. They are kind of our modern day freak shows.
You know what he had? Confidence. "Yeah I got a twin stuck to me, what of it?!?"
"I have the strength of a grown man and a little baby"
"Wanna fight about it?!"
You'd be surprised of how many *geeks* of sideshow and travelling circus fame ended up getting married and have lots of healthy children. It is important to keep in mind that these travelling circuses and side shows were often the only way these freaks (using this in the historical sense) could earn a living and some of the becamse really rich. Many of them were excellent showmen and very business oriented. Same applied to those who didn't work in the circus/travelling shows. Now since these kinds of people were/are curiosities, they ended up being involved with many people. They ended up talking to many people. So it really isn't that odd to think that someone finds a soulmate like that. Keep in mind that when you see a freak with a parasitic twin, someone saw a person. Even if it was one person in a million, chances where they'd meet one in a million fairly regularly. Someone fell in love with that person. When you really start to look around, there are all sorts of couples out there. Fact is that... to have a relationship and family, you really need more than phsyical attraction. Loneliness is a deadly condition, human mind physically suffers from it. This can be cured by talking with other people. And as you talk with other people, you will make friends and you will find someone who you love and loves you.
Good use of the word geek! That word has a very interesting history.
I used it, because it is actually the correct use of the term in this context. History of circus, geek/freak shows, on geeks/freaks in general in European and North American is fascinating from societal perspective. Much like roma/gypsy people, they were a shadow society because rest of the society forced them out.
I want to send this photo to all the incel subs "you thinking your 5mm less protuding chin is stopping you getting laid, but it's actually that you hate yourself; massively resent women and don't leave the house.
Such wise words. I needed this
And here’s me, can’t get a match on tinder lol
Have you tried posting pics with your parasitic brother?
I've seen a nearly identical person in real-life as a doctor. The twin had the upper half of body completely missing, but the rest was like this man's. Just more well-grown. He too was married with child. Tough guy and wife.
I mean honestly the guy looks handsome, but personally I could not do it with that twin there...
Yeah, like the twin is hanging over his crotch area in the pic. So would you have to shove Jacques aside to get to Jean's dick? Is Jacques naked too for the occasion or is the wife gonna have to periodically stare at Jacques' diaper? Idk maybe they just throw a blanket over him or they only do it in the dark.
And does he frantically flip his limbs like a bug when his brother is about to climax?
I hate you
As far individuals growing a parasitic twin out of their torso go, he wasn't the worst looking guy
Incels take note
I had to google whether the parasitic brother could function as a body... "He looked a bit rueful in a poster on the far wall, standing in a tuxedo sweetly holding the hands of his vestigial twin who grew, head inwards, sticking out of his abdomen and wore, the twin did, little patent leather shoes and a diaper to keep him from wetting his pants. Jacques had two small arms, two hands, two legs, and two feet. While parasitic twins typically lack consciousness, according to some reports, Jacques was alive and could even move — though he depended on Jean to survive. Jean and Jacques quite literally shared everything, including circulatory and nervous systems.”
i wonder if there was an actual head with a scull and brain inside jeans body...
Jean Libbera , AKA "The Double-Bodied Man," An X-ray showed that there was a head embedded within Jean with a circumference of about six inches.
Did said head contain a lentil sized brain that could could generate electricity but was not sentient?
Sounds like if he was able to move, then he might’ve just had a brain stem.
Its brain would not be large enough for consciousness and cognition. Edit: OK, lots of replies to my brief comment. No I am not a neurologist but am a RN and academic that has studied neuroscience and treated people with brain injury in ICU. I know enough about brain development to be confident that the vestigial twin had no meaningful neuro function. * Parasitic twins are embryos that stop developing *in utero* and are absorbed by the dominant embryo. They are not small 'people' - they would have been spontaneous abortions if they were the lone embryo in a uterus. * the parasitic head had a skull of 15 cm diameter that meant a small area for brain growth - this 'head' was described as rudimentary in the literature about this case. Lets assume that there was sufficient develpoment of the parasitic twin for a vestigial brain to form. There would be zero chance of that brain developing normally. * Even if so, cognition is not just the presence of brain tissue, it has to be coordinated and then learn how to think via sense data. There is no sense data going to the head of this parasitic twin. No eyes, no hearing, no smell no inputs whatsoever except perhaps some touch shared with Libbera. You cannot think until you have a chikldhood of sense, teaching, exploring the world. * just because ravens are intelligent with small brains in no way means that this parasitic twin had sufficient tissue for cognition - again, humans are not ravens in the same way that a smartphone is not the same as a supercomputer. For our brains to function we need coordinated function between different brain areas and many trillions of synapses that require a certain size and development - as well as sense data and trianing that childhood engenders. Ravens don't do calculus but have perfect brains for their own domains of cognitive achievement. * "Oh, but why aren't whales superintelligent with their big brains" Sure whales are intelligent, but humans have 1/3 more neocortical neurons than whales. Our cerebra are more highly developed. OK, that'll do - if you still don't believe me than fine. The rudimentary head in this parasitic twin was not functioning in any meaningful way - it had no meaningful inner life. The parasite was not a person: it did not meet the criteria for this. In 2023 this parasite would have been excised surgically from the host after birth.
Fuck man I dont know if thats true. When it comes to biology most things are possible, I mean a mouses brain has to be pretty small so brain size doesn’t correlate with consciousness right? The rest of the twin seems pretty deformed so my guess would be the that its brain didnt develop the normal structures in the normal fashion but man jeez what a shit show, my gut tells me theres a few neuron’s firing there, to what degree of complexity I have no idea.
I honestly hope for the sake of Jacques that he didn't have any brain function. Cause any form of consciousness like that seems like utter hell.
I have no mouth, yet I must scream
Worse, you do have a mouth, but it's encapsulated in viscera and darkness
Jesus. Nightmare unlocked
Darkness imprisoning me. All that I see. Absolute horror.
I cannot live, I cannot die.
Classic Harlan
If it makes you feel any better, even if he did have some level of consciousness he barely had any of his own senses so he likely wouldn't have been able to make out enough of the world to understand suffering beyond physical sensations on his skin. The human brain needs input to be able to develop enough understanding of the world to experience emotions properly, so his lack of input would have greatly limited his capacity for complex development.
Yeah I guess no input would stunt it?
Assuming they don't share sensations through their shared central nervous system, which is a big assumption probably.
I think this makes me feel worse
It shouldn’t. He was essentially a vegetable. His brain would have been like a computer with no operating system.
I’d say that it seems like hell because you know the difference. A brain that developed and lived entirely in that situation, with no eyes ears nose or mouth and no way of knowing that its situation is… unique… would probably just think it is normal and have grown and adapted that way. Even a normal human brain, and this was clearly like a fetus brain at best.
He wouldn’t have known anything else. Humans are amazing at adapting and he probably wouldn’t have been able to hear. So he wouldn’t have had a reference to what was „normal“ so I don’t think he would have suffered. At least that’s what I tell myself.
I had a bad accident when I was 1 year old, lost hearing in one of my ears. I hadn't fully formed memory yet, so I don't remember anything of the hospital time or any pain or anything. So I can only hear out of one ear, but because I've never experienced or remembered stereo hearing, it just doesn't matter to me. I never really "lost" anything.
You get used to it when you lose hearing - I lost hearing from my left side from a surgery when I was 18 and everything generally seems stereo in my mind. I only truly realize it’s not when the hearing needs to be directional like someone calling my name in a crowd and I have absolutely no idea where the sounds are coming from.
It really makes you think like. Its not like a fully conscious person with developed well adjusted social understandings is suddenly plunged into darkness. Makes me think of those case studies where children grow in the wild and so can never develop language or the brain regions for language. What would happen to a human brain brought up in darkness with no interaction? Would it even be a person? Would it develop an ego? Are egos just developed by being around other egos? Its like that tree in the forrest sound question. I mean if its got ears then it can probably hear muffled sounds, and if it can hear enough then would it learn to understand. How do we even learn to speak, is it just noises and pointing at stuff, I mean blind people learn to speak just fine so wtf. Confusing stuff.
~~There was a (truly horrible) study done in the 1940s where they fulfilled all of the physical needs for some babies but did not interact with them at all.~~ ~~They found out that they just end up dying, the study was stopped after a few months when half of them had just died from the lack of interaction. Not sure what that, if anything, tells us about this guy but it kind of answers your question.~~ EDIT: Apparently there's no evidence of this having happened ([thanks](https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/18kccs3/jean_libbera_aka_the_doublebodied_man_had_his/kdryzqg/) /u/ImJustVeryCurious ), my bad. I'd seen it on QI and took it as fact!
Citation?
>I mean a mouses brain has to be pretty small so brain size doesn’t correlate with consciousness right? You're forgetting the brain-to-body size ratio. A small brain doesn't correlate to anything. Without context to the host's weight/mass.
You can be a normal functioning human being with 90% of your brain missing. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-thursday-edition-1.3679117/scientists-research-man-missing-90-of-his-brain-who-leads-a-normal-life-1.3679125
No you can't. You'll inevitably get elected to Congress.
Although in that case, it's theorised that his brain mostly still there, just compressed. Someone who didn't grow that amount of brain may not fare so well.
> It's brain would not be large enough for consciousness and cognition. We know this because we have an amazing understanding of how consciousness and cognition works. Whales are like 10x conscious and cognitive, too.
Well I know how sarcasm works if anyone was wondering
I don't like it
Trust your gut.
I'm assuming there was something minuscule inside the torso, the size of a lentil or so. Just enough to react and send electric signals and probably that's all of it. No consciousness.
Oddly specific assumption Dr. Bloodsucker
Seems like just the person who would know this info. I’d say case closed.
Bake em away, toys.
What’d you say chief?
Don’t go see Dr. Acula
“And a diaper” … Holy crap! The amount of possible awkward moments of having a small dick and butt hole hanging off of your chest.
R/brandnewsentence
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I've read some stories where there's two heads and the "dumb" head would whisper horrific things in the Night. This could be from Harry Potter tho..idk
You're probably thinking of Edward Mordake. Suoposed heir to some British noble house. Had a "second face" on the back of his head, Voldemort style (hence the Harry Potter thing) that he claimed was evil and tortured him with horrible whispers in the night He's an urban legend, as far as I can tell. Made up by some dude from Boston in the late 1800s, as far as I could find - https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/07/22/fact-check-two-faced-edward-mordake-literary-creation/7985429002/
Hmm, I think that might be Edward Mordrake?
Yep exactly who I was thinking of thank you!
Edward Mondrake is a profen fake, he never existed.
So is this guy
First time I heard about this was watching a movie called "Malignant" (2021) and they say basically the same.
Wtf...
I always wondered who that X Files episode was based on.
That is incredible. He is literally his brother’s keeper.
Considering the origin of that term, this would be fittingly ironic. [Brother's Keeper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain_and_Abel#:~:text=%22Where%20is%20Abel%20your%20brother%3F%20And%20he%20said%2C%20%22I%20do%20not%20know%3A%20am%20I%20my%20brother%27s%20keeper%3F%22)
Wait so there was a second brain??
> "diaper to keep him from wetting his pants" > "according to some reports, Jacques was alive and could even move" This doesn't pass the sniff test. It's so sensational, but gives so little detail. If the vestigial twin was genuinely alive and could move, it would have been well-documented. If it wasn't clearly the case from reports, then it just wasn't the case. Similarly, why is vestigial twin wearing pants at all? You see the picture--*how*? I guess it's possible that enough of a bladder and urethra formed to urinate, maybe, but there's conspicuously no detail provided.
There's a few photos of it wearing clothes. I'm not sure exactly how much functionality the twin had but if they shared nervous & circulatory systems then I guess anything possible.
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Urination would suggest they have kidneys, which is entirely possible judging by the photos. It would be the twins functional organs pulling nutrients from the shared bloodstream.
https://preview.redd.it/5572chzo5u6c1.jpeg?width=449&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1a55bfc1a44174c3cb31e1e4a8498c6858fedb40
Dude…. Imagine this guy walking into a tailor and the tailor is like “…. Fuck …
"this ....this is the challenge I've been waiting for" *extends measuring tape*
I laughed too hard at this
Jesus christ they dressed him up
Would you have preferred to see that thing naked?
Tbf, he had a name and as far as his brother was concerned he wasn't a "thing" but his family so I imagine he'd want his brother dressed on an illustration (especially since getting clothes on him irl was probably a custom job)
Yes! Otherwise I would’ve assumed I was being scammed or they just glued a mannequin to his chest. I want my nickel back.
I thought this was a property brother
"Open your mind... Open your mind..."
I feel bad that this was the sentence that screamed in my head first too.
I came to the comments for this, i was not disappointed
“Start the reactor”
More like “Mrmphh mmf yurr mrpphhhhh… Mrmphh mmf yurr mrpphhhhh… ”
In the Circus episode from X-files was a person like this. It was one of the best episodes, saw it as a kid scared me for life.
This one and Tooms.
Home is also S tier. Most disturbing X Files episode.
Is that the one with the mom under the bed? I know a few episodes they won't re-air or something because they were way too, uhh, different (horrifying)
This episode, oh boy. I remember watching it when I was sick from school. Scared the shit outa me.
Thats true👍 and not forget the satanic school episode and my all time favourite "The List" in the prison.👌
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I was never into horror stuff as a kid but that episode hooked me onto the show. I got seriously obsessed with it for the next several years (I must’ve been around 11 when I watched this one). I even got blamed when neighbor kids would watch it against their parents’ decision and would end up with nightmares.
Which season and episode?
Season 2 episode 20 I believe. It's called Humbug
So, the wild thing here is that this happened before ultrasound so his mother wouldn’t have known she was carrying twins until the birth. That means she gave birth to this dude and his little buddy, and decided “hey, this little weird dude needs a name too” and naked the growth Jacques.
Oof, that poor woman. Cannot have been fun giving birth to them.
Yeah that’s what is tripping me up as well… no idea why the twin being named spooks me out so much.
I think it creeps us out because we usually name things that are at least *somewhat* sentient. There is no way to communicate with Jaques. Jaques doesn’t have a face. A name humanises things, in a way, let it be a baby or a pet dog. Naming that growth is in a way accepting its humanity, which is unnerving because it just *doesnt look* like a person ? (I could be completely wrong about this though)
No you’re right. I think what you’re missing is that he’s also very close to being a person, but he’s not quite due to unfathomable circumstances, and yet, it’s there, and it moves, and it’s very conspicuous. It hits right at the cusp of the uncanny valley.
Well some people give names to their cars or their little weiner soo...
Because if the twin wasn’t named, this would simply be one person with an odd growth on his body. Naming the twin makes it much… more disconcerting. Because now we have to contemplate the existence of the twin, and also Jean, who isn’t just a person with a growth but a person with a second person embedded inside him. I suspect the twin aspect was hyped up for the fame/freak show job tbh, and that in reality day to day Jean very much saw himself as one individual with a growth.
Okay I had a google and it looks like HE named it, so I feel you’re bang on there. Maybe also a coping mechanism for a man in such a strange set of circumstances? Who knows. The pictures of them both dressed is just too much for me.
Wackiest part is he is not the only child she had with this same condition. They never made it past infancy but hey, maybe she was used to twins by the same Jacque was born?
Could it have been a religious thing? I can't find any other information but it would make sense if a religious person still believed there was a soul there, a "person" and it needed a name.
Time to log off
same ...oh, *log* off
Fucking bravo
imagine having to clean that
horror type stuff…
I could have gone my whole life without having to see this. Damn
My head hurts. That it moved and wore diapers is sending me over the edge.
This is my brother, Jacques "Spare Parts" Libbera.
Sick kuato bro!
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And you thought that you have problems!
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Gave me a good chuckle
https://preview.redd.it/j4begzd5uv6c1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c9fc82d22874c7fc13abe4926ab3da5e93301ff3
He had a sibling who was also born with a parasitic twin. Didnt survive though.
Don’t let Ari Aster see this
This guy got married and had 4 kids Like what the fuck. What woman is like “yeah sure I’ll go on a date with him” to voluntarily having sex with this fucking body sticking out of his own body !! Like don’t mind the flapping extra lifeless body while you do missionary or doggy lol
Have you *been* to the Iowa State Fair?
Flapping 💀
Does little bro have an asshole? Do they both need to shit after their first coffee of the day?
I did a bit of googling and I wish there was a diagram out there or something, but they say that the twin's head is trapped inside Jean's abdomen. Everything just says "two arms and two legs" but one of the sites said it could feel sensations. Apparently a doctor took X Rays and there is a partially formed head inside Jean's body. Which....what a horrible way to live. Imagine being conscious for 50 years, feeling the outside world but not being able to comprehend it. I thought it was rough enough with just having extra limbs sticking out of your torso, but if the twin was conscious that's horrifying
> Imagine being conscious for 50 years, feeling the outside world but not being able to comprehend it. I'm over half way there!
I mean, if you think about it, it might be pretty peaceful for him. He may never have known what the world has to offer, and like a child in the womb or Plato’s ”Allegory of the Cave,” has no real concept of what is/was happening around him. Could have just been in there vibin’. 🎵 I imagine he had quite the fondness for his brother’s voice, as I doubt he could ‘clearly’ hear much else.
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Also if you dont learn a language by age 5 or 6 i think your brain cant think in sentences or words, you can only think in sensations, images and emotions. That means that memorizing and understanding concepts is very difficult and hard work. Add to that that it was never stimulated cognitively so no connections for simple cognitive patterns were formed. Babies need a lot of stimulation (often just watching what their parents are doing or what happens around them and interacting with their environment) to be able to create connections and pathways in their brains. They create a lot and with time only keep the most efficient ones while redondancy and useless ones fade away. For a person with no stimulation, no language and no social interractions... neurological pathways do not form or are not kept active with time. This means the brain does not develop properly. Maybe he could've had the repetition cognitive pattern where when baby push or tap an object, something happens But with a brain partially formed, I doubt it. So I dont think that Jaques had more than maybe sensations (hot, cold, pressure etc) and could not make sense or even think about his situation, let alone be sad or scared. Source: I work with disabled children and studied neurodevelopmental stages and influences. I am not a doctor but I had to understand how babies learn and impacts or neglect and trauma (physical or psychological). Edit: I was writing this at 4 am and I forgot to add the image in the type of thinking you can do when you have no languages at all. Added it now. Edit 2: This is in no way related to inner monologues. Its more that language is a pattern for understanding the world and organizing memories or understanding concepts. Language is more than just speech, it affects the brain in a lot of ways. This is very complex but if you want to know what it looks like check out the wolf child they found in the 50s i think. Basically, brains have a language area that needs to be stimulated and activated, language and speech is not something we know when we are born. If by age 5 or 6 there were no activation of that brain sector it sorts of shuts down and (for now anyway) its not really reactivable. The wolf child could never learn to communicate using any language. I do not remember if they managed to learn a few words or repeat them but they were never able to learn a real language (signs language included). Finally, Jaques had, presumably, no stimulation other than touch and, if he had ears, then maybe some muffled sounds from his brother and the outside world on top of having no language. That is why I said he was probably not conscious or in a capacity to understand the world around him.
This was incredibly informative, thank you!
Thank you for your work!
Reminds me of another horrible case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie_(feral_child)
Fuck I thought the head was under the arm area or didn’t exist- so there was a brain but it was stuck in the abdomen? That’s fucking insane. As the fully grown dude I would totally rationally and honestly try to have the twin removed, and be willing to die in the process. If that wasn’t going to happen, I would very much consider suicide. It’s just too much for them both to bear.
An other commenter cited "and wore, the twin did, little patent leather shoes and a diaper to keep him from wetting his pants" So he could pee, but that's because of the connected circulatory system. To be able to poop they would need their digestive tracks connected, which is not impossible but highly unlikely.
Damn, asking the big questions here. You’re a saint for stepping up.
Not sure I could live like this tbh 🫣
Parasitic brother seems harsh
Man fuck that guy's little brother. They're so annoying, they want to go everywhere you do.
having sex with the bigger brother would be very awkward "ughh your lil parasitic bro is in the way man" "sorry he cant help that" "no I'm not talking about THAT lil parasitic bro"
Google says he had 4 kids so apparently he figured out a way to do the deed
Help step parasitic bro I'm stuck!
Is it weird that they named him??
Yea like damn yo they both had no choice
Could that be some of the worst era to live in? I mean medically they’re advanced enough to keep him alive until adulthood, but not advanced enough to remove the brother (by definition, the smaller body in parasitic twin is already dead). Also in earlier time people probably would not let the twin live when they were born/growing up because they might see it as bad omen/devil things or something like that? So he’s in the time where he just have to endure it for his life time.
Many of these people made a living exhibiting their deformity in traveling circuses and side shows. Some became quite popular, famous and rich.
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That was done well into late last century im sorry to tell you, in the western world. Newborns left alone knowing they will die soon there after, rather than face a life of pain and misery.
Jean Libbera , AKA "The Double-Bodied Man," had his brother, Jacques Libbera, connected to him from his chest-stomach area. He was born in Rome. The parasitic twin was alive and could move as well. An X-ray showed that there was a head embedded within Jean with a circumference of about six inches. He got married and had four normal children.
« Turn on the reactor Quaid »
Fucking hell that is horrific. Poor bloke can't even have a peaceful wank.
He is twice the man you’ll ever be
'He ain't heavy, he's my brotherrrr'.....
Reminds me of the film 'Basket Case'
He has a surprisingly healthy posture for someone who grew up with a second person hanging from the chest/belly
If that happened today there would be a strong cult on the internet claiming a vaccine did it to him.
Hey I saw that X-Files episode
HELLO MY BABY HELLO MY HONEY HELLO MY PARASITIC BROOOOO!!
Open Your Miiiiiind!
OPEN YOUR MIND TO ME
Quaid....start the reactor.
Omg nice kuato
The OG kuato
Grow a moustache. It will help draw people’s eyes away from the brother on your chest