Tragic case of conjoined twin who had to live with dead sister attached to her
Here is the gruesome story of how two sisters joined at the hip would die within just days of each other.
Live births of conjoined twins are relatively rare, accounting for an average of one in every 500,000 births in the UK. Meanwhile, global statistics estimate that conjoined twins could to make up anywhere between one in every 50,000 to 200,000 live births.
It is understood that conjoined twins occur from one of two ways, either when a single fertilised egg is only partially split, or when two embryos fuse together during the early stages of development.
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Modern scientific advancements mean that most conjoined twins are now able to be surgically split, and the ones which cannot are still able to enjoy a good quality of life.
However, in the not-so-distant past, conjoined twins faced being exploited for money or abused in scientific experiments.
One such example is the story of Brighton-born sisters Daisy and Violet Hilton.
Born in 1908, Daisy and Violet were joined at the hip and would go on to star in 1952 film Chained for Life, which seemed to be inspired by their lives.
Unfortunately Chained for Life seemed to largely make light of the sisters' situation, with their true backstory being considerably more heart-wrenching.
The girls were sold shortly after their birth to a woman named Mary Hilton and would soon be turned into a 'freak exhibit' to earn her money — with the girls controlled by violence, and moulded into becoming talented musicians.
In an attempt to make as much money as possible off the girls, Mary flogged pictures of them from behind the bar she ran and paraded them on tours aged just three.
When Mary died, the conjoined twins were willed - yes, like property - to her daughter Edith, but luckily they eventually managed to get out of the 'contract'.
Finally free of the exploitative situation, the sisters would remain as performers for the rest of their lives, utilising their musical talents to build a career in vaudeville.
However their career came to an abrupt end in 1961.
Following the end of their career Daisy and Violet went on to get a job working at local shop and made a living for over seven years.
The sisters sadly fell ill with flu in 1969, with illnesses often passing between conjoined twins. Flu would claim Daisy first and Violet not long after.
Their death added a final chilling twist to their story, with Violet ultimately outliving her sister by a number of days. This means she spent this time attached to the rotting corpse of her sister before she herself passed away.
Perhaps even more heartbreaking is the fact that Daisy and Violet would've been eligible for separation should they been born in the modern day, but unfortunately medicine wasn't as advanced enough to do so in the mid-20th century.
Brenna Cooper