Several researchers were involved in the study, which had funding from the US National Institute of Mental Health, over about 15 years.ĭuring the 1960s, at least eight twins and one set of triplets were separated, with the babies placed in different homes. The scientific study was conducted in the 1960s by prominent New York City adoption agency Louise Wise Services and psychiatrist Peter Neubauer - now deceased. Robert Shafran's father was a doctor and his mother a lawyer, and they lived in affluent Scarsdale, in Westchester County.Įddy Galland's family lived in a middle-class suburb in Long Island, where his father was a teacher, while David Kellman's parents lived in working-class Queens. Robert Shafran (left) and David Kellman (right) are furious at being separated at birth and say it caused them a separation anxiety trauma that caused them to hit their heads on the wall The New York City adoption agency, Louise Wise Services, would only confirm they were twins and would not hand over any records or information, the pair said. 'We were treated not like humans but like animals,' said Ellen. Not only did they miss out on bonding during their childhood years in what might have been their closest relationship, but they are angry at not being told.

When they found out, both they and their families were furious at being duped and used. They did not know it, but they had been used as guinea pigs in a secret 1960s study that used twins separated by their adoption agency to find out whether nature or nurture governs a person's life outcomes. The pair also talked about how strange people had come to study them, giving them tests and asking them questions. 'And I feel like that's because I was missing my other half, basically.'

Elen and Melanie were blown away when they met up but because they were living further apart with their partners, they felt they never could recapture a lost childhood of bonding

Long lost twins identical strangers