Twin sisters Florence and Katherine Lyman are unique in the world. They remember every second of their life.
For example, they can recite each meal they ate, the weather each day they lived, and what they did. If a date is mentioned, they can name in a split second what day of the week it was.
They are particularly fond of music, especially music from the 1960s, and can recite the names of all records, artists and release years.
They are often called the Rainman twins, in reference to the film of the same name.
isolated childhood
It took the world a long time to discover the genius of the sisters, but they are too smart, but the academic title Árnastofnun means Idiot scholar.
The sisters, who are in their 60s, were considered retarded, as it was then called, as children. By the 1960s, the terms autism or silly scientist had yet to find their way into the language, and the sisters’ parents made no attempt to ask for help. After all, little or nothing is available.
Their mother, Eve, was ashamed of the girls and practically isolated them at home as they were teased in the neighborhood and bullied by other children.
Eve loved her daughters, but treated them badly.
On the rare occasions that Flo and Kay have tried to fight the lonely stay at home, their mother has locked them in their bedroom. Their father pretended not to see anything. It was his habit to let his wife take care of the girls and their condition at home was never discussed.
The Lyman sisters.
But Eve was not a person to raise Flo and Kay. She struggled with alcoholism, was depressed, and once even tried to kill herself by sticking her head in the oven and turning on the gas. Kay and Flo’s younger sister Jane came to see her mother and managed to call the police, who only asked Eve not to repeat the game.
Eve felt extremely guilty for the suicide attempt, which added to her depression and drinking, and as before, their father pretended to be nothing.
A new world
Jane took it upon herself to care for her older sisters after their parents died. And she opened up the world to them, taking them to restaurants, shops, museums and cinemas.
Since childhood, they’ve kept detailed records of when their favorite TV star was on screen, what she wore and what she said. They were particularly fond of television personality Dick Clark, and he was an integral part of their lives.
David Wagner
As mentioned earlier, the sisters love music, and it was precisely through music that the world learned about the existence of geniuses.
They regularly called a radio show that a man named Dave Wagner had in the evenings, and they had all kinds of information about the music he was playing. Dave took a great interest in these sisters who seemed to know everything, and in 1996 he wrote an article about them.
He also contacted experts and Jane, Kay and Flo agreed to have the sisters tested. They have been confirmed to suffer from savantism and are the only twin sisters in the world to have been diagnosed with it.
The Lyman sisters.
The sisters need to have order in life, especially their view of television, and for example, when one of their favorite shows stopped airing, they became depressed and stopped eating. and sleep for several days.
Dave ClarkDave also reached out to Dick Clark and told him about the sisters’ passion for him. He took care to meet them and invited them to visit him where they stayed for a few days. Dick Clark was to remain a close friend of the sisters until his death in 2012. They visited him every year, spoke on the phone and corresponded by mail.
It was a great shock for the sisters when Dick died.
Dave Clark,
But another shock was even more difficult for them. In 2005, their younger sister, Jane, had a sudden heart attack and died. Jane had been more than a sister to Kay and Flo, she was a mother and their best friend, and Dick Clark played a big role in keeping the sisters from completely falling apart. Their brother-in-law, Jane’s husband, also helped the sisters and they stayed with him for some time.
With the help of Dick, Dave and other friends the sisters had made, they finally moved into their own apartment for the first time and are comfortable. They gained considerable fame after a documentary film, The Rainman Twins, was made about them.
The Lyman sisters.
Among other things, their fans are holding on Facebook a page where you can follow the life of the sisters.
Here you can see the documentary about the sisters, The Rainman Twins.
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