Howard Burek was dumbstruck to learn he had an identical twin. The brother he never knew he had is Doug Rausch. Doug found out he had a twin in 2004, when the adoption service that split them up was going out of business.
When Louise Wise was shutting down, there was a woman there who had cancer and who knew she was dying. And before she left and before this place closed down, she called Doug. Guilty conscience?
Yeah, she couldn't go to her grave without letting some of these kids know that they had identical twins. She even told me, she goes, I'm not supposed to do this and I can get in a lot of trouble, but I'm going to do it anyway. So I appreciate that.
Her conscience took over at that point. So someone had to do it. Someone had one, exactly. She said, are you sitting down? And she said, well, I have some news for you.
You have an identical twin brother. And I was like, I literally almost drove off the road. It's not something you ever expect to hear. Doug gave the agency his number and waited anxiously to hear from his identical twin brother that he'd never known he had. Arriving at the airport in Columbus, Ohio, a long delayed reunion.
Hi! Dude, my God! How you doing? Oh, man.
Two years after finding out his brother existed, Howard is finally getting to meet him in person. I'm looking in the mirror. It's definitely eerie feeling.
I'm telling you. I'm telling you. I'm telling you.
The mind, they're going. It's just like you're looking at yourself in the mirror. And I think we hit it off right away.
And instant connection. I felt like I knew Doug my whole life. Their lives began as a single cell that split into two. They share almost identical DNA.
As they compared the lives they have led, separate and apart, they noticed patterns. He is very laid-back and he's very sincere. Doug is very laid-back.
I always make the joke that sometimes we have to check his pulse to make sure he's still living. Howard's ideal date night is going to a five-star restaurant and getting prime rib. Steak is his favorite food. When they first met each other, it was just like they always knew each other.
Doug would always look at me and say, wouldn't it be cool to be twins? I always thought it would be cool to be a twin. We live parallel lives, essentially. You both have three kids. Yeah.
I mean, similar ages, too. Get up, get up, get up. This kid right in the middle.
Watch where he's going. Middle! Matty, Steve! You guys both coach hockey?
Yeah. Our kids both started playing, and we both, I never played growing up. I never did either. You both hold your wallet in your front pocket? I don't know how much of that is like genetic or just, I don't know.
Not many people do that, though. Not many people do that, though. So you got married the same year. What year? I had two.
Oh, my God. You guys both had to think about it? I knew. I was looking to see.
I was just slow. They both don't use any condiments at all. It's not just ketchup and mustard.
It's condiments in general. It was the first question Diane asked. Does Doug use condiments?
And I'm like, he has no use for them. Doug and Howard's ketchup and mustard hating fitting like a puzzle piece reunion between the two of them. That's what Sharon Morello wanted, too.
She was obsessed with finding her identical twin. That's all you did is live and breathe it. Why that obsessive need?
It was fascinating and cool, and what would it have been like growing up? Yeah, would we have been best friends? Would we have hated each other?
Would we have shared everything? Like, so many different things, but we never had that chance. Sharon was determined not to let this chance slip by.
I found her on Facebook and I sent her a little message. We instantly bonded, I mean, from that first email. It's just like we just clicked. We even named our younger ones the same name. Are you kidding?
So now we both have a Joshua. So that was kind of like the first thing, like, no way. In fact, news of identical twins and triplets secretly separated by Louise Y.
services have been leaking out for decades. In 1980, three 19-year-old men from the New York City area, Robert Chaffron, Eddie Galland, and David Kelman, total strangers, discovered they were identical triplets who'd been separated at birth by Louise Y. Services. They became folk heroes, making the rounds on national TV.
What kind of cigarettes do you smoke? Marlboro. Do you all smoke the same brand?
Yes. I'm curious. How's their taste of women? Is it similar?
Yes. Making a movie with Madonna. And a stop here at ABC on Nightline in 1989. Did you laugh as much before you knew one another?
I don't think so. I don't think we were ever this happy. I don't think we were ever this happy.
Oh, and this is a magic moment, guys. This magic moment. Really?
It really completed our lives. But as all these identical siblings get reacquainted, they all discover they had one more thing in common, something strange, something uncomfortable. Do you ever remember having people come over to the house to observe the magic? I do remember just a person coming and I remember like looking at books. You know, they would show me different pictures.
I would have to say what did I think that picture was. Each of them has vague, unsettling memories of intrusive strangers. coming to visit throughout their early childhood.
People would come to my house and they would film me and they'd make me ride my bike and they would, you know, do this test and that test. What did they ask you to do? All kinds of psychology tests and drawing and just looking at things and inkblots and drawings and talking to you and asking questions. And I was kind of a shy kid and, you know, you had people asking you questions and asking you to do stuff. It was a little bit horrifying.
It turns out after the twins and triplets were secretly separated, they were... were then enrolled in a mysterious psychological study, without so much as a word of it whispered to their unsuspecting adoptive families. They made it sound like this was to everybody's benefit to see how smart this kid is, because I don't know him. Here we're adopting a child, we don't know him, we don't know his background.