Daisy and Violet Hilton

The twins were born at 18 Riley Road, Brighton, England, on 5 February 1908.^[1] Their mother was Kate Skinner, an unmarried barmaid. The sisters were born joined by their hips and buttocks; they shared blood circulation and were fused at the pelvis but shared no major organs.


They were variously called or referred to as The Siamese Twins, The Hilton Sisters and The Brighton Twins or The Brighton Conjoined Twins and in the United States as the San Antonio Twins. The sisters performed alongside Bob Hope and Charlie Chaplin. After years of being managed professionally by their legal guardians, in the early 1930s, on the advice of Harry Houdini, they were legally emancipated. ^[2]

Later life[edit]

In 1936, Violet married actor James Moore as a publicity stunt. The marriage lasted ten years on paper, but it was eventually annulled. At the time of the wedding, Daisy was visibly pregnant. Her child was given up for adoption. In 1941, Daisy married Harold Estep, better known as dancer Buddy Sawyer. The marriage lasted ten days.^[9] In 1952, the twins starred in a second film, Chained for Life, an exploitation film loosely based on their lives. Afterwards, they undertook personal appearances at double-bill screenings of their two films.


The Hiltons' last public appearance was in 1961, at a drive-in theater in Charlotte, North Carolina. Without warning, their tour manager abandoned them there with no means of transportation or income. They applied for a job in a nearby grocery store, offering to work for one salary.^[10] The owner hired them at two full salaries and designed a discreet two-person cashier station so that customers could not tell the sisters were conjoined.^[11] The Hiltons rented a small two bedroom home courtesy of the shop owner's church, Purcell United Methodist, and settled into a quiet life, involving work and church.^[11] During the holidays they remembered fellow employees and favorite customers with Christmas gifts.^[11]


On January 4, 1969, after they did not report to work and attempts to reach them by telephone failed, the police were called to investigate. The twins were found dead in their home, victims of the Hong Kong flu. According to the autopsy, Daisy died first; Violet died between two and four days later.^[12] Violet had not called for any help.^[11] They are buried in Forest Lawn West Cemetery in Charlotte. They share a grave with a Vietnam veteran Troy Thompson whose father was an acquaintance, since they didn't have enough of an estate to pay for their own plot. Visitors to the site often leave two pennies, as that was the price of admission to see the twins in the side show when they were children.