How did the original Siamese twins died?
Mia Moss
Published Jan 06, 2026
"Eng Bunker died shortly after his brother." The brothers were 62 years old. Cause of death for Chang was pneumonia. For the relatively-healthy Eng, cause was given as "fear." The world's most famous conjoined twins died as they had lived — together.
How did Eng and Chang Bunker die?
Chang Bunker died on 17 January 1874, from a cerebral blood clot and his brother Eng Bunker died three hours later. After their deaths, a professor in Pennsylvania, Harrison Allen, performed an autopsy on Chang and Eng.What happens when one of the Siamese Twins dies?
Eric Strauch, a pediatric surgeon at the University of Maryland Hospital for Children, says simply, "They die." Once the dead twin's heart stops, he adds, the "blood stops pumping, the vessels dilate, and the conjoined twin will essentially bleed into the dead twin.How did Chang and Eng make babies?
while sharing one (reinforced) bed. The walls in Chang and Eng Bunker's bedroom would have had some tales to tell, if walls could talk. Their marital bed was built for four — brothers Chang and Eng in the middle and their wives on either side. Between them, they conceived some 21 children in that bed.Can one Siamese twin die before the other?
One Twin Can Perish During Or After Separation SurgeryWhen doctors attempt to separate conjoined twins, it is usually before one of them passes; they know one twin will likely expire in order to save the other. In lucky cases, like Erin and Abby Delaney, both twins survived the separation and had healthy lives.