A woman was forced to endure days attached to the corpse of her conjoined twin after the latter passed away.
Born in Brighton, Sussex, in 1908, Violet and Daisy Hilton were conjoined twins, who became international entertainment stars in the 1920s and 30s.
Conjoined twins are twins that are born with their bodies physically connected. This happens once in every 50,000 to 60,000 births, according to Children's Hospital For Philadelphia.
According to the medical site, about 75 percent of conjoined twins are joined at least partially in the chest and share organs. If they have separate sets of organs, chances for survival are greater than if they share the same organs.
Daisy and Violet were connected at the base of the spine and are one of those twins who defied all expectations.
The sisters were rejected by their mother, a barmaid named Kate Skinner who believed that their condition was a punishment for giving birth out of wedlock, as reported by BBC News.
They were then adopted by a midwife and landlady named Mary Hilton who saw the girls' potential as money-makers and exploited them by parading them on tours.
The sisters featured at sideshows, vaudeville, and burlesque circuits, and appeared in two films: Freaks (1932), which was banned in Britain for three decades for being "too shocking," and Chained for Life (1952).
"The twins were huge stars in their day - at the peak of their fame around 1927 they were earning $4,000 a week, about three times the average annual American salary, but they have largely been forgotten in the UK," historian Alf Le Flohic told the outlet.
When Mary passed away, Daisy and Violet were willed to her daughter Edith, and son-in-law, Edith and Meyer Meyers. However, in 1931, they managed to get out of their contract and finally took control of their career.
Daisy and Violet's last public appearance was allegedly at a drive-in in North Carolina in 1961. Shortly after, the sisters began working at a local convenience store.
Despite advances in modern medicine offering them the opportunity to be separated, the conjoined twins decided to live out their final years together, BBC News reports.
The publication reported that the pair were found dead in their home on January 4, 1969, having fallen victim to the Hong Kong flu pandemic, which killed between one and four million people between 1968 and 1969.
The autopsy discovered that Daisy had passed away first, meaning Violet was chained to her twin's corpse for a few days before succumbing to the illness.
The heartbreaking situation would not occur in modern times, as conjoined twins can today be separated if one falls terminally ill and the surviving twin agrees to the surgery.
