When Did The Silent Twins' Case Gain National Attention?

I tend to give short, direct timelines when folks ask: the Gibbons twins first drew local attention in the late 1970s because of their selective mutism and small crimes, but the case gained national prominence a few years later. Their detention in secure psychiatric institutions (Broadmoor being the most cited) in the early 1980s brought them into the national press, and that attention really peaked after Marjorie Wallace published 'The Silent Twins' in 1986. That book turned an already unusual story into a wider cultural discussion about identity, language, and mental health, and later media (documentaries and a feature film) kept the public interest alive. So, short version: early visibility in the late '70s, stronger national attention around their early-1980s institutionalization, and a big boost from the 1986 book, with periodic resurgences since then.

I still get chills thinking about how quietly their story exploded into public consciousness. Growing up, I first heard about June and Jennifer Gibbons through a battered paperback of 'The Silent Twins' that a friend had left on the bus — the book itself is what finally turned a strange local case into a national conversation. To be precise: their situation had been on the radar in the late 1970s because of their mutism, odd behavior, and a string of petty crimes, but it was the combination of their formal detention and subsequent media interest that pushed the story into national headlines. When the sisters were sent to secure psychiatric care (most notably Broadmoor) in the early 1980s, newspapers began following the case more seriously; however, it was Marjorie Wallace’s investigative book, published in 1986, that really cemented their place in the national imagination.

I like to think of the timeline in three parts: the early, almost folkloric local notoriety in the 1970s; the institutional and legal spotlight in the early 1980s as authorities dealt with their crimes and mental health assessments; and the wider cultural attention in the mid-1980s driven by Wallace’s reporting. That book framed their story for a broader audience and led to lots of follow-up pieces, television interest, and academic discussion about language, identity, and mental health. Over the years additional articles, documentaries, and even a recent film reintroduced them to new generations, but the pivotal national attention really consolidated around that early-1980s institutionalization and the 1986 publication.

I keep thinking about how odd it is that a deeply private, self-contained world between two sisters could ripple outward like that. I often bring it up in conversations about how newspapers and books can turn obscure human stories into public debates — sometimes helpfully, sometimes exploitatively. If you’re curious, read Wallace’s 'The Silent Twins', but also seek out interviews and more recent retrospectives to get a fuller picture; the story keeps revealing new layers each time I revisit it.