Jim Ball wrote:
Probably the most famous and widely stolen photo on the internet!



It's been copied and reposted hundreds, maybe thousands of times.  Recently I asked if anyone knew where the photo originated or knew anything about the twin men in the photo.

Well, the twins are named Desi & Casi and they are from the Western Transvaal in South Africa.  The photo was taken in 1993 by photographer Roger Ballen.

http://www.rogerballen.com/

I've seen this pic before and each time they (the twins) still manage to scare the snot right out of me!

Swank Photography wrote:

I've seen this pic before and each time they (the twins) still manage to scare the snot right out of me!

Check out Ballen's work.  He could give Weird lessons.  Powerful stuff.  Weird but powerful...

Jim Ball wrote:

Check out Ballen's work.  He could give Weird lessons.  Powerful stuff.  Weird but powerful...

Holy shit. Creative and creepy.

CNP Photography wrote:
I don't think I want to know what the women of the Western Transvaal look like.

Um, didn't you see the photo in the OP...?

Emma - O wrote:
There is something in them that is wierdly attractive? possibly the eyes?

Are you sure it's not the drool stains down the one guy's shirt?

CNP Photography wrote:
I don't think I want to know what the women of the Western Transvaal look like.

Henna N.  wrote:
Poor guys

This photo is often used whenever a discussion of incest comes up.  These guys are from rural South Africa, where the choice of mates is probably limited, but I doubt that incest was the reason for their appearance.  I wonder if there is some sort of genetic abnormality causing their appearance or if their parents were just both two-bag fugly?

Jim Ball wrote:

This photo is often used whenever a discussion of incest comes up.  These guys are from rural South Africa, where the choice of mates is probably limited, but I doubt that incest was the reason for their appearance.  I wonder if there is some sort of genetic abnormality causing their appearance or if their parents were just both two-bag fugly?

Holy crap those guys are scary looking.  Good lord!

Jim Ball wrote:
Probably the most famous and widely stolen photo on the internet!



It's been copied and reposted hundreds, maybe thousands of times.  Recently I asked if anyone knew where the photo originated or knew anything about the twin men in the photo.

Well, the twins are named Desi & Casi and they are from the Western Transvaal in South Africa.  The photo was taken in 1993 by photographer Roger Ballen.

http://www.rogerballen.com/

I wonder if they are related to Forrest Griffin

Jim Ball wrote:
Probably the most famous and widely stolen photo on the internet!



It's been copied and reposted hundreds, maybe thousands of times.  Recently I asked if anyone knew where the photo originated or knew anything about the twin men in the photo.

Well, the twins are named Desi & Casi and they are from the Western Transvaal in South Africa.  The photo was taken in 1993 by photographer Roger Ballen.

http://www.rogerballen.com/

OMFG! All these years of looking at this scary ass image and I just now realized that they appear to have drool dripping from their mouths!

Oh god...find a happy place FIND A HAPPY PLACE!!!!!!

Emma - O wrote:
There is something in them that is wierdly attractive? possibly the eyes?

Sure if you are into the inbred killers from "The Hills Have Eyes"!

Jim Ball wrote:

mmcreative wrote:
It's 'Dresie and Cassie' and the most common theory is that they have Fragile X Syndrome...

We are both half right.  I dropped the r in Dresi (I blame small text on the photographer's website) but there is only one s in Casi.

Shandra Stark wrote:
How lovely to know that all of you think their obvious medical issue is something to poke fun of.

To suggest that they're inbred, just because they look differently than most? 

You think their faces are scary?  The opinions in this thread are fucking scary.

Laura Ann - Fashion wrote:
Are they super tall?

The large ears, strong brow, etc is often a sign of Marfans.

My daughter had Marfan's and she looks NOTHING like that.

Jim Ball wrote:

We are both half right.  I dropped the r in Dresi (I blame small text on the photographer's website) but there is only one s in Casi.

I saw varying spellings anyway, lol

Laura Dark Photography wrote:
My daughter had Marfan's and she looks NOTHING like that.

Ugh.

I'm not saying everyone who has it does, but that many people who have Marfans have bone structures similar to the twins in the OP.  Perhaps not as pronounced, but similar. 

If you're going to take offense to that, I'm sorry, but it certainly wasn't intended.

EDIT:  Matthew McGrory had marfans  (the actor from Big Fish)

Laura Ann - Fashion wrote:

Ugh.

I'm not saying everyone who has it does, but that many people who have Marfans have bone structures similar to the twins in the OP.  Perhaps not as pronounced, but similar. 

If you're going to take offense to that, I'm sorry, but it certainly wasn't intended.

EDIT:  Matthew McGrory had marfans  (the actor from Big Fish)

No he didn't.  He probably had Fragile X syndrome which is different and we will never know because he was never gene tested.

Laura Dark Photography wrote:

No he didn't.  He probably had Fragile X syndrome which is different and we will never know because he was never gene tested.

You obviously want to find offense in what I posted, and that's fine, but I'm not going to continue to debate this with someone who obviously just wants to find fault.

Emma - O wrote:
There is something in them that is wierdly attractive? possibly the eyes?

i dont mind the one on the left, minus the ears hed be alright

Mika Meiri wrote:
What about them makes them look scary? I don't understand...

Different=Scary to simple minded people
The cause of much bloodshed throught human history

Swank Photography wrote:

Sure if you are into the inbred killers from "The Hills Have Eyes"!

hey, the guy who killed the mother and had those spike things had something going for him


not sure what, but.   maybe i just have severe problems

Mika Meiri wrote:
What about them makes them look scary? I don't understand...

eos3_300 wrote:
Different=Scary to simple minded people
The cause of much bloodshed throught human history

If the brothers are victims of Fragile X Syndrome, then it is likely that they suffer from some degree of mental impairment.  Note the drool.  Add up all the visual clues and that's scary to a lot of people.  Different = scary.

And for the record: Fragile X Syndrome has nothing to do with incest.

Laura Ann - Fashion wrote:

You obviously want to find offense in what I posted, and that's fine, but I'm not going to continue to debate this with someone who obviously just wants to find fault.

I don't find offense in it, it's not a correct thing to suspect.  There are plenty of genetic diseases that cause a person to be tall and have long features.  I have been around 100's of people with Marfan's and I have a child with it and I have NEVER seen anyone that looks like either Mathew or those twins above.  75% of the people with Marfan's look just like you or me only taller.  Hell most people don't even know they have it till they die from it.

Orca Bay Images wrote:

Not being a rude ass of a person does not mean I don't have a sense of humor.

I just think it's absurd that if these two were children, many people would pity them, or sympathize, but because they are adults, it's perfectly fine with the general population to be horrible.