Upon receiving an email with the subject line "Fwd: Twin Saves Sister With Telepathy - For Realz!" our first reaction was "HOAX". In this case, though, the story is true. At least according to London's "Daily Mirror."

Here's the scoop: 15-year-old British girl Leanne Houghton was taking a bath at home when she suffered a seizure. Her twin sister, Gemma, had a feeling that Leanne was in trouble and that she should check on her. Gemma did, and found Leanne under the water and not breathing. She performed CPR, which kept Leanne alive until medical help arrived.



"At first I thought she was washing her hair or playing a trick," Gemma told the paper. "But when I lifted her head out she had turned blue."

The hero twin has received a commendation from local paramedics, who said that if Gemma hadn't acted on her "feeling," Leanne would have died.

So is this proof of a real-life Jean Grey, or just a coincidence?A commenter at Jezebel thinks mind reading is "for realz": "I totally believe in twin ESP, as I have seen it in action, and it is awesomely creepy." (She also points out that the girls look like "the real life version of Becky and Darlene from Roseanne" -- especially the girl on the left, who is a dead ringer for Sara Gilbert.) Twin ESP is a documented phenomena, although "there is no scientific evidence to confirm the concept," according to About.com. But Craig & Jane Hamilton-Parker of PsychicTV believe that "everyone has psychic powers that usually manifest at emotionally important times such as at a birth or death."

Of course, TV psychics tend not to be the most credible of sources. Still, I had my own psychic experience when I was in grade school. I was on the phone with a friend of mine when we discovered that we could read each other's minds. Our powers were limited to titles of comic books, but for an hour we nailed every single one. Then suddenly we couldn't guess correctly anymore, so we stopped. (Where are those kids today? One of them is writing this blog post, the other joined the Hare Krishnas.) And haven't you noticed that there are times when it seems like you can read your children's minds? Sure, some of it is body language; some of it is what you learn from living with a person. Fine. But how about this -- I once bolted awake in the middle of the night, only to find out later that at that exact moment, a plane had crashed. Coincidence? Or something...more...? (Cue spooky music.)

So I'm on the fence about ESP. In general, I believe that there are too many things that happen that can't be easily explained. Suspicion is natural, but in my opinion, it's likely that there exists in the world some form of telepathy, ESP, mind reading, whatever you want to call it. At the same time, if someone offers to tell me my future for ten dollars, I predict that my money will stay in my pocket.

Do you believe in ESP, whether it's between twins or other people?

Brett Singer is the editor-in-chief of DaddyTips.com.