Twin(s) story

[Eric2000]

any one remember an episode where some man goes to a convience store, and they were like weren't you just here..hes like no
but then they thing some man was in there minutes before him and it was his twin..

any one remember this one? and or have updates?
i'd love to read about it on the net if its out there, and maybe you might know the mans name?

[crystaldawn]

Yes, I remember that story. The man's name was Jim Boomgarden. I've always wondered whether he ever found his brother and sister.

[Eric2000]

Thanks...

i think that Jim name rings a bell

[unsolvedfan4life]

Yeah that is a great segment. It is a wonder he did not find his brother yet since the sightings were so close to where he lives. As far as I know there are no updates for this one.

[mozartpc27]

Originally Posted by unsolvedfan4life

Yeah that is a great segment. It is a wonder he did not find his brother yet since the sightings were so close to where he lives. As far as I know there are no updates for this one.

Yeah --- if some cases are the "most unsolvable," then this has to be one of the "most solvable." I just watched it again, and, as has happened every time I've seen it, I was astounded when it came to the end without an update. I can't belive this guy can't find his brother.

[DarkDante]

I remember reading quite a few people on this forum over the years when this case is brought up, that this case is one of the biggest hoaxes in UM history with the motivation being publicity.

[mozartpc27]

Originally Posted by DarkDante

I remember reading quite a few people on this forum over the years when this case is brought up, that this case is one of the biggest hoaxes in UM history with the motivation being publicity.

I actually wondered aloud if that was not the case here --- it seems so improbable that it would NOT be solved that it made me think that was a distinct possibility. But I don't know --- the convenience store woman, along with Jim himself and his family members, would have had to be in on it. Possible, but you know what they say about secrets, and how many people need to be dead in order to keep them secret...

[crystaldawn]

I don't believe it was a hoax. That guy didn't seem like the type who would welcome the attention just for kicks. He seemed to be anxious to find his brother and it was proven by the aunt that he also had a sister out there. I think its very possible this case has already been solved. For all we know after the segment aired he did find his twin brother. Maybe it will even be one of the ones Spike will update.

[mozartpc27]

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

I don't believe it was a hoax. That guy didn't seem like the type who would welcome the attention just for kicks. He seemed to be anxious to find his brother and it was proven by the aunt that he also had a sister out there. I think its very possible this case has already been solved. For all we know after the segment aired he did find his twin brother. Maybe it will even be one of the ones Spike will update.

I also think this is possible, and that an update was simply never filmed. Indeed, I think this is more likely than the entire thing being a hoax.

And, DarkDante, I searched this website, but never found anyone suggesting it was a hoax. Can you point me to a thread?

EDIT: Well, I found at least one thread where the case is mentioned as a possible hoax, by wiseguy (here: http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/...=missing+twin). I found another thread in which the case was nominated as "most solvable," but the people discussing it seemed to have either invented or misremembered details about the case. One poster said he was umpiring a softball game, and suggested Jim Boumgarden's son-in-law (who reported seeing him at said softball game) could have simply asked some official involved with the league the name of the umprie. But, in the segment, he was pitching the game, not umpiring it. Another poster says that, in the segment, they locate the supposed sister-in-law of the look-alike, but no one ever thinks to ask her the name of her brother-in-law. But nothing like this ever happens in the segment.

I think it's possible that this person, whoever he is, is simply a doppelganger for Jim Boumgarden, and not a twin brother. It's rare, but it happens. If I'm right, this person himself, and his relatives, might have thought about contacting UM, which would have "solved" the case, but, when the segment chose to focus on the idea that this man must be a twin brother of Jim, rather than simply a look-alike, he/they decided against it, because this person knew that he hadn't been adopted.

Anyone remember, along similar lines, the segment about a guy from the army, returning home from the Second World War I think, running into someone who appeared to be his exact double on a train platform? They exchanged information, according to this guy, so they could write, etc., and figure out if/how they were related when they each returned home, but, as soon as he got on the train (and just after exchanging the contact info), he realized he had somehow lost the information, just like that. He was searching for his look-alike, hoping he would contact UM, some forty years later.

That one seems more plausibly a hoax to me; there is only one person with an unverifiable story who claims this meeting ever took place. I'm kind of surprised UM did it, in retrospect. I wouldn't mind seeing that segment again, actually.

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

Originally Posted by mozartpc27

I actually wondered aloud if that was not the case here --- it seems so improbable that it would NOT be solved that it made me think that was a distinct possibility. But I don't know --- the convenience store woman, along with Jim himself and his family members, would have had to be in on it. Possible, but you know what they say about secrets, and how many people need to be dead in order to keep them secret...

What you said. This was one of two that I remember actually calling the telecenter about. The other was about the offspring of a circus barker for the Singer midgets. I called to tell them some of the Singer midgets appeared in The Wizard of Oz and that one man still, at that time, made TV appearances. I blanked on his name during the call but later remembered it was Jerry Marin. They did solve this case and found the people were among twelve siblings, most of all of whom were located! And they were scattered all over the place...MUCH less solvable than this one!

The telecenter operator told me "people have been calling in just furious" as, when Jim's relative was at the baseball game, why didn't he confront Jim's supposed "twin"? Well, at the time the relative thought it was just Jim acting weird, which maybe it was. Maybe he led a dual life or suffered from a dissociative disorder--I think there's more to this case. MY question was, WHY were the sponsors of the team never questioned as to the mystery pitcher's identity? Baseball teams, even amateur, generally don't let some stranger come in, put on one of their uniforms during a game, pitch, then leave with nothing but a "who was that masked man?" I mean, common sense dictates! Doubtless viewers were incensed by air time being burned up on something like this when there were and are real mysteries to solve! (Even if they ran out of cases, a lot has happened since the show was cancelled. They should be able to bring it back with new cases.) Worse than the people who made perfectly unprovable claims like dreaming something about a dead relative which was later confirmed by a living relative. Those at least had genuine human interest.

Most closely investigated should be the lady suspected to be his aunt. If DNA could be tested it would be proven whether she COULD be his mother's sister (possibly complex as she's probably since passed on, but she could still be alive or have kids.) DNA has solved some longstanding mysteries such as the Bobby Dunbar case, where a missing boy was supposedly located eight months after his disappearance, and the case of a man named Bobby Dolfin (sp?) whose mother hinted he was the Lindbergh baby. DNA proved he was related to her sister, sooo...Bobby was his mother's child, not Charles Jr. Why would some unrelated old lady make up such a story? And, as I remember, this aunt only said her sister gave up a girl for adoption and she didn't know about twin boys, so she could be an unsuspecting victim in a major prank! I'd LOOOOOVE to see an investigation on this! It should have been solved by just a local newspaper article. Could anyone contact the library, historical society, newspapers, police, etc., in this area and see if it was ever investigated?

[jimbou81]

Hi, I'm James Boumgarden Jr. I found this forum while googling my name. Here is an update to my fathers case. My father Jim Boumgarden passed away a couple years after the show aired. Although he never found his twin brother, he did find an older sister who lived 50 miles away. They became very close and continued the search for other siblings. We did get a lot tips, too many to check them all out, but many of the tips lead to people who looked more like the actor that played my father. We did have several reports that he didn't want to be contacted, which I could understand, maybe his adopted parents never told him he was adopted, think of the shock if that happened to you. We also thought maybe he was ill and didn't want put the family through that. I still recieve tips from UM from time to time and thank them for helping. I was young when all of this was active and don't remember alot but I do know he spent alot of time looking before UM got involved. The thing that made it hard for him was the fact he was adopted on the black market, in other word very little information was available, including his birthdate. He said he wasn't sure if he was born on March 29 or 26. There was paper work to support both.

[Brianna3]

Thanks JimBou for all the information regarding your dads case. I actually saw the update recently on Spike and was surprised that your dad never found his twin.

I'm also sad that your dad has passed away. I've noticed with a lot of the updates, many of the featured participants have died and may never had gotten a resolution to their cases.

One case that was resolved was the soldier who was injured and wanted to track down the nurse that helped him heal and gave him encouragement. He found her and the reunion was filmed, yet he died one year later. Same with a woman searching for her long lost sister for 30 years. She found her and then died not long after.

Us viewers do get attached to the individuals in each episode and we love when cases are resolved.

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

Thanks for your answer. If the twin existed, everyone close to him had to be cooperating in hiding him. He couldn't just live in a vacuum.

[VikingsGal]

Originally Posted by unsolvedfan4life

Yeah that is a great segment. It is a wonder he did not find his brother yet since the sightings were so close to where he lives. As far as I know there are no updates for this one.

I saw this one again today. Was it ever confirmed that Jom actually had a twin? Did he ever locate his birth certificate that confirmed he actually had a twin?