When teacher Rachelle Dyer decided to move from the west coast to the east coast to start a better life for her family and herself, she truly believed she was doing the right thing. While it was difficult for her to leave her twin sister and friends behind, she knew this was the only way for her to take her career to a new level.
However, as soon as Dyer settled in and found a new job, something weird kept happening in her workplace. Apparently, a teacher who looked exactly like Dyer had recently left the school. In fact, her coworkers even arranged a meet-and-greet for the two, just so they could realize just how alike they looked! Little did Dyer know the meeting would lead to the adventure of a lifetime…
1. A Life-Changing Decision
In 2004, Rachelle Arthur Dyer (below, right) realized she desperately needed a change of scenery. Until then, Dyer had worked as an elementary school teacher in Washington State, just a couple of hours outside of Seattle. In fact, she had spent her entire life in that area, never leaving for more than a vacation.
Now a fully grown woman, Dyer not only wanted to see a new part of the country, but she also wanted to advance in her career path. So, when an opportunity presented itself on the East Coast, the teacher seized it. Best part of all, her husband and children were right there to support her! While the move would mean leaving family behind, it was also the first step towards the most fantastic discovery of Dyer’s life.
2. Her Entire Life in Bags
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Many people cannot wait to leave their hometown behind and see the rest of the world. However, it also means leaving behind some of the most important people in your life and joining a new, unknown community. For Dyer, moving would mean saying goodbye to one of the most influential figures in her life: her twin sister, Kristelle Arthur Harrington (pictured with Dyer below).
As the twins had grown up together in Washington, Dyer moving to another state broke their hearts. After all, their entire lives, the two had never been away from each other for more than a week or two. Now truly separating for the first time, it was a bittersweet moment. However, as fate would have it, Dyer would be moving to precisely to the right location. Little did she know that something huge was waiting for her there…
3. A Special Bond
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As twins, Dyer and Harrington had shared much more than your average sisters. However, something about their unique story sets them apart from even other sets of twins! You see, the twin sisters had been adopted together at birth. As their adoptive parents never wanted to hide anything from them, Dyer and Harrington had known all their lives about their adoption. Still, they knew almost nothing about their birth mother or father.
The adopted twins had the fortune of growing up in a happy family, with two loving parents as well as two younger brothers. While they had always been curious about their roots, Dyer had no idea her move would present her with a clue.
4. Starting a New Life
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Before long, Dyer and her family relocated from Washington to Virginia Beach, Virginia. As soon as the family settled in, Dyer continued her career in education. Within a few months of arriving, Dyer started working at Tallwood Elementary School, one of the better schools in the area. There, she worked in the special education department as an assistant teacher.
While leaving her twin sister and her extended family was difficult, Dyer quickly made new friends with her fellow teachers. Over time, however, Dyer’s new friends kept bringing up a strange story about a woman who worked there just before she arrived…
5. I’ve Seen That Face Before
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When Dyer first started working, her co-workers would occasionally ask her strange questions. Often, they would tell Dyer that they felt as though they had met or seen her before. However, that was impossible, considering that Dyer had just arrived in Virginia.
Soon enough, some of the teachers started to put two and two together. As it turns out, they insisted that Dyer looked exactly like another one of the former teachers at Tallwood Elementary School. In fact, Dyer’s new friends couldn’t wait to show her the incredible resemblance. Hopefully, she would see the similarity herself! Without even knowing it, Dyer inched closer and closer to an astonishing discovery…
6. Double Trouble
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Most of Dyer’s coworkers told her that she had a local doppelganger, a woman named Shannon Holley Nicoll (below, right). However, while they looked similar, Nicoll was several years Dyer’s junior. The staff at Tallwood Elementary School knew Nicoll very well, but she had left right before Dyer arrived, so they never had the chance to meet.
Since then, Nicoll had moved on to work at a different school in Virginia Beach. However, that wasn’t going to stop Dyer’s new friends from trying to bring the two lookalikes together. Furthermore, Dyer’s co-workers were convinced that the two were each other’s spitting image. Then, in 2008, the opportunity for the two to meet presented itself.
7. The Encounter
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Dyer and Nicoll’s friends continually tried to set up a meeting between the two look-alikes, but plans kept falling through. Then, an opportunity finally arose. Country music star Kenny Chesney, who both women loved, as going to perform a concert in the area in 2008, and the women’s mutual friends accompanied both of them.
Finally, after hearing for so long how similar they looked, Dyer and Nicoll laid eyes on each other. And they couldn’t help but agree that they looked alike! Both women felt as though they were looking into a mirror. “When we looked at each other, we were like, ‘Wow, this is kind of like looking in the mirror,'” Dyer said. The two women even posed for a picture, seen above. Little did the pair know that this photo would end up changing their lives forever…
8. Becoming Look-Alike Friends
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While both Dyer and Nicoll agreed that their remarkable resemblance was uncanny, they decided not to think about it too much. After all, for all they knew, it was merely a wild coincidence. While their meeting was entertaining and intriguing, neither thought it was anything more than that.
Despite what their friends suggested, the women had grown up in different families on opposite sides of the country, so it seemed unlikely that they were related. Still, the two women soon became friends. As the years progressed, the two of them got closer and closer to the truth, without ever knowing it.
9. A Decade Later
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In the blink of an eye, a decade passed by after Dyer and Nicoll’s first meeting at the Kenny Chesney concert. What’s more, their story could have ended at that moment without either one of them realizing that they shared a mysterious connection. Luckily, it didn’t!
As fate would have it, Dyer’s husband was planning something unrelated that would actually unlock this hidden connection. See, as a heartfelt gift, he wanted to tell the entire story of his wife’s incredible life. However, he had no idea that his research would uncover precisely how Dyer and Nicoll fit together. Afterward, their lives would never be the same…
10. Exploring Her Origins
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Ten years had passed since Dyer had moved to Virginia Beach, and, in that time, genetic testing to determine ancestry had grown significantly in popularity. So Dyer’s husband had an excellent idea: why not purchase a testing kit for his wife on their anniversary? After all, she had nothing to lose and everything to gain.
You see, Dyer’s husband had heard that these tests could be particularly fascinating for those who had been adopted at birth. He hoped this test could give Dyer some new insight into her past. While she had always wanted to find more information about her biological mother, she had never acted on it. Now she could! Of course, Dyer loved her anniversary present and quickly sent off the sample. Then, in March 2018, the results finally arrived.
11. DNA Results
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Dyer felt excited to learn the results of her genetic testing. However, when she finally received the breakdown of her genetics, she felt overwhelmed. The results were spread out over a document and a website, with more information than Dyer knew what to do with!
While Dyer wanted to find out more information about her past, she wasn’t exactly an expert on the matter. So, she decided to simply skim over the results. Unfortunately, in her skimming, Dyer completely missed a key kernel of insight on the genetic testing website. In the end, Dyer ended up completely overlooked the last piece of the puzzle. However, as the saying goes: the truth will always find a way…
12. The Mystery of Genetics
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A couple of months after Dyer received her DNA testing results, just as she was beginning to forget about them in fact, she heard about them again. However, this time, it wasn’t from her husband. This time, it came from her work, Tallwood Elementary School. You see, the school had begun an ancestry and genealogy projects with the kids.
In light of the project, the principal approached Dyer and urged her to take a closer look at her data results on the genetic testing company’s website. The school’s principal wanted her to really sift through the records and genetic matches, so she could teach her students better. But what Dyer would find was a whole new identity…
13. It’s A Match
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When Dyer returned to the website, she found something intriguing. Not only did the genetic testing website list where her DNA stemmed from, but it also indicated any matches to anyone else who had submitted their DNA to the service. The website also estimated just how closely related the two samples could be.
To Dyer’s surprise, one woman showed up as a genetic match for her. In fact, the test estimated that this woman was Dyer’s first cousin! Finally, a clue to her biological family! The woman’s name was Tracy Hall, and she had even included a way to communicate! While Hall felt thrilled when Dyer reached out, she did not seem surprised. As Dyer would discover, her first cousin had inherited an enormous secret.
14. A Massive Secret
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Tracy Hall’s mother, Sue Hall (below, middle), who lived a few hours away in Fredericksburg, Virginia, had been carrying an enormous family secret for most of her adulthood. What’s more, Sue had promised she would never reveal her secret to anyone else. However, as Sue entered her older years, she made the conscious decision of passing on the secret to her daughter, Tracy.
Sue felt that someone needed to know the secret, for one day she would pass away. Furthermore, Sue needed to ensure the valuable information survived in case someone came asking questions. Thanks to the DNA match from the genetic website, that moment had finally arrived.
15. Family History
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The Hall Family’s deep secret revolved around Tracy Hall’s aunt and Sue Hall’s sister, Janice Hall (below, right). In the late ’60s, Janice moved from the west coast to Virginia. While in Virginia, she lived a normal life, marrying a man named Dean and having two beautiful girls. However, Janice had left a secret behind on the west coast before moving to Virginia.
Janice entrusted her sister with an incredible revelation: while living in Washington state, she had given birth to a set of twin girls. While she wanted nothing more to be there for their beautiful newborn babies on the other side of the country, something had prevented Janice from doing so…
16. Unable to Take Care of Them
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Unfortunately, Janice was unable to take care of the girls at the time they were born. Even though she wanted to raise them and be a good mother to them, she didn’t have the means or resources to do so in Washington. What’s more, she wasn’t married and couldn’t really rely on anyone to help her with the twin babies.
So, Janice felt the best thing to do was to surrender the baby girls up for adoption. While she felt completely heartbroken, Janice knew that another family could provide her daughters with a much better life than she could. Now, after so many years, Dyer, one of those adopted twins had started to put the pieces together…
17. Hidden Cousins
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For more than a few years, Tracy Hall had known that Dyer and her twin sister existed. However, their names, locations, and identities had remained a mystery to Tracy. All she knew was that they lived in Washington state. Well, until genetic testing came along, that is!
Now, thanks to the wonders and marvels of technology, Tracy Hall was constantly communicating with her first cousin, Rachelle Dyer. Still, even though they had found each other, there were still many pieces of the puzzle to put together. But first, Tracy wanted to introduce Dyer to a whole new set of family members!
18. Her True Identity
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At the tender age of 53, Rachelle Dyer had finally learned the truth about her past. Not only had she discovered the identity of her birth mother, but she had made contact with one of her biological family members! That’s quite the achievement, to say the least! Now, however, Tracy Hall and Dyer had to work to thread together the stories of their lives and make sense of everything that happened.
In order to help fill in all the blanks, Tracy felt it was time for her newfound cousin to meet the rest of the family. Of course, Dyer felt incredibly nervous. What if they didn’t like her? She didn’t think she could handle being rejected by her family. Thankfully, everything would turn out better than Dyer could have hoped for!
19. It’s You Again!
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Believe it or not, the relative of Dyer’s who lived closest to her was none other than fellow teacher and friend Shannon Nicoll. Yes, that’s right! All those years ago, Dyer’s coworkers had told her about their incredible resemblance and even wondered if the two were related. And they had been right!
“The crazy thing was, the two friends that were telling [Rachelle] we looked alike were my childhood best friends,” Nicoll said. Over a decade later, Tracy dropped quite a colossal bomb: that was no mere coincidence. You see, Nicoll and Dyer were, in fact, biological sisters from the same mother! Even more astonishingly, there was yet another character waiting to join Dyer’s life story…
20. More and More Sisters
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As you might imagine, Rachelle Dyer felt overwhelmed by revelation after revelation. Not only had she found her biological family, but she had been friends with her long lost sister for a decade without ever knowing! However, there were more incredible surprises in store for Dyer. There were some family secrets that no DNA test could ever hope to show…
As Tracy Hall and Shannon Nicoll soon revealed, Dyer had yet another sister to meet. In a short time, Dyer learned that her other sister, Lisa Holley Vann (above, left), also lived in Virginia Beach! Dyer had lived just minutes away for both of her sisters for so long, without ever knowing it!
21. Growing Up In Virginia
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Shannon Nicoll and her elder sister, Lisa Holley Vann, are Janice Hall’s two daughters, who grew up in Virginia Beach. They had an idyllic childhood, with no idea of the secrets their mother hid. “Lisa and I had no idea at all that our mother had even given birth to twins in the past,” Nicoll said in an interview. Now, the truth had been revealed.
“They knew that they were adopted all these years — so for us, it was pretty mind-blowing,” Nicoll continued. Fortunately, through their cousin Tracy Hall, the three sisters connected and came together as a family. Before long, the stage was set for a reunion of epic proportions!
22. The Twin Sister
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All this time, the fourth and final piece of the puzzle, Dyer’s twin sister Kristelle Arthur Harrington, remained in Washington. Now, the time had come for Dyer to tell her sister of the incredible news. Harrington had just returned to Washington after a vacation in Australia for New Year’s Eve. Unfortunately, her trip had been cut short due to an appendicitis.
As Harrington recovered in the hospital, she received an unexpected message. In a blink of an eye, Harrington learned that she didn’t just have one sister in Virginia, but three! In a flurry of texts, her twin sister told her everything!
23. A Family Reunited
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Within a few weeks of Dyer informing Harrington of her new sisters, she headed out to Virginia Beach to meet them. They made plans to all have dinner together at one of the nicest restaurants in the city. As they all went to meet for the first time, each sister could not believe how fortunate they were to find each other.
Finally, in February 2019, the three siblings all sat together for the very first time ever to have dinner. For the first time in five decades, all four sisters were in the same room. Given the significance of the meeting, many other members of the family came to witness this incredible, once-in-a-lifetime occasion. Now, they all had the opportunity to combine the two families to create a brand new one. However, there was still something missing…
24. The Team Is Completed
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Not only did some of Shannon Nicoll and Lisa Holley Vann’s families come to watch the reunion, but so too did Harrington and Dyer’s families. In fact, Harrington’s children and husband flew over with her to witness the dinner. Now, it was finally happening!
All the family watched the reunion in total amazement. In fact, many of the children needed to cover their mouths to stop from laughing when they heard just how similar the women’s voices were. It was actually hard to tell them apart! Despite the joy and happiness of their reunion, Nicoll and her sister had some terrible news to deliver to their long-lost sisters.
25. A Bittersweet Moment
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Unfortunately, the mother of the four women, Janice Hall, had passed away just a year and a half before the genetic testing brought the four of them together. Their aunt, Sue Hall, explained that it had been imperative for her that the twins she had given up for adoption to be kept together. Thankfully, they had.
“I feel like I was a year-and-a-half too late because that’s when our birth mom passed away,” Dyer said sadly. “All four of us feel like she’s had a big hand in this. Getting us all together at this time in our lives. We all really needed it. I’ve never had my own family in Virginia Beach. And Lisa and Shannon don’t have the mom they grew up with there anymore.”
26. Incredible Coincidences
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Unfortunately, Dyer and Harrington will never get to meet their biological mother. However, while it was sad to find out that their biological mother had passed away, the twin sisters thankfully had a new family to support them through the grief process. Best of all, Dyer and Harrington had met their mother’s other daughters, and they felt they could feel her through their newfound sisters.
What’s more, the four sisters believed that even if their mother wasn’t around to witness this glorious moment of their reunion, she was still able to see it from the heavens. Even better, they could now carry on some of Janice’s traditions as one complete family…
27. A Big, Happy New Family
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For Nicoll and Harrington, losing her mother has been one of the most challenging times in their lives. You see, they were both very close to her, and Janice truly served as the glue that bound their family together. Not only that, but she was also the person they would always turn for family gatherings, happy occasions, and of course, holidays.
However, all of a sudden, Nicoll realized precisely who would fill the gap Janice had left behind: her twin sisters, Dyer and Harrington. Thankfully, Thanksgiving, 4th of July, and even Christmas would now continue with the now much larger family!
28. What Are The Odds?
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There’s no denying, the story of these for sister is simply incredible. Of all the towns and cities across the United States, Rachelle Dyer chose to start her new life in Virginia Beach. At the time, she had no idea that her long-lost sisters were living just minutes from her. Even more surprising, of all the DNA testing websites, Dyer’s husband bought her a kit to the same as her cousin. Their story was so incredible that Good Morning America even invited the sisters on to tell their story!
However, as some viewers pointed out, while this might seem like a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, there have been others with similar stories of finding long lost family members. In fact, one similar tale started off in almost exactly the same way as Rachelle Dyer’s…
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