In a truly remarkable story, a Hudson Valley college is the reason triplets discovered they were separated at birth.

In 1980, when then 19-year-old Robert Shafran from Westchester showed up for his first day at Sullivan Community College he was shocked that everyone was so happy to see him.

A little too happy to see a stranger, he began to think. But, the reason they were happy to see him, is because he didn't look like a stranger.

Edward Galland, who looked exactly like Shafran, attended the college the year prior but told friends he wouldn't be returning.

Galland's best friend in college, Michael Domnitz, began to figure things out. He asked Shafran if he was adopted. He was. So was Galland. He then asked Shafran for his birthday, which happened to be the same birthday as Galland.

Domnitz then told Shafran, I think you have a twin brother.

With Domnitz's help, Galland called Shafran and was shocked to hear his own voice talk back to him. Domnitz and Galland than rushed to Shafran's Long Island home.

When Shafran opened up his door, Galland's saw his own face staring back at him.

Twin brothers, separated at birth. But this amazing story isn't finished.

The twins story was shared by a number of media outlets. Soon, David Kellman read a story about the reunited twins and realized he had the same face and other physical characteristics as the reunited twins.

Kellman was also adopted and also shared the same birthday as Shafran and Galland.

Soon the triplets were reunited for the first time since they were separated as infants.

The trio were all adopted by the same New York agency, the Louise Wise Agency. Their adoptive parents were never told there were two other children.

The hard-to-believe story became even more shocking when the triplets learned they were separated for a currently unreleased study on Nature vs. Nurture.

Their story is told in the 2018 documentary Three Identical Strangers.

“I wouldn’t believe (it) if someone else was telling it," Shafran said in the documentary.

I happened to stumble upon the film this past week on a flight home to the Hudson Valley. I was shocked to learn about the story and also shocked that the Hudson Valley was the key reason the triplets were reunited.

The film is at times heart-warming, at other times, when you realize the damage they study did to all three, horrifying. However, it's a film I highly recommend you watch.

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