Have you ever imagined discovering a sibling you never knew you had?

Today's episode of Family Twist features an emotionally charged story about Kendall and his newly discovered siblings, Chris and Monica. In this heartwarming narrative, listeners will explore the profound connections formed between siblings separated at birth, the surprises of their reunions, and the bonds that transcend time and distance.

Found My Sister from a DNA Test

Listeners will experience several takeaways:

• Insight into the emotional rollercoaster of connecting with long-lost siblings, offering hope and excitement for others in similar situations.
• Understanding the complexities and dynamics of newly formed family relationships, providing a blueprint for others navigating these waters.
• The importance of open-mindedness and acceptance in building and strengthening newfound familial ties.

Don't miss this episode to feel the powerful emotions of reuniting with a family you never knew you had; it might just inspire you to explore your own roots.

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Welcome to Family Twist, a podcast about relatively unusual stories of long lost families, adoption, and lots of drama. I'm Corey. And I'm Kendall, and we've been partners for over 16 years. So we're going to start off with a little recap for this episode. So if you go back to the first two episodes we did, that was when Kendall found out that he does actually have a birth family out there. In the second episode, we talked to his brother, Chris.

on his birth father's side and they kind of shared the story of how they found each other.

Well, Chris has a full sister Monica and Monica is joining us today. Thanks for being with us, Monica. Thanks for having me. So I'll let you two talk about a little bit just like what the what that experience was like. One, Monica finding out, you know, that Kendall was out there and to like how you guys first connected on the phone and we'll talk about the trip out the visit and stuff. So I'll let you guys just jump in there. I'll never forget when Chris and I were on the our very first telephone call and in the first minute that he

and I were on the phone, he's like, okay, so you don't really know anything about your past and our family. And so, you know, we have a sister and she's obviously your half sister, Kendall, but she's my full sister and she has a son too named Gage. And you know, it was just, it was the most mind blowing moment for me and always wanting siblings. And of course,

At that point, we didn't know anything about my mother's side of the family and that I might have other siblings. So, but even if I had never found my other two sisters and my other brother, I was just so ecstatic. I'm like, Oh my God, I have, you know, I'm talking to one brother. I've got another brother and I've got a sister. And I was just like, tell me all about him, you know, and she, he's telling me about you and gauge. And it was amazing. So.

It took you and me a couple of days though to connect. Yes. Yeah, I think it was a couple days. I remember getting the text from Chris like, you're not going to believe this. Chris and I were so far apart in age that we didn't communicate back and forth about it. And when I found out about it, I was too little to really understand what was going on, you know, until later in life, we would talk about it again. But

I just never thought we'd find you because there was no ancestry, you know, DNA stuff back then and finding somebody long lost was like impossible when we were kids. So I just kind of put it in the back of my head, like, we're never going to meet them. It's not that I didn't want to meet you. I just didn't put a lot of hope into it because I thought it would be, you know, broken, you know, hope.

broken and it wasn't gonna happen. So I didn't want to get my hopes up. But yeah, it was a couple days though. I'm not sure why. I know I remember Chris being pretty guarded for you because he was like, I was like, give me your number. And she was like, I will I will calm down. But let you know, let me let's ease into this a little bit. You know, in other words, he didn't want you to be like freaked out. Yeah, who's this man calling me? Because kind of would have called you immediately. I'm actually shocked that he was like that because he's the person.

that you would think would be more guarded about. I'm the most easy outgoing. I will take anything on. I don't judge people till you give me a reason. And, you know, I love a new adventure. I think Chris was just a little anxious, like, you know, he doesn't know me at that point very well either. I've often told him that I appreciated how much he did even for himself. Really, he was guarded, you know, even online, even when, when I think about his ancestry profile, because.

When I made the match and it said Christopher Clark, I, when I clicked on his name, he had chosen to, you know, I didn't know that he lived in Massachusetts. I didn't know his age. I didn't, you know, I knew nothing. Yeah. I believe that. Yeah. And I get it. I mean, you don't know who's, who's going to find you. You know, I could have been.

a serial killer and he's, you know, worried that, you know, now that's my brother and now he knows where I am. Yeah. Where that would be a much better podcast. Oh, yeah. You didn't turn into a serial killer after all. So. Yeah. But it was, you know, I get it. And I've told him, I'm like, you know, if I I might have felt the same way, you know, if I was the first person to write that profile out there, you know, not knowing.

There's a lot of people out there. You never know what you're getting into. So that makes sense. But yeah, but when, when he did give me your phone number and I called you, it was just like this immediate connection. We just, you know, you were the brother. I always want to love you. Sorry. Well, in Cory and I have often talked about, I love the rest of you siblings, but that you and I are the.

closest. We share a lot of common beliefs and interests and I feel the same connection. I instantly felt comfortable with you and just having a lot of the same beliefs and you know, same compassion and heart towards other human beings in the world and the things we believe are right from wrong and you know.

Chris and I are definitely very opposite on a lot of that stuff. And so I loved having you to be close with. And yeah, I definitely feel that we connected immediately that way. For sure. Yeah. Yep. Cause, you know, I remember at this point in the story, Corey and I are still in California and living the, our.

best liberal life out there, you know? And I was like, when I talked to Monica, I was like, I finally found my liberal sister. It was just interesting. And how I felt, you know, like, and that was important to me because, you know, I'm walking into this whole new life of, you know, having all these new family members and not knowing how people really feel about things. And I could tell that you and I just connected so quickly.

I believe in accepting anybody for who they are unless they give you a reason not to trust them or do something personally to me. I will accept anybody until I have a reason not to. And that's the way I believe all humans should be. So we're in California, which is obviously all the way across the country from New England. But we wanted to meet this family like phone calls and texts are great, but it's like, when can we go when can we go meet them? So we

didn't take too long. I mean, because you guys connected in August and by like, what mid October we were, we were visiting. It was fast. It was fast. And it was, I, this just kind of dawned on me, but it was like, you know, we haven't met these people before and you know, yes, you're related by birth, but we could be lunatics, but both Chris and Monica invited us to stay in their homes during this visit. Like, you know, we, I think we stayed in a hotel the first night and the last night, but otherwise we were staying.

in their homes, which is like, that's huge. You know, I wouldn't have had it any other way. I knew as soon as I talked to you that I wasn't going to I wasn't concerned about anything ever happening. I just knew there was something there that I didn't need to be concerned. Yeah, because I'm definitely not good at trusting people. I'm not either. Honestly, I mean, even when I told Corey like, Oh, Chris and Monica have both said that we can stay, you know, how do you feel about it? And I think he.

Corey just kind of totally left that up to me. Like I can't have an opinion about that was overwhelming. Like, uh, do I want to just go jump in their families and sleep in their house? And like that must've been overwhelming. It was, it was, but I, I mean, I felt like it was well, a, I was so happy to have been asked, but B I felt like it was a nice way to connect, you know, to physically see how we live. Exactly. It's just like, you feel like you're part of a family when you wake up in someone's home, you know? Yeah. And that meant a lot to me. I mean,

You know, I don't for people that have never had siblings, you just don't know how it feels. And, uh, you know, never really.

at that point, never spent a night like a dad's house or anything, but, well, no one wants to spend a night at dad's house. Not that house. He did offer though. He did offer. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. He also offers the people on the side of the road and anybody who comes and can keep him company. That's a good point. But he, he was very, it was really sweet. I remember we were visiting at his house that, that visit and he said, anytime you guys come, you know, you're welcome to stay here. I've got this extra.

your bedroom. And meanwhile, you know, you were having to cut through the smoke with your hands to be able to see him. Exactly. It was like, you don't even want to visit for five minutes and let alone sleep in that. I know. I was like, I think I'll have a bronchial attack if I stay overnight with you, dad. But he was very nice and it was sweet and he had the best intention, you know, and was very delusional about how much smoke was in that place. Yes. No, it wasn't smoking at all. And his eyes, not, not a bit. No, no, as he's, you know, as he's smoking.

one in each hand, you know? That first visit was wonderful. So we actually met Monica and her son Gage and Kendall's uncle Sean all the same time. So Chris hosted a get together so we could all meet. And my dad. Oh yes, and your dad was there first. That's right. So I was just looking at the photos from that day this week and it's just like, wow, you look at Sean.

I mean, you look like Sean. Yeah. But if you look at the four of you, Monica and Chris Kendall and your dad, like you see the resemblance there. It's just like it's so interesting to see pictures of Kendall next to each of his siblings because you could just like get little pieces. And it's like, I know you're only half siblings, but it's like looking at the two of you now, it's like the eyes, the nose. I mean, it's just it's just that was like surreal. Yeah. You know, but.

That was a good time. Yeah, Uncle Sean's a character. He is. Most of us Clarks are. And it was just so just so happened when we visited that weekend in Worcester, there was a horror convention. Kendall and I are super passionate about horror movies, but we had no idea that Monica was also a huge Halloween slash horror person. So I was like, hey, that might be a fun thing for us to do with the family. It was actually perfect. That was a great. It was a nice, easy.

like something we can do all together and not feel uncomfortable. You know, if anyone was overwhelmed, it was an event that we could each do our own thing if we needed to. But we didn't need to. I mean, we're stuck like glue. Yeah, it was it was it was awesome. So we we ended up taking like a group photo with a Cain hotter, who is the guy who is played Jason in the Friday the 13th movies more than anybody else. Awesome photo. And, you know, of course, then we shared the story like he.

you know, kind of wanted to know like why this huge group of people was taking a photo with him. And so he thought the story was really cool. And I have seen him at subsequent events and he remembers the stories like, hey, how's it going? How's it going with your adventure out there? So it's just, I mean, it's just, it's one of those. He's a real nice guy too. One of the, one of the cool touchstones of this. And so after we got back,

you know, I go to as many horror conventions as I can. I don't even remember which one this was, but it was back in California and everything was still so fresh. So it's like, I'm telling everybody the story of how we met, you know, the Kendall's birth family. And so, and I was at this one by myself, but there was another guy, CJ Graham, who also played Jason in the Friday the 13th movies. And so I'm telling him the story for whatever reason, because I'm telling everybody and he's just like, Whoa, wow. He's like, well, what's, what's her number? I want to call her.

Yeah. So like, okay. I'm like, well, it's, you know, it's three hours time difference, but it's like one AM at my time. I think like, let's see what happens. So he called and you know, Monica didn't answer, but he left this awesome voicemail message, which we will play right now. Hey Monica. I'm sitting here hanging out with Corey. My name is CJ Graham. I'm Jason in Friday the 13th, part six. I understand you and Gage are huge horror fans. So.

He's in front of me scoring points, getting you an autographed hockey mask. So I told you, you know, it's in route. We didn't expect you to answer the phone. It's about one o 'clock in the morning there, but you'll have this message forever. Again, it's Jason Friday the 13th, part six. And I killed 18 people in the movie. You don't want to be 19. All right. Bye. That was the best. That was the best ending. I was like, I literally, I think I cried. I thought it was so sweet that Corey thought to do that. And well, it's.

You know, I could go on and on and on about the horror community because I started going to like comic book conventions when I was a teenager and they're fun. But when I actually started going to like just the horror conventions, it's like, these are my people. These are like awesome people. It's like they're not, you know, I mean, we're all a little freaky, but just so nice, so polite.

People that aren't into the horror stuff think that we're all a bunch of weirdos and like think there's like there's something gonna be wrong with us, but we're all pretty great people in that community and I wish I could go to as many conventions as you. I mean granted Halloween is more my thing than horror, we'll get there, but yeah, I mean they are, I met a ton of great people, the ones I've gone with you. Right, right. We'll talk a little bit about why you love Halloween so much. I loved Halloween.

As a kid, we lived in a great neighborhood where, you know, there was one house every year that actually would, if I remember correctly, they would actually empty their furniture out and turn the downstairs into a walk through haunted house. And of course it's nothing compared to my awesome stuff, but that was like my first taste of loving Halloween. And it's funny because in second and third grade, the school I went to every year, second and third graders had to write a

book and make a paperback cover and act like you were an actual author. And I still have one of the books in it. It's literally, you could tell I was going to be into either I was going to be a sociopathic killer, or I was going to be into stuff like horror because in second or third grade, whichever year it was, I wrote the book. It was like six pages, one sentence each page. And it was like, I went home and nobody was there. And the next page is like, I heard a scream upstairs.

And I, in the next pages, I found my whole family dead. I mean, this was like second and third grade. And I was like, my parents must've been like terrified that there's something really wrong with my daughter. And I'm guessing it was probably Halloween that started getting me into that stuff. I would assume, or maybe I was just really twisted and we didn't know that. You would have been red flagged immediately. I know. DCYF would have been like, what did you do to your child? And so that's where it all started. But I'm going to say when Gage was, Oh God.

I'm going to say seven or eight. I went and bought my first animatronic and she is a wee caller, Isabel. I actually think Gage called her Isabel even though he hated her and what hated me deeply for the love of Halloween from that moment on. And it grew deeper and deeper every year. And she is a creepy rising doll from Spirit Halloween that like rises. She's like...

Hello. And then a doll voice, you want to come play with me? And then as the kids go closer, because she's scary, look out, but great voice to pull you in. And then all of a sudden she's like, I love taste of children. And she rises to seven feet tall. And from that moment on, I was like, I'm going to start building a haunted attraction at my house.

I'm broke. I'm a single mom and I don't know how I'm going to do this, but I'm very creative. And I started slowly buying PCV pipes and fittings and went from the first year I had it along the side of my house. I used two by fours, dug holes and stapled backdrops along the inside and had my Isabelle scaring the crap out of people. And I heard children screaming and I was like,

This is awesome. And every year from that point on, I had also everybody loved it. It was like, this is awesome. And that was so small. And I built a lot of it by hand. I draw. So I did a lot of drawings. I bought a couple of things, strobe lights, fog machine, stuff like that. And that's where it started. And every year since I've started, I think it's been six or seven years now.

every year the determination is it's going to be bigger and better than last. Last year, the pandemic really messed things up. And every other year, the weather has really messed with me. The last time I did it, actually, Corey came and dressed up as Jason for me and was my first ever live act. I was a little bit bummed out. It's the first time I ever did it in my backyard. And most people were used to seeing it in my front yard. Kendall was in the front. He was supposed to be directing people to the back, but he started getting into conversations, I think a little more.

than remembering to point people to the backyard because I usually get about 500 people a year that come through it. And these are just trick or treaters. I don't charge. I don't expect anything. I know a lot of people do it and they expect donations at least to help cover costs. And I am one of those people who don't feel like I should, even though I should, because I really can't afford to spend the money I spend. I now have seven animatronics. I have so many different types of lighting and special effects. And now,

The last one was 25 feet by 40 foot, six halls. You know, one hallway was the haunted mansion. The next was the insane asylum. And I am pretty obsessed with it. I love horror. Don't get me wrong. Freddy Krueger was my first love of horror movies when I was a teenager and watched them all then. But.

Halloween is my jam. So yeah, we love it too. Well, you know, Halloween is also called gay Christmas. Yes, of course. But yeah, I mean, it's love trick or treating as a kid. And then we had some pretty legendary Halloween parties in college. My roommate Matt one year, like every door.

Every bedroom door had a mirror screwed into it or whatever. He was an RA, so he wouldn't borrow the whole building's mirrors. We just hung mirrors throughout the... There was reflective surfaces everywhere. That's awesome. We had a body in the bathtub with dry ice. It's crazy. The first year we had it was our freshman year. Some friend of his showed up with a couple of guys not in costume and they stole a bunch of our CD, which she got back. We said, okay, next year when we have a party...

costume required because then you will know that we've invited you. Right, right. Especially in calls. Yes. And people got really into the costumes and stuff too. So I'll see if I can dig up a couple of those pictures to share on social media. I'd love to see that. Yeah. It's like, we've just, you know, Kendall and I's first Halloween together. We really got into there. So there was a midnight screening of Rocky Horror Picture Show and we went full on. And it was cold that night.

Yes. Yeah. As you know, as Kendall's in a corset and fish nets and everything. But yeah, we totally, totally got into that. And I was I did Meat Loaf. So yeah, it's just I mean, Halloween has been been huge for us in our relationship. And yeah, and horror movies, too. I mean, I don't think a week goes by that we don't watch at least one horror movie, if not five. Right. So I also learned that I'm really, really good at face paint. Yes. I my own.

I've only done gauges a couple of times, but I have been offered jobs at Fright Kingdom and Nashua to do, but I don't trust that my OCD, I'm such a perfectionist that it takes me three to four hours to do my own face. And that's because I'm like, fix this, erase it, fix this, wash it off, fix this. And I'm like, I would love nothing more to do that, but I don't trust that it won't take me 10 hours to do one face by the time I'm done. But yeah, I didn't know I could do it.

I'm not great at my regular daily makeup. So, uh, I was a little shocked at how amazing I just went on YouTube and started doing tutorials and taught myself and I got some pretty intense faces. Yeah. I mean, she is not joking. Monica doesn't know this yet, but we have a new photo in our hallway hanging at home. And it's actually of one of the images of when you had done your own face painting. Yeah, it's really awesome. And it's great. Which one was it? The clown or.

It's the green and orange. Oh, really? Yeah. Okay. That's one of my least favorite actually. But it's still, I mean, she's being pretty modest. She's very, she is a wonderful artist and has done some really cool art for us, individual pieces and that we have framed and we love. Oh, the chibis. Yeah. I really want to try to see if I could draw some more horror chibis and try to.

just rent a little space on someone's table just to see how they do at a convention. But I'm so worried to put money into it and not be successful. But every time we go to a horror convention, I'm like, God, there's so much artwork and a lot of it's very similar, but I've never seen horror chibis drawn. And I'm not sure if everybody knows what chibis are, but they're like those drawings of the big headed little characters with the smaller body. And I drew Cory for one of it was Christmas, right? Was it Christmas gift?

I had drawn him the Pennywise, Jason, Freddy Krueger, and Michael Myers Chibbies. And I loved, I will say I loved the backgrounds I decided to do with them. And then I was like, oh, if I couldn't make money on this, they can special order what type of backgrounds they want on it, stuff like that, or do prints. I really want to leap into it, but I'm terrified that if it doesn't pick up, it's not, I mean, because it costs a lot of money to get a spot.

at a convention and stuff. So then I'm like, maybe, ipsy, try it. But I haven't drawn in a long time. I really haven't. Oh, and I did Chucky and I made the three dimensional box. That's right. Yeah, the Chucky was my favorite. And I was tempted to take it with me to a convention last year because a bunch of the Chucky people were going to be there. Actually, the guy who voices Chucky was there. I'm scared to walk around with it because I don't want anything to happen to it. Plus, I was

so broke when I drew those that like I put that together with just like scraps of like old arts and crafts stuff that I'm terrified that it might get smushed and like I didn't take it with me but yeah I forgot about that one that one was that was like a spur of the moment thing too I'm like how can I make it look like he's in his good boy his is his good guy box and I'm like all right.

And it actually came out really good. So I was pretty psyched. Because we're into horror. I just I think everybody should be into horror. It's kind of funny when Monica told us that Gage was not happy about the fact that she does the haunted stuff and the animatronics. And I know and he hadn't really watched any scary movies up until, you know, we started hanging out. And so once I got the approval from Monica to introduce Gage to horror movies.

Well, I was also worried of like he did have nightmares and get scared of stuff a lot when he was younger and he had a huge imagination. And I know I grew up with a huge imagination and the things my imagination created for me sometimes were terrifying. So I was like, I held off on the whole horror movie and I actually handed the the torch to Corey and allowed him to break my son into the horror movie world.

And I didn't ease them into it. We started off with a nightmare on Elm Street. So Freddy Krueger, I mean, you know, you got to go big or go home. Which was my first horror movie was Nightmare on Elm Street. So, yeah.

That was really cool. And now I'm going to say he hasn't reached our level yet, but we can get him more. More open to it for sure. Yeah. Well, he's going to be spending time with you guys soon. So I'm sure you have things lined up in your head already. So many horror movies. But yeah. So then at another convention, I'd already met Robert Englund who plays Freddy a few times and interviewed him back when I was in St. Louis. But I was like, oh man, got to get.

gauge of Freddie autograph because that was his first horror movie. And so this artist was selling like this kind of 3D art that was like looks like eight bit like video games like Nintendo or whatever, they had an eight bit Freddie. So so yeah, I had Robert England's side for him. And I think I've got like a little video or something of him doing that that I'll put up on social. I will say this that the mask the the hockey mask that you got. Yeah, I have what?

Two that you got autographed for me, plus Linda Blair, Exorcist's autograph. Gage is named after the little boy in Pet Sematary movie. When I was 12 years old or 13, when that first Pet Sematary came out and the little boy, I heard the name Gage. I instantly was like, my first son is going to be named Gage. Corey had gone and got us a picture of the little boy Gage from the original movie and had the actor sign it for me, which was so awesome because, you know,

You never think that 20 years later after you found the movie, you're going to name your child after that doesn't exist at all for the next 15, 20 years and stick with it that eventually that man will grow up and sign the picture of the little boy with his scalpel in his hand. Mommy, you want to play? It is kind of bizarre how like things come full circle, you know, because, you know, I don't.

know too many people that are into horror, especially not people that are into horror and Halloween like we are. So that's been like certainly one of the highlights. My mom's hoping I will grow out of my phase at 45 years old. She actually even said it the other day. I was talking about getting ready to start building my Halloween stuff. She's like, Monica, it's me. I'm like, yep. Your point is what? And she's like, maybe you'll move on to better things. I'm like.

There's nothing better than Halloween. And I can't even believe you just said that to me. I mean, I see people in their 70s and 80s at these horror cons in New Jersey that are like really into it. So I know I'll never grow out of it. The parents love my hall. It's called the Hall of Horrors. That's the name of my haunted attraction. I have just as many adults as children.

And when the years have happened where the winds been just too much and I haven't been able, this is where the downfall of not having enough of a budget to work with that comes in because I can't build it strong enough for the New England winds in October. That's why I want to petition for a like a halfway to Halloween holiday one. So adults could go trick or treating. Did you see? Nassau, a fright kingdom is doing just an event last week. Oh, they did. Halfway to Halloween. Yeah. I think that should be like a.

nationwide thing. It is so fun to go to one of these haunted attractions with somebody who is truly terrified. I know it is. And I mean, I'm not talking just children like grown adults. We are a little twisted because we do get joy watching those people so terrified. It's like when back when I was working for the newspaper in St. Louis, like St. Louis has some has some really awesome haunted houses. And so and actually, I and I have a link in my chest. And so I interned for a company that did the promotion.

for some of these haunted houses. So I would like have to take people like on tours and stuff. Now it is pretty creepy knowing that you're the only one in the building at the time and you gotta walk all the way through. There's no like, you know, shortcut or whatever. You gotta walk all the way through it by yourself.

Don't get me wrong, as much as I love this stuff, I still get the crap scared out of me very, very easily. And, you know, I'm always waiting for a jump scare to happen in my house when I know there's nothing going to come at me. My imagination has not died down yet at all. It's still there. But yeah, I would have loved to have that kind of experience. And my dream is that...

I will eventually have my own home where I can do something, where I can start building something that stays permanent and with the strength to withhold the wind. So yeah. Awesome. Well, we'll definitely be checking back in on the progress. And I'm going to be putting you to work as a live act again. Oh yeah. I would love to do some freaky makeup. Oh. Yeah, that will be a lot of fun.

You mean for Monica to do your makeup? Well, if I did my own, it would definitely be freaky. I don't know. I was going to say, I don't know how good this is going to look. It could be a little scary. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Well, thank you for joining us. Yeah. It's been a lot of fun. It has been very fun. And I'm glad I found my brother.

And I, you know, I, my brother -in -law, you know, just like you, you didn't have a lot of people into the horror and your direct life. And it's always nice to share a common passion, I might say obsession for me a little bit with Halloween, but I am so grateful to have you. I'm gonna cry now because I wish I had you growing up and I'm just glad I have you now.

This is the Family Twist podcast hosted by Kendall and Corey Stulz with original music by Cosmic Afterthoughts and produced by Outpost Productions and presented by Savoir Faire Marketing Communications. Have a story you want to share? Visit Family Twist Podcast .com. All our social media links are there as well.