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Are you sure we're not related?

Clergymen, of all people, aren't supposed to give in to temptation, right? But when the opportunity presented itself one day last year, the Rev. Darryl Peebles couldn't resist entering his own name in an Internet search engine to see what would turn up. Somewhat to his surprise, the North Carolinian, whose middle initial is "R," found a namesake. Ah, but the coincidences only begin there. For example, they're also identical in age, as they've discovered in a year-long exchange of e-mail. And both have three children – including one each born in 1975 and another in 1977. Both trace their ancestry back to Scotland and both had fathers who came from small towns and were skilled at using lathes. Freaky, huh? Wait, there's more. The two are amateur entertainers as well, with shared talents in music, ventriloquism, and performing magic tricks. At that point, their backgrounds finally diverge. No. 2 is a civil servant from the Australian state of Tasmania. But they'd now bonded so well that – as you might imagine – they decided they had to meet. So they did, two weekends ago in Graham, N.C. And? "It's as if we were brothers," the pastor told reporters afterward. "I still can't believe it has happened." They even put on a couple of variety shows together to benefit Darryl No. 1's church.

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