A short while ago there was a story here entitled Whip Sisters. It was about the concept of two women sharing punishments for each other’s crimes.

A variant of this theme was included in the 1971 British movie starring Peter Cushing, The Twins of Evil. The twins in question, the Gellhorn sisters, were played by real-life twins, Mary and Madeleine Collinson, who came to fame as nude models for Playboy magazine in the early 1970s. (See second picture, which is a publicity still for the movie.)

In the movie one of the twins is seduced by the vampires Count Karnstein and Countess Mircalla (picture centre) and so she sneaks out each night to meet them.

Her hapless sister covers for her by pretending to be her twin, although she is thrashed by Peter Cushion for it anyway and then thrashed again for sneaking out who is unable to tell them apart. It makes no sense plot wise. Although the evil twin makes it clear that she will not except a punishment for her own crimes so it might be argued that the good twin is protecting the family. Are you following this?

Unfortunately the punishments are off-screen on the version usually shown on TV and may never have been included in the movie. After all it is typical Hammer Horror fare.

Incidentally the Collinson twins previously featured in a movie by Harrison Marks, who was known for making early spanking movies.

Now to come to the point. A short while ago this snippet cropped up, which serves to illustrate the concept of whip sisters in real life.

“In days of yore it was not uncommon for siblings to be punished for each other’s sins. In this way sisterly bonding was encouraged, which served not only the family for its own sake, but often promoted self-vigilance among daughters who might otherwise be tempted to stray from their beds at night.”

“In one such case the Bailey sisters were each ordered to their rooms to strip and await their father for any transgression committed by either one. However, in this case, one might argue, with scant luck for the father. For when Becky Bailey eloped with her lover in the dead of night, the aggrieved father found his other daughter defiantly waiting to whipped. ‘Whip me as well as you might dear Papa, but it will not bring our Becky back to us.’”

From Tales of Old England.