So how does one man's curiosity and seemingly innocent attempt to finally resolve a longstanding family "joke" result in an outcome he least expected. Three simple letters; DNA.

It all began on an unseasonably warm and breazy June morning in a small fishing town on the picturesque coast of Oregon well over a half century ago. Two healthy babys, born just days apart, would soon join two well respected yet unsuspecting families.

While nothing seemed out of the ordinary these children will undergo a transformation brought about by either a careless mistake or a calculated evil.

One family will be left reeling. Stung by rejection and saddened by the loss of what might have been . While the other revels in the joy of discovery and the warm bonds of family togetherness.

Growing up their upbringings were similar, innocent and typical of small town life in the 1930's. But there was always this nagging doubt. A feeling something was off. An intagible quality that left them questioning who they really were and where did they really belong.

Political scandal eventually drove one family out of town while the other stayed and continued to prosper. Time passed, and those children grew up experiencing all the various trials and tribulations one would typically expect in the decades leading up to the end of the 20th century.

As the new millinium dawned, life continued. Children and grandchildren eventually followed and life meandered on. All the while neither one realizing what was to come and how their identies would change.

But you may be thinking to youself – So what changed ? How did this secret that nobody even knew was a secret eventually come to light?

This is where he comes in. A guy who fancied herself to be a talented yet naïve amateur genealogist decided that he was going to get to the bottom of the only unresolved "joke" left in the family tree and resolve things once and for all.

But to get to the bottom of why two siblingswith the same parents looked nothing like one another required a DNA test. On a lark the sample was providedd and sent in for processing to a popular gealogical testing and record site.

Weeks later the results were in and to say they were a shock was the understatement of the young century. The person did not match anyone in whom they thought was their family. The amature genealogist was stumped too. It had to be a mistake at the lab. Missing a few relatives is a bit odd, but all of them was downright creepy.

The genealogist didn't even recognize any of the names, but when they mentioned this peculiar fact to family member, that persson recalled a peculiar thing than had happed. An incident that occurred years before at a small town festival when a passing aquaintence came up to them and called them by an unfamiliar name. The other person was sure it was their sibing but when it turned out not to be the case they shrugged and moved on. A mostly forgotten case of mistaken identity.

Ironicially though the person had the same surname as some of the matches fromm the DNA test. Could there be a connection? What followed was several days of dectective work utilizing various genealogical websites and Facebook to try and narrow down what was the connnection?

One thing lead to another and eventually contact was established. The people on the other end were noticable skeptical. After all the story seemed rediculous and sounded like a scam. But there were enough open mids on both sides for yet more DNA tests.

No one was quite prepared for the results. Turns out a some point in that small town hospital in Oregon the babys were switched and no one caught the mistake. DNA doesn't lie ! But that didn't make the truth any easier to reveal.

The genealogist agonized what to do and eventually left it to someone else to break the news. The revelation was not handled well and it retrospect as tough as it might have been the genealogist realized they should have been the one to reveal the truth.

But as time passed and the reality of what happened sunk in things began to change. The person that was switched embraced their new family and started making up for all the time they had lost. It was a success story that you read about or see on TV that tends to leave you with a warm and fuzzy feeling that everything worked out right.

But what about the other switchee. How did their story turn out ? Sadly there was no pot of gold at the end of that rainbow. The other person never learned of the switch because they had passed away about a year or so before the whole thing was revealed.

What was even worse was that the spouse, children, and grandchildren of the person found the revelation to be so agonizing they refused to acknowledge it. When siblings look like the spitting image of one another the memories must be so hard and painful that it's like experiencing the loss all over again.

If my deceased parent had a sibling that was a dead ringer for them and I met them for the first time I might be reluctant to meet them and more than a little creeped out.

So one really can't really blame them for their saddness anymore than be jealous or resentful of the other family for their joy and connection.

In the end was the whole experience really worth all the complex emotions ? The jury is still out.

But just when one thinks the story is over, there's one interesting side note. During a stop outside Las Vegas a couple stops at a roadside restaurant for a meal. The proprietor says it was "nice to see them again". The couple is perplexed because it's the first time they've ever eatten there. They shrug and continued on with their roadtrip.

Little did they know that the sibling they didn't know that had lived within a few miles of that establishment. Could you imagine if they actually came face to face with one another ? What would one say ? How would one react ? Why is the theme to the Twilight Zone playing ing the background?

Family genealogy can be a hobby for some and a relentless obsession for others. But if you decide to travel down that long and winding path remember this advice "Don't shake the family tree too hard because you might not be happy with what comes out"