Doppelgangers

[Ninurta]

I've never seen a Doppelganger that I know of. Never experienced it at all.

But I've apparently been one, at least twice now.

Many, many moons ago, in the late 70's - 1979, I think it was - a girl I'd known for years saw me walking the streets of a nearby town. She yelled and waved and did everything she could to get my attention, but apparently I ignored her entirely and just kept walking on.

Problem was, I was a long, long way away from that town at the time. Not there at all, and up to my eyeballs in rough livin' and bad business. When she actually did see me, and confronted me about my indiscretion, I of course denied being there at all, and told her where I HAD been at the time... but she wasn't buying it. She was so convinced it had been me that she didn't speak to me for a few years afterwards over my slight of her. She was just that certain that I was lying to her, and that I damned well HAD been there.

Flash forward 45 years or so, to last Thursday evening - 6 March, 2025 - around 6:30 Pm my time. There I was, minding my own business taking an evening nap, sound asleep, when Grace comes running into the bedroom, starts shaking my leg and shouting "Are you DEAD? Are you DEAD?".

One can imagine my confusion at being abruptly awakened in such a manner.

Once I got her calmed down, she told me that walking through the living room, she'd seen me sitting there (here) in my usual place as she passed. Then, thinking of something she wanted to ask me, she immediately turned around to ask it, but POOF! I was gone. Not there at all. So, she went looking for me through the house, wondering where I had gone to, but I was not in the kitchen, nor the bathroom, nor anywhere else. She finally found me laying in bed,in the bedroom, where I'd been for the last hour and a half or so.

That's when the shaking and yelling started.

Everything got better when I answered her, because dead guys, as a rule, don't answer. I think she thought she'd seen my ghost... even though she claims not to believe in ghosts.

it's a weird phenomena that I know nothing about, this doppelganger business. I've no idea what causes it, or what it means, or if it even means anything at all. It's just not something I've ever studied up on.

Does anyone else have any ideas as to why this sort of thing happens? I'm stumped.

.

[F2d5thCav]

I've read of "bilocation" as a thing.  Never experienced it, although once or twice I had people at work mention they had seen me somewhere ... for which I had no recollection.  Could have been mistaken, though.

[Ninurta]

I've read of "bilocation" as a thing.  Never experienced it, although once or twice I had people at work mention they had seen me somewhere ... for which I had no recollection.  Could have been mistaken, though.

Sane here. I had no knowledge or recollection of being in either place when the incidents occurred.

.

[FlickerOfLight]

I've never seen a Doppelganger that I know of. Never experienced it at all.

But I've apparently been one, at least twice now.

Many, many moons ago, in the late 70's - 1979, I think it was - a girl I'd known for years saw me walking the streets of a nearby town. She yelled and waved and did everything she could to get my attention, but apparently I ignored her entirely and just kept walking on.

Problem was, I was a long, long way away from that town at the time. Not there at all, and up to my eyeballs in rough livin' and bad business. When she actually did see me, and confronted me about my indiscretion, I of course denied being there at all, and told her where I HAD been at the time... but she wasn't buying it. She was so convinced it had been me that she didn't speak to me for a few years afterwards over my slight of her. She was just that certain that I was lying to her, and that I damned well HAD been there.

Flash forward 45 years or so, to last Thursday evening - 6 March, 2025 - around 6:30 Pm my time. There I was, minding my own business taking an evening nap, sound asleep, when Grace comes running into the bedroom, starts shaking my leg and shouting "Are you DEAD? Are you DEAD?".

One can imagine my confusion at being abruptly awakened in such a manner.

Once I got her calmed down, she told me that walking through the living room, she'd seen me sitting there (here) in my usual place as she passed. Then, thinking of something she wanted to ask me, she immediately turned around to ask it, but POOF! I was gone. Not there at all. So, she went looking for me through the house, wondering where I had gone to, but I was not in the kitchen, nor the bathroom, nor anywhere else. She finally found me laying in bed,in the bedroom, where I'd been for the last hour and a half or so.

That's when the shaking and yelling started.

Everything got better when I answered her, because dead guys, as a rule, don't answer. I think she thought she'd seen my ghost... even though she claims not to believe in ghosts.

it's a weird phenomena that I know nothing about, this doppelganger business. I've no idea what causes it, or what it means, or if it even means anything at all. It's just not something I've ever studied up on.

Does anyone else have any ideas as to why this sort of thing happens? I'm stumped.

.

The most logical answer is it was simply her imagination. 

The flip side isn't so good.
Seeing a doppelganger is often considered a bad omen in various cultures, symbolizing misfortune, illness, or even death. In German folklore, doppelgangers are ghostly doubles that appear as harbingers of doom, warning a person of their impending demise. Similarly, in Norse mythology, a vardøger is a spirit double that precedes a person, sometimes signaling an ill fate. In English and Irish traditions, encountering one's own spectral twin is believed to foreshadow death, much like the fetch, a spirit double seen before a person’s passing. These eerie beliefs have persisted in folklore, reinforcing the doppelganger’s reputation as an omen of disaster.

No matter where I looked this is considered a bad omen.

The simplest explanation is usually the right one. I've seen things like this as well; Not sure  if it was pure imagination, or if I actually saw something.

A little AI assistance:
Spirit doubles, often associated with doppelgangers, are supernatural entities believed to be an ethereal or ghostly duplicate of a living person. Many cultures have legends surrounding spirit doubles, often interpreting their appearance as a significant omen.

Meaning of Seeing a Spirit Double

1. Bad Omen – In many traditions, seeing your own spirit double is considered a sign of impending misfortune, illness, or even death. This belief is especially prevalent in European folklore.


2. Warning or Premonition – Some legends suggest that a spirit double appears to warn a person of danger or major life changes.


3. Supernatural Reflection – In certain spiritual beliefs, a spirit double is an astral projection or shadow-self, representing a person’s inner conflicts or hidden nature.


4. Parallel Existence – Some theories, particularly in esoteric and paranormal circles, suggest that spirit doubles could be glimpses into parallel dimensions where another version of oneself exists.



Spirit Doubles in Different Cultures

Norse Mythology – The vardøger is a ghostly double that precedes a person, performing their actions before they arrive.

Egyptian Mythology – The ka is a spiritual twin that accompanies a person throughout their life and can survive after death.

Celtic Folklore – The fetch is a spectral twin that appears as a harbinger of death, often seen by friends or family before someone dies.

Native American Beliefs – Some tribes believe in spirit doubles that act as guides or warnings, sometimes appearing in dreams or visions.


If you’ve seen a spirit double, some interpretations suggest introspection, protection rituals, or seeking guidance from spiritual leaders to understand its meaning.

You could have astral projected your spirit, or she could have seen one of these "parallel existences" of you.

[Ninurta]

When I was trying to research it, I ran into a lot of the "harbinger of death" interpretations, too. Probably true, to a degree - ain't none of us getting out of this life alive. We all die, eventually, and eventually I will, too. The question is when. I mean, I haven't died in the last 40 years or so, since Tina saw "me" walking in a small town. So, no guarantees there, either. Now, at the time, I was certainly far from home and near to death, but for some reason it didn't take.

Maybe an astral projection of some sort. I've been told I walk in other folks' dreams, too, so I dunno. There was a First Nations gal in British Columbia that swore I often appeared in her dreams as a "black wolf". How she knew it could possibly be me is anyone's guess. I mean, I'm certainly not pretty, but neither do I walk on 4 legs completely covered in hair with pointed ears and a fanged muzzle.

Then again, it could just all be bullshit, too. Folks just seeing things and interpreting them as they wish they were. There seems to really not be a lot of consensus across cultures as to what "spirit doubles" really are. It's kinda all over the map... literally.

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[EndtheMadnessNow]

Sometimes a side effect after being in contact with a UFO/ET knowingly or unknowingly, according to popular lore.

I've been mistaken for someone's brother, son, cousin, boyfriend, by complete strangers, often at a restaurant or bar or a walk down the street.

From all the bits 'n pieces I've read over the years on Doppelgangers or "double-walkers" I've never been able to conclude on any one specific explanation. Other than, Oh, that's interesting or wow, that is weird or huh, that's gotta be folklore and regardless what you choose to believe none of it gave me a warm feeling.

The Doppelgänger phenomenon and death: a peculiar case of homicide by a subject with first-episode psychosis

That type of psychosis can & sometimes leads to a person's doppelganger becoming the dominant side. Now with the Internet/Media/Smartphones that dark side force has an easy path into the less disciplined minds. The mere exposure is sometimes all it takes.


An X-Files example: Post-Modern Prometheus, Cher (a doppelgänger) singing Walking in Memphis (S05E05)




And from that strange 19th century occultic woman, H. P. Blavatsky:

Astral Bodies, or Doppelgangers

M. C.  Great confusion exists in the minds of people about the various kinds of apparitions, wraiths, ghosts, or spirits. Ought we not to explain once for all the meaning of these terms? You say there are various kinds of "doubles" what are they?

H. P. B.  Our occult philosophy teaches us that there are three kinds of "doubles," to use the word in its widest sense. First, man has his "double" or shadow, properly so called, around which the physical body of the fetus — the future man — is built. The imagination of the mother, or an accident which affects the child, will affect also the astral body. The astral and the physical both exist before the mind is developed into action, and before the Atma awakes. This occurs when the child is seven years old, and with it comes the responsibility attaching to a conscious sentient being. This "double" is born with man, dies with him, and can never separate itself far from the body during life, and though surviving him, it disintegrates, pari passu, with the corpse. It is this which is sometimes seen over the graves like a luminous figure of the man that was, during certain atmospheric conditions. From its physical aspect it is, during life, man's vital double, and after death, only the gases given off from the decaying body. But, as regards its origin and essence, it is something more. This double is what we have agreed to call Linga-sarira, but which I would propose to call, for greater convenience, "Protean" or "Plastic Body."

M. C.  Why Protean or Plastic?

H. P. B.  Protean, because it can assume all forms; e.g., the "shepherd magicians" whom popular rumor accuses, perhaps not without some reason, of being "were-wolves," and "mediums in cabinets," whose own "Plastic Bodies" play the part of materialized grandmothers and "John Kings." Otherwise, why the invariable custom of the "dear departed angels" to come out but little further than arm's length from the medium, whether entranced or not? Mind, I do not at all deny foreign influences in this kind of phenomena. But I do affirm that foreign interference is rare, and that the materialized form is always that of the medium's Astral, or Protean body.

M. C.  How is this astral body created?

H. P. B.  It is not created; it grows, as I told you, with the man and exists in the rudimentary condition even before the child is born.

M. C.  And what about the second?

H. P. B.  The second is the "Thought" body, or Dream body, rather; known among Occultists as the Mayavi-rupa, or "Illusion-body." During life this image is the vehicle both of thought and of the animal passions and desires, drawing at one and the same time from the lowest terrestrial manas (mind) and Kama, the element of desire. It is dual in its potentiality, and after death forms what is called in the East Bhut, or Kama-rupa, but which is better known to Theosophists as the "Spook."

M. C.  And the third?

H. P. B.  The third is the true Ego, called in the East by a name meaning "causal-body," but which in the trans-Himalayan schools is always called the "Karmic body," which is the same. For Karma, or action, is the cause which produces incessant rebirths or "reincarnations." It is not the Monad, nor is it Manas proper; but is, in a way, indissolubly connected with and a compound of the Monad and Manas in Devachan.

M. C.  Then there are three doubles?

H. P. B.  If you call the Christian and other Trinities "three Gods," then there are three doubles. But in truth there is only one under three aspects or phases: the most material portion disappearing with the body; the middle one surviving both as an independent but temporary entity in the land of shadows; the third, immortal throughout the Manvantara, unless Nirvana puts an end to it before.

Studies in Occultism — H. P. Blavatsky

If you're into the esoteric side check out AnthroWiki

[FlickerOfLight]

I dug a little more, adding more details to the search. The fact that she saw you while you were actually sleeping is even more significant to the lore.

In traditional German folklore, doppelgangers were often seen as more than just ghostly look-alikes—they were believed to be manifestations of a person’s soul temporarily leaving their body. This phenomenon was sometimes interpreted as a supernatural occurrence, particularly when the double appeared while the real person was asleep.

The Soul’s Temporary Departure

The idea that a sleeping person's soul could wander is rooted in old European and Germanic beliefs about the soul's mobility during unconscious states. It was thought that in deep sleep, a person’s astral body (a spiritual counterpart of the physical body) could separate and roam freely. This wandering soul could sometimes be perceived by others, appearing as an exact duplicate of the sleeper.

This ties in with what ETMN presented. I kind of like the idea of having an astral version of myself wandering around. 

[BIAD]

You may've read that I recently encountered a heart attack and during the period I was waiting for my Missus
to pick me up from the hospital, one of those strange moments happened. I was sat next to my bed watching
the ticking clock, when a rotund chap in Bermuda shorts wandered into the ward looking for the bathroom.

"Steve, what are you doin' in here?" he said and then his confident gaze shifted slightly when I turned to look at
him face full-on. I never got to say my name wasn't Steve as he looked shocked and announced that whoever I
was, I had a spitting-image that he knew. Even after the chap's ablutions and his return to his room, I caught him
looking back to see if wasn't some-sort of prank.

I guess there's someone out there who has a pump that hasn't attempted to attack him and looks a lot like me!
But it's not the first time.

Posted 09-08-2020 from the archived site.

I saw my doppelganger standing at a bus-stop just across the road from where I was passing.
I'd guess I was around twenty years-old and walking from a local Working Men's Club to a public house called
The White Horse. It was in the summer and the evening was too early to suggest low light may have had a bearing.
The bus-stop was -and still is, the last stage in a bus's route in my town before it leaves northwards. Back then, it
was merely a pole with a small sign attached at the top.

I mentioned in another thread that there'd been a 'spooky' old mansion-style house that was close to where I lived,
this had been torn down and replaced with an old-folks home. This building was on my side of the road and I'd just
arrived at where it stood when I saw the perfect double of myself.
Relevant...? I don't know.

I can confidently say I saw the perfect double of myself because from the look on the person's face at the bus-stop,
he was thinking the same too.

I slowed my walk as I became aware of the likeness and my doppleganger didn't seem to notice me getting closer.
He was looking up the road towards the public house (north) and the opposite direction from where any bus would
come. This suggests to me that he knew the time the bus would arrive and later, I wondered if his visit wasn't his first.

Drawing directly across from this person, I knew that the realisation of the situation had dawned on him. Less than
twenty feet in font of him was his double! I was in awe of his stance, the fact that his hair was the same length and
of course, his features were exactly like mine.
His attire was dark -close to what I used to wear, but I could not say what exactly he was wearing.

We looked at each other, looked away as if something was interesting elsewhere and every so often, glance back
at each other. The road is the main route out of my town, but I cannot recall if the traffic was busy. Usually at that time
of the evening and back then, I'd guess it would be limited.

Then a double-decker bus came and blocked our view. In a movie, he would be seated my side of the vehicle and
we would continue to stare at each other. But I just never saw him get on, get seated or move along the bus.
He was just gone and I've never seen him again.
Sort of.

You know when someone comments that you look like someone and it's always the same, there's a manner that
someone sees and it reminds them of you, but the actual physical likeness always lets you down? When looking
at a suggested 'double', we will always see a flaw in their suggestion and know in our heart that the person put
forward looks actually nothing like you.

Well, when I was working for a local newspaper, I dealt with the images that were to be used for the daily paper
and at that time, a ex-gangland/businessman with oodles of money purchased my town's football team.
The guy was a braggart, always boasting of who he was going to buy for the team and actually paid for a huge
new football stadium to be constructed.
The motto was 'old safe-cracker done good'!

This millionaire would stalk my Editor and demand that certain facts regarding his past life would be kept out of
the paper, he usually had a large thug with him when he knocked on doors late at night and intimidated folk.
Eventually, the Police caught him with a boot load of money in his car, speeding along country lanes up to God
-knows-what. Money-laundering I'd suggest, but he was imprisoned for tax evasion.

Back to the tale.
One day, (with the help of the internet, I've got it to around 2002.) this loud-mouthed football team owner arrived
at the gleaming stadium in a large black 4x4 and in front of a group of Reporters and Photographers.
These newspaper-people were there due to this guy ringing up the media and telling them he'd bagged a premier
overseas striker for his third division team.
The chap was Faustino Asprilla... except it was all a sham.

But there's a photograph in my attic, the one that was used in the paper. It shows the the footballer looking slightly
sheepish from the front-seat passenger-side window of the car and in the back seat and seemingly attempting
to speak through a half-opened window, is me.
Except it isn't me.

He looked like I did at the time and with with Faustino Asprilla once playing for Newcastle United -which is just up
the road (north) from where I live, I wondered if it was the guy from the bus-stop now enjoying his employment!
It still makes me smile.