The Doppelganger is one of the paranormal’s more troubling entities. Said to bear a striking resemblance to a living person, the doppelganger is said to make appearances in places and even strike up conversations with people leaving a trail of clues as to what the mirror image is up to. While the creature has many representations throughout legend with many reported superstitions attached to it, there is also a phenomenon that many people say goes beyond the simple ghost stories and gets very real and very troubling. So do you have a doppelganger?
The entities are said to appear indistinguishable from the host (we’ll be using the word host for lack of a better term). Often times the host will be entirely unaware of the entity’s existence until someone reports seeing the person in a location the host knows they haven’t been and having interactions the host is sure didn’t involve them. Contrary to the legend, these doppelgangers don’t seem to have much in the way of knowledge of people or places and generally seem to stick to a small area.
One of the stranger things about doppelgangers is that when they interact with people the host knows, they will seem often friendly but noncommittal and give the impression that they do not have the same type of knowledge the host has, attempting primarily to get out of a situation and be evasive in a way that doesn’t call attention to themselves. Accounts have told of people approaching a doppelganger and having a brief interaction where the entity seems “out of it” or excuses themselves citing a prior engagement. The interaction is often forgotten, but occasionally comes back to the host in a way that suggests something strange is going on.
If you’ve ever had a friend claim to have interacted with you when you know you haven’t seen them for quite some time, it could be nothing more than a case of mistaken identity. But there are also those who suggest that such interactions have all the trappings of a doppelganger in action. But what purpose would such an entity serve? Are they simply different versions of ourselves existing much like ghosts in the present while we are still alive? Or is it possible these entities are actually something else taking the form of those they encounter in order to hide their own true ghastly appearance?
While it’s interesting to speculate on topics like these doppelgangers, it’s unclear whether the superstitions about someone seeing your doppelganger is actually a sign of bad luck or impending doom. Instead, it’s possible that these entities may be nothing more than a case of mistaken identity, an eerily similar looking individual, or even in some cases a distant relative with a similar appearance. But if they really are a spectral entity that has assumed your form, it might be worth it to keep an eye out as it might be the traditional doppelganger who is simply an unexplainable evil double of yourself.