They say everyone has an exact looking duplicate of themselves somewhere in the world. I know I’ve seen mine, or at least a good facsimile of myself, that even went to my high school. Maybe my father was holding out on me and he was secretly a milkman or mailman? It’s strange to see someone the resembles you, but it’s even stranger when you meet someone that is you, or at least that is what to thought by people who have experienced seeing a doppleganger.

The word originates from German, and means double-goer, double-walker, or ghostly double (I’m sure the translation is conceptual). Dopplegangers are thought by some to be the harbingers of doom to those who see their own doubles, and this is even referred to in some movies today, in which someone heading for doom sees themselves staring back at them. I think of the movie ‘Owning Mahoney’ in which a compulsive gambler rides a lucky streak to the top and before slamming down to ruin, sees a doppleganger staring back at him from the other end of a gambling table. Other beliefs suggest that the doppleganger is an exact opposite to the person that you are, thus the yin to the yang. Dopplegangers have been reported by people throughout the centuries. The one I remembered most was Guy de Maupassant, a French novelist whom had a doppleganger help in writing one of his stories. Wikipedia (stop chuckling) reports experiences by Percy Bysshe Shelley, a english poet, and Abraham Lincoln.

Even with some credible people thoughout the centuries having seen a doppleganger, what could be said of their existence? Maybe it’s just one long lived one running around causing mayhem. Are they evil spirits spreading confusion and disaster, playing up to their legend as harbingers of doom? Needless to say, I wish I had more information on dopplegangers for you, the reader. The problem is, there really isn’t much information out there about them, besides the urban legends that exist. A nice source for doppleganger stories is here  at paranormal.about.com, where they have about three pages of personal stories about doppleganger experiences.