Have you ever noticed something off about your reflection? Something almost imperceptible out of the corner of your eye, as though its movement didn’t quite line up with yours?
Have you ever seen someone walking down the street who looks so familiar, that you needed to do a double take, only to find whoever it was had already vanished into the crowd?
Well, if either of these things happened to you, you might want to be wary, because you might have come face-to-face with your doppelgänger. And if the stories are true…you might not live long enough to tell the tale.
Doppelgänger literally means “double-goer” or an exact lookalike of a living person. It is a term that was coined by German author Jean Paul in his 1796 novel Siebenkäs, the story of a man who fakes his death and takes over his look-alike or doppelgänger’s life in order to escape an unhappy life.
Though the term doppelgänger is the most widely used in literature and pop culture, the concept of a mirrored double exists in some form in every culture around the world. They are most commonly seen as harbingers of death or misfortune, but in some myths, they are shapeshifters with ill intention and in others, they are not necessarily entities at all, but rather one’s lifeforce disconnecting from the physical body.
It’s impossible to really say what these entities are, but let’s take a look at some folklore about phantom doubles from around the world:
In pre-Islamic Arabian folklore, there was a belief that when an individual was born a spirit-double known as a qareen was also birthed into the universe and bound to that person. The term “qareen” literally means “constant companion”, but it’s not clear exactly what sort of companion these creatures were meant to be. In some accounts they are similar to the idea of a guardian, guiding their person through life, and in other accounts, they are evil entities, who try to tempt the hearts of those they dwell in.
In Norse mythology, there are the fylgja, which are a sort of guardian spirit bound to the spirit of an individual. They are not doubles per se, but they are entities that tend to appear close to one’s death, remaining close to the body in order to accompany the soul. And if you’re familiar with Irish folklore, that description might sound familiar to a creature known as a fetch.
In lore, fetches are phantom doubles that literally come to “fetch” the souls of those about to die. And because of this, they are typically regarded as a death omen, though supposedly if you see one in the light of day, it means good luck.
What’s interesting about fetches is their lore is inconsistent. Sometimes they appear before the individual about to die, and other times they choose to appear before their family and friends instead. Sometimes fetches will appear as the person looks at the present, and sometimes they will appear as the person will look at their moment of death. Sometimes the person will see their fetch and die the following day, and others might see one and go on to live for years.
There are also versions of doppelgänger lore that focus on the idea of an out-of-body experience as the reason for seeing one’s double.
In Norse Mythology, the vardøgar are more often associated with the feeling of déjà vu. It’s hard to explain, so let me give you an example: let’s say you are waiting for a friend at a fairly empty bar on a rainy evening and they text you that they’re running late because of the storm and will be there in 20 minutes. A few minutes pass and you hear the distinct sound of footsteps approaching, you smell something damp, and feel like there’s someone behind you. But, when you turn around, there’s no one there. Then, 15 minutes later, you hear the same sound of footsteps and smell the same dampness, but this time when you turn around, it’s your friend, drenched from the storm.
The experience of hearing the sound of their footsteps, smelling the rainwater on their clothes, and feeling a presence before the actual person is present would be considered encountering a vardøgar. It’s not necessarily a full-fledged phantom double, though it is possible to see the complete ghostly image of the person. Rather it is the spirit announcing itself before the body is present. So, if you’ve ever walked into a situation and felt a strange sense of déjà vu; it’s likely you (or at least a part of you) really was there moments before.
In Ancient Egyptian lore an individual’s ka, which was the more robust version of the soul or lifeforce, could be separated from the body and manifest itself as a phantom twin. There is a similar word for this in Japanese folklore, ikiryō, which is the idea that the soul can leave the body temporarily and appear in the physical world to haunt an individual. There are also entities like mimics, wraiths, and obake that can shapeshift and tend to appear as a double to haunt and torment the living.
There are so many different versions of the doppelgänger story with similar threads that never seem to meet. But, what about real-life encounters? Surely, if these creatures exist, there must be some proof outside of stories.
Well, luckily for you, there are plenty of famous accounts of individuals throughout the ages who have reported seeing their doppelgängers.
Want to know who saw their double? The full article is available on our Substack: here.