Doppelgängers
What is a doppelgänger? It’s an apparition or a double of a living person. For the German people, the word literally translates to “double walker” or “double goer.” So far, this seems simple enough, right?
Some other words and phrases that have similar meanings are:
| Clone | Double |
| Duplicate | Spitting image |
| Ghost | Look-alike |
| Copy | Mirror image |
| Exact Likeness | Evil twin |
| Shadow | Dead ringer |
Cultural Beliefs
Doppelgängers aren’t all light-hearted coincidences; in folklore and superstition, it’s a bad omen to see a doppelgänger.
Many different cultures have several beliefs that relate to seeing a double.
Hopi People’s Belief on Doppelgängers
The Hopi people of northeastern Arizona have a legend that refers to the Child of the Sun and the Child of the Water, in which they teach whatever is happening in the upper world, the opposite is happening in the underworld. They believe the Children of the Sun represent the good people in the upper world, and the Children of the Water represent the evil people in the underworld. Sometimes they cross over. This is a simplified version that I admit sounds a great deal like quantum physics before it was ever written about.
Egyptian’s “Ka”
The Ancient Egyptians believed a doppelgänger was very similar to “ka.” They believed everyone was born with a spiritual double, and when someone died, their double lived on as if they had a body to inhabit. This is why Egyptians mummified their dead, so the “ka” would have a body to inhabit. If the body decayed, the spiritual double would die, and the dead would lose their chance at eternal life.
Norse Mythology of Vardøger
In Norse mythology, a vardøger is a ghostly double of you who lived before you. In this belief, the spirit with your mannerisms, voice, and scent appears in locations before you do. Then you arrive and get questions like, “Weren’t you just here?” or, “I just saw you there.”
This last one on the cultural beliefs is one I didn’t expect but, oddly enough, is very similar to Native American superstitions passed down within my own family. It might seem silly to all the selfie photo lovers, but here goes:
Canelos People of South America
The Canelos people of South America hated portraits and photography. Their belief held that a picture captured the soul of a person. This tribe was clearly not alone; some who believe similarly also believed the picture could become a double. My family, with Ute origins, believed that a picture captured a part of your soul, and you had to be cautious with whom you shared it as they might harm you.
Doppelgängers From Literature
An example from Shakespeare that I like to think of as an example of this is the ghost of Hamlet, which gives him the idea of seeking revenge for his father’s murder. I believe this is a great one for showing why you shouldn’t communicate with your doppelgänger. Why, you ask? According to the lore, a doppelgänger might give advice, but it’s usually misleading or is intended to cause harm to the person it’s shadowing. In Hamlet’s case, this was very effective.
Edgar Allan Poe’s “William Wilson”
Another character some of you might relate to would be found in Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “William Wilson”. In this tale, a young boy meets another boy with the same name who looks just like him. Here the original William Wilson is more of the evil one, and his doppelgänger ends up turning the original’s malintent into good. A bit of an ironic twist, but it still illustrates just how there is a “good” version and an “evil twin.”
Visual Examples of Doppelgängers
I think that we, as people, are intrigued by the idea of doppelgängers. With my social media, I tend to fall for the clickbait articles that show a celebrity or historical figure with a picture of their double more times than I care to admit. Come on. I’m not the only one, am I? Okay, fine. How about I share a few so you can have a visual?
There is this rather amusing compilation from YouTube as well, that y’all might like.
What do you think about some of the examples above? Were there any that you thought were “dead ringers”? Yeah, me too. Creepy, but still cool.
Doppelgängers From History
We have used doppelgängers or look-alikes throughout history. In days long ago, it was prevalent for kings and other rulers to utilize doubles as decoys or to foil assassination attempts. Often, these doubles were trained to mimic the mannerisms, walk, and talk like the person they were “hired” to impersonate. I had to put hired in quotes as some of these individuals were forced into this servitude without any monetary gain. Others did get at least a better lifestyle than they would otherwise have had. In modern times, when these doubles are employed, they or their families are financially compensated.
Political Doppelgängers
It was documented by numerous people that Adolf Hitler, Fidel Castro, George W. Bush, and Osama Bin Laden all used doubles. And Manuel Noriega reportedly had four. Whether these look-alikes were used as decoys, military figures, or espionage, they were doppelgängers. When these look-alikes are used as an actual decoy, this is known as a psychological operations tactic.
Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin is alleged to have had a double, identified only as “Rashid.” Officials at the KGB allegedly learned that Rashid was a double for Stalin and employed him to replace Stalin for some public functions after World War II. Rashid spent two years studying with Alexei Dikiy, an actor who played the role of Stalin in propaganda films. Rashid claimed there were other Stalin look-alikes employed by the KGB, although he never met any. He claimed to have heard of another Stalin double hired to live in the dictator’s dacha outside of Moscow in the late 1940s and 1950s when Stalin was dying. This double filled in for Stalin for media events and at times when Stalin had to meet government functionaries and others. Rashid died in 1991, aged 93.
In 2008, another one of Stalin’s doubles came forward, having written a book about his adventures as a political decoy. The Putin government gave Felix Dadaev permission to tell his story at age 88. He appeared in a 2014 documentary about Stalin’s last days on German television.
The Most Mysterious Political Decoy Cases in History (ranker.com)
Weird Historical Sightings
Below is the link to a short YouTube story about Émilie Sagée. I’ve heard this story in many variations. It’s very popular when the subject of doppelgängers is being discussed. I feel this is a good example of the term “double goer,” as only one version speaks, and the other doesn’t. Maybe it could also be an example of astral projection. I still find this a very creepy story.
Myths And Lore of Doppelgängers
This last section, which I find oddly intriguing, is the lore. One of 18th- century Russian Empress Catherine the Great’s servants saw her double sitting on the throne while she slept. She ordered the imposter to be shot, and a short time later, Catherine died of a stroke.
In a very similar fashion, there is Abraham Lincoln’s version. In 1860, on the night of his first presidential election, Lincoln saw his double in a reflection in a mirror. When he told his wife about this odd occurrence, he relayed that the double was paler than he was. His wife believed this to be an omen of his impending death.
Percy Shelly–yes, this is Mary Shelly’s husband–wrote of a double in his lyrical drama, Prometheus Unbound, and later, he reported to have seen his own doppelgänger before he died in 1822. Mary Shelly shared some of Percy’s visions in a letter to her friend Maria Gisborne. “He had visions of strangling me. All of this was frightful enough, and talking to it over the next morning, he told me that he had had many visions lately; he had seen the figure of himself which met him as he walked on the terrace and said to him, ‘How long do you mean to be content?’ “
Folklore
On the folklore side, there is a belief that if you see your own doppelgänger three times, then your end is near. If someone else sees your doppelgänger, you’re very ill. I will leave you with one last bit of folklore about doppelgängers. Some people believe the reason why doppelgängers are seen when the other version of a person is asleep is that our bodies can no longer hold our spirits, and they are free to wander.
Thank you for spending time with us today. We appreciate each and every one of you!
Sources
All news articles, pictures, and/or videos are used under the Fair Use Act, and individual sources are given credit.
https://allthatsinteresting.com/celebrity-look-alikes-history
https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/doppelgangers-and-mythology-spirit-doubles-001825
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/history-doppelganger
https://www.bustle.com/p/8-creepy-doppelganger-superstitions-that-will-make-you-hope-you-never-meet-your-double-12273817
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KGB
https://www.ranker.com/list/the-most-mysterious-political-decoy-cases-in-history/switchdoctor
