Doppelgangers

In modern day terms a 'Doppelganger' simply refers to a look-alike of a person. It can also be described as seeing a 'reflection' of yourself in your peripheral vision, only to find that there was nothing there that could reflect your image.

In fiction and folklore, a Doppelganger was a paranormal double of yourself, typically evil or mischievous.


An experiment in 2006 was taken to produce the effect similar to that of the doppelganger phenomenon. While laying flat on a bad, electromagnetic stimulation was applied to a female patient's brain. She immediately felt the presence of another person in her personal space. Apart from being epileptic, for which she was being treated, she was psychologically fit.

The person she felt was described to be young, and although didn't speak or move, it had a body posture identical to her own. She felt the other person located exactly behind her.

A more intense test was taken, only the patient was sitting up with her arms folded. In this test she felt the presence of a "man" who had his arms wrapped around her. She described the sensation as very unpleasant, and the test was stopped.

The last test involved the patient sitting upright, and asked to perform a language test with some flash cards, while have electrical stimulation applied. She said that the presence she felt, which was sitting beside her to her right, was attempting to interfere with the test, and said: "He wants to take the card; he doesn't want me to read." The effect was disturbing and the test was ceased.


Many cases of people seeing doubles of themselves have been reported, even for that of Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln said that during one particular winter, he had repeated dreams or illusions, and on the evening of his election, he looked into a bureau mirror from across the room and saw himself at full length, but with two faces. After moving from the couch he was lying down on, the illusion stopped, but repeated when he would return. It bothered him and he told his wife about it, she was worried as well.

He attempted this again, and the  two faces returned, one paler than the other, however this was the last time he saw it.

His wife said it was a sign he would be elected to a second term, and the death pallor of one face meant he wouldn't live through his second term.