SpOoKy

Doppelgangers are always seen as bad omens in literature and movies. However, historical accounts show that these bad omens could also be true in reality. Legend has it that doppelgangers show up in real life, and very much grant bad luck to their look a like. Enjoy these spooky stories. 

The Emilie Sagee story accounts for a 32 year old french woman, who was a teacher. Emilie taught at an all girls school in 1846. One day, during her teaching, her exact double appeared beside her in front of the black board. There was 13 witnesses that day, all was her students. During the next year, the mysterious doppelganger made reappearances several times, in front of her students. The biggest appearance took place in front of 42 students on a summer day. The real Sagee left to talk to the headmistress, while the doppelganger appeared in her chair, replacing her. The students could see the real Sagee at the same time, passing the student garden just outside. As two girls approached the fake Sagee, they felt an "odd resistance in the air surrounding it" and the mysterious twin of their teacher vanished in thin air. This goes to show that actual accounts of doppelgangers go reported. 

Another account involves a famous poet in literature, John Donne. He was a 16th century poet whose work often touched on the metaphysical. While he was in Paris, he claimed to see his wife's doppelganger. At the time, his wife was pregnant and he was expecting to be a father. His wife's doppelganger, when she visited him, was holding a newborn baby, but seemed so sad. At the same moment the doppelganger appeared, his wife gave birth to a stillborn baby.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is an 18th-century German poet, who wrote about his encounter with his doppelganger. One day, he was traveling to the city of Drusenheim to visit a lady he was having an affair with. During of which, a guy appeared in front of him, wearing a gray suit trimmed in gold. He appeared briefly, and then vanished. Eight years later, Goethe was traveling on the same road to visit the woman, when he realized that he was in fact wearing the exact same gray suit with gold trimming. He then believed he had seen his double eight years earlier. 

Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, was awakened one night by her servants. They had sworn to her in disbelief, that they just had seen her in the throne room. Rushing over, she saw her own double. She ordered the guards to shoot her doppelganger, who remained unscathed. Catherine died of a stroke a few weeks after the encounter. 

There are so many more encounters of doppelgangers throughout history and modern day, these were just the selected few. I decided to stay in the realm of history, yet there are many scary look a likes that people will find in the world today. Whether the twin brought bad omen, or was just straight up creepy, these happenings remain unexplained. Doppelgangers are like scary stories coming to real life, and truly show the mysterious aspect of life around us.