This is a subject I briefly spoke about in another blog post. This is a truly unusual type of haunting. The term “doppelganger” is German for “double goer” which is rather self-explanatory.
A doppelganger ghost is a ghost that mimics the living. This type of haunting creates quite a problem for the person being mimicked. A doppelganger will adopt the habits, mannerisms and voice of it’s victim. I guess ghosts get bored because more often than not a doppelganger ghost just gets its living counterpart into trouble. It is unusual to see your own doppelganger ghost. However, those who have seen their doppelganger ghosts have often met their untimely ends and so it is believed that to see your own doppelganger ghost is a bad omen.
If your home is haunted by a doppelganger you will have all the usual “symptoms” of a haunting which includes:
Objects moving on their own
Technology behaving unusually
Cold spots
Feeling of being pinched/bumped/scratched
Unexplained scratched/bruises (note: only if it truly is unusual like on an unusual place or oddly shaped)
Disembodied footsteps/voices/sounds
When it is a doppelganger haunting you will often see your family member or housemate or whoever in a room on one side of the house only to discover that they have been on the other side of the house the entire time. Sometimes you will see this person perform an action shortly before or after the living person performs it. Sometimes, you will hear them call you from another room when you know for a fact that they are outside. Perhaps you see them walk through the passage only to discover that they left for McDonald's 20 minutes ago. This can cause serious trouble for the victim as the doppelganger can cause others in the home to believe that the victim is losing objects or breaking things and sometimes even stealing things. If it involves children the doppelganger might take on the image of a sibling and terrorize the other children in the house, leaving its living version to take the blame and the punishment.
Those who have seen their own doppelgangers have often had terrible things happen to them. When you see your own doppelganger it can often be a sign of what is to come and is more often than not a very bad omen. Abraham Lincoln was deeply interested in the paranormal and psychic phenomena. After the death of his 11 year old son Willie he and his wife held many séances in their home in an attempt to contact Willie. On the night of his election Lincoln saw two of his own faces in a mirror, when he got up to take a closer look the image had disappeared. He attempted to replicate it on a few occasions but only succeeded once. He said the second face he saw was paler and sickly. His wife saw this as an omen that he would serve a second term but not a full term. We all know what happened.
Queen Elizabeth I was shaken up one evening after seeing her own doppelganger lying in bed. She claimed that when she walked into the room she was shocked to see herself already lying in bed and looking very sickly. Shortly after this encounter she died. It is no surprise that it is considered an omen to see your own doppelganger. Some people have full phobias of seeing their doppelgangers.
There is very little information about these types of hauntings. This is most likely because most households wouldn’t be aware that it is happening. It would be blamed on the living victim. It can be equally annoying for the rest of the household to have one member constantly causing trouble and refusing to take the blame. As for me personally, I don’t think I could ever have a doppelganger. My appearance changes so often it would be way too much work for the poor spirit.
