Doppelganger

The term doppelganger originated in Germany, where 'doppel' means a double and 'ganger' means goer or walker. More commonly known as the "evil twin" of a living person. There have been many eerie stories about doppelgangers, where some believe that only the subject can see his or her body double, which could either be a ghostly apparition of the subject or actually in flesh. Some other people believe that, even the people who know the subject can see his or her doppelganger.

The day I got versed with this theory, I was reminded of an incident from my childhood days when my mom and dad left me alone at home and went out for some work, but came back very annoyed as they had seen 'me' hanging out with a group of rowdy people, but all that time, I was just at home.

This evil twin theory emphasizes on the fact that the body double has a behavior that is wickedly opposite to that of the subject and sometimes even deleterious.

In the paranormal world, the doppelganger is just considered a sinister form of bilocation. This means that a doppelganger is just someone who has the ability to be present at 2 locations at the same time.

Many consider the viewing of a doppelganger as a bad omen or even the harbinger of bad luck. Some claim that such a vision often heralds a serious illness or even the death of the original person.

I cannot stop quoting the death of Abraham Lincoln here, who just a while before his assassination had reportedly told his wife that he had seen his evil twin in the mirror. He had seen two reflections in the mirror, one was of him as he appeared then and the other was a paler Abraham Lincoln, perhaps a glimpse of what he would have looked like, right after he was killed. Many other famous people have had an evening with their doppelgangers short before they died. Queen Elizabeth I saw her doppelganger lying on her bed one night as she entered her room and soon after, she was reportedly dead.

A French novelist Guy de Maupassant was also beset by his doppelganger during the last years of his life and he had even written a book called Lui, which talks about his encounters with his doppelganger. Some people also believe, that it was actually Guy's ghostly counterpart who had made him write that book.

Many people have reported to have have seen there evil counterparts in their sleep and not in reality.John Donne, who was a very famous metaphysical poet, claims to have seen his wife's doppelganger, foreboding the death of their unborn child.

These days, some also suppose that a doppelganger is evidence of the many worlds theory of quantum physics.

Medical research talks about this as a syndrome. If you think you have seen your ghostly double, then its a neurological disorder known as Var Doger Syndrome or Doppelganger Syndrome.Some neurologists are of the opinion that the cases of such patients suggest that this fascination arises because a part of their brain actually harbors the potential to make them believe that their double exists. However in these cases, the primary sensation of a patient is the visual hallucination of seeing themselves.Some victims of this syndrome also believe that they are being replaced by their double.Some doctors say that they have had cases of people who even committed suicide to get rid of their doubles because it was getting very difficult for them to tell which of the two they really were.

The doppelganger delusion points to the fact that a part of the brain is making us believe that we are being followed by a double. The medical science overrides every theory by saying that such experiences are nothing but we daunting ourselves.

Out of Body Experiences

An out-of-body experience (OBE or sometimes OOBE), is an experience that distinctively involves an aesthesis of floating outside of one's body and in some cases, perceiving one's physical body from a place outside the body. Statistics reveal that 15-20% of the people have an out-of-body experience at some point in their lives, however how many understand that its an OBE is uncertain. OBEs are often part of a near-death experience, where the subject feels as if the soul is leaving the body. Those who have experienced OBEs sometimes claim to have observed details which were unknown to them beforehand. Some people have claimed that these experiences are similar to astral projections where they have even seen others having an astral projection i.e their subconscious has interacted with the subconscious of the others.

In some cases the process appears to occur spontaneously; in others it is associated with a physical or mental trauma, use of psychedelic or dissociative drugs, or a dream-like state. Some of those who experience OBEs claimed to have willed themselves out of their bodies, while others report having found themselves being pulled from their bodies (usually preceded by a feeling of paralysis). On other accounts, the subject accidently felt being outside his/her own body. Many techniques have been deliberately developed, that aim at inducing the experience, for example visualization in a relaxed, meditative state. Recent studies reveal that experiences similar to OBEs can be induced by direct brain stimulation.

In many cases, people who claimed to have had an OBE reported being asleep, on the verge of sleep, or already asleep shortly before the experience. The state of sleep was not particularly deep in majority of these cases (due to illness, noises in other rooms, emotional stress, exhaustion from overworking, frequent re-awakening, etc.). The subjects in these cases, then felt themselves awake; and about half of them even noted a feeling of sleep paralysis. Some people have claimed to have been to heaven, seen jesus and their guardian angels dressed in white.

Research reveals that near death experiences and extreme physical effort can also induce an OBE.

Some subjects report having had an OBE at times of severe physical trauma such as near-drowning or major surgery. In the case of motor vehicle accidents, they are able to recall the accident as if observing it from a location outside the vehicle i.e. like an onlooker. Along the same lines, a person running in a marathon could overwork himself or herself and feel "extraordinarily weightless" and actually see his/her body from above. This can also be a result of dehydration, as many medical experts claim.

Some parapsychologists have experimented on themselves by consuming drugs and have reportedly experienced OBEs after getting stoned on marijuana etc. One such parapsychologist named Susan Blackmore ,in her OBE, went down a tunnel of trees toward a light, floated on the ceiling and observed her body below, saw a silver cord (also called the umbilical cord in the traditional occult literature of astral projection)connected to her body, floated out of the building around Oxford and then over England, and finally across the Atlantic to New York. Then she floated back to her room in Oxford where she became very small and entered her body's toes. Then she grew very big, as big as a planet at first, and then she filled the solar system, and finally she became as large as the universe. she attributes her experience to peculiar brain processes that may lead to "neuronal disinhibition in the visual cortex," which is her explanation for hallucinations and NDEs.

One explanation of the OBE is that consciousness is a separate entity from the body (dualism) and can exist without the body and the body can exist without it. The disembodied consciousness can 'see,' 'hear,' 'feel,' 'taste,' and 'smell'. Some speculate that 'mind,' 'spirit,' or 'consciousness' can operate over vast distances and perceive objects by some triggered by some disease or stress.