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.