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Doppelgängers (IHTM)

I thought I had a doppelganger but then, to my chagrin, I discovered that the people who were msitaking me for "the other one" weren't. They knew I was me (eh?) I just wasn't recognising these adults as the children of friends.....:confused:
 
I had a doppelganger at college, although he only seemed to be there for a month or so (exchange student maybe?). I remember my classmates asking me one day whether I had a twin brother at the college, which I laughed off, only to see him myself a couple of weeks later in the library. Weirdly, not only did he look exactly like me but he also had the same dress sense and haircut (this was in the mid-90s when vintage Adidas, corduroy flares and eye-obscuring fringes were still fairly rare in suburban new towns) - in fact the only reason I wasn't actually confused with him, was that my hair was about 2 inches longer, and a lighter shade. We both smiled at each other, as if we were already acquainted, then carried on searching the bookshelves, never to see each other again. Athough, I was snowboarding in France 5 or 6 years later, and a sober stranger at the bar flatly insisted that I'd been there the previous season, so maybe I narrowly missed seeing him again?

Anyhow, I'm definitely still alive and in one piece, so it can't be that hazardous to meet them?
 
Perhaps if you actually touch your doppelganger, some great quantum inconsistency occurs and you both blow up in a matter-antimatter explosion?
 
Was in Venice yesterday (a very other-worldy, Fortean vibed city if there ever was one - but that's material for another thread) and we were walking through the labyrinth of alleys near the Rialto Bridge, when I nudged my wife and whispered "good grief - look at that young man in the green t-shirt!". She duly looked and mouthed a "wow" because he was the absolute image of our son (who is currently in Berlin) down to the broad shoulders, short beard and pseudo-Mandinka style haircut.

Around 45 minutes later, we were looking for a particular restaurant, recommended by other vegetarians on TripAdvisor, near Campo San Barnaba and I did another double-take. There amongst the al fresco diners was a girl with straight long blonde hair, dark eyebrows and an impressive tan, who was the absolute double of our daughter (who's currently in the UK).

OK, so not enormously Fortean, I'll grant you, but it got me thinking that the range and variety of human facial features is not really that enormous and, if you travel enough and see enough faces, you're sure to spot some remarkable similarities.

Incidentally, the young man did glance at us as we passed and I wondered if he thought "blimey, that tall, dark guy with the shorter blonde woman don't half look like my parents!"
 
CarlosTheDJ said:
Apparently I have a doppelganger at work! My colleagues keep bumping into me in the corridor or kitchen, only to find it ain't me...
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Reminds me of a conversation I heard at a concert recently;

1st Bloke: "Hang on, were you in Ikea last Thursday?"
2nd Bloke: "No."
1st Bloke: "Neither was I - must have been two different people."
 
Doppelgangers. I have two stories about it. First, when I was ten, I was sent to a holiday camp on the seaside about 50km from my home. I met and befriended a girl called Regine with her sister whose name I forgot. She was rather tall with dark hair and both were quite remarkable physically, without being ugly or extremely pretty. When I went back to school, I was stunned to see the doppelganger of that girl and her sister, both looking exactly like the two sisters I met on holiday. Their name were different, too. I only remember Evelyne's name, the elder, which was in my class.
The second one concern my husband and the first time we went to Australia, on a Quantas plane, while boarding, the air hostess told him : Welcome back Mr C.! And she seemed to know him as a frequent flyer on that airline, unless she went to work from budget airlines we used quite a lot at the time. However she didn't seem to notice me. And no, he is not leading a double life! My husband was baffled and a bit unsettled.
 
Deaf Doppelganger part 1

I am 50 years old. My story begins when I was a student in the 80s, it must have been about 1988 or thereabouts.

I was studying at Leeds Polytechnic, the "city site" of which is right next to Leeds University. The students who did not live in Halls of Residence all lived in the Hyde Park and Headingley area.

When walking to Poly or into town, my usual route from my rented room in a shared house (that year) took me right past the front door of Leeds University Student Union, and I passed that way very often.

One Saturday, I was walking back from town on foot, towards Hyde Park. I was in a hurry; I had to be somewhere (can't remember where or why). As I passed the front door of Leeds University Union, I vaguely noticed in the distance, walking toward me, a chap who was dressed in similar clothes to me. I was wearing a jacket of the type favoured by mountaineers / "crag rats" at the time (this was before wearing fleece jackets and Gore-Tex became common) and tracksuit trousers of the type which runners wear. So was he! faintly out of the ordinary, but not greatly so. Plenty of climbers and runners in Leeds, especially among the student community.

As we drew closer, which happened rapidly because he seemed to be moving with the determined pace of someone who needs to be getting somewhere, I noted that he was roughly my height, build, hair colour... and wearing glasses like mine. Nothing too odd so far. As we got closer together, I saw that he resembled me and seemed about my age. But by then we were getting near one another and as the realisation dawned on both of us, we drew to a halt, facing each other.

We looked EXACTLY like one another.

This is one of those situations that aren't supposed to happen. Here I was, meeting my doppelganger. Imagine how amazed and excited we both were! Gazing, baffled, at each other for a moment. We didn't suddenly die or explode or merge into one supernaturally powerful being, or anything from legend.

So obviously, I gathered myself and, being an inveterate gobshite, blurted out a dozen questions in instantaneous succession... Who are you, what is your name, where do you live, are we related? ... Exactly the reaction you would really have when this happens, not like some contrived situation in a film or something.

And then the crashing disappointment. He fired a load of dialogue at me... in sign language. Or, something that obviously looked like sign language; at the time I didn't know it.

There was a moment of doubt and hesitation, and then we both scrambled to find a pen, pencil, paper... Or anyone immediately nearby with a pen... or an open door in one of the adjacent university buildings where we might borrow one. It all rapidly drew a blank.

And then followed the really big mistake. In retrospect, I can't believe I did something so stupid, after all the years since that I have pondered who this chap is. I let him go. He needed to be somewhere, or at least he sort of gestured to that effect. I needed to be somewhere too. Those somewheres were in opposite directions.

And that was the last time I met him.
 
Deaf Doppelganger part 2

In the days and weeks following the mystery meeting, I pondered the existence of someone so much like me. I concluded two things.

1. I felt that it was some sort of destiny that we should meet. We must be related, we must be somehow close in some way that I couldn't put my finger on. I felt that we were destined to meet again. Some great occasion would arise where the mystery would clear and everything would crystallise; the "great purpose" of our dual existence would manifest itself. I obviously should prepare for the moment! I took steps to join a British Sign language class. I have always been interested in languages (it's a family trait) so this seemed to buy in to the inevitable destiny of the moment. After years of this spooky but compelling motivation, I can converse fairly clearly in BSL.

2. All those odd conversations with friends... they were all suddenly explained! "Hey Sev, I saw you in the town centre the other day and shouted hello, but you just ignored me, you git". There had been so many such interactions. But also "Oooh Sev, who is the attractive redhead I saw you with? You were pretty into each other. I said hello but you didn't seem to notice me... or were you pretending not to know me to keep her secret eh? Nudge nudge wink wink". I have never in my life had a redheaded girlfriend. She must be his girlfriend.

I joined Leeds Deaf Club once my BSL conversational ability was starting to develop. The instructor recommended this, as the best way to really learn a language is to circulate among those who are fluent. I had an extra reason. Leeds Deaf Club is one of the biggest deaf clubs in the country; an active membership who meet regularly. Maybe a community of plenty of people, one of whom might know who "the other me" is?
Sure enough, I had only attended a couple of times and it started. There certainly were a few members who knew of "him". Trouble is, I looked so much like him that they were convinced I was him. I endured meeting after meeting of deaf people or hearing people who were fluent in BSL, who were obviously straining hard to "get the joke". Why was "he" (i.e. me) pretending to suddenly be so halting and inexperienced at signing? Why was "he" pretending not to know them? They would often get really cheesed off and just stomp off, annoyed at "his" insistence on playing out what they saw as some juvenile pretence, or practical joke that they weren't allowed to be "in" on... because it wasn't a joke. It was just me.

Eventually I stopped going there. It was actually rather stressful. I did ascertain that he was known, but not intimately, and only known by his "sign nickname" and nobody seemed to know his written name (it's normal in BSL to have a "sign name" that doesn't really resemble your given name). I figured out that, although he came in from time to time, he wasn't from Leeds itself, but somewhere nearby in the outer urban district. Nobody really knew where; or maybe they wouldn't tell because the situation was so weird that, at the very least, I was a weirdo. Would you give your friend's name an address to some weirdo that turned up at his social club, simply on the basis of the rather weird parameter of looking exactly alike, but absolutely no other reason at all? Evidently, the regulars would not. I left my contact details (this was before the world wide web or widely popular email) in the hope that someone would pass them on to him, but nothing ever came of it.
 
Deaf Doppelganger part 3

I saw him on a bus a few months after my last visit to the Leeds Deaf Club. I was outside, and saw him through the window. He gawped at me with the stare of recognition. I imagine he must have been thinking "It's him again!"... just like I was. I chased, but didn't catch the bus. That was the last time I ever saw him. It was not yet 1991.

I had thought about him quite a bit. I had alerted all friends that when they saw him, or the redheaded girl, or both together, they were to approach and try to get info. Some agreed but never saw him; others tried to figure out what elaborate practical joke or ruse I must be concocting.

The sightings continued on and off, for years. Acquaintances would comment on seeing me somewhere that I hadn't been, often with the tell-tale aspect of the apparent reluctance to respond to voice conversation, which they interpreted as either "me" being in a right mood, or doing something clandestine, or similar. It all started to tail off.

I moved away from Leeds, but not far. For a long time I have lived near to my now-workplace, in a tiny village between Huddersfield and Wakefield. Leeds is just a place I go to for evenings out, or to meet friends from the "old days".

But suddenly!

In the spring of 2016, Bill, one of my work colleagues, who I have only known for about 3 or 4 years, mentioned over lunch that he had seen me parked in a car park next to a scenic reservoir/lake near Halifax the previous weekend. Odd, i thought, I hadn't been any such place. Indeed, I had never ever been to that particular car park. He asked me when did I obtain the Ford Focus I was in? I don't have a Ford, I told him. We were both mildly flummoxed and then it hit me...
Was I with anyone, I asked him? In the car, at that place. Bill has never met my wife, so he was completely at ease to tell me that yes, I was with my wife. It was "obvious" that the woman in question must have been my other half, which I took (correctly) to imply that there had been a little bit of canoodling going on between "the other me" and the wife or girlfriend in question. Bill informed me that, whoever the chap was, he looked exactly like me. And he meant it - he was certain it was me. Dressed like me, hair like me, glasses (still!) like mine... Bill felt that he should not interrupt the somewhat adult-orientated action that he was glimpsing through a slightly steamed up car window, and had left it at that.
I pounced at the chance. I asked Bill to describe this woman, and sure enough, a redhead. Could it be my doppelganger again, after all these years? And he's still with the same lass? And more to the point, definitely with her, if you see what I mean. He must be near my age of 50, and perhaps has been in this relationship for something like 30 years. They are still making out in the car? I hope my marriage lasts so well.
 
severs1966 said:
Deaf Doppelganger part 3

I saw him on a bus a few months after my last visit to the Leeds Deaf Club. I was outside, and saw him through the window. He gawped at me with the stare of recognition. I imagine he must have been thinking "It's him again!"... just like I was. I chased, but didn't catch the bus. That was the last time I ever saw him. It was not yet 1991.

I had thought about him quite a bit. I had alerted all friends that when they saw him, or the redheaded girl, or both together, they were to approach and try to get info. Some agreed but never saw him; others tried to figure out what elaborate practical joke or ruse I must be concocting.

The sightings continued on and off, for years. Acquaintances would comment on seeing me somewhere that I hadn't been, often with the tell-tale aspect of the apparent reluctance to respond to voice conversation, which they interpreted as either "me" being in a right mood, or doing something clandestine, or similar. It all started to tail off.

I moved away from Leeds, but not far. For a long time I have lived near to my now-workplace, in a tiny village between Huddersfield and Wakefield. Leeds is just a place I go to for evenings out, or to meet friends from the "old days".

But suddenly!

In the spring of 2016, Bill, one of my work colleagues, who I have only known for about 3 or 4 years, mentioned over lunch that he had seen me parked in a car park next to a scenic reservoir/lake near Halifax the previous weekend. Odd, i thought, I hadn't been any such place. Indeed, I had never ever been to that particular car park. He asked me when did I obtain the Ford Focus I was in? I don't have a Ford, I told him. We were both mildly flummoxed and then it hit me...
Was I with anyone, I asked him? In the car, at that place. Bill has never met my wife, so he was completely at ease to tell me that yes, I was with my wife. It was "obvious" that the woman in question must have been my other half, which I took (correctly) to imply that there had been a little bit of canoodling going on between "the other me" and the wife or girlfriend in question. Bill informed me that, whoever the chap was, he looked exactly like me. And he meant it - he was certain it was me. Dressed like me, hair like me, glasses (still!) like mine... Bill felt that he should not interrupt the somewhat adult-orientated action that he was glimpsing through a slightly steamed up car window, and had left it at that.
I pounced at the chance. I asked Bill to describe this woman, and sure enough, a redhead. Could it be my doppelganger again, after all these years? And he's still with the same lass? And more to the point, definitely with her, if you see what I mean. He must be near my age of 50, and perhaps has been in this relationship for something like 30 years. They are still making out in the car? I hope my marriage lasts so well.
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So your doppleganger is having it away with a hot redhead?

That must sting a bit?
 
Naughty_Felid said:
So your doppleganger is having it away with a hot redhead?

That must sting a bit?
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It might do if I wasn't getting any myself, as it were. It was mildly annoying, back in the days when I was conspicuously unlucky with the ladies, as the traditional terminology might have it.

Fortunately, since those days, I have also found a beloved, so everything's OK. married for 23 years now! She was fascinated to hear the tale of how I came to study sign language, which is the context of the story for most people I know.

Also, my lass has never seen "the other me" hanging out with a mystery readhead, which could, in theory, make her think I'm having an affair. That would drag the whole scenario into low-quality-hollywood-script territory.
 
severs1966 said:
Also, my lass has never seen "the other me" hanging out with a mystery readhead, which could, in theory, make her think I'm having an affair. That would drag the whole scenario into low-quality-hollywood-script territory.
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Severs, this isn't an elaborate attempt at a creating an alibi, is it? Your wife sees you out with your redhead girlfriend and you just pretend you don't know her, then back home you're like "Oh that must have been that doppleganger I've told you about?"

Hmm? Hmmmm?
 
My nephew once went for an interview for a taxi driving job and was arrested straight afterwards. Seems that they did a routine check on his driving licence while he was there and the police decided he was the bloke they were after, of the same name, for driving when banned. He'd obviously taken out a new forged licence in his own name, as you would.

Took the rest of the day to sort it out. He got the job though.
 
Museum doppelgangers:
For example: -
doppelganger1.jpg

doppleganger2.jpg

https://www.boredpanda.com/museum-lookalikes-gallery-doppelgangers/?page_numb=1
There are quite a few pics at the link and some are uncanny!
 
I'm impressed by the people who can think 'that person looks exactly like me!'. I actually met someone who was frequently mistaken for me, and I thought we looked nothing alike. Apart from some superficial likeness, same sort of coloured hair, same sort of length, approximate face shape similarity, I thought she just looked like A N Other woman. But several people had mistaken her for me.

So maybe I just don't have a good grip on what I look like? And being the owner of several grown up children, I've got used to the fact that a lot of girls in their early twenties with long blondish hair look, at first glance, like my middle daughter, and early twenties males with broad shoulders, short hair and a partial beard look like my younger son. I often have to look twice to prevent myself from accosting them with 'what are you doing here?'
 
Scribbles said:
Severs, this isn't an elaborate attempt at a creating an alibi, is it? Your wife sees you out with your redhead girlfriend and you just pretend you don't know her, then back home you're like "Oh that must have been that doppleganger I've told you about?"
Hmm? Hmmmm?
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Well, that's certainly the direction the low-quality daytime-TV film script would take if they wanted to make the life story of me, but sex it up a bit.

It's worth adding that I have never seen the redheaded woman. I only know of her via the many stories other people tell me. It is therefore theoretically possible that we have met at some point in my life but I didn't know.
Maybe she is berating him for stuff she thinks he has been doing, when it was really me? What if she thinks he is having an affair with a brunette that she has seen "him" (i.e. me) with? (my other half is a brunette). He's then signing frantically "No dear, that must be the doppelganger I have told you about" in a desperate, slowly escalating argument with fingers and hands going like knitting needles attached to a sewing machine.

catseye said:
I'm impressed by the people who can think 'that person looks exactly like me!'. I actually met someone who was frequently mistaken for me, and I thought we looked nothing alike. Apart from some superficial likeness, same sort of coloured hair, same sort of length, approximate face shape similarity, I thought she just looked like A N Other woman. But several people had mistaken her for me.
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An interesting angle, but I have actually seen this guy (a long time ago, mind you). It was genuinely like looking into a mirror that shows you on a different day of the same week. He even was dressed like me. Not identical, but in clothes that everyone I know would see on him and happily assume "that's how Sev dresses". Like it was me, but dressed in a different set of clothes that I had pulled out of a different drawer.

You know the story arc in "Red Dwarf" where we see all the other Rimmers from the other parallel universes, and they are all Ace Rimmer, inspiring cowardly "our" Rimmer to heroic deeds? They are all different people but they all look exactly like "our" Rimmer because they are all played by Chris Barrie? It was like that. It was like the same person was playing him as is playing me, but in separate lives that aren't supposed to be performed on stage at the same time but he accidentally walked onto "my" set. The feeling of disorientation is immense.
 
Did any other readers of the latest FT find something of a resemblance between Biblical prophet Neville Goddard and William Shatner?

IMG_0473.JPG
IMG_0474.JPG
 
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I've apparently got my own doppelganger again!

A customer who regularly comes into the shop (so regularly that I know her pretty well) asked me if I'd been at gym that morning. She knows I run, but doesn't know I don't do 'organised exercise'. I said no and I never would. She'd seen a lady she 'thought' was me, but didn't want to go up and say hello because we were outside our normal customer/employee environment and that I wouldn't want to be talked to.

She's seen this woman several times since and is, apparently, stunned by the resemblance. Now I'm generally considered somewhat 'striking' (not really in a good way), so I'd like to meet this other lady if only to commiserate. I've told my customer to speak to this other lady if she can and tell her that she has a doppelganger, to see if she also sounds like me (I'm a southern import to North Yorkshire and therefore even stand out vocally).
 
I've had one of these recently with a bit of a twist. Now i'm not on the internet..well what i mean is there is no facebook twitter, photos etc., of me on the internet. Stick my name into google and perhaps where i live and it will turn up nowt. Other people with my (fairly rare) name sure, but not me. Any accounts or forums i've joined have various made up names like this one..

Anyway last month on a whim i stuck my name into google images and the first picture in the line-up is me. Now i'm sitting there wondering what the hell is going on and how has someone got a picture of me that i don't remember having taken. At this point i'm convinced it's a wind-up or someone stealing my identity, so i go on the site and no its someone with my name, the same age and looks like my twin. He lives about 40 miles from me and i have no relatives in that area or with that surname. Its a very weird feeling when you see someone who looks exactly like you - the nearest i've had was when my mum showed me a photo of my grandad when he was the same age as me, and he doesn't look half as much like me as this "other" me! I did think about maybe contacting him and seeing if we're distantly related somehow but it would probably freak him out as much as it did me!
 
Are you confident the photo is not of you? If not, the possibility of identity theft / spoofing might still be in play ...
 
EnolaGaia said:
Are you confident the photo is not of you? If not, the possibility of identity theft / spoofing might still be in play ...
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Yep its not me. the site the picture is on, is his profile picture for a motor racing manufacturer he works for. Tbh i'm also very funny about having my photo taken at all and certainly it wouldn't be on line. I did some research out of curiosity, and he has a whole back story on linked in and similar and is obviously an expert in his field so to speak,. He just shares my name and looks like me for some bizarre reason.
 
One thing is a doppelgänger, the other thing is he got your name as well. That's an incredible coincidence.

Go visit the address of his employer. When he exit his employer walk next to him and see if he take notice. Even better, get some clothes that looks like what he got on the profile photo.
 
My best friend in middle school had a doppelganger, and what freaks her out is the fact that she saw the entity jump in the top floor of our school.
 
caspergriswoldbacon said:
Yep its not me. the site the picture is on, is his profile picture for a motor racing manufacturer he works for. Tbh i'm also very funny about having my photo taken at all and certainly it wouldn't be on line. I did some research out of curiosity, and he has a whole back story on linked in and similar and is obviously an expert in his field so to speak,. He just shares my name and looks like me for some bizarre reason.
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Thanks for the clarification ...

Does the first name you share with him have a particular commonality or significance within your family?

For example, was your first name handed down from an ancestor?

Or is the shared first name so common (e.g., 'John') that it doesn't suggest any particular connection to your family?
 
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