What Will You Do If You Find Your Doppelganger
Discover surprising reactions and clever ways to handle a perfect lookalike encounter.
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Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have an identical twin? We’ve all heard our friends describe people they know who look JUST LIKE US. But what if you were to find out that there was, in fact, somebody who looked exactly like you. Scary, right?
A doppelgänger is a person who is not related to you biologically but looks just like you. According to legend, a doppelganger is seen as an evil twin and harbinger of bad luck. Sometimes, doppelgangers are also associated with supernatural or paranormal phenomenon. In today’s modern era, the term is often used loosely to describe two unrelated people who have common features or look similar. There are even specific YouTube channels dedicated to finding and filming doppelgangers. Here are some interesting and quirky answers we came across online.
“I’d probably get really excited and want to befriend them and know all about their lives. Just the idea of it seems pretty mind-blowing to me.”
“This is actually one of my weirdest fears. I have this nightmare that I’ll be sitting alone at home on a rainy night, and my doppelganger will show up outside my door. Nothing terrifies me more than opening a door and seeing my face on another person.”
“I’ll probably try to pull a ‘Parent Trap’ with them and convince them to exchange their lives with me. It would be pretty interesting to walk a mile (or a few days) in their shoes. My only fear is that I’ll enjoy their life so much, I’d not want to go back to my own.”
“I think the narcissist in me would want to seduce them and see if we match in terms of bedroom as well.”
“I’d probably ask her to help me play pranks on my boyfriend and friends. Like I’d ask them to meet up at a cafe, and we’d both show up wearing the exact same clothes, makeup, hairstyles, etc. and we’ll ask them to pick who’s who.”
“So I really believe in myths and folklore, and according to legend, when you meet your doppelganger, one of you needs to kill the other. Since legend says your doppelganger is evil, I’d want to know which one of us is the evil one. What if I’m the evil doppelganger, and he is the real person.”
“So I’ve had these weird nightmares where I met my doppelganger, and we just blended into a ball of unison and destroyed an entire city. I know it sounds crazy, but hey, so is the idea of meeting someone who looks EXACTLY like you, right?”
“I’d leave her with my boyfriend while I escaped to have a nice romantic Jamaican getaway in the arms of a handsome man. I’d come back eventually, but not until I’ve had as much fun as I possibly could. I guess I’m the evil one after all.”
“I love traveling, so I assume my doppelganger will as well. So I’d like to take her on a trip and makes sure we document it well on social media. From the similarities in our face to common habits, it’ll drive people crazy.”
“First, I’ll find out where she lives. If she happens to have a European passport, I will steal it and leave her behind. Sorry, doppelganger. A girl’s gotta travel.”
“I’d pull the biggest prank on my loved ones. I’d tell my parents I’m afraid to sleep at night because there’s a monster under my bed and when my dad looks underneath my bed he’ll find my doppelganger. I’ll ask my doppelganger to tell my dad there’s a monster on my bed.”
“I’d ask her to attend all the annoying family functions, office meetings, and silly weddings while I took a long vacation and relaxed. Of course, I’ll offer to do the same whenever she needs me to.”
“I’d find out if they had a family and kids, and if they did, I’d like to pay them a visit. Just to know what I’ve gotten in store for me in terms of how my kids are going to look.”
The interesting thing is that the movie The Parent Trap is actually not too far from reality. There have been quite a few instances of people finding their twins who were separated as infants, many years later (1).
In other cases, seeing a ghostly twin version of yourself might actually be a sign of an underlying neurological disorder. The condition is called the ‘doppelganger effect’ in which a person will hallucinate that they’re viewing or interacting with themselves but from the ‘outside’.
In other instances, famous people were said to have met or seen their doppelganger just a few weeks/days before their untimely deaths. One of the most famous examples of this happening is that of Abraham Lincoln seeing ‘two versions of his face’ in a mirror, one of which was ghastly pale. When he told his wife, she saw it as a sign that he would get re-elected but warned him that seeing a doppelganger is an ill omen. Lincoln was re-elected for his second term, but he was shot just 42 days into his second term by John Wilkes Booth. This perpetuates the myth of doppelgangers being signs of bad luck.
However, the chances of you coming across your doppelganger are not very high, so there’s no need to barricade your doors and warn your family. In fact, according to scientists, the chances are one in a trillion (2). What will you do if you meet your doppelganger? Let us know in the comments section below.
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