Shocking: The Doppelganger Fact-Book

Introduction

The concept of Doppelganger phenomena did not just pop up in some random person's mind and he wrote about it. On the contrary we can find its roots deep in a number of ancient scriptures and literature. Here in this article I will explain in detail the history as well as the various famous sightings of this phenomena. Doppelgangers, in simple words, are mysterious doubles of a person. Mostly, the sight of a doppelganger is believed to be harbinger of bad news, maybe even one’s death.

As explained above, the concept of Doppelganger is a derivative of four main mythological concepts. Different mythologies have been responsible for their contributions to the different traits of the double walker that we know of today. These four basic concepts are:-

1. 'Ka' belonging to the ancient Egyptian Mythology.
2. 'Vardoger' of the Ancient Nordic Mythology.
3. 'Etiainen' of the Finnish Mythology.
4. 'Ankou' of the Breton Mythology.

Their traits and description are mentioned in the above chart.

Another prominent view about this ancient concept is that a doppelgager is a living spirit double as well as a physical double of a person. Meaning thereby that your doppelganger is a person living somewhere far away a life similar to yours and person essentially has looks similar to yours. This one is also the most popular concept among the believers of Doppelgangerism. One such exceptional resource can be found on the net called " François Brunelle’s pictures."

This is one of those subjects which seem to be unbelievable yet is backed by tons of reports and sightings. Seems impossible? Take a look at this report which would change your thinking forever.

Sister Maria Coronel de Agreda who was a nun was sighted more than four hundred times in different parts of the world while all this time she was strictly in her convent in Spain(Agreda). These sightings range from the year 1619 to the year 1631. Another such incident is connected with a Christian priest named Antony of Padua who lived in Italy from 1195 to 1231. He was seen preaching in a Church called St. Pierre der Queyroix and a monastery but in different corners of a town in France, at the same time in the year 1226.

There are many explanations given for such occurring. According to one such theory people see their own doubles as a forecast of their death. Another theory says that some people see their beloved ones while they are somewhere else. There is another theory which says that those people whose doppelgangers are seen are either in distress or are near death. Also it is believed that some people who have strong divine powers can use them to produce their doppelgangers.

Another fact which fortifies the theory that doppelgangers of those people are seen who are in distress, is the one that happened to General Sabine who was the governor of Gibraltar from 1730 to 1739. He was once lying in his bed and was just about to sleep as he had been badly wounded in a battle, when he saw a vision of his wife standing beside him for a moment. When he saw that vision, she was in another town miles away from where he was. In the vision his wife looked depressed as if she had been waiting for his arrival for a long time. After a while the General heard the bad news that his wife had died just about the time he had seen her vision.

There have been many such reported incidents of people seeing their loved ones just about the time of their death or distress. A fact to be carefully noticed is that people have such experiences, mostly when they are asleep or when they are in a very low state of activity.

There are mainly three kinds of doppelgangers. In the first type, people see a person in more than one place at the same time as happened in the case of Sister Maria Coronel de Agreda. The second category consists of visions of loved ones at a time when they are in distress. In the third category people see their own image before death.

Poet Percy Bysshe Shelley had seen a vision of himself at a seashore with his fingers pointing towards the sea. Later he was sailing in a yacht which was caught in a storm and the poet died.

Edgar Allan Poe and the Doppelganger phenomena

It seems that the famous American writer was deeply affected by this phenomena. His short story William Wilson published in 1839 was based on the theme of doppelgangerism.

Possible Explanation

I have earlier explained doppelgangers, in detail. I have also given some interesting reports which are quite worthy of discussion and observation. In this section I would like to explain what science has to say about this phenomenon. Researchers have been, for a long time, trying to tap the inner depths of the human mind. There are many secrets hidden inside the human mind which we do not know of even after we have developed our technology to such an extent. One such subject is that of sleep. According to scientists there is a very thin line between the state of wakefulness and the state of sleep. When we are crossing that line and are about to sleep, we experience a lot of bizarre phenomena. One such phenomenon is doppelgangers. It is said to have been experienced when we see an image in front of us, the image being either of us or of some other person while he is somewhere else. According to scientists, these experiences mostly happen when we are in a state of low activity, fatigued, on low glucose level, sick or in less common cases suffering from a mental disorder.

Some observations have also shown that some people are even able to produce their own doppelgangers. How they do it is not clear.

When we are just about to fall asleep, we have experiences like seeing visions corresponding to some extensive work we have done that day or sometimes we even get an answer to a question which we have been trying to find out since long. The point being that in such a state our brain is working in a very delicate yet well maintained balance. A lot of random pieces of information wander in our mind. We hear such voices which are really not there. Sometimes we also feel as if we have seen our own image or the image of our loved one. We account these visions to doppelgangers. According to the above discussion, we can put forward a new theory. The theory being that all these events are the creation of our own mind. These theories given above are created by scientists and researchers who have been working on the explanation of such paranormal phenomena since long, but there still are many unanswered questions. Reading these theories we can only find a possible cause of such experiences as doppelgangers but what we cannot decipher from them is the definite answer i.e. the truth, the undisputed reality. The above hypotheses may in some way explain the ‘how’s but they cannot explain the ‘why’s’.

No matter how many theories have been put forward, doppelgangers are still a mystery in its full meaning. This is because of loads of evidence in favor of it and absence of proofs against it. No researcher till today has come up with substantial proof which would help to create a stand against doppelgangers.

Whatever the answer to this question, someone better come up with it and soon. Until this happens, doppelgangers will continue to play with our minds.