I Have Seen You somewhere Before....

Sound familiar?  When I was growing up, there was a saying I don't hear much anymore, that everyone has  a double somewhere in the world.  There are also real life stories of people who have literally run into people who look exactly like them.  In literature the word "doppelganger" (a German word meaning double walker) is used to described this paranormal phenomenon.


I found a few stories of famous people who have had doppelganger encounters:

• Percy Bysshe Shelley, who was a well known English poet in his own right, and the husband of Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. He saw his doppelganger several times in his life, normally when he was ill.  When he was in Italy shortly before his 29th birthday, he again saw his doppelganger pointing to the Mediterranean Sea. Shortly thereafter Shelley drown at sea.
• Queen Elizabeth I walked into her boudoir one day and saw herself lying on her bed. She died shortly after.
• Abraham Lincoln saw in the mirror himself as two faces, more than one time.  One face had a very pale pallor on it. He saw it more than one time. When he told Mary she was worried. She thought it meant he would be elected a second term, but would not live through it. He was assassinated in 1865.
• One I considered fascinating is "a case that suggests that doppelgangers might have something to do with time or dimensional shifts, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the 18th century German poet, confronted his doppelganger while riding on the road to Drusenheim. Riding toward him was his exact double, but wearing a gray suit trimmed in gold. Eight years later,Von Goethe was again traveling on the same road, but in the opposite direction. He then realized he was wearing the very gray suit trimmed in gold that he had seen on his double eight years earlier! Had Von Goethe seen his future self?"(1)

In our culture of present day doppelgangers are seen as omens of darkness, even impending death. In literature there are often reasons for these doppelgangers. They represent evil, in the battle of good and evil. Edgar Allen Poe wrote a short story "William Wilson", a man who is living destructively is followed by his doppelganger as his he was not living up to his moral fiber.  The famous ballet movie with Mila Kunis and Natalie Portman, The Black Swan was a great portrayal of the cinematic role of the doppelganger.

Even in my own life, my doppelganger appeared to my son. I was in another part of the house. It was during a period of duress in my life. Adrian had died a couple of years before, I dated a man after that was totally unhealthy for me, and I was lost. It sort of frightened me. I wasn't sure what it meant.  Was I going to die?  Was I astral projecting? I did not like either one of these options.  Years later, I still don't understand.  I haven't done it since that I am aware of. It goes to my theory of multidimensional living. In the most ordinary lives, the universe finds a way to intervene. It makes me realize how intricate and interesting the process of our creation is. That though is another blog.

1. www.paranormal.about.com/