Doppelgänger is a German word many "double goer" and refers to a wraith or apparition that cast no shadows and is a replica or double of a living person. They were generally considered as omens of bad luck or even signs of impending death – a doppelgänger seen by a person's relative or friend was said to signify that illness or danger would befall that person, while seeing one's own doppelgänger was said to be an omen of death.
One of the most famous depictions of doppelgängers comes from the 1851 sketch and 1864 watercolour called 'How They Met Themselves' by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. According to interpretation, two medieval lovers are walking through the woods at twilight when they encounter their doubles who glow supernaturally. The man draws his sword in astonishment, while his lover appears to collapse in a deathly swoon. Doppelganger imagery occurred in poems Rossetti admired such as Elizabeth Barrett Browning's The Romaunt of Margaret and Poe's Silence.
How They Met Themselves, Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Image source .
While Doppelgänger cases are said to be works of fiction, there are a number of real-life cases in which individuals claim to have met their sinister duo. Among the most noteworthy is Abraham Lincoln's experience, as chronicled by Noah Brooks in his book Washington in Lincoln's Time (1895). According to his account, soon after Lincoln was elected in 1860, he arrived home one day and looked into the bureau mirror where he saw himself reflected in double. Lincoln said, "...nearly at full length; but my face had two separate and distinct images." Lincoln noticed that although the images were nearly identical, one was "a little paler—say five shades—than the other". His wife was said to be very worried and told Lincoln she believed that the paleness of half the dual image was a bad omen, which meant that Lincoln would serve his first full term, but would not live to finish his second.
One of the earliest references may be in the Zurvanite branch of Zoroastrianism. This sect distilled the general abstract duality of Zoroastrianism into a concept of manifest twins "born" of a monist "Time." In this cosmological model, the twins Ahura Mazda (Ormuzd) and Angra Mainyu (Ahriman) were co-eternal representatives of good and evil.
In Ancient Egyptian mythology, a 'ka' was a tangible "spirit double" having the same memories and feelings as the person to whom the counterpart belongs. In one Egyptian myth entitled, The Greek Princess, an Egyptian view of the Trojan War, a ka of Helen was used to mislead Paris of Troy, helping to stop the war.
Norse folklore describes entities known as vardøger, ghostly beings that preceded their living counterparts, taking their places at various activities and performing their actions in advance. The spirit with the subject's footsteps, voice, scent, or appearance and overall demeanour precedes them in a location or activity, resulting in witnesses believing they've seen or heard the actual person before the person physically arrives. This bears a subtle difference from a doppelgänger, with a less sinister connotation.
People from the Orkney Islands in Scotland feared small, fairy-like creatures called "trows". According to legend, trows would give birth to children who were apt to be sickly. Pregnant women were carefully guarded from the trows who would often steal healthy human babies and replace them with their own children, known as 'changelings', who would transform into exact replicas of the stolen children.
Depiction of a trow replacing a baby with a 'changeling'. Image source .
Doppelganger - Crystalinks. Available from: http://www.crystalinks.com/doppelganger.html.
I am of the twin. Dopplganger appears to be a dual personality.. maybe bi-polar.
We have these in Anglo-Saxon lore as well. They are known as fetches and are oftentimes the opposite gender of the person they are assigned to. Men and women who love their fetches make better lovers.
not talking to your doppelganger reminds me of back to the future part 2, i had no idea about the lincoln tie in, but that was super cool and i've heard of birds that lay eggs in other birds nests, but not baby snatching Trows....Very Interesting!!