Doppelgangers can have a twist. They’re more than just a twin version of you. Sometimes, they indicate bad luck, sinister intent, or they want to replace you.

Doppelganger Manifestations

First off, a doppelganger is:

“… a mysterious, exact double of a living person. It’s a German word that literally translates to “double walker” or “double goer”. 

Stephen Wagner, LiveAbout.com. May 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.liveabout.com/what-is-a-doppelganger-2593447 on Aug. 3, 2019

In most cases, you won’t know you have a doppelganger. Throughout history, it’s your friends and family that see your duplicate. Doppelgangers appear to warn of impending harm. Your friends would see the doppelganger get hurt, call you, and you’d likely avoid those situations that leads to harm. Then the doppelganger has done its job and has no need to continue. This is by far the most common form.

If you see another version of yourself, there could a mental condition at play (more under Getting Real… later on), or you have an evil twin.

Evil twin is loosely defined as “a physical copy of one’s self who has an altered morality.” It’s your inverse from another reality or dimension. How they get to our world is up for speculation. But they like our earth and will do whatever it takes to stay, which includes killing you. After all, they are you with the chutzpah to actually kill someone.

For example, The Tethered, from the movie, ‘Us,’ are more like evil twins than doppelgangers.

As for your other half (if you are a twin), catch up on that in this video:

Characteristics of Duplicates

It’s difficult to say which tell-tale signs a doggelganger has because it’s identical to you. Your evil twin has better defined characteristics. Well, it’s more like different behavior.

What does that mean? Let’s think about things other than your physical appearance, like:

1. They speak with your true accent (i.e., many people shift their accents when they leave home)
2. A doppelganger may eat things you wouldn’t touch (i.e., you could be a vegan and the twin may only want meat)
3. They will be more physical during encounters with friends (i.e., where you give a work-appropriate hug, they grope)
4. There’s no filter on what comes out of their mouths (i.e., my evil twin would swear like a sailor)
5. Where you may joke around, they actually do it (i.e., where you hint someone you dislike should get hit by a bus, the twin will shove that person in front of one)

This all tells me, the evil twin takes ‘you’ to extremes. There’s another give away to the twin: It hasn’t had your life experience, so people very close to you can tell. It’s the little things in your life that will give it away.

And then the twin will try to kill everyone that finds out.

Bringing the Doom

By themselves, your duplicate isn’t out to get you, but warn you about impending harm. It’s like a banshee without the screeching.

Where and when the doppelganger appears will provide clues about how you could get hurt. If you see your doppelganger walking across a busy road, then you might get hit by a car or get into a car accident. It would be severe: You’d break bones or die. This isn’t a fender-bender warning.

So, it’s not really a doppelganger waiting to replace you. That would be an evil twin, which most people confuse with them. An evil twin will manipulate, steal, hurt, kill, maim, etc., to get its way. These bastards are always up to no good.

Getting Real about Doppelgangers

You don’t have to worry about doggelgangers in your day-to-day life. There’s a 1-in-135 chance you’ll meet someone that would confuse even you. And, if you think about a non-biological twin, there’s a 1-in-a-trillion chance you’ll meet someone that could be you.

Today, doggelgangers are memes or just some good fun. There’s a site for you to post your encounters, TwinStrangers.net.

On a more serious note, your twin will likely be a deepfake. Cyber terrorists could take your social media profiles and twist them into something unthinkable. Your likeness could become a hate monger across the Web, and you would never know it.

Unfortunately, the most realistic type of doppelganger deals with schizophrenia or epilepsy. If you often see a version of yourself, then you may need to see a neuroscientist immediately. These hallucinations correlate to early onset of either condition.

Last Updated on April 4, 2024 by Jacob ‘Jake’ Rice