How Do You Find Your Doppelganger?

You don't find a doppelganger, he or she finds you!

The term doppelganger derives from the German word for 'double walker'. It is a paranormal concept, that centers around the idea of a person seeing or meeting an exact replica of themselves.

Where do I meet my doppelganger?
A doppelganger is considered to be evil or unlucky and, according to certain mythologies, is an omen of impending death.

Meeting one is considered to be a chance event or a paranormal apparition - so you can't simply go out looking for one!

Nowadays, the term doppelganger is more often applied to a look-alike or impersonator, without any of the negative connotations mentioned above - although history has some far more interesting stories to tell:

• The Romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley, reported seeing his doppelganger pointing ominously to the Mediterranean sea shortly before he died in a tragic sailing accident.

In fact, the poet even mentions his doppelganger in one of his most haunting poems, Prometheus Unbound.

• Abraham Lincoln also reported seeing a doppelganger before he was elected for a second term as President of the United States. Lincoln's wife even suggested that the apparition meant he would be re-elected, but would not survive his second term in office.

In 1864, Lincoln was in fact re-elected. One year later, he was shot dead by John Wilkes Booth...

Ominous, or what?