Do you have a doppelganger?

The first time I ever met my doppelganger was at the zoo, on a visit with my best friend at age 17. We were on a trip in the holidays to the City and were standing at the chimpanzee enclosure when a girl walked past who looked exactly like me. I had a double-take and looked back at the chimps, distracted.

“Did you see that girl?” my bestie asked, “she looked just like you. A twin actually!”

We gushed for about 15 minutes about these twins in the universe and how amazing it was, and then moved onto the mountain goats.

I later learned that these ‘twins in the universe’ are actually called doppelgangers. Seeing someone that looks exactly like yourself. It can feel like you’re looking at a reflection, but you’re actually seeing someone else. It’s also meant to mean that when you see your doppelganger that it’s a bad, bad omen, but I’m not paying any attention to that.

I have another doppelganger at the moment, and she must work near my dietitian’s office. I’ve seen her on each of my visits there and on the last visit we took an elevator ride, just the two of us. Me and my doppelganger.

I stood at the back of the lift and looked her up and down, as if I was looking at my own reflection in the mirror {well if my mirror was warped and I could see the back of me}. I wondered if she was thinking that we look the same. I know as we stood at the traffic lights outside, waiting to cross she looked at me as if she knew me.

I wanted to spark a conversation, “Do you think we kinda look the same?” But thought how crazy that might be. What if she was offended? A lift is certainly too small a space to be offending someone, especially when you have to travel 8 awkwardly silent flights together.

I didn’t though. We just stood in the lift and rode it until our stop, and parted ways.


Do you have a doppelganger? Have you ever come across them?

71 thoughts on “Do you have a doppelganger?”

  4. Yes!!! I do!!! And she lives just around the corner from me. I hadn't noticed until one of the ladies at the bus stop asked if I lived over there…. pointing at a house that wasn't mine! I told her no and she told me I was the spit of the girl who lived there….. I've now seen the girl from time to time and she also works in a shop that I go to often. She also has 2 boys, almost the same ages as mine haha! That lady wasn't the only one to ask if I was the other girl!

  6. I've been told that I look like lots of people. People always say 'you look so much like this girl I know'. It kind of gets annoying! Although I've never bumped into anyone myself.

    Dopplegangers remind me of Never Let Me Go. Have you read the book/seen the film? The children at the school are bred to be organ donors, and they go on a trip to find people who look like them. People who might have be their parents. It's actually quite sad, but it's such a good book. I'd highly recommend it if you haven't read it!

    x

  8. No I haven't but I do know a lot of people who have one, and it is bizarre. I think I would be too shy to talk to mine if I met them, I would probably just stare

  9. YES i do! My family met her on holiday once. She looked exactly like me and even had the same swimming costume!! My dad actually grabbed her from behind and threw her into the water thinking it was me!! Needless to say she was totally freaked out but when we explained she thought it was really funny….it was so weird!

  10. I have not… but I think it would be truly interesting!!!! I had a customer-type person tell me that she thought she saw me at a restaurant once and she would have bet 200$ it was me. Craziness!

  12. I am an identical twin but in the past both of us have been told things like 'i saw you down town last night' … neither of us was there. So there must be another look-a-like around!

  13. I used to live in Canberra and there was a girl that looked just like me. I never actually saw her myself but even my mum went up to her one day at the mall thinking it was me, but realised it wasn't when there was no recognition on this girls face! Freaky huh!

  14. I see mine all the time. Just to mix the metaphors, she's also 20 years younger than me, so it's like a living Picture of Dorian Gray doppelganger. I did introduce myself to her, as we kind of run in the same circles (it's a mid-sized town in the U.S., unavoidable.). She didn't seem to pleased to meet me, probably because my silly husband has pointed out the resemblance several times. She even appears to be going out with a shoe salesman that used to flirt with me! But it's fun, nonetheless, or at minimum a fun story. You should have said hi! You could have switched jackets or something!

  15. I wish I would bump into my doppelgänger!
    I was flipping through the newspaper once and there was some call centre employee in the background of a photo that was my twin…and I used to work in a call centre!

    When I started university, most people I met said they felt like they met me before…odd, right? I heard the comment over and over again! Maybe There is something familiar about my face!

  16. I don't have one but I'll never forget the day I was with my sister when we passed her doppleganger.

    We were walking through the doors of Myer and a girl with the splitting image of myself passed us in the other direction.

    It was like time froze and my sister and this girl stared at each other as they passed.

  17. I think I did when I was little, but we don't look at all the same now. My parents would video her at our dance dress rehearsals instead of me!!

  18. I've never met one, but a guy I knew in college said he knew a girl in high school who looked exactly like me. I've always been curioust to meet her, but I don't really know that guy anymore so can't really ask him to introduce us. Lol. That would definitely be strange to just randomly see someone in a crowd who looked like you though!

  19. I have never met my doppelganger, but this one time a lady in Target called out “Sharon??” to me and when I told her that my name wasn't Sharon she began telling me about some of the things we'd apparently done in the last year. I'm pretty sure she thought I had amnesia or something, because she simply didn't believe I wasn't Sharon.

    Michelle
    Bok Bok B'Gerk

  20. Years ago when I had red hair & “Prisoner” was at it's peak I was often mistaken for Bea Smith / Val Lehman ;~)

    For those who wonder what they'd say if they met their doppelganger … I'd be laughing & say “Where do I know you from?”

  21. My hubby has one. His mom saw this guy on the interstate and drove right next to him waving, waving. When she got no response, she called Frank and reamed him out for not talking to her. This went on for about three years in various places, she was really angry about him not talking to her when she saw him places.

    He had to shave his beard eventually to get int the chemical plants, and the sightings stopped.

    glen

  22. My mum has been mistaken for several people in her life. And there was a girl a few years ahead of me in high school who my mum and sister mistook for me walking down the road. She had the same profile and colour hair. But face on she wasn't that similar. Other than that I don't think I've found mine.

  23. How amazing! I'm imagining the conversation thinking… what if she said, yeah, sorry I don't think I do look like you at all! How weird would that be! Or if you sat down and had coffee together to compare lives!

  24. Oh i must have a few too. Average build, height, looks, complexion, blonde hair, blue eyes . . . all through Uni people would call me other names, then at jobs people would say i look like their cousin, every new city we move too – oh, sorry i thought you were . . . it's weird but i've never met anyone who i actually thought looks like me, but everyone else has!! Everyone says my children look like each other, i don't see it, but get it all the time. Maybe as 4 teens they'll look more alike, in size etc. I would SO have said to that lady “we look like each other” but in the open, not the lift, so she had a get away, just in case. Love Posie

    • Mine was Kate Moss in my teen years & early 20's too. Somehow by about age 30 I stopped hearing “you remind me of Kate Moss” hmm funny that.

  26. Oops, commented in the wrong place a sec ago. Anyway, I asked if having an actual identical twin counts? Lol…we look just alike according to most. If not then I guess I haven't met mine yet.

  27. When I was in year 8 at school, a new boarder started in year 9. We were separated at birth. Everyone was confused. Teachers, students, the lot. We did not talk about it. We pretty much disliked each other to the point of never speaking. It was weird and now I look back I think it was truly bizarre.

  28. The boyfriend told me he saw a girl that looked just liked me in London last week, he nearly had a heart attack since I live in Lima, Peru. Then told me never to go to the UK without telling him cause he'd be pissed hahaha so much for surprises tho if I went to England I'd barely keep quite about it xD I've never actually seen one but I've been told (several times) that I looked exactly like “blah blah”
    I'd be freaked out if I saw my doppelgänger, I am an only child an quite enjoy been only me so two of me, I dunno how I feel about it 😛

  29. Darn! i had written this huge comment and it vanished somehow :S how odd. I'll write it again I guess 🙂

    My boyfriend saw my doppelgänger in a London station last week, he nearly had a heart attack since we haven't seen each other in like a year (damn this long distance relationships!). According to him she looked exactly like me just a bit taller. I would love to change places with her! hahaha. Don't think i'd like to meet her tho, I'd be freaked out. I'm an only child and quite enjoy been only me so meeting my doppelgänger is sth I don't look forward to! xD

  30. I've never noticed my doppleganger, will have to keep my eyes open. My brother-in-law has grabbed me on the bum because he thought from the back that I was his wife/my sister!

  31. Great post! I've never met my doppleganger, althought I have heard that everyone has one somewhere. Maybe I'll start keeping a keener eye out for him! 🙂

    Dusty

  33. Years ago people at my work (not just one person, but quite a few) used to swear they saw me at a train station in the mornings on the way to work. Although she had darker hair, it wasn't unusual for me to change my hair colour.

    People wouldn't believe me when I said “I wasn't at Town Hall station this morning” (I used to catch the bus in those days in didn't even go through the City!), they would think I was lying!

  34. Years ago when I was in my early twenties there was this waitress that worked at a night club and she was a spitting image of me. So much so that when I started seeing my now husband, he thought I was her! It was so weird because she was my height, build, hair everything… I was constantly asked if I was her and she told people she was sick of being asked if she was me!

  35. I now live in Canberra but grew up elsewhere, and apparently I have one who grew up here. I get women swearing that I went to school with them at one of the all-girls private schools, and have them look at me funny when I tell them that they must be mistaken because I didn't grow up here. They then insist that I was class of '93, which is great considering I'm actually class of '98, so my 'twin' is 5 years older than me!

    But yes, even growing up I used to have people say I looked like their niece/granddaughter or someone they knew – I guess I have one of those familiar faces as well!

  36. I havent met one but years ago I lived in a town and I was constantly mistaken for another person. One day I went into my bank for a simple transaction and the teller was carrying on about a loan process. Once I stopped her and I told her what I was there for she apologised and explained that I looked exactly like someone who she has dealt with the day before for a loan.

  37. Cool story Chantelle…I've never heard of a Doppelganger before 🙂
    Next time you see here near your dietician's office {if you do}, spring up a conversation with her…such as: “Hi….by any chance, were you at the ____ Zoo in 19____?”
    {coz maybe that teenage Doppelganger you saw is her :))))
    x

  38. Yes! I seem to have a doppelganger who lives on the other side of Brisbane because I've had a few customers ask me if I went to XXX school or live in XXX street – always the same ones.

  39. Yes,I have 2, one I saw myself about 13 years ago and she looked exactly like me, even had the same hair style….a bit freaky! We didn't talk, I just saw her across the room. All my friends said we looked identical.

    About a month ago a friend was at a wedding and she said the lady singer of the band was my doppelganger. I asked her to take a picture but she didn't so perhaps she just had a few too many wines.

  40. I wish I had a doppelganger. I could send her to meetings in my place 🙂

    A few people say I look a lot like Julianne Moore but I'm sure its just the red hair and pasty complexion.

  41. I have a doppelganger, although I have never met her personally.

    In my first year at university, a girl always stared at me during lectures, which was quite irritating. One day, she came to me with a photo and showed it to me. There was a girl – with MY face! It was a friend of hers, and although she wore clothes I'd never choose, had a different hair colour and was slimmer, she looked like my twin. Absolutely mindblowing…

    So, yes. I have a doppelganger.

  42. I've never met my doppelgänger – but she's out there and her name is Alice! When I lived in Sydney, I had people call out “Alice” to me and then look confused at my blank expression because I didn't know them. Very surreal.

  43. I have two somewhere out there, but I have never seen them. I've had people tell me about them.
    My ex even walked up to the one he saw and asked “what you doing in the area and didn't tell”, he said the girl looked confused. It took him a couple of mins to realize it wasn't me. He them promptly called me to make sure and tell me the story.

  44. I must have a common face as I've had several. There was a girl two years ahead of me in high school, and even her brothers thought we looked alike. I was mistaken for her all the time. Then during my chubbiest years ther was the constant references to Magda Zubanski, but most recently an air hostess commented I looked like Ginnifer Goodwin. Win!

  45. I have been told i look like…..such and such….i have never met my doppleganger but it would be awesome and scary too id imagine, my neice and my daughter are SO similar they could nearly pass as each other, shan is coming to stay tommorrow actually and i love seeing them together because they never spent much time together when younger but to see the mannerisms and watch how they act and interact with each other is really cute and quite funny. In actual fact when they were about 2 we were visiitng my dads and i happened to ask zoe why she had changed her clothes, when in actual fact it was shannon i was asking not zoe,,,,oops:)

  46. I've never met mine but I know she's out there somewhere. I remember about 10 years ago she ran away from home and I was stopped at our local outside market and questioned by police cause they thought I was her (thank God I had my ID on me, they wanted to take me in right then, lol!) Then there's been other times when I used to work at Wal-mart, people would stop and tell me how good I was at the soccer game the night before, or the week or weekend before lol, I've NEVER played soccer! It's been years since anyone has said anything, so I'm guessing she must've moved away, or maybe we only looked alike for a little while, and we look nothing alike now. I'll probably never know either way.

  47. Do You watch How I met your mother?? They have a thing about finding their doppelgangers, its very funny! I saw mine at a zoo, years ago, she looked exactly like me but with bright blue hair!!! Crazy. Didn't have a chance yo day anything to her though! Love this post, we are your newest follower!

    Laura xo
    Sprezzaturaourway.blogspot.com

  49. When I was 10, I moved to a new school. Apparently my doppelganger was at the school the year before and just moved that previous summer. The reason I believed she was my doppelganger was because people would actually call me by her name. I always wondered about her…..

  50. haha you should have started a conversation with her?! I know I would have!lol… I am yet to meet my doppelganger(?)… I have been told I look just like so and so(form various cultural backgrounds which makes it really strange)…Or did you go to this high school? or did you work at…? Or most strange I was approached by a stranger complimenting me on my voice… Seeing my confused look he asked me if I wasn't that chick who was in idol?… I must have one of those faces I guess… lol

  53. My very good friend and I have been asked whether we were twins or just sisters. But I fear that it may be more of a situation where you tend to look more like your pet rather than it be my doppelganger (though I don't know which one of us is the pet!)

  54. I haven't seen mine, but have been told that I have one, i have met someone elses.. terribly embarassing 🙂 Turned out it WAS her twin, i didn't know she had a twin lol. However it freaks me out a little, i'm reading a book called Dopplegangster and its about bad omen dopplegangers… just the word freaks me out at the moment!!

  55. Funny after reading this post and wondering if I ever had a Doppleganger – today I was having afternoon tea with a group of mums from my daughters school and one said to me how is your new house on that acreage near the bike track? I saw you last week in the garden and waved as I was riding past! I said to her it was not me – she replied wow it certainly looked like you
    so there you have it I do have a Doppleganger and in the same town!

  56. This post had me laughing 🙂

    My sister once thought I had one, but just as she went to tap 'my' shoulder the girl turned and it was a Church Choir member who had cut and colored her hair just like me! People started to call her my 'stalker'. Ugh. Copycats, hate them.

  57. Dopplegangers remind me too much of vampire diaries…anyone who has seen the show would know how messed up having one can get!! 🙂

  59. My uncle is convinced Yani Tseng is my doppelganger! But I think it's more our body shape than our faces!!

    I apparently have a doppelganger in Auckland somewhere.. but I've never seen her.. I've had friends completely convinced they saw “me” out somewhere that I wasn't anywhere remotely close to at the time… Quite a few of my friends have seen her.. tho I haven't!

    I was convinced I found my friend Mike's doppelganger on a metro in Canada tho.. even had a scar on his eyebrow.. I stared at him for so long without realising that he gave me the evils, like “what are you STARING at?”.. I wanted to apologise and explain but thought it would sound really corny and like I was trying to chat him up or something so I just looked away… thankfully he got off a couple of stops after! (Maybe I freaked him out??!!)

  60. I have! Funnily enough, I was at the Australian Idol auditions back in 2004, and she was there auditioning too. I was with a good friend, my boyfriend and my mum. She (my doppelgänger) was down the stairs getting ready to go in, while I was sitting up in the seats. Both my boyfriend and my mum saw her, and turned to each other and said “when did she get all the way down there? I didn't even hear them call her name…” and I turned and said “actually, Im right here. Thats creepy”. She looked so like me that both my mum and boyfriend were convinced it was me! Not only were we both obviously singers, but I have weird frizzy curly hair that not many people have (ive never met anyone before with the same kind of curls I have) but she did. She was also wearing an outfit that I owned (I wasnt wearing it at the time though, that would have been way too weird). It freaked me out to be honest. My friend tried to get me to go and talk to her, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

  61. I have! Funnily enough, I was at the Australian Idol auditions back in 2004, and she was there auditioning too. I was with a good friend, my boyfriend and my mum. She (my doppelgänger) was down the stairs getting ready to go in, while I was sitting up in the seats. Both my boyfriend and my mum saw her, and turned to each other and said “when did she get all the way down there? I didn't even hear them call her name…” and I turned and said “actually, Im right here. Thats creepy”. She looked so like me that both my mum and boyfriend were convinced it was me! Not only were we both obviously singers, but I have weird frizzy curly hair that not many people have (ive never met anyone before with the same kind of curls I have) but she did. She was also wearing an outfit that I owned (I wasnt wearing it at the time though, that would have been way too weird). It freaked me out to be honest. My friend tried to get me to go and talk to her, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

  64. I was 19 years old that time, my mom told me to go back to my dormitory early which is an hour travel from home. my cousin told my mom he saw me in front of our house that he called my name but wasn’t answering and just look at him. That afternoon my mom then called me and was mad why I haven’t travel going to my dorm yet. When supposedly I just woke up and I’m already on my dormitory early that day. I was very scared and that feeling was not normal because when I woke up I feel so tired, I mean super tired and I was so thirsty. Everytime someone do bad things at me they meet an accident or be sick. I was told by someone who can see ghost that my Doppleganger is looking after me. Scary 🙁

  65. It’s not funny talking about Doppelgänger I tell you. It’s really scary to have one. You’re always scared of being alone.

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