BLOG: 11 Strange Stories of Supernatural Doubles
The theme of the “evil twin” has long been a surprise plot twist in many movies and books. But what if the evil twin paradox was in fact a true event?
In the paranormal world, the idea of the evil twin presents itself in several kinds of similar phenomena.
The idea of the doppelgänger or spirit double is known across numerous cultures, and is often believed to be a paranormal phenomenon in which witnesses encounter a ghostly apparition of living person. Sighting a doppelgänger is generally believed to be a harbinger of bad luck to come. Historical figures like Abraham Lincoln, Queen Elizabeth I, and Catherine the Great famously recorded witnessing their doppelgängers, and soon afterward met their own demises.
Another phenomenon appearing in both religion and mysticism is the event of bilocation, when a living person, or even an object, appears in two or more places at the same time. Episodes of bilocation have been documented among Christian saints, monks, Muslim sufis, and practitioners of the occult. For example, in the 16th century St. Francis Xavier of the Catholic Church ministered to native inhabitants of Ceylon, India, Malaya and Japan. He reportedly preached in several places at the exact same time so often that witnesses considered his bilocation ability to be an ordinary occurrence! Acquaintances of occultist Aleister Crowley also believed he possessed the ability to bilocate, as he appeared to them psychically while he was actually physically a great distance away.
A much newer term that is sometimes applied to occasions of witnessing a supernatural “twin” is experiencing a “glitch in the matrix.” Stemming from the 1999 movie The Matrix, the term encompasses perplexing events with no logical explanation that seem to indicate our reality may not be as real as we believe. These glitches may come in the form of time jumps, disappearing or teleporting objects, event sequences that repeat as if on a loop, and witnessing someone’s inexplicable double. Some well-known glitch in the matrix stories circulating the internet include a witness who dropped a spoon and watched it disappear into thin air, a family who experienced their hotel room layout change overnight while they slept, and a husband and wife who entered their home one night to see the same wife sitting inside at her computer desk! Firsthand glitch in the matrix accounts have amassed in large amounts on Reddit since the term became popular.
And perhaps the most sinister of the supernatural double phenomena is the idea of the shapeshifter, the metamorph, or demonic manipulation: a malevolent entity that assumes a familiar form for some unknown (but probably nefarious) purpose. One example of this terrifying occurrence is shared in Episode 198 of The Confessionals, The Evil Nicky. The first guest of the episode recounts an unforgettable experience with what he believed was his childhood friend, only to discover that her likeness had been assumed by something very, very inhuman.
Each of these aspects of the “evil twin” - doppelgänger, bilocation, glitch in the matrix, and shapeshifter - falls under the wide, mysterious umbrella of supernatural doubles. While plausible explanations about the physical causes or reasons for the phenomena are limited in number, scary stories of each one are in no short supply. Read just a few of these chilling accounts in the following 11 strange stories of supernatural doubles!
1. THE DAD WHO STARED: “My dad used to get up Around 3AM every morning for work. Starting at a very early age I would wake up on my own and wander downstairs to see him before he left. One morning when I was about 4 years old, I made it to the bottom of the stairs and noticed that he front door was ajar. I opened it up and saw my father in his favorite workshirt making his way down the driveway to his truck in his typical work oufit (plaid shirt and dickies). I swung the door open wide and yelled for him to come back for a hug before he left. He slowly turned around and just STARED at me and started walking back towards the house. He was looking so strangely at me that it started to scare me and I began crying and asking what was wrong. Just as he had almost reached me a pair of arms encircled me from behind in a bear hug. I turned my head to see my understandably freaked out father staring at his doppleganger (in the SAME outfit). The double took one look at my dad and ran down the driveway, meanwhile my dad yanked me in the house and locked the door. Wierdest morning EVER. Never did quite figure that one out. I would not trust my 4 year old memory of the event if it wasn’t also witnessed by my father. He wont really talk about it these days but my mom has since told me that he called out of work and she spent the day reassuring him he wasn’t a nutcases.” - Shared from Personal Ghost Stories
2. THE SLOW, SILENT MOM: “I was maybe 9 years old when this happened. We had relatively recently moved neighborhoods, and I-being the oldest of three girls- got to have my own bedroom. I had my great-grandmother’s full bed in the middle of my square room. I loved it.
One night I woke up, sometime around 2-4am, and I saw my mom standing in my doorway. Something about her was off- I don’t remember anymore if she was pale and translucent, or silver, or how she specifically looked, but she was standing in my doorway staring at the wall across from her. I asked, “Mom?” thinking that she had come in to tuck me in. She started slowly walking down along the edge of my bed, and the whole time I was chanting, “Mom..? Mooooom…? Mommm??” She never registered a word. She turned the corner and started walking up towards the head of the bed, still very slow, and when she reached about the pillow-area where I was curled, she started to slowly tilt her head down to look at me and vanished.
I freaked out immediately, and I jumped out of bed and ran to my parents’ room. Their sliding door was shut, so I opened it quietly and saw my parents fast asleep, the light on next to my mom’s side where she had been reading a book and passed out. It was even open to a page on her arm where it slipped from her hand. I know for a fact that she did not physically get up and had not been in my room, and it to this day creeps me out when I remember that slow pace, just walking around my room….” - Shared from Personal Ghost Stories
3. THE TRAGIC BOYFRIEND SIGHTING: “2 years ago my boyfriend killed himself. On the night that he did it I was sitting in my car outside of my apartment waiting for him (he texted me and said he was on his way) from across the lot I see him, so I get out of my car and start walking towards him. After about three steps I realize that he’s walking in the other direction, so I yelled out his name, “James!” but he didn’t turn around, right as I was about to catch up to him he rounded the corner. When I came around the corner there was no one there. I had seen his face when I first saw him across the lot I’m sure of it. It was dark, but I know it was him. Fast forward to the next morning after me calling him all night, I get a call from his brother telling me what happened. It was the same time that I saw him in the parking lot.” - Shared from Personal Ghost Stories
4. THE SICK DAY: “[This] happened in early 2000 when I was working at a juvenile detention center in a small town in Oklahoma as a corrections officer. I was working nights at the time and went to work at nine p.m.
This one night when I arrived for work my supervisor looked confused and asked me what I was doing there. I said "I work tonight." And he said "But they said you called in a few hours ago saying that you were sick." I was a bit confused and said "It must have been someone else and they got the message wrong.".
After everyone else showed up for work that night it was a bit more weird, but we carried on as usual and assigned everyone their places for the night; I went to work in the control room where I usually work. The control room is the center of the prison that has direct control over the cameras, doors, phones and everything. After I relieved the guard on duty and settled in for the night, I looked at the message that said I called in. It said that I had called at 6:50 and said that I had gotten sick while out cleaning up after the storm. There had been a storm the night before and it was a bit bad, but not anything that I had to go out to clean up. It was truly weird.
The supervisor came into the control about that time. He was also a friend of mine outside work and we started talking about it, and how odd it was. I decided to call my wife at home and tell her about it while he was still sitting there. I picked up the phone and dialed. After two rings a man picked up the phone and with a raspy voice said "Hello?". I did not know what to say for a few seconds. I looked at the phone to make sure I dialed the right number, and I had. After a few seconds the person said "Hello?" again in the same raspy voice. I said "Hello. who is this?" "This is Taylor who is this?" the person said. My head started spinning because my name is Taylor also. I said in almost a scream "Where is Ann?". He said "Ann's in bed. Who is this?" I dropped the phone and told my supervisor to ring me out, I had to get home, and I took off towards the door. I could hear Dave pick up the phone behind me and say "Hello?" followed soon after by "What the f--k!" rather loudly.
I ran to my car and drove home faster then what was legal, my mind racing the entire time. I busted through the door and my wife was sitting watching t.v. and was shocked at me being home. I asked her who was there and she said no one has been here. After a rather long talk with my wife, I went to call the prison to tell them what was going on, but the phone was dead.
I went back to work and when I came in Dave was acting weird and asked me, "How the hell are you doing this?" He told me that when I left, he picked up the phone and the person on the other end sounded like me. He kinda freaked out and hung up the phone. A minute later as he could see my car leaving the parking lot, I had called back from home and asked what the f--k was going on. He said that I was a bit irate and said I was sick and did not feel like playing these games and was telling him to stop prank calling me and hung up. After convincing him I had no idea what was going on, we went back to work.
Later, I find out that the phone line for my area had been knocked down the night before by the storm. This is absolutely the strangest thing that has ever happened to me.” - Shared from Distractify
5. THE GRANDFATHER WHO BECAME A STRANGER: “This happened to me once in high school. I was in a grocery store and turned a corner to see my grandfather standing in the middle of an aisle. Seeing as how he lived about 1,000 miles away, I was stunned. He looked up at me, widened his eyes, and gave me the most heartfelt “Hi!” I’ve ever received. After returning the greeting, he put his arm on my shoulder and I asked how he’d been doing. The second he touched me something changed. After staring at each other, we simultaneously realized we were complete strangers. The craziest part was, the instant we realized we didn’t know each other, he stopped looking like my grandfather. As if his face changed. Freaks me the fuck out to this day.” - Shared from Personal Ghost Stories
6. THE COMA BILOCATION: “When I was 7, my father went on business out of state for a week. While away, he was involved in a car accident which put him into a coma for 2 weeks. During that time I would see flashes of him wandering around the house looking confused, and if he looked in my direction or someone walked around him, he wouldn’t even react. Granted these flashes were only 1-2 seconds tops, usually less. I would tell my mom every time I saw him and she brushed it off as me missing my dad. When he came out of the coma, my mom told him about all my “sightings.” When she was done explaining my behavior dad asked me to leave the room, and that was the last I heard about it until I was 18, leaving for college. Before heading out, they sat me down and told me that the only thing my dad remembered while being in the coma was wandering around our house and trying to figure out why it was empty and looking for everyone. He said he would randomly see me flash in and out and described exactly how I would see him for a split second. Maybe not ultra creepy but I still get goosebumps thinking about it.” - Shared from Personal Ghost Stories
7. THE ESCAPED PATIENT: “I used to work in a state inst for developmentally disabled. We were temp relocated to another building for remodeling of our bldg. Anyways…I was working one nite, 2nd shift. We had a locked pica unit. I saw one of the residents walking down the hall. Very distinct gait and very distinct yellow t-shirt w/ a happy face on it. I went into the ward to let staff know that they had an escapee. This was a serious situation because this particular resident, Larry, would ingest absolutely anything (from clothing to pens to belts to *ugh* a bird’s head)…literally anything. He was also very reluctant to go back to his home ward (hence why I didn’t bring him back myself…he needed two escorts). When we got back into the hall, less than 15 secs later, Larry was gone!! We searched the entire building! Outside, downstairs, all wards…he was NO WHERE to be found!!! This whole search lasted last than 10 mins because I had all extra staff looking for him. I was just about to call the house supervisor to let her know that we “lost” someone when out from the bathroom walks Larry w/ one of the staff. He had been getting his bath in the bathroom for the last 30 mins or so. Kind of freaky! I absolutely, without a doubt, saw Larry in the hallway. I never would’ve short-staffed the wards like I did if I hadn’t seen him! Like I said, very distinctive gait, look, clothing. I took a lot of razzing that nite! They all thought that I was crazy. Anyways, come to find out the next day, after the story goes around that I am crazy (haha, gigglegiggle, funnyfunny)…………..Larry had an identical twin brother who died in that building 10 yrs previously.” - Shared from Personal Ghost Stories
8. THE SLUMPED FATHER: “I woke up out of bed in the middle of the night, I walked out into the living room and saw my dad slumped over and walking to the front door. I just stood there and watched and he walked out side and sat down on the sidewalk that went up to the front door. I watched him through the window for a second and he just sat there staring into a tree with no expression on his face. He looked really pale and almost blueish. I then walked down to my parents room and I woke up my mom and asked her why dad was sitting outside. Then I will never forget it, she said “What are you talking about? He’s right here” and I looked over her and my dad was laying asleep in bed.
Still scares me to think about it.” - Shared from Personal Ghost Stories
9. THE BACKSTAGE CLOSET: “There was this creepy little room at the back of the school stage, no light, small, and it locked from the outside. It gave us the heebie jeebies. We were joking about backstage and locked one of our friends in. He flipped his shit, started hammering on the door, we were all laughing like the bunch of assholes we were back the. Then his screams start mingling with the hammering and shaking of the door we stop laughing and we’re all staring at the door, then suddenly all noise stops.
We’re all silent now, then we start calling his name.. No reply.
Some of the bolder members of our group open the door, and go in. He’s not in there. We don’t believe them at first.. But it’s a tiny room and he’s not there.
The then we start screaming his name and searching nearby, we spot him through one of the windows coming towards the building. We can’t believe it. We all run to him.
He says we let him out and we just stared right through him. We were crowding the door to the room that the dark room was in. NO WAY he passed by us.
Still have no idea what happened that day.” - Shared from Thought Catalog
10. THE GIRLFRIEND WHO WASN’T: “So I guess a little context is in order. My girlfriend and I had been together about a year at the time, never had big problems, we are both pretty relaxed people. Never have had a big fight, never had trust issues, the whole shenanigan.
So one day I was out in front of my apartment building smoking a cigarette, this was before we lived together. I had seen her the night before, had a nice dinner, gone out to a bar, then gone to my place, after which she took a taxi home. So as I'm standing out in front of my apartment building, she pulls up in a taxi. I wasn't expecting her, and was pleasantly surprised to see her. I put out my cigarette, smiled and walked up saying something like "Hey, what are you doing here?" (in a very friendly way).
She scours at me, and slaps me square across the jaw. Obviously I'm dumbfounded, and at a loss for words so I just kind of looked at her. She never said anything, just barged past me into the building.
I followed her up to my apartment, asking her what was happening the whole way, she goes into my apartment, grabs her bag and some of her stuff she left there, throws a few things at me, breaking a glass or two and knocking down a bunch of stuff on a shelf. She calls me a pig, says she knows everything, and that I've broken her heart. I'm trying to figure out what's going on obviously, and she stops on her way out when I touch her sleeve, glares at me again and slaps me. She tells me something like "I hope I never see you again" and walks out. I followed her to the street and she got in her cab, and drove off. The street was pretty empty, this was maybe 8-9 a.m., and I watch her drive off. At this point I'm just lost for words, scared and sad.
Then, as I'm watching the cab drive away, someone hugs me around my waist from behind. I turn around, and its her, in running clothes (she was wearing heels and a leather jacket before), and I went completely pale. She said "hi" in her usual happy-go-lucky tone, then noticed my look and said "what's wrong".
I spun around, no taxi. It had literally driven away five seconds earlier, no way it could've turned in that time, and all the lights were red. I didn't say anything to her, just ran upstairs. Her bag was gone, things were still broken, my door still wide open. So then I told her.
We were both monumentally confused, there's no way I could have mixed her up with someone else, and she's an only child. We had security check the cameras, and sure enough, Me following a girl to my apartment. The angles weren't great, and the film wasn't great quality, but it was pretty easy to see me and my face, but hers was always hard to make out looked a hell of a lot like her, but never a clear shot.
No way it was the same girl.
Still creeps me the f--k out, and we don't talk about it.” - Shared from Distractify
11. THE CALL FROM THE BASEMENT: “I used to work in a building that had three levels of sub-basements, with the piece of lab equipment I typically worked on in the lowest basement. I had the only key. There was a wired phone in there, and I did work late some nights, but not this night."
I was sleeping alone in my apartment when I woke up to a call on my cell phone from my girlfriend at 3 AM. She was in hysterics and asking why I scared her.
Apparently, she received a call from that basement phone just a minute earlier, with someone who sounded like me slowly repeating her name, until crackling and fading out. My apartment was 10 miles away from work.
I thought she was lying, but I saw the 3 AM call from the basement phone logged on her cell myself.” - Shared from 22 Words
For more creepy accounts of supernatural doubles, check out The Confessionals Episode 117: Gorilla Man, Doppelgängers and Demons, Oh My! or our blog post 5 Historical Figures Who Saw Their Doppelgänger... And Then Died.
Have you ever experienced some kind of supernatural double? What are your theories behind this unexplainable paranormal phenomenon that seems to occur in several different forms? Share your thoughts and stories with us in the comments section!
~ Lindsay W. Merkel
