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Throughout history, meeting a doppelganger usually meant bad luck and was considered as an evil omen by many folklore tales. Meeting a doppelganger in real life was seen as meeting with a malevolent twin or even a paranormal entity.
The science behind these twin strangers is also quite grim as heautoscopy or hallucinations of seeing your own body in the distance might be signs of schizophrenia and epilepsy, which explains why it was seen as a harbinger of bad luck in the olden days. Thankfully, today, we use the term doppelganger in a more general and neutral way to describe a person who looks or acts the same way as we do.
Bored Panda collected a list of people who experienced this bizarre look-alike phenomenon, and it genuinely looks like a glitch in the Matrix. Just think about it. You inherit the looks of your ancestors, and someone happens to look exactly like you, and you happen to meet him accidentally. What are the odds? And though it is quite an eerie experience, the chance for a fun picture is just too good.
If you have met your doppelganger in real life, we'd like to hear your story!
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#1
My Doppelganger Was Seated Next To Me On A Plane, Then We Accidentally Checked Into The Same Hotel And Went For A Beer
Amy Tarleton 8 years ago
The best part of this photo is the guy in the background getting a kick out of it!
RELATED:
#2
I Found My Literal Doppelgänger Just Now Wtf
#3
I Ran Into My Doppelganger At My Cousin's Wedding And She's My Cousin's Husband's Sister, No Other Relation
Are Doppelgangers Real?
The word “doppelganger” comes from the German language and literally means “double-goer” or “double-walker,” meaning a person who’s your visual copy. Unlike having an actual twin sibling, the doppelganger twins DNA will never match as they are supposed to be a carbon copy of you sans the shared genes. Spooky, right?
And although doppelgangers are very real in mythology and in popular culture (think “Twin Peaks” or “Us”), chances to meet one in real life are very, very slim. We’ll discuss just how slim they are in the next section.
#4
My Friend Met His Doppelganger Last Night
#5
When Retired Priest Neil Richardson Moved To Essex He Found People Kept Coming Up To Him To Say "Hello John" - Because His Double Already Lived There
#6
My Own Doppelganger That I Ran Into At A Music Festival, Plus A Face-Swap Of The Photo
Is it Possible to Have a Doppelganger in Real Life?
In a nutshell, yes, it is possible to have a doppelganger in real life, but there’s one huge caveat—the chances of having a real-life doppelganger that matches the measurements of your facial features exactly is about one in a trillion. So, if you’re worried about identity theft or if the thought of doppelganger scary stories keeps you up at night, you can rest assured that meeting one in real life is nearly impossible.
This leads us to another question—does everyone have a doppelganger? While we’re not aces in math or statistics, the odds are against this. You may certainly find someone who looks similar to you in your lifetime, but to say that every one of us has an exact match or a real-life doppelganger wandering around is a far shot.
#7
My Friend Found Her Doppelganger At A Party
#8
My Friend Also Found His Doppelgänger At A Party
#9
Doppelgangers. Truly Freaky
Are Doppelgangers Evil?
If we’re talking about real-life doppelgangers, one can never know with them! There are all kinds of people, and doppelgangers in real life can be both as good as you or as bad as your upstairs neighbor who seemingly wears wooden clogs and dances Kozachok in ungodly hours of the night.
If we’re talking about mythological doppelgangers, they almost certainly are all evil. Some mythologies name doppelgangers as harbingers of bad luck; most say they’re your evil twins, and the portrayal in popular culture almost always doubles them with the battle of good and evil.
So now that we know what a doppelganger is and the truth behind doppelganger's meaning, it’s up to you to decide whether to believe in their existence. Whether you think of them as evil entities or pure gene lottery, one thing is sure—they’re downright entertaining. Scroll down our list of real-life lookalikes and decide for yourself are doppelgangers real.
#10
Bumped Into My Doppelganger At Subic Bay. My Dad, Cousins And Brother Accidentally Mistook Her For Me, So My Aunty Asked Her If We Could Take A Photo Together
Amy Carter 8 years ago
DNA test needed! I mean even her own dad thought the doppelganger was her.
#11
10 Years Ago When I Went Off To College For The First Time, People I Didn't Know Kept Coming Up To Me And Calling Me "Brian". My Name Is Josh. Then A Few Weeks Into The Semester I Met Brian And We Took This Picture Together.
#12
Found My Doppelganger. Funny.... We Even Share The Same Birthday
#13
My Dads Coworker Is Also His Doppelgänger
#14
My Girlfriend Met Her Doppelganger
#15
I Met My Twin Brother From Another Mother At The Bar. His Name Is Adam And He Also Likes Beer
#16
My Bf (left) Met His Doppelganger At Ikea Last Night
#17
Saw Doppelgänger On Front Page Met Mine A Few Weeks Ago
#18
His Girlfriend Of One Year Started Walking Towards Me Thinking I Was Him...
#19
Met My Doppelgänger And Thought I'd Share. We Even Had Matching Hair Accessories. I'm On The Left
#20
I (im The Shorter One) Met My Canadian Doppelganger On A Cruise Ship With My Wife On Our Honeymoon!
Final score:
103points
#21
Got Stationed In Okinawa And Shortly After My Doppelgänger Joined My Unit
Final score:
98points
#22
I Was Walking Around A While Back And Met My Doppleganger, We Even Have The Same First Name
#23
Met My Doppelgänger. He's A Better Smiler Than I Am.
#24
So My Friend Found His Doppelgänger?
#25
This Is Me And My Doppelgänger. Have Any Of You Redditors Met Yours In Real Life?
#26
Met My Doppelganger
#27
My Friend Just Found His Doppelganger
#28
My Friend Met His Doppelganger On A Night Out...
#29
I Met My Doppelganger In Australia!
#30
Just 20 Minutes Before I Walked Into The Restaurant, The Server Told Her She Looked Like Me. We Actually Already Know Each Other.
Final score:
59points
#31
Was Out Last Saturday Night Minding My Own Business When A Guy And His Parents Approached Me For A Photo. Apparently I'm His Doppelganger?
#32
Ran Into My Daughter On A Business Trip... Oops. Guess Not.
Final score:
49points
tim nyberg (Submission author) 8 years ago
Ran into a server on break at Stone Brewing in San Diego and did a double take - she not only looked like my daughter (pictured on right), she dressed the same! I took the photo (with her permission and sent it to my daughter). When I got back home we staged a pose and sent it back to the server.
#33
It's Always An Interesting Night When You Randomly Run Into A Beard Doppelganger
#34
My Wife (left) Met Her Doppelgänger On Our Holiday In Rome.
Final score:
46points
#35
I Found My Doppelganger In A Bar Bathroom
#36
Found My Doppelganger, Bought Him A Jager And Got This Photo Op.
#38
I Finally Meet Longtime Virtual Pal Steve Burnett. Other People Stare In Horror At The Uncanny Duplication.
#39
My Brother Met His Black Doppelganger Last Night
#40
I Think I Found My Beard Doppelgänger
#41
I Met My Doppelganger A Year Ago In A Choir. I Was A New Member. Everyone Kept Telling Us That We Look Alike. We Denied For Months, Until We Decided To Do Snapchat's Face-swap. We Couldn't Stop Laughing When Looking At The Result.
Final score:
19points
#43
Just Now, Found My Doppelganger. Surreal. My Mom Told Me To Ask My Father Why This Guy Looks Like Me...
Final score:
17points
#44
My Brother From Another Mother.
Final score:
14points
#45
Met My Doppelgänger At Work! She Was Hired To The Same Unit 3 Months Before Me
Final score:
9points
#46
Never Met My Doppelgänger But He's A Korean Rapper Called Zico!
Final score:
7points
#47
Found My Doppelgänger At The Pub After My Friends Went Up And Hugged Her
Final score:
6points
Gail Torres 4 years ago
Different chins, different eyes different cheekbones....same dyed hair color.
#48
My Fiancé Ran Into His Doppelgänger At A Car Show. I Called The Guy Over And Made Them Take A Picture Together.
Final score:
6points
#49
Been Told 3 Times I Have A Dopplegänger. Where Are They??
Final score:
5points
Lora Glimp 8 years ago
My husband is/was your doppelganger. He passed away. I was showing your picture to my mom. I handed the phone to her and said "Tell me who this looks like?" She had a shocked look on her face. Our oldest son leaned over and said, " Hey that's my dad!" Yall could have been twins :)
#50
I (left) Met My Doppelgänger (jenna) At Chick-fil-a! I Actually Didn't Even See It Until All Her Coworkers Started Flipping Out. They Were Convinced We Were Twins Trying To Pull One Over On Them. After They Took The Picture I Flipped Too.
Final score:
5points
Note: this post originally had 352 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
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What do you think ?
Tiny Dynamine 8 years ago
I totally agree. Having glasses also helps but on a lot of them, if you look at their faces specifically, they don't look much alike.
Load More Replies...
Rafael Tiba 8 years ago
morgan freeman is more of a doppelganger to clint eastwood than some of the people on this list.
Dracule Mihawk 8 years ago
That's a little freaky. But interesting to see. I have yet to meet my doppelgänger.
Tiny Dynamine 8 years ago
I totally agree. Having glasses also helps but on a lot of them, if you look at their faces specifically, they don't look much alike.
Load More Replies... Rafael Tiba 8 years ago
morgan freeman is more of a doppelganger to clint eastwood than some of the people on this list.
Dracule Mihawk 8 years ago
That's a little freaky. But interesting to see. I have yet to meet my doppelgänger.
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