About a year ago, I watched a short reportage via YouTube on 'twin strangers'. Apparently, on a planet with billions of inhabitants, we all have at least one Doppelgänger running around out there. The program highlighted a few sets of 'twin strangers', but two men stood out from the rest. Unlike the other pairs, these men really did resemble one another. Not only did they look rather alike physically, but their lives had striking parallels. Both men had been married 50 years, both had trained at the same teacher college and taught the same subject initially, both had adult sons who played the didgeridoo, of all instruments, and both (now) lived in the same town in Essex.
Their story was so compelling that it recently featured in a documentary film on the subject of Doppelgängers. John and Neil aren't the only 'twin pair' to make a splash in the film. Darren and David (actual twin names, I should think) are two men, one from Scotland & one from Poland, who look so alike that's it's uncanny.
 |
| John and Neil, or is it Neil and John? |
I saw my Doppelgänger once in a magazine. She seemed to be a more attractive version of me. Peering back from the page was a blonder, more blue-eyed girl with slightly more freckles on the bridge of her nose and the same rosy cheeks. It was jarring to see someone who looked so much like me especially given that my siblings and I do not resemble each other. I was at work when I made the 'twin discovery' and showed my colleagues the magazine photograph. I can't remember if they saw what I saw. -didn't matter. I saw it.
Back in high school, I was occasionally confused for a girl called Wendy. To my eye, we did not look alike, but we did have similar hair and eye color. To some, that makes a match. It didn't matter that her nose was more pert and her eyes were more wide set. I took it as a compliment, she may have taken her passing resemblance of me as less of one. Ha.
Have you yet met your Doppelgänger? Do people tell you that you look like someone else? If not, don't fret! He or she is out there!
The John/Neil story is remarkable! Years ago, my brother followed my Doppelgänger for a couple of blocks in the city, he was so fascinated, but never saw her again. I, too, once saw a picture in a magazine of "myself", and in my final year of high school used to be confused with my friend Wendy (!), who was School Captain, so would sometimes have naughty 12-year olds freeze when mucking up when I walked past. I put it down to same height and hair as I couldn't see any further resemblance.
ReplyDeleteWhoa! Might we resemble one another? :D
DeleteActually I was often mistaken for the mother of a friend of mine. Jean was the mother's name, and in our small village I often heard "You're Pam's mother, aren't you?"
ReplyDeleteI sat with Jean when she was dying. When the nurse first walked through the door she was startled, and said "Oh, dear. I thought you were Jean!", who was unconscious, in the bed.
Wow!
DeleteNo, I have not met my doppelganger but I suppose there is still time.
ReplyDeleteYes, there is!
DeleteWhen I lived in Winnipeg many years ago, lots of people told me I had a doppelganger who they had seen on the street. Then one day, I saw her too as I was looking out a bus window. She really did look quite remarkably like me! I only ever saw her once, though, and never actually met her.
ReplyDeleteThat's wild.
DeleteGrowing up I was often confused for a woman I had not met. I wonder whether we still look alike.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting question. I wonder if John & Neil resembled one another when they were young.
DeleteI've never heard of a look alike for me. I wonder where she is? Do we have only one or are there more?
ReplyDeleteOdds are that there may be more than one out there in the wide world.
DeleteA friend of mine thought he had run into me in my home town years ago. When I did actually see him next, he thought I was pretending when my doppelgänger told him he wasn't me.
ReplyDeleteDoppelgängers are like that.
DeleteWhat a thought provoking post. We've done a lot of family history research, especially on my wife's side where there are several famous people, so we can see their photographs through life, especially when young. I see my wife and my daughter in lots of them. But, of course, you're talking about people who are unrelated - or are they?
ReplyDeleteIn the case of John and Neil (shown above), the scientist who both studied their appearance and looked at their DNA, it is likely they share a common ancestor many generations back. But, yes, I would mean unrelated strangers who like strikingly similar (like the aforementioned Darren and David above).
DeleteWhen I started subbing, I had several students ask if I was the sister of a teacher on campus. She heard it too. She came to check me out to see. I didn't see a resemblance and neither did she.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, too, how people might view you as looking like a particular person, but you just don't see it. I've had that happen to me as well.
DeleteIn college, I got Jackie Earle Haley from Breaking Away and a few people thought I looked a lot like Martin Short. You would think with almost 8 billion people on the planet that the doppelgänger thing is bound to happen more often.
ReplyDeleteInteresting! I remember J.E.H. from Bad News Bears, I wanna say, as well.
DeleteYeah, I await seeing another 'me' out there at some point.
Dear Bea, this post was fascinating. I'd never heard about twin strangers. I do remember working with a woman who became a good friend--we actually rented an apartment in Dayton together for a year, until I moved away--and many friends and those we met when out walking would ask if we were twins or sisters. Our skin color differed somewhat, but our hair was similar as was our build. She, however, had a much but sense of clothing style than I! Peace.
ReplyDeleteThat's fun to have a friend who resembles you. I suppose your affinity for one another made you seem, perhaps, sisterly. :)
DeleteTake care,
Bea
When we moved here people asked if Judy, a longtime resident, was my sister. I don’t have a sister and frankly, I couldn’t see the resemblance. Not only that but Judy and I were very different animals. I did not see it as a compliment.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it odd when people think you resemble someone whom you know you do not?
Delete