One evening in 1885, French author Guy de Maupassant was experiencing what many writers do at some point in their careers – writer’s block. He was working on a short story that refused to come together.
Suddenly, a figure appeared in the doorway of his office, strolled across the room, and sat down across from him. The writer was astonished that anyone had gotten into his study and even more shocked when the intruder proceeded to dictate what he’d written so far on the story. And right then, Guy de Maupassant realized the intruder was a doppelganger – his own double.
When the double vanished, Maupassant continued writing the story as it had been dictated – the tale of an invisible, evil spirit that lives within a man, yet independent from him. The story, The Horla, is thought to be a harbinger of Maupassant’s subsequent madness and death.
Maupassant’s experience was unusual in that not many Doppelgangers provide information, much less dictate an entire short story!
Doppelgangers – doubles – have been reported for centuries throughout a variety of cultures, and probably date back to pagan times. In some cultures, the doppelganger was thought to be a manifestation of the soul. Among ancient Egyptians, a ka was a spirit double. In Norse mythology, a vardøger is a kind of ghostly double who, when seen, is performing its counterpart’s actions in advance. But could some Doppelgangers be astral projections?
A colleague of Harvard professor William James, a fellow professor, confided in James that one evening in late 1883 or early 1884, he tried an experiment in astral projection. The man apparently felt comfortable telling James about the experiment, but wanted to remain otherwise anonymous for fear that his more conservative colleagues would find the experiment frivolous.
Apparently the professor had been seeing a female friend quite often, “A,” and they shared an interest in the possibility of astral bodies. So on the particular evening of his experiment, he sat in the dark by an open window that faced her house, which lay about half a mile. The professor told James that he tried as hard as he could to “wish” himself in A’s presence. This state of wishing” lasted for about ten minutes. But he reported that nothing unusual had happened.
Yet, the next day, A reported that during the previous evening, while she’d been having dinner with someone, she’d seen the professor through the door. She told her companion about it. But the professor’s projection retreated and was never seen by A’s friend. She was convinced about the reality of the event.
We’ve written about Doppelgangers before and about some of the famous people who have experienced them. But every time I run across another story, I’m newly intrigued. Our blogging friend Mike Perry has experienced Doppelgangers several times. Has anyone else?
I completely believe Adele’s story, because I had something similar, in that there was a time in my life when I was “in love” with a married man, and he also was obsessed with me. Our connection was so inexplicable, and I came to the conclusion we must have a lot of past lives together or something………We worked together, as did his wife, and we never openly talked about it or became physical. The situation did not lend itself to any kind of discussion. But a number of times I felt him next to me in bed. It was very disturbing, and I since have met half a dozen women who had a strong emotional/sexual issue with a man and had the same kind of experience.
Guy de Maupassant experience is truly sinister – one wonders if the story was about his own experience, something attached itself to him and he could not get free of it………
This is fascinating, Lauren. It really is incredibly similar to Adele’s experience.
Interesting doppelgänger stories – I’ve had no more such experiences. Hadn’t heard the Guy de Maupassant experience before. It is a fascinating subject. (Thanks for the mention)
What happened to your doppelganger, Mike?? You were always treated so well!
Doppelgängers
I never experienced a doppelgänger for myself but had a most interesting experience with what seems like one.
At the time I was emotionally and psychically obsessed with a man who was unattainable for a variety of reasons. The connection was powerful which would be a long long story in itself. The man never left my mind and sometimes I felt it like a buzzing in the center of my forehead, I suppose where the third eye is supposed to be located.
One time I had a meeting with him for a day. He lived in another state. The next day I had a dinner date with an old beau. I’ll call him Joe which was not his name. Joe knew me well. We had our love affair that had ended badly and then eventually became friends. Seeing him now as a friend was easy for me because my mind was occupied all the time with this other soul connection that made me feel crazy. I could not discuss this with anyone.
Joe and I went out for dinner, had a very good time, came back to my place. All of a sudden Joe looked startled and said, “I just saw someone sitting in that chair.” I looked at the chair which was quite obviously empty. Joe continued to stare at the chair. Joe does not remember his dreams, did not have psychic experiences, was not interested in any of the subjects you write about here on this blog. In other words, Joe was not prone to even thinking about such a thing as a doggelganger or any such related far out subject.
My mind was still buzzing with the soul mate connection that I could not be with and not talk about. I asked Joe to describe what he was seeing. What did the man look like? What was he wearing?
I was wondering if Joe maybe just had too much to drink, or smoke so was surprised when he responded with a clear answer that described the other man, including how he sat and the hat he was wearing. After a pause while I listened in astonishment, knowing exactly who Joe was describing, he said to me, “Adele you go to far! You go too far with this psychic stuff. YOU GO TOO FAR!” Joe was very shaken by seeing this ghostly image in my living room.
I wasn’t DOING anything. I thought Mr. Mystery man, if anything, was going too far. After that experience I stopped worrying about the buzzing in my head – or what ever was going on. All this remains a mystery to me to this day which was years ago. All I know is that when we have an unexplainable experience that sounds unbelievable it doesn’t matter because no one can erase the experience no matter how illogical it sounds to the so called “normal” people. And no, this never happened to me again.
Wow! That’s quite a strange story, Adele. A different sort of doppelganger!
It sure was – and never forgotten.
I’d like to bring this forward as a post and explore it. OK with you?