The concept of an “identical stranger” is nothing new. It’s been the basis of media and art projects for centuries, but there are tales the world over that give these stories a darker twist. Sometimes seen as a harbinger of doom or calamity, let’s explore three of the weirdest tales of ghostly doubles.
Abraham Lincoln
In circles like ours, Lincoln’s name is synonymous with spiritualism and the paranormal. He was a regular séance participant – particularly following the death of his young son – and his since his assassination, Lincoln’s own ghost is said to roam the halls of the White House, with everyone from staff members to dignitaries having sited it.
As far as doppelgängers are concerned, Lincoln is said to have seen his own and being superstitious, he and his wife considered it a bad omen.
The best summery of the event is in Lincoln’s own words. As written by Noah Brook, Washington In Lincoln’s Time (1895) adapted from his own conversation with Lincoln himself:
It was just after my election in 1860, when the news had been coming in thick and fast all day and there had been a great “hurrah, boys,” so that I was well tired out, and went home to rest, throwing myself down on a lounge in my chamber. Opposite where I lay was a bureau with a swinging glass upon it (and here he got up and placed furniture to illustrate the position), and looking in that glass I saw myself reflected nearly at full length; but my face, I noticed had two separate and distinct images, the tip of the nose of one being about three inches from the tip of the other. I was a little bothered, perhaps startled, and got up and looked in the glass, but the illusion vanished. On lying down again, I saw it a second time, plainer, if possible, than before; and then I noticed that one of the faces was a little paler — say five shades — than the other. I got up, and the thing melted away, and I went off, and in the excitement of the hour forgot all about it — nearly, but not quite, for the thing would once in a while come up, and give me a little pang as if something uncomfortable had happened. When I went home again that night I told my wife about it, and a few days afterward I made the experiment again, when (with a laugh), sure enough! the thing came back again; but I never succeeded in bringing the ghost back after that, though I once tried very industriously to show it to my wife, who was somewhat worried about it. She thought it was a “sign” that I was to be elected to a second term of office, and that the paleness of one of the faces was an omen that I should not see life through the last term.
Unfortunately for Lincoln, Mary’s warning did indeed come to pass as he was assassinated in 1865.
Catherine The Great
Being the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 until her death in 1796, Catherine the Great’s life and death have been the subject of legends and inconsistencies. However, there is one rumour that has yet to be quashed.
According to legend, as the Czarina was laying in her bed, her double was seen by her servants, seated upon her throne. When the terrified servants told Catherine, she rushed to the throne room and, upon seeing the figure for herself, ordered it to be shot.
While the effects on the double is not reported, Catherine The Great did allegedly pass away shortly after the sighting – not by having relations with a horse, but from an apparent stroke.
Émilie Sagée
Although the origins of this legend are questionable, it would be a disservice to the doppelgänger topic not to mention the story of Émilie Sagée.
According to legend, Émilie Sagée was born in Dijon, France, on the 3rd January 1813.
In 1845, she began teaching in a Latvian school, catering to the daughters of noble families.
She was known as a kind, quiet woman, albeit anxious and to begin with, everything seemed quite ordinary. However, within a few weeks, strange rumours began to circulate. Children would see Émilie in places she was not.
On one occasion while writing on a blackboard in front of a class, a perfect double of Ms Sagée appeared by her side, mirroring her actions. On another, a class of 42 girls watched through a window as she gathered flowers, only for a double to materialise in the empty teachers chair. This time, a particularly brave girl stepped forward and touched the apparition, reporting it felt like fine cloth.
After some time, the children would report these happenings to their parents and eighteen months later, only 12 of the school’s students remained there and Émilie was asked to resign. According to Émilie herself, this was the nineteenth time her mysterious double had chased her from a teaching position.
The story first appeared in Robert Dale Owen’s 1860s book Footfalls on the Bouldery of Another World, and is said to be the testimony of a single witness – Baroness Julie de Güldenstubbe, an alleged student of Ms Sagée who was present in the above incidents.
Despite this testimony, there are no verifiable facts or records supporting this story or the existence of Émilie Sagée. The school in question, reported to be the “Pensionnat of Neuwelcke” can not be confirmed to exist and no other student or faculty member from Sagée’s nineteen previous positions ever came forward to confirm or deny these stories.
There was however, an Octavia Saget (pronounced as Sagée), reported to be born on January 3rd, 1813 in Dijon. Could this be the woman who would become known as Émilie Sagée? Who knows, but the story continues to mystify over 200 years later.
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