A doppelgänger is a biologically unrelated duplicate, or double, of a living person. Often called one’s evil twin, There’s many theories and much thought behind this unexplainable mystery. Some believe seeing your own Doppelganger is an omen of something terrible about to happen.
Often, this means death as many believe a visit from one’s Doppelgangers can be viewed as being visited by the Grim Reaper.
With so few documented cases, it’s tough to discern who or what these entities are. Although not many modern-day cases exist, there are several well-known cases from people throughout history.
One case concerns the husband of Legendary Frankenstein author Mary Shelley. Mary was married another talented writer, Percy Shelley, best known for his poetry work.
In April of 1822, Mary and Percy moved to a rented house in Lerici, italy. They invited Mary’s stepsister Claire Clairmont, and their friends Edward and Jane Williams to join them. The house was ocean front in the isolated Lerici town.
Initially Percy loved the area and would begin writing a poem named the Triumph of life. That joy though would soon change.
Although Percy liked Lerici, Mary Shelley, hated the place. She was struggling as she had lost 3 children all of them at a very young age. As Mary became pregnant, she believed the baby was cursed, and was generally pessimistic during her time in Lerici . To make matters worse, the Shelley’s marriage was in deep trouble, and everyone else in the house that summer could see the pain they were in. Not only was their marriage in trouble, the couple also was struggling from massive debt, and this burden had also put quite a strain on their relationship.
Mary wasn’t the only one grief stricken though. Claire Clairemont had just received devastating news just begore arriving. Her daughter Allegra, age 5 , had passed away.
Stress and pain would continue in the house though and only get worse. Soon, the doppelganger of Percy would begin appearing, changing his perspective on this location.
As time progressed, Jane Williams would see this entity as well.
On June 15 , Jane would claim to witness the doppelganger of Percy. As she was looking out a window that overlooked the terrace, she thought she saw Percy walking by the window. He typically paced by the window back and forth, but this time would be different. astonishingly the doppelganger would pass in front of the window twice from the same side. Since there was a 20-foot wall below, there weas no way for anyone to do this without jumping down the wall. As she realized what was going on, she ran outside and was shocked to see no one there. It was later revealed Percy was far away at the time.
Mary would later write about this troubling experience.
Only one day later Mary would fall ill.
On June 16th Mary collapsed and suffered an extreme miscarriage. Since there were no doctors around for miles, Percy forced Mary to sit in an ice bath for hours as that was the only way to stop the bleeding.
As the despair spread throughout the house it began to take a toll on everyone.
Several days later, the doppelganger appeared in broad daylight. It was sunny out, and Percy saw himself coming towards him on the terrace. The doppelganger asked him ‘how much longer he meant to be content’. Percy would later tell Mary the doppelganger often appeared to him on the terrace.
One week after Mary’s miscarriage, June 23rd, the house was woken up in the middle of the night by screaming. Shelley was incoherently babbling to Mary that he had seen an apparition of their friends, the Williams, covered in blood and the sea flooding into the house. Then, he had a vision and saw a man strangling his wife. When he got a look at the face, he realized it was him.
Mary knew too something was amiss and a feeling of hopelessness spread in the house.
At some point during this time, it appears Percy tried to obtain Prussic acid, although it’s unclear if he planned to commit suicide.
While on Lerici, Percy wrote about the doppelgänger in his book “Prometheus Unbound”.
Soon Percy would head out to sea in unfavorable weather conditions and die at sea. Mary would later write that the boat was not seaworthy. Percy would die at sea and his body would wash up ashore ten days later.
Many speculate Percy knew or thought he couldn’t escape death, and headed out to sea even though it was extremely dangerous.
Strangely, reports of his doppelganger stopped when he died.
The story of the doppelganger of Percy is surely an interesting one.
Skeptics will say that the family was in such deep mourning that they imagined it. Perhaps Percy was so depressed and angry he simply dreamed himself strangling his wife. Although he died at age 29, he headed out in dangerous conditions to the ocean, and that might be the reason he died, not an evil doppelganger.
Of course, we must also acknowledge that there seems to be strange activity going on such as Jame Williams sighting. Also, the Shelley’s were both highly educated people and reputable people so it’s unlikely they fabricated these stories.
It’s also possible these entities were demons or poltergeists as they are known to prey on those suffering tragedy.
Mary, who had already written Frankenstein at this point, would struggle for years with depression but eventually return to writing. She would die at the age of 51 from a brain tumor, surrounded by loved ones, most notably her only son who survived childhood, Percy Florence.
It should be said Mary spent much of her life promoting her husband’s works. Both Mary and Percy ‘s writings really wouldn’t t be appreciated till after their death though. Frankenstein is considered one of the earliest works of science fiction and considered a classic in the genre.
