The Chilling Tale of Emilie Sagée
In some cultures seeing your doppelgänger means death could be lurking around the corner. But what if you were the only one who couldn’t see your doppelgänger?
This was the case of Emilie Sagée. This wildly disputed story centers around a 32-year-old French school teacher. The last of many schools Emilie worked in was Pensionat von Neuwelcke, an all-girls school, in Latvia in 1845. It was there that she became recognized as a well-liked and talented educator. Despite how much the students liked her, her reputation quickly turned grim when it was reported by students that she would randomly produce a twin that eerily mimicked her every action. This twin would materialize suddenly, causing Emilie to become sluggish in whatever she was doing. It was as if the appearance of her double drained her energy. This twin would mirror the real Emilie by engaging in whatever her counterpart was doing at the time. At one point she appeared next to Emilie while she was writing on the chalkboard. The apparition “wrote” on the chalkboard as well, but without any chalk. The entire classroom saw this event take place. When asked, Emilie did not indicate that she knew when her twin would appear. In fact, she had never even seen her before.
One somewhat terrifying story came later in her life while she taught at the same school. She was out in the garden picking flowers. She was aware that a classroom full of students was left on its own while the teacher was talking to someone else. She thought that she should go in and check on them. Emilie walked into the classroom and took a seat in front of the students. The students didn’t pay any attention to her at first. That was until one of them pointed out Ms. Sagée in the garden picking flowers. The figure in front of them was not Emilie. It looked like a real person sitting before them. One of the brave students walked up to her with the intent of touching her. Her hand fell right through Emilie’s double. It frightened her but she later said it felt like putting her hand through a bunch of cobwebs.
Sadly for the real Emilie, she was fired from her job as there were far too many instances of ghostly appearances from another Emilie such as this.
The story of Emilie Sagée comes from a book titled “Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World” written by Robert Dale Owen, an American social reformer and spiritualist. His source was a former student of Emilie’s.
As I have been researching this paranormal case it has become increasingly clear that Ms. Sagée may have never existed. There is no record of anyone with her name from the area of the world that she was from. While this means she may have changed her name at some point I do not think that eliminates the possibility of her nonexistence. There are no other accounts of any of the stories told about her. With stories from history like this, I think it is up to the reader to decide if they want to believe in it or not. Life is too short not to believe mysteries.
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