Well, whaddya know...............only today I was reading about Vardogrs and wondered if I should post about them.....and hey-presto - a thread mentions them!

Vardogrs are like doppelgangers, and the word means 'to go before' in Norweigian (I think) They are accepted by most most Scandinavain countries and treated as a kind of helpful doppelganger.

'FT104: I was intrigued by Gunnar Eggertsson’s letter about the Fylgja, the Icelandic ghost of presage [FT101:51]. It reminds me of the Norwegian phenomenon of the same kind. They term it Vardogr and it is discussed by Brag Steiger in his book Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits and Haunted Minds. He writes "The Vardogr is a kind of spiritual projection which its possessor unconsciously employs to announce his physical arrival." This arrival is, however, announced some minutes before the actual arrival.'

The following is a classic case (I posted this up some time ago) about a Vardogr ~

Erkson Gorique, living in New York, always had a yearning to visit Norway. In July, 1955, he was lucky enough to be able to make the journey to purchase Norweigian glassware. After landing in Oslo, he went to reserve a room at a large hotel. Here he was astonsihed when the receptionist greeted him by name, and told him that his room had been booked. Gorique asked who had made the reservation and the receptionist informed him that he had done so, in person, a year earlier.
Things got more and strange.........the following day Gorique went to meet with the wholesaler, Mr Olsen. He had never met Olsen, but was sent there by his company. Like the receptionist, Olsen greeted Gorique by name and told him he was delighted to see him again. He hoped this time that Goriques' visit would be longer as last time he had been in such a rush. Gorique was further stunned when Olsen correctly recalled the address of his office in New York.
When Gorique made it clear that he had never ever set foot in Norway, Olsen introduced him to another man, a universtiy professor. He speculated that it was Goriques' Vardogr, visiting the country beforehand.....

Is this Vardogr a type of astral projection?
Another type of Doppelganger?
Why is it still widely belived?

It isn't just the Scandinavians who experience this type of 'haunting'~

'As a small boy in a town in south-east Scotland, I lived in a huge spooky house which had been a Victorian rectory until my parents bought it. My father worked abroad much of the time, my brother had flown the nest and my mother did not return home from work until 4:30pm or later. Besides experiencing a poltergeist and occasional unexplained sounds when the place was unoccupied save for myself, the Old Rectory was quiet and detached, standing in a cul-de-sac with only two neighbouring houses across a yard and a private lane respectively.

Having got home from school and expecting my mother’s arrival at any time, I would regularly hear her car door slam and the front door bang shut. I heard these sounds from afar, so they would be relatively faint, but clearly discernible. I would call hello. Failing to obtain a response, I would come downstairs or come into the hall and investigate. Often enough I would open the front door and look to see if her car was there. When I had established that she had not, in fact, arrived, I would then wait for five or ten minutes, knowing that she was merely letting me know that she was a couple of miles up the road and would shortly be home.

I think I experienced this only with her until recently. On that occasion, my former secretary who worked with me for some years, and who now pops in to collect typing, was due to call by my office. Hearing the buzzer from reception I went to the door, but she wasn’t there. Suspecting a Vardogr, I waited for exactly five minutes and then returned to the door. She came around the corner within 30 seconds, startled to see me awaiting her. '


'In September 1998 I lost my old cross-collie dog after almost 14 years. I replaced her with a newer model – a sort of collie-black Labrador pup rescued from the local animal welfare centre. As soon as the new dog came into the house, I was aware that she could "see things" that we humans could not. At first it became clear that under no circumstances would she venture into the corner of the room where the old dog used to sleep. She would stand and stare into that corner transfixed, then turn on canine heels and bolt for the back door or the sanctuary of her basket in the kitchen.

Some weeks later we noticed that she was standing at the top of the garden, teeth bared and hackles raised, as she stared at the precise spot where we had buried the old dog. We didn’t think there was anything particularly strange about this behaviour, assuming that most of it could be attributed to the dog’s acute sense of smell. But we did joke that perhaps the dog was some kind of reincarnation. Probably.

Soon after this, I noticed something decidedly more bizarre going on. The small black dog became to duplicate itself. I know…perhaps I’m going mad! One morning as I sipped a cup of tea and watched the dog as she chewed a bone in front of the fire, the same dog walked right past me and through into the kitchen. Naturally, I was just a tad unnerved by this and set about investigating: no second dog could be found in the kitchen. Since then, this has happened at least twice more, with the dog "duplicating" itself and appearing in two different parts of the house at the same time. I have begun to wonder if this little black dog of mine could be some throwback to the old Black Shuck legends so well documented down the years, and that this weird bilocation is some primeval manifestation thereof…or something like that.

It gets even weirder. Last week while feeding the dog I turned to my wife – who was standing to my right – and commented that we hadn’t seen much of this canine bilocation for some time. But my wife wasn’t standing to my right anymore. She had been upstairs all the time and I had been talking to…well, that’s anybody’s guess. So far she has only managed to achieve this feat once; but once is enough, believe me!

Perhaps I am mad after all. I wonder if other readers have experienced anything even remotely similar. And no…I hadn’t been drinking! '

http://www.angelfire.com/weird/junkyard/doubles.html



Perhaps I could get one and send it shopping for me?

Hammy x x x

This bi-location/projection stuff really worries me, Hams. There was a thread a few weeks back, where I speculated that a person who projected themself, may not necessarily project a version they wanted others to see. Namely, in your jimjams, or even your birthday suit.

Imagine if your vardogr turned up somewhere, wearing nothing but a cheeky grin, and by the time you showed up yourself, the local constabulary were ready to slap on the handcuffs.

I've got some vardogr stories somewhere.

*sends vardogr to look for them. Fully clothed*

Thankfully though, most if not all Vardoger cases are fully clothed, I have a case somewhere of a man who's friend went to Liverpool, UK. While he was there he saw this man and wondered why he did not acknowledge him when he passed. It later turned out that he was in actual fact the other side of the country, and only later that week went to Liverpool.

*looks at watch*

That vardogr's taking it's time.

Still looking for those stories...

the last thing I need is a double of my parents. two is enough

A friend of mine comes from a long line of superstitious scots, and told me that her grandmother believed that if you ever saw your own doppelganger, or Vardogr as it were, you would die. It doesn't fair to well for me because apparently England is full of people who look like me, I've heard of three occassions when my friends have accosted total strangers believing them to be me.
Although I've never seen my own double, I've had one experience with my cousin's, similar to your man's above. I was chatting to her in her room when we were about 14 or so, and she went downstairs to get something. A minute or two later I heard something on the landing and went out to see if it was her. I just caught a glimpse of her back, turning onto the stairs, so, naturally, I went after her only to find the stairs empty, she was in the kitchen talking to her mother, and had been the whole time.
Needless to say, I don't like that house too much...

Two Fairies

So what would cause a doppelganger or a vardogr?

Is it a projection of the self due to the person thinking intently of going into that location prior to actually physically walking there? Or is this a slip in time which is like a pre-echo?

Or something else entirely?

In the few accounts I have of Vardogers, the person was looking forward to going to the place the vardoger was seen.

This is a very interesting thread.

About 20 years ago, a friend of mine was over visiting. When she left, I watched her walk to her car and something (my intuition) kept telling me to take a photo of her in the car. So I quickly grabbed my camera and snapped a shot when she was driving away. When I got the pictures back, there was someone sitting in her back seat of her car and it looks exactly like me!!! I showed her the photo and she said she didn't feel or see anyone in the car.
I'm wondering, but I really think it was me.

Hmm... this explains a lot.

I've got several stories about being "seen" in places I've never been before. I don't buy the part of "anticipating" being in those places, as I wasn't even aware of them until after I'd been approached at a 3rd location by people who had met me there.

I believe that you could do that if the need was great- and there was reason to do so, but I agree very creepy subject. But I agree with Cuffy I wouldn't want to go somewere in my jamies though!