Witness: Catherine J.
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Date of Encounter: January 1998
Do you believe in doppelgangers? I didn't, not until what I am about to tell you happened to my oldest son.
My now ex-husband and I lived in the small coastal town of Rockingham just south of Perth, Western Australia. We lived in the house we had built along with our five children. Many things had happened to myself and my children in that house, such as having our names called, waking in the night to see a strange form standing over me, or feeling as though you were being watched.
On this particular day, I was relaxing on my bed reading a very good book. I hadn't had time to read in so long, and I was really enjoying my reading time. My husband decided it was time to go to the hardware and chose some paint for the fence. I really wasn't interested in going and told him I just wanted to stay home and read. He was very insistent, telling me that he wanted me to go with him. As it wasn't all that wonderful when he was annoyed, I put my book down and went with him.
My oldest son, who had been doing his homework in his room, was totally unaware I had left the house with his dad. As we drove to the store, and the whole time we were there, all I could think about was the fact that I would rather be at home reading my book. We spent about an hour there before returning home. As the car pulled into the drive and I got out, my oldest son opened the front door. When he saw me, his face went the whitest white I have ever seen, and he almost fainted. He asked me how I had managed to get out of the house so quickly, and how I had gone past him without being seen. When I told him I had just come back from the store with his father, he at first wouldn't believe me. He thought I was playing some kind of joke on him.
When I finally settled him down enough to work out why he was upset, what he told me made me understand why he was so afraid. He told me that he didn't know I was not in the house. He had finished his homework and had gone to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee. He then heard the car pull into the drive, and had decided the go open the door to let his father in. As he headed towards the front door, he had to pass my bedroom. The door was wide open, and as he went past he saw me sitting on my bed with my book in hand, reading. He said that when he saw me, he stopped at the door and said hello and love you, Ma. I then looked up at him and smiled, but didn't speak. He said I then put my head down and went on reading. My son continued to the front door, opened it, and saw me outside.
Was my wish to be at home doing what I really wanted to do so strong that I was projected into my room, or was he seeing things? As he didn't know I had left the house, I doubt he was seeing things. That house had always been strange, and even when I left after my divorce, the strange things seem to have followed me.