Hello, my name Is Arnold and I was contacted by my doppelganger. I know it sounds crazy that I am still alive but hear me out. Not even a month ago I was very skeptical about all of this mythology and urban legends stuff. I never thought that a wendigo would be real or bigfoot and certainly not doppelgangers. This all changed when the start of this month I was out looking for a story to write about (I am a journalist for my local news branch which I will keep anonymous).
I was told by this elderly woman that she has been experiencing weird and supernatural stuff around her small ranch which was about ten minutes outside of the city. She said “I keep hearing voices and cries of my children outside begging to come in. My kids died years ago in a house fire. I know I’m not crazy… can you investigate? You’re my last hope because the police just think I’m old and senile.” I wrote all of this down including her address I expressed concern but at the time it was a feign. I didn’t believe a lick of what she said since to me this stuff was all explained by science. But in case there were some pranksters or whatever I decided to pack up some supplies I bought years ago.
You see when I was younger my father and I used to go bow hunting in the woods behind his house. A year ago at night, I was spending the night there as we plan on tracking this giant buck that kept walking near the home. I remember the night he went missing since I had an emergency at work. He and I were sitting there drinking coffee and remembering the good ol’ days of when I was a teen. How he and I used to hunt every weekend and how we always brought something back home to eat. I can see now, the smell of dark roasted Folgers coffee on the pot with slightly stale Walmart donuts. I was flipping through a book that had that old book smell you know? It was a great night.
However, around midnight my boss and editor called me on an emergency. Turns out a kid went missing a year ago and they just found her and they had the first interview with her. It was going to be with me since I was the most experienced with trauma cases. I packed my stuff and hugged my dad. “Where are you going son? We got a big prize tomorrow morning are you going to be back by then?” He looked at me slightly worried but I said “Of course! We’ve been tracking it since mom died I won’t miss this for the world. Just my job called on a huge interview and they need me!” He looked at me nodded and I walked out the door. I could’ve sworn I saw him cry a little but that’s hindsight looking back.
After the interview, I went back home and set an alarm for four AM. This was so I can wake up in time to go to my dad’s and start packing up. When I woke up it was noon and I was extremely late. I rushed to the cabin and saw a note my dad left on the door. “I wish you were here. But honestly, I’m glad you didn’t show up. I love you son and I am going to get this son of a bitch. Stay here and wait I left coffee on warm for you.” I smiled at the note I saw and how he still thinks of me as his little boy despite me being twice his size.
Hours went past and it was getting dark out. I started to panic when I heard gunshots not far from home. I rushed out with my rifle and followed the noise. The thick bush made it harder and harder to see as the rich vegetation was swallowing the light. I finally got to where the sounds were and It stopped. Instead, I heard something cry out “Help me” and it wasn’t my dad’s voice… I ran back to the cabin at full speed. At this point, the sky was pitch black with a little moonlight shining through the trees. I can hear a large creature chasing me but I never looked back.
As I got to the cabin I heard another gunshot and my dad yelling one final time. “Run boy… Get the fuck out of here! HEY, YOU BIG DUMB ANIMAL COME HERE!” That was the last thing I heard my father say. I heard screams in the distance as I kept running and in the morning the police showed up and found my father’s clothes and his severed arm. They said it was a bear attack which I was so blinded by grief I kept believing until recently.
When I arrived at the old woman’s home she greeted me with coffee or tea. I took coffee. “I could recognize the smell from anywhere. Folgers dark roast?” I said after taking a deep whiff. “Well, How did you know?” She asked with a warm smile. “Well, my father used to make us coffee every day after my mother passed away. It was a bonding thing so this is a sweet delight.” She asked “Oh that’s good! Do you and your dad spend time often?” I looked down at the floor and sniffled a little because thinking of the night was something of a nightmare. “n..no he went missing a year ago and I haven’t had coffee since. But it’s a nice gesture and makes me a little happier” She covered her mouth and apologized but I waved it off as it wasn’t her fault since she didn’t know.
I got to know her name after sitting a while, Agatha Christie. She has been on the ranch ever since she was a girl but it’s more of a home than a farm nowadays. She said she has a ranch hand that comes out once a day to feed the animals and help her sell the ones ready. However, it’s been almost a week and he hasn’t come to work. She’s afraid the creatures outside that have been attacking her livestock scared him away. She looked at me and asked if I brought cameras and other things to help find what is causing her all this pain. These things call out to her at night and she has a few recordings. Nothing on camera just a voice from a tape recorder.
She played the most recent tape. For about a minute it was something calling out “Mom, I am cold let me in.” At first, it sounded like a child. Agatha was in tears as she was playing this back. “That’s my boy… that’s his voice,” She said covering her mouth. I grabbed a handkerchief and gave it to her for her eyes. “Now we know something is out there messing with you I will set up a few cameras to see what is going on.” She hugged me and thanked me. “I just want all of this to go away..” she said silently.
I stood up after a few more minutes of getting details about the property. On the south side of the barn was a fence line that stretched for about 100 yards. I placed one camera every 25 yards and on every corner. These cameras were top-of-the-line motion sensing and night vision cameras. With full 4k capability and neigh bulletproof glass. Then I set one up on each facing an entrance to the home. After about an hour of setting it up, we were all set since they were all synced and ready to go. Agatha looked a lot happier than someone is here with her. She locked all the doors and windows and let me stay the night so I can monitor the cameras.
In the middle of nowhere, she didn’t have internet but I brought a portable wifi box to do some research and keep up with my friends who wanted to play some MTG EDH tonight. After my first game playing my mono-green Eldrazi deck (don’t hate me), I got a notification on the cameras. One was going crazy saying something is moving. I pulled the camera up and watched the feed. It was a deer. “Thank god just a dumb deer haha” I laughed it off but then something strange started to happen. It stared right into the camera and slowly walked toward it. This was odd but deer sometimes sniff and check out random shit so I assumed that’s what it was doing. As it got closer I started to notice something was … off.
It looked like a deer but had human eyes and blinked irregularly… Every step that it took was wobbly and its legs were backward. Now I know some diseases infect deer to make them look emaciated and do weird shit like run in circles but this deer just looked in the camera lens as if it were looking at me. It stared at the camera and when I saw its full face it had razor-sharp teeth “What the fuck is that” I said quietly… It somehow heard me and snapped its head to the house I was in… and smiled… showing rows of sharp teeth some were gnarled and twisted. “What the fuck is that?” I said in a hushed tone… It then lowered itself and twisted its neck toward the camera to show some psychotic smile as it crouched into a stance that was spider-like and began darting toward the home.
I quickly got up and grabbed the pistol that I brought in case Agatha wasn’t lying. Speaking of which she rushed into my room crying that “It’s going to eat me! Please stop it!” I hid her behind me and closed the door slowly walking to the front door where this thing was pounding its head into it. Each hit got harder and harder, louder and louder. The thumping left a thick paste on the windows that was black and smelled of rot. The sickening smell and the sound of squelching meat slapping on the door were making my stomach churn. Before I got to the end of the steps I heard a voice… It sounded like mine saying “I’m here to help please don’t fire. You will only attract it more.” I looked toward the kitchen where the sound was coming from.
Before I was … me. But nude and without any discernible male features. It stood there… “a doppelganger?” My instincts were flaring up with every ounce of me telling me to run or drop a whole magazine into its chest. “Don’t fire trust me… I don’t want you or Agatha to be hurt. Your father sent me over a year ago to protect you from this not deer. This thing killed your father and mother and now is gunning for you.” I was so confused at the time but also scared shitless.
“What the fuck did you say? My father died last..” Before I can finish it cut me off. “He did die last year and before he did I fought the not deer off. This thing attacked your father, not me, and not a bear. Our doppelgangers don’t look like the ones were trying to kill or replace. But the ones we are trying to protect…” I felt… unease not from the copycat but from the “not deer” calling my name as if it was my father “Let me in son I miss you” It said in my father’s tone and affection but a little off and it was noticeable enough.
“Ok… ok I won’t shoot but how the fuck do we kill that… THING?” I pointed the gun at the door that was slowly losing its stability. “I will handle it. Go upstairs and don’t come back down until sunrise. Once it’s quiet and the sun is out go to the edge of the property by the forest I will speak there.” I trusted it… It was life or death and this was the best thing I can do. I ran upstairs and lock the door Agatha and I was in. We heard the door burst down and heard the two things fighting downstairs. Yelling and growling were being drowned out by the sound of bones crunching and flesh being ripped and muscle being snapped like rubber bands.
It was 8 am when the sound stopped and I heard the door close. After about 30 minutes Agatha fell asleep and I gathered the courage to open the door and walk downstairs. The walls and floor were covered in blackish green blood and viscera. The smell made me vomit but the head of the “not deer” lay on the floor rotting away at an alarming pace. I kept my word and walked to the edge of the forest.
There I saw my doppelganger slowly appear out of the forest and prop itself against a log. It had a few bruises and cuts but was mostly fine. “I told you ill protect you. I promised your dad.” I didn’t know what to say other than “I… what are you? Why do people say you kill the people you look like?” it looked at me and laughed a little before audible readjusting its arm back into its socket. “There’s a lot you don’t know. Your dad was a killer of cryptids and I was his Guardian before he died. We protect but when the person dies we move on to the next of kin. Doppelgangers serve as a distraction to the potential dangers of the world… and you are from a long line of cryptid killers.” I took a step back as my memory started to flood me.
I repressed so much but I remember the things my dad and I hunted were all cryptids. Wendigos, not deer, werewolf, skunk ape, and even lesser known ones like the Grafton monster. I was so in shock my ears started to ring and the doppelganger rushed by me to keep me from falling. I shook out of it and it looked at me with black eyes. “Are you ok?” It asked with a worried expression. “I .. uh … yeah. I am ok.” I pinched the space between my eyebrows as a headache was climbing. After a short talk, I was convinced it was going to keep me and Agatha safe. However, this ranch has a darker secret and it wants to see why so many cryptids are attached and attracted to it.
That’s where I am at now… Researching this little home ranch. I will find something… I must find something. Until I do stay tuned and good luck out there. Oh and if you see a doppelganger do not be afraid as it could save your life.