Skip to Main Content
Trending

Man meets his bearded doppelgänger over and over again

When Neil Thomas Douglas walked onto to his flight, he didn't expect to see his beard-twin sitting in his seat.

They aren't the only two ginger-bearded men who look alike either

Arman Aghbali · CBC News ·
Neil Thomas Douglas (right) takes a photo with his doppelganger Robert Sterling (left), according to the Mirror, on a Ryanair flight from a London airport to Galway, Ireland. (Lee Beattie/Twitter)

When Neil Thomas Douglas walked onto to his flight, he didn't expect to see his beard-twin sitting in his seat. 

The 32-year-old photographer had been heading to Galway, Ireland Thursday night to shoot a wedding when he met Robert Sterling, a man with a face eerily similar to his own. 

"We had a big laugh about it – everyone around us had a laugh, we took a selfie and that was it," Douglas told the Guardian. 

The man laughing in the back of this photo is one of Sterling's friends, wrote the Mirror. 

A friend of Douglas's wife, Lee Beattie, posted the photo on Twitter where it has since been shared more than 12,000 times. Beattie is the director of Wire Media, a U.K. public relations firm. 

But the coincidences didn't stop with a chance encounter on an airplane.

Upon arriving in the Irish town, Douglas ventured to his hotel — where he found that Sterling would also be spending the night.

"Then to make it even crazier, when checking in the Jury's Inn Hotel in Galway, he was in the same hotel!" Douglas said to the Mirror, where he pointed out that despite their similarities, Douglas is much shorter than Sterling. 

Some might say that's enough coincidences for one day, but there was still more to come. Later that night, Douglas decided to go to a local pub, the Quays.

"I went to the pub and again, there was my twin. Total weirdness. We had a laugh and a pint," he said to the Guardian. They took another selfie for the occasion. 

According to the Mirror, Sterling wrote "Just wanted a quiet weekend away and then this happens," on social media in response to the story. 

Meanwhile, Beattie, who originally posted the photo, has begun to receive a litany of photos of "identical" ginger-bearded men.

Many of the people sending her the photos do have beards akin to Sterling's and Douglas's but they do have noticeable differences. 

His hair is too thin.

This man's face is too long. 

This man is actually reminiscent of the two.

But this is a man with black hair and a dog in a swimming pool. 

CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices|About CBC News

Related Stories

Comments

To encourage thoughtful and respectful conversations, first and last names will appear with each submission to CBC/Radio-Canada's online communities (except in children and youth-oriented communities). Pseudonyms will no longer be permitted.

By submitting a comment, you accept that CBC has the right to reproduce and publish that comment in whole or in part, in any manner CBC chooses. Please note that CBC does not endorse the opinions expressed in comments. Comments on this story are moderated according to our Submission Guidelines. Comments are welcome while open. We reserve the right to close comments at any time.

now