An Irish dad was completely taken aback upon meeting his daughter’s Swedish twin stranger, shocked by the startling similarities between the two women who were meeting face-to-face for the first time.

As legend has it, we all have seven doppelgangers -- Seven people throughout the world who look almost completely (if not completely) identical and are of no known relation. It would seem that these girls have found their first lookalikes.

Sara Nordström, then 17, from Örebro, Sweden, and Shannon Lonergan, then 21, from Tralee, County Kerry, found each other on the site TwinStrangers.com, a site established to help everybody find their doppelgangers.

When the Twin Strangers team noticed how alike Sara and Shannon looked, they couldn’t help but want to get them in the same room to see the similarities up close.

Sara flew into Dublin while Shannon managed to travel up from Kerry, despite a freak storm that almost saw her miss the chance to meet her twin, and they were shocked to see their mirror image in a person of absolutely no relation. Even Shannon’s Dad almost couldn’t tell them apart!

“When my dad first saw myself and Sara he did not know where to look. He kept looking at her than me and looked so confused,” said Shannon.

“His facial expressions were hilarious and showed how shocked he was. He honestly needed a moment to see who was who.”

“Shannon’s Dad thought we could both be his daughters which was kind of crazy. He was definitely a little freaked out!” Sara added.

Sara, a high school student, came across Shannon on the site but as Shannon was no longer very active in pursuing her doppelganger, the match went unnoticed until Twin Strangers got in contact.

“I signed up to TwinStrangers.com about a month ago, uploaded my photos, selected my facial features and after only a few searches came across Shannon from Ireland,” Sara said.

“I couldn’t believe it! I showed the photo to my parents and they were amazed. (My friends even thought Shannon’s photo was actually me!)”

“I think everyone dreams about meeting their twin, but not everyone knows how to,” Shannon continued.

“When I signed up I actually never thought I would find my Doppelganger ­ but I did! I can't stop wondering where my other Twin Strangers are.

“I suppose it’s a slightly weird thing to do, but it's something I've always been curious about. I'm still in shock that I've actually met her.

“Trying to describe the moment you meet a stranger who looks almost exactly like you is very hard. All I can say is it felt very surreal and almost dreamlike! But once I saw Sara’s face I felt my butterflies disappear. A weird sense of happiness took over when I realized I had actually met my doppelganger. I could not stop smiling,” she added.

Sara and Shannon are just the latest in a line of doppelgangers Twin Strangers has managed to connect. One of the site’s founders, Niamh Geaney, has even found three different women who look exactly like her!

You can have a look at their photos at www.twinstranger.com.

Would you like to search for your doppelganger? Have you ever met somebody that looks strangely like you? Leave your experiences in the comments section below.

* Originally published in 2015, updated in July 2023.