A man comes face to face with his exact double and believes they may be related.

CASE DETAILS

In December of 1943, Ken Palmer was a newly commissioned second lieutenant in the Army Air Corp, on his way to Wisconsin. During a momentary stop to change trains in Cincinnati, Ohio, Ken had the most remarkable encounter of his life. He sensed that someone was staring at him. A quick glance told him why. Incredibly, Ken was being watched by his exact double:

“I was amazed. And both of us saw it and both of us reacted so much to it. Both of us set down our bags and stared. And until I got a hold of myself and extended my hand, he didn’t move. He was just frozen looking at himself, in a different uniform. My first thought, of course was that he’s closely related. We began to exchange our father’s names, our grandfather’s names where we lived, things of this nature. And that didn’t get it.”

Surprisingly, the two men could not find a single relative in common. But when Ken mentioned an old family legend, he was stunned by the stranger’s response:

“He added details that I checked out with Dad later and they were accurate, things that I didn’t know. So it was perfectly obvious that we were related and yet we couldn’t understand how we could be. I took his name and address, stuffed it in my pocket. I picked up my luggage and scooted off for my train. If I’d had the sense… I would’ve stopped right then and we would’ve spent some time together. When I got on the train and settled, I reached in my pocket to get that slip of paper, it wasn’t there. It all fell apart at that moment. I was devastated.”

Ken never saw his double again, and all attempts to find him have been unsuccessful:

“I would like very much to find him, and/or, part of his family. How many times are you going to walk across the station and see that double. Out of all of the people in the United States we walk into one another and we set down our bags and stare at one another.”

Like Ken, the man’s last name was Palmer. His first name may have been Robert or James. Ken believes his double lived in the eastern United States, possibly New Jersey. At the time, the man was either a technical or staff sergeant in the Army Air Corp.

Watch this case now on Amazon Prime in season seven with Robert Stack and in season seven with Dennis Farina. Also available on YouTube with Dennis Farina. Various seasons available now on Hulu.

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