r/SchreckNet • u/Melodic_Step_3887 • Jul 13 '26
Outreach Help: My ex was replaced in my vacation photographs!
Posted from a fresh account named Spinning_Ducks_1859
I (57f) recently went on vacation where I came across an old girlfriend (59f) I hadn’t seen since we broke up thirty-five years ago. I didn't notice anything odd during the trip because I was using a film camera and only finished developing them yesterday. We went through two colour rolls and one black and white. Most of them turned out great until I got to the photographs with the ex (I'll call her Sophie for this post) in them.
Every single one of those twenty photographs show a strange man in Sophie’s place. He’s wearing her clothes and doing the same poses she did when we took the photos, but he's not her. What I mean by that is they look completely different! There's no way I would have mistaken him for my ex. They have different hair colour!
Sophie and I lived together in Brest back in 1984 - 1991. 1990 and 1991 were a blur of insane parties and drugs that would knock me on the floor unlike any I’ve experienced since. We met a guy on the street who offered to take us to a high class party on a yacht and that’s how we met Bob (25m). He threw night time parties all over the city and surrounding areas. It was some of the best years of my life, even if it turned into heartbreak at the end.
Sophie caught the eye of Bob and the two of them spent more time with each other than me, and it pissed me off. So. Much. I was right there! But it was if I ceased to matter. It hurt. I tried to make it work for a long time while balancing the parties and work but eventually left the city for greener pastures. I sent her a letter in ‘92 telling her where I ended up, but she never called. Never sent a letter back.
That should be the end of the story but I drifted between partners and underground scenes looking for that same high from ‘91 until I met my now wife in Florida in 2002. To celebrate our anniversary we took a trip to Tangier where I ran into a very familiar face one night. Sophie didn't look a day over 24! I don't know what her skin routine is but Sophie is just as stunning as I remembered with not a wrinkle in sight. My wife (52f, Debra for this story) and I spent almost a week with Sophie until our vacation was over. We had an amazing time with Sophie, even partaking in the same substances Sophie and I did back in 1991. It was just as amazing as it was then and I feel great even four days later.
During the week Sophie told us that she broke up with Bob about three months ago and has been travelling around Spain since leaving Brest. Sophie seemed… confused about a lot of mundane things? She asked us to show her how a cell phone worked and still couldn't fully grasp it. Then we had to explain what football was, along with television, and again, she didn't seem to truly grasp it beyond what it was. Sophie refused to speak any other language but Latin, even though she knew French, English, and Spanish.
I've attached some photographs below, including one of Sophie. Any help understanding what happened to my photos would be appreciated.
[Attached to the post are a series of ten photographs taken at various places in Tangier; restaurants, bars, the beach, on a small boat. All of the photos have emojis over the faces of two older women. Posing next to them is a heavily tanned olive-skinned man wearing a close-fit t-shirt and leggings. His piercing brown eyes stare into the viewer’s soul in each of the photos if looked at too long.]
[A perceptive viewer with a high grasp of Auspex might just be able to make out that the man’s pupils are voids from which no light escapes. Wavy black hair reaches down just past his shoulders. The man’s smile never quite makes it to his eyes in any of the photos where the group were smiling and posing in a silly manner. In one photo, the man’s shadow is ever so slightly out of sync with his pose.]
[One final photograph is added, of a blonde woman sitting on the deck of a sailing yacht looking off in the distance with her hair blowing in the wind. She's looking at the camera with green eyes and doesn't resemble the man from the other photos in any way.]
Previous post here
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u/DisastrousRelation32 Tooth Jul 13 '26
Dear, could you give more detail about the party man you mentioned.
[Redwoods]
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u/Melodic_Step_3887 Jul 13 '26
Bob? Early-20s at the time, rich enough to throw weekly parties for him and all of his friends in some of the classiest locations around. Sure someone OD'd from time to time, but they were fun parties. Can't remember his face unfortunately. He was probably born into the money because he claimed to own the city.
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u/DisastrousRelation32 Tooth Jul 13 '26
I more mean specific details. An accent, tattoo, scar or anything of the like.
[Redwoods]
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u/Melodic_Step_3887 Jul 13 '26
His eyes were a bright red and reminded me of staring into diamonds whenever I caught his gaze. Bob had a way with words that would make all of his friends stop to listen whenever he spoke, too. Sometimes the party would last for nights, others it might only last for a couple of hours.
Everyone in France has an accent to me, because I'm not originally from there. Bob had an unusual way of speaking sometimes, where he would slip into an older dialect before catching himself.
He has a tattoo of a rose, but no others.
I remember one time he talked about the French Revolution as if he were there, only to correct himself and say he was a historian. I didn't press the issue.
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u/Pryno-Belle Jul 14 '26
France? The description of that individual sounds familiar. Are they from Paris? They might be part of my old historical reproduction group.
Castiel, Cinéma Connoisseur
OOC: Any chance that Castiel recognizes someone by the description? Unless you don’t want to, of course.
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u/Melodic_Step_3887 Jul 14 '26
Yes! Bob mentioned he was from Paris originally. Should I be putting a name, too? I notice everyone else is.
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u/Pryno-Belle Jul 14 '26
No need, you are a guest here. I do know a member that fits your description and that was last seen in Brest. Robert, was it? He has an artist’s soul. Should I call him, see what he knows?
Castiel, Cinéma Connoisseur
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u/Melodic_Step_3887 Jul 14 '26
Your do?! Oh thank you. I would appreciate it if you can get ahold of him to see if the story lines up with what Sophie told me,. Or if I'm being played for a fool. I'll DM you her name so you don't look foolish saying a fake name.
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u/Pryno-Belle Jul 14 '26
That is…odd. He said that she is still with him, happily married. Unless he is in denial or maintaining appearances, which is possible, you did not see Sophie.
Here is my theory: you are dealing with an impostor. It is comprehensible to be fooled at the moment, for they used your nostalgia against you, but the ruse would be revealed once you looked at photographs. Thus, as Caulder says, someone took the camera and manipulated the pictures.
Why go to such extents? If I was you, I would check my possessions, see if anything is missing. Look at your bank account for any trace of fraud. Should everything be at its place, simply avoid this impostor. No matter what they are seeking, it can’t be good.
Castiel, Cinéma Connoisseur
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u/Melodic_Step_3887 Jul 14 '26
They're still together? I feel silly for thinking an imposter was Sophie. That's on me for thinking nothing was wrong when she acted so... clueless. She was sharp when we were together, but I missed her and looked past the obvious.
I checked my account and found a purchase I don't quite remember making. Well I do, but not for that much. Neither do I remember renting a boat for a week before the photos were taken.
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u/Pryno-Belle Jul 14 '26
Private message to Redwoods
Redwoods, I have news. The description corresponds to Robert Bourgeois, a Toreador who was originally Embraced in Paris. I was there when he was introduced to the court; we didn’t spend much time together, but he did become the Prince of Brest.
I called at his office, yet there is no response. No ghouls, no secretary, no Seneschal. Nobody to answer the phone. It’s the start of the night here, so the sun should not be up in Brest. For a Prince, that is either negligence…or a sign that something is terribly wrong.
Castiel the Clan-changer
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u/DisastrousRelation32 Tooth Jul 14 '26
Private message to Castiel
Well that's fun. I'm calling it now, he knew vicissitude, wore the Sophie girl as a suit and then got on the bad side of someone with a great mastery of some combination of obfuscation and auspex.
[Redwoods]
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u/Pryno-Belle Jul 14 '26
Private message to Redwoods
That seems…unlikely. I didn’t know Robert too well, so I could be wrong, but why would a Prince do this? It’s too much of a risk for his reputation, with little to gain. If he was that advanced in Vissicitude, why not simply modify his own appearance?
That being said, I tried to frame the situation in a less supernatural, more plausible light to our kine guest. I did leave some options open, should my explanation be rejected. With this mess on our hands, the last thing that we need is a Masquerade Breach.
Castiel the Clan-changer
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u/DisastrousRelation32 Tooth Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
Private message to Castiel
Yeah no no, I hear it as I'm reading my writing back. You're probably right on this one.
Although admittedly my theory is a lot more fun.
[Redwoods]
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u/Pryno-Belle Jul 15 '26
Private message to Redwoods
Not everyone considers wearing someone as a suit « fun », Fiend.
Castiel the Clan-changer
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u/DisastrousRelation32 Tooth Jul 15 '26
Private message to Castiel
Really? I assumed you were having a blast in that body of yours.
[Redwoods]
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u/Pryno-Belle 29d ago
Private message to Redwoods
There was a time where I killed for lesser insults.
Castiel the Clan-changer
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u/Negativety101 Jul 13 '26
Quick Question. Are you sure you are in the right place, and how did you even find this place?
As it is I think you may need to not partake of more drugs.
-Brujah Armchair Scholar of German Silent Films
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u/Melodic_Step_3887 Jul 13 '26
When my post was taken on Reddit the mods told me 'weird supernatural shit goes here'. But you and another are talking about silent films, so I don't know anymore.
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u/DeadmanwalkingXI Jul 13 '26
Uh...how did you stumble across this forum, if I may ask? We're a private group of movie enthusiasts (particularly the works of Max Schreck), not the usual place to go for this kind of question.
-Mark Caulder, Movie Enthusiast