[vampyr]

Does anyone have any idea of what type of spirit/encounter this could've been?

My dad told me a story the other night about something he saw when he was younger. He was living with his brother and they were both in the living room. My dad was still awake, but my uncle had fallen asleep. My dad slowly drifted off,  when he woke up it was during the night still. He looked up and saw his brother stood there. His first reaction was what was he doing up at that time of night, but then he realized that his brother looked different in some way. He was wearing exactly the same clothes and his hair looked exactly the same, but he seemed to look better. (It's hard to explain the way he looked properly). He then turned to look at the chair that he thought his brother had been asleep in, and he was there, fast asleep. When he turned back, the 'thing' had disappeared.

I would love to find out what type of experiance this could've been.

[Loki]

A doppelgänger (pronunciation (help·info)) or fetch is the ghostly double of a living person, a sinister form of bilocation.

In the vernacular, "Doppelgänger" has come to refer (as in German) to any double or look-alike of a person—most commonly an "evil twin".

The word is also used to describe the sensation of having glimpsed oneself in peripheral vision, in a position where there is no chance that it could have been a reflection.

They are generally regarded as harbingers of bad luck. In some traditions, a doppelgänger seen by a person's friends or relatives portends illness or danger, while seeing one's own doppelgänger is an omen of death. In Norse mythology, a vardøgr is a ghostly double who precedes a living person and is seen performing their actions in advance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doppelg%C3%A4nger

[vampyr]

Hmmm, yes. Doppelganger did come to mind when he told me, but there seemed to of been no illness of danger surrounding the event. Thanks for posting anyway

It sounds like his brother's body was on the chair and his brother's spirit may have been in front of your father. Out-of-body experience is one possiblity. Some people's spirits leave their body for awhile.  There is a belief that we have many selves. The Astral body, the spiritual body, etc.

[Kadesh]

 I agree with brownbear on this, especially since there was no illness or anything. Did your uncle perhaps dream that he was looking at your father? It would be interesting to hear his side.

based on what you said, maybe your dad was only dreaming......of course, that doesn't rule out the possibililty of an apparition

[rave phillaphia]

when I read the title I thought of Anne Rice's "Blackwood Farm". But its not like that so... I don't know. unless there was a third twin... *dun dun duuuu* anyways... I also agree with brownbear. It could have been astral projection. Very common. So people can do it on accendent in their sleep and not know about it. It would feel like a dream. I would have asked the uncle what type of dream he had that night (it was probally so long ago he don't remember though).