WHAT ARE SHADOW PEOPLE?

Have you ever for just a split second seen out of the corner of your eye  something that you cannot explain? Did you tell yourself that you are just seeing things or that you saw nothing?

You may have seen a shadow person. One of the world wide current phenomenons that is happening more and more frequently and being reported to the paranormal community.

The definition is this: A shadow person, also known as a shadow figure, shadow being or black mass, is an alleged paranormal entity. Their movement is often described as being very quick and disjointed; they may first move slowly, and then rapidly "hop" to another part of a surrounding. Some witnesses describe this movement as though the shadow entities they have seen "danced" from one wall to the next, or as moving around the room "as if they were on a specific track". They often completely disappear into solid walls. 

A number of religions, legends, and belief systems describe shadowy spiritual beings or supernatural entities such as shades of the underworld, and various shadowy creatures have long been a staple of folklore and ghost stories. The phenomenon can take many forms, including: big, hairy, shadowy spiders, cats, streaks, clouds, black masses, or instances where a head is directly connected to a set of broad shoulders and, at times, you can see red glowing eyes.

Shadow people are described with striking similarities all over the world such as the Hat-Man which is described the same from small children to adults. The common traits: they described them as dark silhouettes with human shapes (usually a masculine shape) and profiles that flicker in and out of peripheral vision. Some people tell of seeing shadow people wearing coats and hats and a few people have claimed to see shadow people with bright red glowing eyes. Others talk about the "Hat Man," a  solid creature as having "a Zorro-type hat" or "a Fedora type hat". He wears a three piece suit and a cape or a long trench coat, and possesses glowing red or solid black eyes. Or even more terrifying they see an entity covered in a Hooded Black Cloak with no feet!

So What Are Shadow People and Where Do They Come From?

There is scientific research that tells of several physiological and psychological conditions can account for reported experiences of shadow people. These include sleep paralysis, or hallucinations brought on by physiological or psychological circumstances, drug use or side effects of medication, and the interaction of external agents on the human body. A reason that could be behind the illusion is sleep deprivation, which may lead to hallucinations.

Another theory is that Shadow people are psychological in nature, and that they are somehow linked to a modern stressful lifestyle. And as shadow people are seen mainly in the corner of ones eye a condition known as Pareidolia could be responsible. This is a condition where vision in the peripheral area of the eye incorrectly interprets random patterns of light/shadow or texture as being familiar patterns such as faces and human forms. 

Can shadow people be spirits of once living human beings that are stuck here on earth and maybe for one reason or another can't move on? A lot of people who have seen and experienced shadow people don't think that shadow people are residual haunting's. Most people who have seen shadow people think that shadow people are intelligent and able to come and go when they want. Some people even say they think shadow people may be another life form entirely or may be the extra-dimensional inhabitants of another universe.

Online discussion forums devoted to paranormal and supernatural topics describe Shadow People as menacing, among other believers and paranormal authors, there is no consensus that shadow people are either evil, helpful, or neutral. There was an interesting take on this subject on The Twilight Zone episode "The Shadow Man," the episode featured a shadow man who would never harm a person whose bed it resides under. Remember the Boogie man? Was he just a tale to tell kids to stay in their beds at night (so they wouldn't roam around in the dark and possible get hurt) or was it something from an old legend that had roots in something real?

However, if you have watched some popular paranormal TV shows and movies this past year there are also people who say that shadow people are dark entities with malevolent intentions.The behavior of Shadow people ranges greatly from shy and skittish to downright nasty and malevolent a feeling of dread is associated by witnesses and animals appear to react with fear and hostility.A recurring supernatural entity reported by witnesses is the black mass, an appalling dark form with a vaguely humanoid stance, which the witnesses unanimously feel represents pure evil can jump on your chest to choke you. The "Hat Man," is claimed to be a form of evil incarnate and speculated that the being is the Devil himself!

Our Own Experiences With Shadow People

August 2009: our cousins visited the house of my deceased friend hoping to capture some paranormal activity on their cameras. The chapter describing what took place during that visit is in my soon to debut book, Estate of Horror. Our cousin Carin sat on a chair during the time spent documenting the activity in the basement of the house that harrowing day and soon felt a presence behind her. Following photo shows what she captured on film. Her sister also recorded a darting dark figure behind a wardrobe closet.

On June 2010: My son, Chris awoke suddenly in his bedroom and saw a dark figure near his chair. He instinctively snapped a picture with his cell phone camera and went back to sleep as it was very early. When he woke up several hours later he thought he had dreamed the event. That was until he looked at the image he captured on the camera. A dark hooded creature that seems to float off the floor. He showed it to me as he was getting dressed and I suggested he take another photo of the chair to compare before and after. That is why there is a slight change of the shirts moved in the other frame but the photos were taken the same morning.   

My family have seen small shadows darting along the baseboards and ceilings in our home and these have been connected with poltergeist activity at the same time. 

July 6, 2012: This figure showed up again last year when we filmed my book trailer. On our teaser, before you see the shadow man at the beginning of the video (the first 10 seconds) reflected on our white door and just before you see him there is a brief second EVP of a dog barking. http://youtu.be/kA2_q6GWJjQ

Our producer and crew said no one heard any dog barking or noise when they were filming and our cinematographer was not wearing a hat.

Our brimmed hat shadow man came to my son later (who is very psychic) in a dream and told him was a former resident who murdered his wife in the early 1900's. My son described him as wearing farmer's overalls and a brimmed hat along with his companion-a large black dog with red eyes. We researched in county records (the property dates to the early 1800's) and indeed a former owner went to prison for murdering his wife in 1900's.

 

                artist rendering of our shadow man as seen on video

So, Should You Be Afraid?

It depends. Has it caused you to be frightened by its presence or has shown aggression towards you? That can be a problem. If you've never been harmed it may just be part of the home's original history (like with our experience) and is just an echo of a spirit or ghost that has existed for an extended period of time. It could be a being created through negative psychic energy or a lost soul who has been wronged, has unfinished business or has evil intent. Perhaps just an hallucination or optical illusion brought on by the psychological circumstances of stress, or mental illness. These are things you have to keep in mind to understand its reason for being there or just exactly why they are suddenly there at all. As the old 1940's radio detective show "The Shadow" used to say in its opening  line "Only the Shadow Knows!"