The Mysterious Shadow People: What Are They?

ive expierenced an encounter with a such "shadow man"..and he definatly knew my name...but i have some kind of theory on this...at the time i had seen him in my house alot of bad and negative tension between my family was going on...i wouldnt really call it a ghost...but i strongly believe this was either a result of the major build of negative energy or it was some kind of evil resident who decided to feed off of it....id like to hear what anyone has to say about this...in anyones experience..was there also nagative things going on?~Kiliker

Pulls out "holy avenger" sword.

Sleep Hallucinations. (night terrors.)

Shadowmen or beings differ from ghosts because they are entirely different things.

I expect you know what a ghost is, (I will explain in case you don't). A ghost can be two things, they can be a trapped spirit usually because of a violent past/death. Or they can be visiting they physical world (these are rarer, but none-the-less the do occur, and I've expienced them). Generally ghosts are misunderstood, due to hollywood, they are usually friendly and playfull, I regularly interact with a ghost that hangs around our house.

Shadow beings are almost the complete opposite. (I know I HAVE expierienced them 3 times in 1.5 years) they are a bit like the Harry Potter dementors. They are a mass of negative energy, and like ghosts they can take many forms (orb, human, wisp). They're like Dementors because they do in fact feed of your energy, any type, happy/sad/nostagic. This doesn't make them 'bad', this is just the way they are.

[edit on 9/8/0707 by anon52]

You've got it in one. Shadow beings (they can be male/female/animal) are a mass of negative energy, that occur when their supply of energy(you+family) is running dry. (Read my other post in this section for more info)

I've seen several shadow people. One was not in the corner of my eye, but right in front of me walking around for several seconds during what I believe was a case of sleep paralysis. While it was occuring I had no doubt there was actually a being in my room with me.

Once I "woke up", I became completely positive it was just a hallucination. I mean, that's a lot more likely than some interdimensional negative energy demon or whatever else it is that people just make up to explain it.

[edit on 8-9-2007 by Esoterica]

I've seen a shadow person before,it was a couple years ago I was in my cousins kitchen ,we were discussing what she was going to do for her birthday,out of the corner of my eye I seen some movemment so I look up and there's a 5ft thin shadow on the wall it looked to be easedropping on our conversation.As I pointed at it and drawed attention to it the figure ran away.

I had a similar experience about 3 years ago. At the time, I was living alone in an apartment. I seem to be a magnet for the paranormal, but this was the weirdest thing that I've ever seen/experienced.

I woke up in the middle of the night "paralyzed". I'm quoting paralyzed because I could still feel my limbs/fingers/etc and as I find out later, I did have some very limited movement. I was laying on my back like I had been placed inside a coffin with legs together and both arms on the side of my body(I always sleep on my stomach so this was odd to me). Standing next to the right side of my bed(from my POV) was a solid black figure. I could not make out any specific features like the nose or eyes. It was just a solid back silhouette of a human-like body. I could feel something pressing down on my chest like someone was trying to suffocate me. This figure then began dancing next to my bed. I then remember thinking to myself "This is me. That is me" thinking that whatever I was seeing was a reflection of myself. Then I got extremely angry. I'm normally a mild mannered guy, but I was extremely ANGRY at this thing. I then began to rock back and forth in the bed to try to regain movement of my limbs so I could strangle this "thing". My head kept hitting the wall behind me with each attempt. At this point I started yelling "F*** YOU" over and over to it with the limited speaking ability that I had at the time. Imagine trying to yell thru your teeth. That's what it felt like and most likely sounded like.

I then had a calm fall over me, the shadow disappeared, and I fell unconscious. I did wake up on my back in the same position the next morning and I do not believe it was a dream as I tend to completely forget dreams a couple hours upon waking up. My head was also bruised so I know my head had hit the wall behind me at some point during the night. The way I saw my room was also 100% accurate during this experience. I'm noting this because the surroundings in my dreams are never that accurate.

Just wanted to share that. I'm dying to know what they are and really enjoyed reading this thread.

I've seen a shadowman twice at my house and my daughter saw him once. My experience was not as scary as some of the ones posted. I didn't get any bad or evil feeling from it/him. The one I saw was wearing a fedora type hat with a long jacket. He was blacker than black and crisp and clear as can be. I don't know if shadowman is a good way to describe what I saw because when I think of a shadow, I think of a distortion in appearance. He appeared as a person with the perfect outline of a human, only within that perfect, crisp outline was total blackness. I saw him straight on, but he was walking at a sideways view to me. He never stopped to look at me, or even acknowledge me. He walked at a normal pace for abt. 20 ft, so I had plenty of time to get a good look. I wasn't sleeping or even in bed when I saw him. Also, I saw him once at night, and once during the day. My daughter saw him at night.

I think there must be several types of shadow people.

These shadow people are beings that live here with us their color describes what clan they are from They live in different regions of the earth and sky and are referred to as Gods in ancient times their make up is hot wind and air some are good and some are bad they usually stay away from humans the black ones you see from the conor of your eye are the ones that like to play and joke with people intelligence the ones that walk in human form have two features that cannot be change eyes and feet.They mostly live in uninhabbited places most of the time they are the cause of people sickness like cancer some of them eat what you wouldnt belive fecees why people dont see them is cause of the darkness of the heart.
The kingdom of God is inside of you and out of you. The name of their race is Jinns
This is just a brief decription on who they are. 1 more thing UFO's are the same beings Jinns

i read some posts and its funny to see people dont know who their neighbors are if you see them they know you see them they can fly they live on other planets they dont need spaceship sand they dont die for right now there are no such things as ghost there able to change forms and the people that have these experience while in between sleep and awake relax the spirt that travels while sleep is not fully in the body

there are several typs the white winds live in the bermuda triangle
and the red winds are the strongest of the all

each case differs the person who seen it by the bed almost every night is the case with everyone we all have one that accompany us the subject on theses shadow people is very complex the times they are very acitve is when the sun is setting when the most accidents happen they dont feed off negitive enegery there are a solid beings at the same time transparent and subtle all i can tell people is be careful they can really hurt you bad also resulting in death they're just like us but different make up i have my personal dealings with them up to this day. 1 more thing the black ones are from the same tribe as satan.he was their chief

I remember when I was younger - staying the night at my grandparents house. I was in bed and could not go to sleep so I turned on the lamp and was making "shadow animals" or whatever you want to call them with my hands. Anyways, I was doing this and then at one point I stopped moving my hand yet the shadow moved along the wall and then went away. I'm not sure if this is related to the shadow people but it was a very strange incident.

Edit: Spelling

[edit on 1/20/2008 by NJE03]

Well, I don't feel so alone anymore... I had this happen to me... I didn't know what to think of it. I was taking a nap in the afternoon. And I woke up slightly I guess I dunno how to explain it. I couldn't move but felt totally cognative, I had this EXTREME feeling of terror that I've NEVER had before. (I'm afraid of nothing, I'm the guy that could have a pitbull charging at me foaming at the mouth and I would stay still and try to time when I would grab it around the throat) I saw a shadow on the wall about 1 foot from my face. ( I was laying on my side facing the wall) And I felt like something EVIL was right behind me and about to cause me harm. I was so scarred I wouldn't turn around. It only lasted seconds but it felt soooo real. I've been denying this until I found this thread.

On this subject I would like to say that I myself have experienced these "things" even though I am having trouble being convinced that it isn't all just in my head, but upon reading some of these posts it does make me wonder.

I only have these experiences at work (a job that I hate by the way) when I am there by myself (usually only about an hour between 6:45 and 7:00 am give or take a few minutes). It has gotten to the point where I will see "it", turn and look and nothing is there. I will even (kind of jokingly) say "c'mon and show yourself, I just saw you"; never fully expecting any response (and never receiving one).

These occurrences never happen anywhere else though. At home I always expect it (have yet to see "it" at home), though I have had the occasional night paralysis (and my girlfriend does too from time to time), but nothing extreme as far as that goes.

Just curious of a couple of things. 1) Why at work? there is nothing significant about my job and it never happens ANYWHERE else.
2) This might be a stretch, but we have a dog and people always talk about how animals may be able to see things that we cannot see. Maybe the presence of an animal keeps "it" away because "its" cover would be blown.

Maybe it's just rambling, but this is an interesting topic and would love to read more interesting observations on it.

Has anyone compared the comments regarding theories/limitations of people who've actually seen them while fully awake?

I ask because when I read some replies, I can instantly say YES or NO to certain of them, based on my very real, very awake (and upright) experience and those of my family members.

For example, to the person who said maybe it was feeding on our fear, I would say no. For one, I saw it unexpectedly and was not afraid of anything at the time. When it first appeared, I'd just come into the house, it was just after dark, and the shadow person was a silhouette standing in the doorway of our kitchen. I saw him, he saw me see him, and he quickly stepped sideways into the darkness of the room.
My first thought was he was my dad, playing the hiding game (he used to jump out of the darkness and scare me), so I wasn't afraid until I flipped on the light switch and found out I was home alone.

Two other family members (my parents) saw him later the same night, at different times.

I saw shadow-only. He was a perfect silhouette of a man, as if he was real, he was not smoky at all, but solid looking. If you saw him you would think he was a real person, not a ghost, just silhouetted.
However, my mother could make out clothing, pants and a shirt, but no facial details.

I wonder if it depends on the person's level of psychic ability, as to how much or what they see. Not that we are "psychics" by any means, but I think we all have different levels of spiritual discernment or at least frontal lobe development. I was about 13.

There were no accidents, or violence, or anything traumatic surrounding the event. However, we had just put our house up for sale.

My father wondered, at the time, if it was the old man who'd originally built the house, and he didn't want us to move. But I don't know why he'd have been earth-bound.

The short version is, as I've stated in another thread, he told the "spirit" he was scaring us, and to leave in the name of Jesus Christ. We never saw him again after that.

That's not to be preachy, it's just the facts. Worked for us.

Hi, TheVault40,
I want to reply to two of your comments.

First, in the interest of keeping my post on the short side, I didn't give the whole story, above.

Before we had "the big day of sightings," I'd seen glimpses of a shadow for a couple of years. It would be behind me. Sometimes I'd feel almost a body heat. You know, the feeling that someone is right there? I'd turn around and catch a glimpse of him darting behind me. I mentioned it to my mom a couple of times and she told me it was my eyes playing tricks on me, or my imagination, so I stopped telling her and began to believe her.

When that happened it was, as far as I can remember, always in the kitchen. The big sighting I had was in the doorway between the kitchen and dining room.

My parents both saw him in the dining room.

To your other comment about the dog...
A few months prior to the big sighting day, my dog (a toy size) was crated, she had a large cage that was her bedroom and we'd lock her in for the night. Every night after we were all asleep, she'd wake us up at 2 or 3 in the morning, barking and snarling at the wall, in the dining room. My dad thought she was nuts or having nightmares, and moved her crate to the laundry room. She never did it after that.

SO, after the big sighting day, we guessed she must have been barking and snarling at "him."
I believe animals can see spirits, and her behavior makes me think he was not of a Holy nature.

But it's possible the shadow person is tied to a particular place.

I'm just here to share experiences with others who have seen them, to get a handle on what exactly they are. Your "glimpses" remind me of my own earlier glimpses. It could be the time will come when you least expect it, you'll see him straight on.

Shadow People.

They dont deserve to be called people.

If you want to know how to deal with their fear-lock, just defy it with all your heart and decide within yourself that you aint gunna take this *bullhonky* no more. Force them away with your happiness, and they will be totally stunned by it. Then, blast them with bolts of energy and be satisfied in the fact that they can only harm you in your dreams.

It's what I did.

-Knight

Not to claim that anyone here is not seeing what they think they are but this is an interesting article.

Scientists "see" ghosts

The reason that apparitions, bogeymen and phantoms like to lurk in the shadows may have been revealed by scientists.
A team from University College London finds that when we gaze around in a poorly-lit context, it can fool our brains into seeing things that are not really there.

Although no one has done a systematic study of ghosts, neuroscientists are convinced they are "all in the mind" and, in the light of the new work, it does not seem so surprising that they seem most often glimpsed in "spooky" dimly-lit circumstances
In the journal PLoS Computational Biology, Prof Li Zhaoping and her colleagues say that the context surrounding what we see is all important - sometimes overriding the evidence gathered by our eyes and even causing us to imagine things.

The rest here:

www.telegraph.co.uk.../earth/2008/02/21/scighost121.xml

Unfortunately the entire link won't paste so you'll have to manually add it.

[edit on 29-2-2008 by jbondo]

reply to post by soothsayer


I am 36 years old. And throuout those years, I too have experienced these beings (among many other experiences, I am surprised has not turned my hair white). And until recently, I never knew others experienced them! Knowing this now, is such a major relief. Thank you to the poster of this thread, and the creator of this site.

I've seen all types of these shadow beings. All shapes, heights, and forms. I hear them all the time. Thing is, they're trying to tell us something. To find out, we have to truly listen.

To make a long story short, I'd like to share my most recent experience, which lead me from fear long ago, confusion, to curiosity.

I figured I had to stop fighting and fearing. Fight if I need to, but not fight against what I felt first needed to be understood.

And 2 weeks ago, when I was just about to go to sleep, one of them grabbed me. Like an embrace or something. The entire left side of my body tingled. It held tight, and kinda growled. Then made a sound like a squeak as it held tighter. I could not move. The sun started to come up, and it held on, growled, then went away.

I realized that it was afraid. And for some reason, held onto me for help or something.

So, since then, I've decided to find out why. And research further, to find out. So we can all try to understand.