Shadowmen, Shadow People, Schattenwesen…whatever you call them, they are becoming the scourge of many an innocent mind.
Shadow people, under this name, are a relatively new phenomenon. This is likely due to the fact that Shadowmen sightings and encounters are often very similar to ghost encounters and hauntings, and are therefore often mistaken for simple apparitions or poltergeist. There are a few qualitative differences though some more drastic than others.
The vast majority of Shadowmen encounters occur in much the same way as ghosts are encountered, with the major difference being their appearance. Shadowmen are said to be nearly solid black and featureless. Witnesses often describe on the silhouette of a person, with no detail whatsoever. Most accounts offer an image of almost amorphous black fluid, only without a sense of substance and certainly no depth. The entity allows n light to pass through it, but doesn’t typically interact with the physical location or environment.
There have typically been two distinct varieties of Shadowmen; the Hooded Figure, and the Hat Man. In cases of Hat Man sightings, witnesses often exclaim the distinct visual outline of the hat, which apparently looks much like the silhouette of a mid 19th century bowler hat, and are convinced that the entity meant them harm or malice.
Another defining characteristic is the Shadowman’s propensity for departing through walls. Most accounts of Shadow People sightings have the entities quickly departing once noticed, and virtually all instances have them departing through walls and other solid surfaces.
In rare cases people have reported brief and sometimes violent interactions with Shadow People; some have gone so far as to report being attacked by the creature, though the majority of encounters last for no more than a few seconds.
Regardless of the duration of the event, all Shadowmen witnesses report the same feelings of dread, malice and evil emanating from the entity, and most are left with long lasting fear and trauma following the event. At the time of writing, there are no official reports of injury or imminent danger associated with these encounters, outside of the obvious psychological stress.
Science has done its part in attempting to explain these accounts, mostly through wordy psychological diagnosis, or through sleep disorders such as sleep paralysis (Hypnagogia). A commonly offered explanation is a combination of sleep paralysis (which is common in children) and night terrors (also common in children).
Some other scientific explanations have been: peridolia (the effect of the brain incorrectly interpreting visual patterns observed within the peripheral field of view), narcotic induced hallucination, and the effects of electromagnetic fields on brainwaves and specific neurological traumas and/or conditions.
Suffice it to say, most Shadowmen witnesses are less than satisfied with these answers and many UFOlogists and paranormal researchers have offered some other-worldly explanations.
A widely accepted theory is one of inter-dimensional beings, another is simply that the Shadowmen are extraterrestrial beings, and some yet believe that they are some form of ghost or spectre that is rarer than say, poltergeist.
Whatever they are, many witnesses report having repeated encounters, sometimes frequent and all are plagued by the universal sense of fear. If the Shadowmen are other worldly beings, what are they doing here? What do they want?
Some have speculated that the theory of inter-dimensional beings leaves room for supposition about their purpose. They may be examining our reality, testing and experimenting with the properties of this universe and as a consequence of those proceedings, occasionally become visible within our spectrum light.
Until some lucky investigator, scientist or researcher is able to capture evidence of the Shadowmen on film, we will likely not come any closer to a respectable answer, and until that time comes, we are doomed to encounter and report, and ultimately guess at their true nature.