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 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 no 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.
- Artists rendering of the two types of Shadowmen; Hooded and Hat Man
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, 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.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported.
As a first hand witness of a “shodowperson” I agree with the intense fear. The first resulted in the loudest screams ever heard in my neightbourhood! Only on 2 occasions have I experienced them, and never want to do it again! Not sure of the theory behind it, but it was terrifying nonetheless.
Very good article, keep up the good work.
Not sure if this is what I see. Most of the time is see silver like orbs. Maybe you could tell me what this is. I see them around people most of the time.
Sheila, I’d need more information to give you a complete and fair answer, so I invite you to join the forum and pose the question there.
Off hand it sounds like you’re talking about auras; they don’t always manifest as smooth colours or even as a typical aura…sometime they can be seen the way youdescribed.
I’m going to look into it and see if I can find an explanation of any kind.
What are Shadow Entities and why are they often linked to sleep paralysis?
are they ghosts? aliens? demons ? inter-dimensional beings? Is it possible that they are the earthbound souls trapped in proverbial ‘purgatory’? until they can achieve redemption by relieving us of our worldly stresses and daily angst by PSI vamping us in an induced state of immobilization that mimics a natural night time disruption commonly referred to as sleep paralysis? are they simply aliens using our own superstitions against us as a means of covert contact with humans (abduction or house calls)? There have been various types of Shadow Entities entities reported, visually they can bee ranging from 4 feet to as much as 7 feet tall, they have been described as flat and seemingly 2 dimensional, some with glowing red eyes and sometimes wearing a hat and or a hooded cloak, the reports I have read over the last year or so of recreationally researching this subject has enabled me to categorize them into these general titles;
THE SENTINEL- likes to watch
THE ATTACHMENT- “just me and my shadow”
THE PREDATOR-tends to feed off of fear or anxiety that it creates and in turn amplifies
THE RUNNING MAN- zips by out of the corner of your eye (it was fast AND “out of the corner of your eye” BUT you seem to know it was a Shadow)
Of course lets not discount the possibility that this phenomena may be attributed to individuals who are very much alive and are very capable of astral projection and depending on that projected individual,the potential exists for PSI vampirism is well right? My point is this : there are endless reports that filter in to forums like this day after day week after week, month after month and they all seem to have uniformity and consistency in the described encounters, this isn’t some sort of pop culture, mass media generated,
mass hysteria of “Wars of The Worlds” paranoia principle, this is a quantifiable and record able phenomena that is becoming inescapable as a supernatural subject as of late.
The testimonies I have read just from my limited research on the subject are all frighteningly similar in description …we all seem to recall a sense malevolence associated with the encounter, my recollection of one of the last few SP/shadow encounters is vivid ….
I remember opening my eyes and seeing a back mist/fog sort of coalescing through the lower left frame of the door… I was completely unable to move, the dream has always included an overwhelming sense of evil that I alway feel an instinctual need to shout out at in defiance!…to confront as a means of vanquishing it… the form was dark and consistent with the size of a man when it fully materialized beside by bed and I could tell it was very dark, like unnaturally dark… I could feel the ominous presence as well as see its outline in my straining peripheral vision …this one was wearing a cloak of sorts but I could discern no facial features as I was rendered completely immobilized by the imposed paralysis and permitted only straight on vision… the odd thing is I then distinctly remember a pillow floating towards my face and having it make enough contact with my face to jolt me completely awake and free…the other variation involves a recurring dream located an old early 1800′s seeming farmhouse with a hatched floor door in one of the outer rooms that lead to a basement/ cellar …I was completely mobile yet when opening the basement door I looked down to the bottom of the stairs following the narrow sliver of light from above and only ever catching the dark outline of something standing just out of the light but always seeming unnaturally dark…and , I am standing at he top of the stairs but MY VOICE IS CUT OFF FROM YELLING AT THE SEETHING PRESENCE IN THE BASEMENT … sometimes it’s a modern sort of a multi leveled basement plant or facility …now occasionally I do catch glimpses of them running by in my waking state, but nowadays they seem to leave me alone as its going on over a year now since the last episode….
blessings
barek
i had alot of strange occurences when i was working a large retail chain store i was an over night stocker. whenever i was stocking shelves i would see a black shilloute out of the corner of my eye it happened more than once as soon as i turned around it was gone i knew that i had seen something and that i wasnt imagining it on one occassion i will never forget i was stocking water and all of a sudden i felt someone jab there finger in my back i jumped cause it scared me thinking that it was a co-worker messing with me as soon as i turned aroundi started to say you scared the hell out of me but there was no one there. after that i started experiencing sleep paralysis that was the most scary thing . not knowing what was going on i dealt with it scared and confused and believe me i am a pretty big guy and not alot scares me. I finally got an explanation when i switched jobs and started listening to overnight talk show about paranormal happenings and they had a show about shadowmen and everything they said was what was and had happened to me. FREAKY RIGHT
I Had An Encounter With A Shadow Man, Hooded One.
I Always Thought It Had Something To Do With Me Messing With The Occult. I Had “Cast” A Spell To See A Spirit. Later That Night, I Awake To See A Hooded Figure Standing In A Corner Watching Me. I Didn’t Feel Like It Wanted To Hurt Me, But I Was Terrified.
I Went Under My Covers. A Few Seconds Later I Decided To Look Again, And It Was Gone. I’ve Had No Other Encounters Since That Night. I Was Then 13, I Am Now 18
I saw a shadow person while I had sleep paralysis once, he was wearing a hat much like the picture on this article, naturally I freaked out when I found out other people had seen it too, though I’m sure it’s just part of the collective conciousness or something like that.
I am a sensitive, and when I first saw spirits I perceived them as shadows. That was my perception of spirit, my conscious reaction to it was a slowing of time while viewing the apparation, weird. Anyway, I only experienced a few full materializations in my life, then the spirit looked like everyone else and for some reason I had no fear in either case. I was just surprised.
The perception of the viewer has alot to do with how they perceive the spirit. As a zen master would say, once Etherial communication hits the human brain, the information received becomes contaminated.
Isn’t it kind of odd that the examples of shadow people shown in the article resemble Freddy Krugar and the other a mad monk from the middle ages? Looks like the psychic impressions of the spirits were influenced by the subconscious.
Me and my old roommate saw one independently of each other on the same night. I was wide awake and just getting into bed when I saw him. It was the silhouette of a man wearing a hat standing at the foot of my bed. I could FEEL him watching me but I felt no malice only curiosity so I wasn’t scared and just went to sleep. This was years ago. I only found out other people have seen the same thing last night. Finding that out is more creepy than seeing one.
I always see the ‘Hooded Figure’ and it never does any harm to me or my sister. I like articles and things about these shadow figures, keep up the good work =-D
For those of you who think this is neat, check out the Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz. Yes, it is fictional, but Koontz uses these dark spirits that are just like these shadow figures to depict when bad things are about to happen. It is interesting though that these are considered different from other spirits, especially since people who have experienced them seem to report the same feelings. Perhaps they appear dark while being paired with feelings of malice and uneasiness because they use our energy to create an apparition. Maybe they are a visible form of a poltergeist like spirit.
I’ve seen many shadow people in my youth. I must say it never even crossed my mind to be fearful of them, any more than I would be scared to walk past strangers in public. Maybe people are just surprized by them, pinning malice to these people when maybe they should try to be more friendly towards people of different race and color.
I got a good look at one when I was about eight and – wait for it (drumroll) – walked straight through one!
I am now 27 so this was a fair while ago.
It showed up on seven (I think) consecutive mornings, always before anyone else was awake and always in the open bedroom doorway with the morning light behind it. It wasn’t of a shape that I recognized. As a kid I described it as sort of like a signpost with a really fat pole.
The first time I saw it I think I must have fainted. I was terrified (of course). I remember all kinds of random objects whirling around the room; a pair of binoculars, a giant teddy bear’s head with an angry axpression and its mouth moving like it was speaking, lego bricks etc. That bit seems a tad wierd to me, maybe I was hallucinating. Next thing I remember is waking up. OK so it was a dream?
The next morning it was back. I woke up, I looked, I saw it, I hid under the covers for a long time and woke up later.
The next morning I got brave. Woke up. Looked. Hello shadow creature in my doorway. Climbed out of my bunk bed. Crossed the room. Walked straight through it, across the landing and into my mum’s room, where I got into her bed.
The next four (Or so) mornings were the same. It never showed up again after my friend and I tried to excorcize it by covering the step up into the bedroom with salt. It looks as though we succeeded though I can’t explain why.
It never harmed me even though I walked straight through it roughly five times, it never moved and it did indeed seem to be two-dimensional. It should be noted that I felt absolutely nothing unusual when I walked through it.
I’m going with alien, trans-dimensional being or really persistant hallucination as possible explanations.