Friday, March 25, 2011

Shadow People

SHADOW PEOPLE
BY: Shelly Beard

What are shadow people? This question has been asked time and time again by people that have experienced them and those that research them.

Some researchers believe that they are extraterrestrials or beings from other dimensions as well as ghost or disincarnate spirits. Stories and experiences in regards to shadow people have been around for years. Those who experience them describe them as "Watchers" that seem to observe the person while he or she is in bed. They are also described as very tall beings usually six-and-a-half feet tall sometimes wearing a hat, coat or nothing at all.

One person I have talked to about their experience calls him "The Hat Man".


The Hat Man is the most common shadow person reportedly witnessed by numerous people during the night. Who or what is The Hat Man? Maybe we will never know. That is why there is still ongoing research into this phenomenon. Two people who have shared their experiences with me say that they have had encounters with the hat man since they were small children and still continue to see him. Another person I spoke with has only had an encounter once as a child and once as an adult. One case I worked on here recently, reported they had only experienced the shadow man while living in the home. One question I have, is why do certain people encounter him more often when some do not? Are the ones who experience him more often more sensitive perhaps to this phenomenon?



Another commonly reported shadow sighting is the hooded shadow, which has the same watching characteristics as the Hat Man, only wearing a hood.








Shadow people fall into different categories.

RoseMary Ellen Guiley has classified the different categories in her Encyclopedia of Ghost and Spirits. Pages 444-445 See below.


Bedroom Watchers: These figures are discovered standing by a bedside or in a corner of the room when a person awakens in the night. They seem to stare at people in bed, even though they have no visible eyes or facial features. Most do not behave in a threatening manner, though their presence is often terrifying. They can remain for long periods of time and when observed, disappear suddenly or melt through walls and ceilings. Some act aggressively toward people, causing choking sensations similar to the "old hag".


Shadows on walls: These figures appear suddenly as dark human outlines on walls, which detach from walls and move about rooms.

Moving Shadows: These figures appear abruptly and move quickly through a room, as thought on a mission. They come through walls and melt into walls. They may seem to pay no attention to people present or else watch them intensely. They may be seen out of the corners of the eyes or in full view.


Background Visitors: These figures usually are not seen, but are captured in photographs. They appear in backgrounds, their forms noticeable on walls, doors, and so forth.


Haunting presences: These figures appear in places known or thought to be haunted. They move about, act with intelligence, and appear and disappear suddenly They may follow people. In some cases, shadow people are associated with bad luck.


Some expierencers that I have interviewed, feel very uneasy when they encounter them, Though they have never been harmed by them they often feel like they are malevolent or negative. Some people even feel as if they are demonic in nature. However, shadow people rarely interact with the eyewitness and claims of harm or injury from them appear to be rare.



Another theory suggests that shadow people are time travelers or visitors from another world/universe. Do they come here to check on us for some reason? Are they simply curious about us? They apparently do spend a lot of time here. Why? Maybe they’re not even here at all. Is it possible that they’re simply “people” that live on another plane of existence? Could we be getting a glimpse into that parallel dimension? Perhaps we also appear as shadow people to them.



As to whether they are interdiminsional beings or ghost I can not say, since I am still collecting stories on them, but if they are ghost I believe the reason they show themselves as shadows is maybe that is the only way they can manifest themselves, like that is all the energy they can collect at that time and show themselves in that form. The reason I say this, is on one occasion my team and I were doing a preliminary of an old abandoned hospital. I was taking random pictures and upon review of my pictures I had photographed a shadow person that looked like a nurse, I did not see this shadow person she only showed up in my picture. Was it a former nurse who could only manifest as a shadow? In my personal opinion I would say yes, I believe that was all the energy she could gather at that time and that is how she appeared in my picture.


Other articles I have read mention seeing shadow people in the woods. One such place is Zombie Road (pictured right )where numerous shadow people or kids have been photographed. You can view this strange incident in the Children of The Grave Documentary. Also shadow people figures have been seen at various alleged haunted locations such as Waverly Hills and Ohio State Reformatory.



So the research into what shadow people are continue to this day and I encourage all researchers to share their theories, findings, and resources about these beings so that we may all have a better understanding as to what they are and what the phenomenon is.





Sources:

The Encyclopedia of Ghost and Spirits pages 444-445 By: Rosemary Ellen Guiley

Rosemary Ellen Guiley's website www.visionaryliving.com

13 comments:

  1. I have had several personal experiences of seeing shadow people. However, my own personal experience was with a hooded shadow man. I had the sensation that someone was watching me while I slept. At the time I had numerous unexplained events happening in my home. When I opened my eyes, I saw this shadow thing at the foot of my bed, when it realized that I was awake, it slowly glided out the bedroom door, closing it quietly behind himself. It was also witnessed by my ex husband at that same time, only I was unaware of it until later that day. We both thought we had dreamed it. On one other occasion around this same time, I saw it from the corner of mt eye, when I turned to look again it was standing there facing me, then it darted quickly into the wall and disappeared. I did not feal threatened by it, more like unsettled. I have also witnessed very dark shadow figures while investigating the paranormal with our team , they seem to be darker than dark if that makes any sense, not see through like a mist, more like a solid blackness. I have thought that either these figures are spirits who do not have the energy to manifest as an apparition or that they are somehow observers to human behaviors, regardless of what they are I am fascinated by their presence. angela L- msspi

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  2. When I was 14 years old, I saw the "Hat Man" shadow person. It started out like this: I was sitting on my computer, just listening to music, when I swear I heard my name being called. I decided to ignore it because I thought I was just imagining it, though I was slightly unsettled. Moments later I heard it again, only louder and more clear than before, almost growing in volume. This scared me, so I turned off the computer quickly and turned on all the lights in my house. I was home alone because my mom and sisters were out shopping. Anyways, after I turned all the lights on, I decided to curl up on a chair and sleep until my mom came home. As I was about to sleep, I got the feeling that I should open my eyes one last time before drifting off, and it was then that I saw it; looking forward, my eyes immediately snapped open, for I saw a dark black figure with a top hat standing in the doorway. He had no facial features. He was very tall, and actually he seemed not to notice me for a few moments. He was looking to his right and towards the ground. I was frozen in fear but my body kept jolting, trying to move or scream or something. I had the sense that something very, very bad was going to happen to me. Just as I felt like I was breaking free of my paralysis, the "Hat Man" "looked" at me, right in my eyes. I got a sense that he was very shocked or surprised, almost a little fearful of me, then he quickly vanished. He just disappeared. I continued to sit there, wide awake, with my mouth open until my mom returned home. He hasn't appeared again since.

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  3. I've seen two ghosts in my life one of them a shadow person. I'll start with the first one even though we're talking about shadow people this appeared to be a being of light. I was staying in a caravan at my mum & dad's house in the backyard, I had to walk down to the house to take a piss, but around 1:00 in the morning I just walked over to this tree near my caravan & started draining the snake, looking at the stars, then I looked over to our house & noticed a light in the kitchen, at first I thought it was my dad or something with a torch getting a drink or something but when I looked harder I noticed it was in the shape of a person it was bright but see through & didn't illuminate the room, then it moved to the laundry next to the kitchen & towards the back door & disappeared just before it hit the door. I got freaked out & ran back to my caravan. Then a couple of months later after being scared of the dark after that experience I finally got over it & was on my way to my caravan it was about 6:30 to 7:00 pm just after sunset & I took another leak on that same tree, same thing looking at the stars then I noticed something dark next to me, I looked & saw it was a shadow in the shape of a person that was even blacker than the night & as soon as I saw it the thing walked right up to my face & I nearly shit myself & ran to my caravan turned all the lights on & sat on my bed rocking back & forth waiting for this thing to open my door & burst in my room to get me. It didn't, but i've never been the same since. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night feeling a bad presence & start screaming & jump out of bed & turn on all the lights while i'm screaming absolutely petrified. There's been other experiences in that house with my dead grandfather visiting my little brother & beings running from room to room when my mum was home alone...

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  4. The shadow man I've seen that figure before after I've messed with the ouija board scared the hell out of me never touch the ouija board again gives me the creeps even walking by it in the toy store...It shouldn't even be in Toy stores it's not a Game.

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  5. A friend and I both simultaneously felt the Man in the Hat's dark presence. In our hotel room while on vacation, we'd both gotten into our beds and I reached over to turn of my bedside lamp. Instantly (!) I felt an immense "unease" -- like the feeling of great dread about to happen. I was scared of the dark for the first time in my adult life. I lay still in bed under my covers, eyes wide open "waiting" for something to happen... the dread only grew.

    If for no other reason than to calm myself, I called my friend's name. I feared if I talked though, that the 'thing in the room' would attack. So I whispered, "Raquel?", and with TERROR in her voice she whispered back, "Yeah??" This cemented my fear -- she felt the dread too! I quietly took a deep breath and said to her, "I think there's someone in the room", and she whispered back, "I know". CHILLS! I felt the Man's stare intensify (even though I was not facing the spot where I knew he was). He was delighted at our fear. I thought proactively. I said to my friend, "Raquel, I am going to turn on my lamp, engage him, and I want you to run like F*CK out of the room. Can you do that?" She said yes. I confirmed it again with her so she would not freeze and chicken out (and no doubt get killed along with me).

    Pushing aside the most intense fear I'd ever felt in my life, I readied myself for battle (lol), and in one fluid motion threw off my sheets and switched on the lamp and faced our scary evil entity... and... nothing was there. Raquel had thrown off her sheets too and was poised to get off her bed, but here's the thing... when I looked at her, she was staring exactly at the foot of my bed -- precisely where *I* had felt the evil entity. We both 'imagined' the identical thing in the identical place. Or so I thought until I found this blog, omg.

    I got up, slowly checked the room (although tbh I no longer felt ANY fear), and looked to Raquel and said, "what was THAT all about?" We both talked about how we'd never been so scared in our lives. Even though neither of us ever even SAW (with our eyes) it/him, we both gave identical descriptions! Inhumanly tall; all black with shifty eyes and a very, very wide smiling gash for a mouth lined with jagged teeth; somewhat pointed black hat; long black cloak; and NOT HUMAN. We both felt that it meant to do us harm. But once it was gone, it was gone -- we went bad to our beds and fell asleep like normal.

    No one believed us ever. I'm forwarding her this blog and she is going to flip out.

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  6. I have seen this shadow man and also felt his presence that there was someone watching me when I was a sleep. I seen him as I was leaving a rest area in Illinois as my sister and I and also her son was coming back from Nashville, Tennessee. we were suppose to leave early but my sister Ashley had to get her breaks done cause they were gridding on her rotter's. so we ended up leaving later around 6pm from Nashville. so since we left later than we wanted do to her breaks taking for ever we would have to pull over on the interstate and take a nap at a rest area. so speeding up the story we did just that. so we took a nap and as I was sleeping I felt a presence but didn't think anything of it. I felt scared so I didn't open my eyes. so I fell back a sleep and when we got up my sister and I{the baby was sleeping in the back seat}. she got out and got into the driver seat and I looked out the passenger window there was the shadow man in the semi truck parking lot. I felt loneliness and sadness. he stood there six feet tall black shadow man. I told my sister to hurry up and get out of there. from time to time I wonder if he wanted my help. if I was suppose to do something for him. sometimes if im out side of my country home in Wisconsin I feel his presence but I cant see him. so I know he is not a mean shadow person. why is he following me? why is he attached to me? what should I do? I also have a medium friend and I talked to her about this and she said he wanted me to help him but how?

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    1. then I found out a week later that my sisters breaks gave out. when they went on there family trip. so maybe this is why I seen him.

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  7. My sister passed away on November 12th,2015. She was 48. Within hours I had images in my head of a man. He walked the city streets. I could hear his boots hit the ground, and the image in my head resembled what now I have found to be this Hat Man. He almost looked like a gunslinger, and I wrote a story about it. I had no idea about shadow people when I experienced it. It makes a lot more sense now than it did then. I had to write it down, so I wrote it as a story. But the description was exactly what I was seeing. I still hear the boots hitting the ground as he walked. He had a duster on and a hat , like a cowboy or a hat in the images. I just did a random search this morning for images to help me make a story of of the short I had written, and found that others had seen him. I am creep-ed out. I had no idea. The story is called "Blood" and you can find it on Fictionpress under the name Wyldrabbit. If anyone wants to read it. I am not making this up.

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  8. My sister passed away on November 12th,2015. She was 48. Within hours I had images in my head of a man. He walked the city streets. I could hear his boots hit the ground, and the image in my head resembled what now I have found to be this Hat Man. He almost looked like a gunslinger, and I wrote a story about it. I had no idea about shadow people when I experienced it. It makes a lot more sense now than it did then. I had to write it down, so I wrote it as a story. But the description was exactly what I was seeing. I still hear the boots hitting the ground as he walked. He had a duster on and a hat , like a cowboy or a hat in the images. I just did a random search this morning for images to help me make a story of of the short I had written, and found that others had seen him. I am creep-ed out. I had no idea. The story is called "Blood" and you can find it on Fictionpress under the name Wyldrabbit. If anyone wants to read it. I am not making this up.

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  9. My experience with shadow figures was with the hat man and the hooded man. They would both show up around the same time since no was about eight. I am 16 now. The 'hat man' looked me righting the eyes and just stared. It was like I was seeing so much sadness and i got super scared. He stayed and watched me. We kept eye contact for it seemed like ten mjnutes. When I cut the light on, he finally disappears.
    The hooded man, not so much. I tried to talk to him, because I was younge and dumb. He got angry and chased me in my dreams. then a couplemof months later, I woke up and saw him. The hooded man was not happy that I saw him. I completely felt like he was choking me.
    They both kept appearing over the years. But stopped about a year ago. Until today.I was just getting moved being super upset and when I picked up my head aHan reached out from beside my bed and tried to grab me. I freaked and yelled. Then about ten minutes later, I tried to pick up my cord on the groun ( note, there's nothing around) and something yanked it out of my hand.

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  10. I have seen two shadow people in my lifetime. I am a natural witch and have always been very spiritual but only strayed practising little rituals more recently, I had been doing many of them for years without
    Realising what they were..
    Anyway
    The first one was a man.. in a hat, in my friends hall.. I seen something walk past, when I explained to my friend (I talk with my hands) I pointed to where the shadow was and he appeared where I was drawing his outline.. my friend and I screamed and ran.. we never seen him again.. years later with the same friend I seen another one, this one was female and ragged in appearance, pure black matter like the last one I'd seen.. myself and my friend were sitting in the sun with my dog behind the observatory (an ancient building on top a wooded hill, surrounded by a very old grave yard) she watched us and when she realised I could see her she rushed off and dissapeared.. when I told my friend I'd seen her my friend instantly burst into tears with fear and we left.. Iv seen other things since but never another shadow person!

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  11. I cant believe I'm actually sharing my story. So I had to situations with this shadow thing, first I woke up, and he was dragging me, I live on the east coast, and it literally felt like he dragged me to California, I fought my ass off, it was worthless, it was too powerful, I never got to see its face only blackness, somehow it let me.. now the second time it appeared, i was sitting in my kitchen,
    i had lived a life of crime, complete chaos, but that's a whole other story. So after a nite of partying, and smashing a chick in a hotel all nite, and I mean smashing, I came home and truly from the bottom of my heart, I professed I quit the life of crime, I meant it, then out of nowhere I felt nauseous, I felt uneasy, and highly uncomfortable.. next thing I know I heard ur in to deep, I looked up and a black shadow figure start beating the crap out of me, I fought back, it was worthless, I turned to run and the witnesses there say I flew across the room, but that thing was beating me up. I landed 15 feet from the door, I personally know I had no strength, I barely got back in the house, when I landed in the kitchen my while face hit the floor, I heard your teeth or your life, I never answered and woke up to a screaming family, the ambulance and my teeth broke in my hand. I went to the emergency room, and my teeth were broken, I took a xray and my teeth had been perfectly broken from my jaw, perfect line, I got the rays, everyone theres could believe my nose wasn't broken or my lips bruised up from the fall. I hate this story, but can anyone please tell me why it attacked me and why all the stories I hear people only been choked. Anyone have information.

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  12. Lol hatman is Jack the ripper btw Jack the ripper is a woman. k bye weeee

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