Shadow person

[Struwwelpeter]

Have you ever seen a shadow person before? A shadow person is a humanoid figure that appears in your peripheral vision. They have a tendency to wear fedora hats and raggedy trench coats (because they must be homeless, right?)

[Cytosine]

Are they in a wheelchair? It might be Tacho.

[Number13]

I think you may be on to something, a shadow person appears to me every once in a while in VATS, the paranormal is real.

[FrY]

I hear shadow people hunt people on meth binges for sport.

[Charles Manson]

Meth at its finest.

[Zanick]

Yes, all the time. Some weeks I'll see them around me constantly, just in the corner of my eye. Recently I haven't seen many at all though. Probably means I should be paying closer attention, they're here all right.

If you turn and look at them, you actually see a large, bony alien and administer neurolinguistic programming. But once you turn away to run, they're edited out of your memory. So all you have is the subconscious triggers they've hypnotized you with, just minor, subliminal modifications they've made to your behavior. That's how the world is controlled and it's too easy for them.

They're literally behind you at this moment but you won't remember a thing.

You probably just looked at one now.

[Sleep Is A Curse]

Slender man?

[Struwwelpeter]

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_people

[Tachosomoza]

We mean you no harm.

[moron]

Originally Posted by zanick

You probably just looked at one now.

[Communicate]

I was falling asleep on a chair, in the early hours of the morning, after not having got much sleep the night before. My eyes were like, almost shut but I could still just about see.

My friend had been in the room but left for a few minutes, and while I was nodding off he re-appeared (I saw him vaguely with my half-shut eyes, really just a black outline and not in the clothes he was before) in the doorway of the room, watching my. I assumed he was checking if I was asleep 'cause he was looking to pull some sort of prank or fuck with me in some way. I opened my eyes fully to tell him to fuck off, but he moved away (disappeared to the left of the door frame) just as I opened them.

He walked in like 10 seconds later, from the right of the door frame, and had not changed his clothes, and hadn't been downstairs until he just came down. It wasn't anybody else in the house either.

It was not a shadow person. It was an hallucination, because I was very tired and had taken psychedelic drugs the night before. I can see why people mistake shit like that for apparitions though.

[sepht]

I think shadow people are a ramification of your psyche. Instead of fearing and avoiding them, you should confront them.

Ask them why they are here and why they seem so scary. All of the time they tell me exactly why they appear before me and what I should be doing.

One example is a shadow person would appear when I'm in the shower. I used to fear it until I mustered up the courage to confront it. It then told me that I am low on oxygen and I will pass out if I don't open the bathroom door and let some fresh air in. Once I inhaled a few deep breaths of fresh air, the shadow person vanished.

[Tachosomoza]

Bullshit.

[Zanick]

In all seriousness, I think there may be something to this. While I'm not saying it's necessarily a ghost or even a supernatural phenomenon, I don't think we have a sufficient explanation for it so far. It's easy to pass it off as a trick of the light, your peripheral vision playing tricks on you (what the fuck does that even mean?) but when you're confronted by something like this appearing right before your eyes, you won't have much to say.

I do spot them quite often. But that's not enough, we must know why, what creates this perception and how, or else what they're doing.

[FrY]

Originally Posted by Tachosomoza

Bullshit.

No way dawg I saw it happen with my own two eyes.

[sepht]

Originally Posted by zanick

In all seriousness, I think there may be something to this. While I'm not saying it's necessarily a ghost or even a supernatural phenomenon, I don't think we have a sufficient explanation for it so far. It's easy to pass it off as a trick of the light, your peripheral vision playing tricks on you (what the fuck does that even mean?) but when you're confronted by something like this appearing right before your eyes, you won't have much to say.

I do spot them quite often. But that's not enough, we must know why, what creates this perception and how, or else what they're doing.

indigestion?

http://paranormal.about.com/od/human...g-Syndrome.htm

[slicknickns]

I bet that shadow person kicked your ass Jim

[Zanick]

Originally Posted by sepht

indigestion?

http://paranormal.about.com/od/human...g-Syndrome.htm

Indegestion? Never would've considered that actually. Thank you, Galen.

But what if you're not in-body while it happens? Raises some questions about other matters than "shadow people", such as the nature of the OOBE. Apparently we cannot trust our senses, and yet we are irrevocably bound to experience through them for the most part. But what about when we can break free of the physical world? Are we still subject to the faults of human perception? This is very much an issue in cartesian philosophy.

[Figure-8]

Originally Posted by Vizier

Yes I have; they appear to me when I suffer from night terrors and sleep paralisis. Like OP mentioned, it seemed to be shadowy and wearing a trenchcoat and fedora. One time this one asked me for a cigarette, lit up, walked directly into the wall and exploded into a swarm of roaches and centipedes and other bugs.

Seems like this is a combination of dreaming while awake/residual (literally) chemical responses, and some kind of extra-sensory perception being manifested and received in whatever way makes sense at the time.

Could just be everyone scared at night or something.

[NamelessNom4d]

I think I've seen them before when experiencing sleep paralysis too.

[Figure-8]

"Shadow People" Mystery Solved? Proof Dimensions Are Merging? (June 2012)

"Shadow People" Mystery Solved? Proof Dimensions Are Merging? (June 2012)
Video: click to display

[( )]

The other night I had an episode of sleep paralysis. A sense of fear isn't uncommon when this happens, but this time when I willed my eyes open a black shadow came through the doorway, got on top of my chest, and began to strangle me. After about a minute of that in the blink of an eyes it disappeared and I could breath and move again.

Oddly while reading about the subject I saw it isn't an uncommon experiences. Many cultures have myths regarding it.

edit: And now I read more than the 1st 5 replies and I see Vizier and Nameless have had the same thing happen minus the strangling.

[Zanick]

I've noticed them a lot more. Not always in my peripheral vision, but always a fleeting glimpse of something that just isn't supposed to be there. What's strange is that I've been seeing them more as I read further into the subject. It's becoming apparent to me that I experience this phenomenon more than I thought.

There are three common shadows: the hag, the man in the hat, and the hooded figure. At different times I've felt each near me, and what's particularly odd is that these were not limited encounters, but instead much longer, more involved incidences.

First was the man in the hat. I once tried a technique to initiate an out-of-body experience. I didn't get out all the way, but when I sat up out of body, a figure in what seemed to be a top hat came into my room through the door and began to observe me.

Enter the old hag. Another night, weeks later, I awoke to sleep paralysis, to find there was a strong pressure on my chest. An authoritative female voice was booming from the space in front of me, and I could feel some kind of sexual manipulation which was quite unpleasant (see: succubus). Her voice was clear, her language incoherent, and her words had complete power over me. So maybe the crone's just been around the block a few times.

Just a few weeks ago I was practicing another technique for inducing an out-of-body experience. Once I had projected from my body, I found myself stuck in place just a meter overhead. So naturally, I started swimming in place and doing backflips, because that's just fucking awesome to do in midair. This is when I noticed the ominous character standing threateningly by my [physical] feet. The hooded figure had made an appearance.

If anybody has time, this is a very informative talk on the subject, despite the obscene length and abysmal recording quality.

Make your own conclusions about the nature of these experiences if you wish, I'm trying to look at them from as many angles as possible.