The Shadow People Phenomenon

By James Donahue

The Halloween season is perhaps a good time to look at a thing most people have encountered but nobody talks about . . . the shadow people.

Actually there is no proof that shadow people are real, or that they are people. They appear sometimes in our peripheral vision. We think we see someone or something flip past us, usually in the darkness, but when we look there is nothing there. I think we have all experienced this and the eerie feeling of dread that sweeps over us when these events occur.

My wife and I have seen these shadowy figures, usually while visiting known haunted buildings or walking the streets of towns where tragic events have been known to have happened in the past. Thus we sense that the moving shadowy figures are in some way connected to the spirit world that surrounds us. They may even be ghosts.

Wikipedia describes shadow people as "supernatural shadow-like humanoid figures" that appear so briefly that it has been difficult for the observer to believe it really happened, or to give a good description. The Wikipedia account says they are often reported "moving with quick, jerky movements and quickly disintegrate into walls or mirrors."

The encyclopedia goes on to note that in 2010 paranormal researcher Heidi Hollis told listeners to Coast to Coast radio that "the apparitions (visions of shadow people) were described as one of the most regularly reported paranormal phenomena in the United States."

Hollis said she believed the shadow people feed on human fear and that they can be repelled by just thinking positively. Others consider that the shadows may be brief glimpses of extra-dimensional visitors from a parallel universe.

Of course the "logical" scientific community scoffs at the shadow people stories, writing them off as optical illusions or hallucinations, perhaps brought on by drugs or physiological issues. In other words, if we think we see a shadow person flash through our living room in the night, it’s all in our head. We are just a little nuts.

Those of us who have encountered these creatures are pretty sure they exist, but they remain as much a mystery as the appearance of ghostly forms, haunted houses, UFO’s and crop circles. They are part of our matrix existence that causes us to constantly question our reality.

The general opinion is that shadow people always appear unexpectedly, in darkened rooms, on dark streets or even in shadowy forests. There are two different descriptions by people who claim to have caught a good view of them. Some of them look like hooded shapes, making them look like ghostly forms. Others have been described as wearing a brimmed hat, giving it a male appearance. Those that see the "hat-man" say his appearance always gives them a bone-chilling sense of terrifying coldness.

The shadow figures are exactly what the name describes. They are dark, often solid black humanoid shapes. They offer no facial characteristics. Some reports say they even appear in shapeless form. Others have suggested that they have seen glowing red eyes, but we seriously doubt such stories.

As far as we know these figures are innoxious. We have not heard accounts of anyone ever being attacked or injured by a shadow figure. They merely seem to exist among us, and scurry away the moment we look their way.