Boxing With Shadow People.

It is finally time for bed after enduring one of the worst days imaginable, a day where virtually nothing has gone right. You woke to find that lasts night storm knocked the power out causing you to be late. As you make your way out to the car you discover that one of your tires is flat as a pancake, great another fifteen minutes to change a tire. When you arrive at work your boss jumps all over ass about another day being late and says that it if happens one more time your ass is fired. We have all had days like that but right now it doesn’t matter you have successfully navigated the day from hell and it is time to lay your head down on the cool side of the pillow and grab the good night’s sleep you have dreamt about all day. Or so you thought.

Sometime, shortly after closing your eyes, you hear a strange sound that sounds like someone has invaded your sanctum. Your eyes fly wide open as you inspect the inky darkness of your room wondering what that noise was, it sounded as if someone were breathing or perhaps dragging their fingernails along the wall. All of a sudden you are gripped with the undeniable feeling of absolute dread and remember the days when your were a child and woke up screaming for your mommy because you just experienced the worst nightmare of your young life. Well forget it my friend, because those feelings of dread from your younger years do not even come close to what you are feeling at this moment.

At first you think that you must be losing your mind, if someone had come into your home you would have noticed it. You laugh at this thinking that you had a bad dream and begin to close your eyes again when you hear it, a low raspy laugh that sounds as if this invisible intruder had been gargling with glass all there life, there is now no denying it you are not alone and because you can’t see them it scares the living shit out you. And then the sight of a swirling black mass in the corner of your room catches your eye and your heart, mind body and soul are rendered completely helpless by some evil spell what ever this creature may be has put on you. You can’t move a single limb and all you can do is scream in your mind as the dark forboding spirit takes it’s final shape as a dark human totally devoid of color or light. You have just had your first experience with a shadow person and can do nothing about it.

Sounds like some kind of cheesey horror story doesn’t it? Only if that were true. This person much like hundreds of others the world over have all reported having a similar terrifying experience that makes them never want to close their eyes never again because they know that whatever manner of creature this may be will only be back again. Shadow people appear to be the hip new trendy field of study in the field of paranormal research, many radio shows that cater to folks of our rarified interests devote many hours to the discussion of the Shadow Person with stories as equally horrendous as the one I told. However there really appears to be nothing new to this terror that comes in the night. The shadow person, as we call them today appears in practically every culture some ancient and some not so ancient.

In Europe of old, this phenomenon was known as a Succubus or an Incubus. These demonic spirits would come to the good christian soul in the middle of night and suck them dry of their energy and vital juices. The Succubus, was a female demonic spirit that would ride a man (If you know what I mean) until his body was completely depleted of energy and it’s vital juices. An Incubus was a male demonic spirit that would attack and brutally rape a sleeping female attempting to impregnate her with it’s wicked seed. As Europeans moved west into the New World they brought such tales of wasting night visitations with them and as the witch craze gripped the New World and it’s colonies those who experienced a visitation by one of these spirits called it the “Old Hag”. The Old Hag was believed to be a local woman who was in league with the prince of darkness and she was stealing a man’s vital juices for a malevolent spell. You may look back on these stories and think, well this was just the mind of an ignorant uneducated people held hostage by their own superstitions or limited understanding of the world around them. This may be true, however folks in our so called enlightened times of the 21st century are still reporting seeing such beings as they attempt to sleep. Or they may catch a fleeting glimpse of these dread inspiring creatures in the middle of the day.

Those who have reported a visitation by a shadow person all report the same thing which may give one the impression that these creatures are organized and love scaring the bejeezus out of unsuspecting folks. They describe the entity as first appearing like a swirling black mass that seems to appear out of nowhere. The being then begins to form the more articulated form of a large human being with no discernible features such as a mouth, nose or face however the majority of people report that the entity has two red glowing orbs where their eyes should be. These eyes, folks report, seem to be looking straight into your soul reading your thoughts, feelings and most definately your fears. They describe the entities movements as being fast but disjointed almost as if they don’t feel comfortable with the form they have taken. And all those who experience a shadow person report the same thing, this entity, being, creature whatever it is brings with it a feeling of absolute evil and dread.

Those who made the phenomenon of the shadow person their primary field of research believe that the entity may be a product of the use of black magic and have a theory on what this creature may be. In ancient Tibetan black magic there is talk of a being called a Tulpa, or a Thoughtform. The Tulpa is a creature created from the thoughts of a practioner of the dark arts and is formed for one thing and one thing only, malicious intent. The Tulpa, when used for revenge, can cause a person to lose their job, their family and after everything else is gone it can cause a victim to lose their mind possible causing that person to committ suicide. After the Tulpa’s nefarious task is completed it vanishes almost as if it had never existed at all. Seems like a plausible theory, however when the witness is asked if they have any enemies that may delve into the dark arts, nine times of ten the person will answer no. Bummer, back to square one.

Another theory concerning the Shadow Person is that they may be some kind of inter-dimensional traveler who has the ability to gain access to our world. Those who accept this theory believe that a dimension or alternate reality of pure darkness has overlapped into ours and beings from this alternate reality are able to more or less step into our world at will which would explain why they appear in shadow because that is exactly what they are.

Others feel that this phenomeon affects those who either knowingly or unknowlingly have been abducted by aliens at some time in their life and the shadow people are sent by the offending aliens to check up on what they may consider to be their property. The problem with this theory is that many who experience a shadow person show no signs of ever having been an abductee, the experience seems totally random and may happen only once. These are the three prevailing theories at what these creatures may be but what does mainstream science have to say on the subject?

Mainstream researchers tell us the human mind acting in chorus with the human eye has a tendency to look for patterns in light and shadow and this condition called, Paredolia may be the reason behind the person seeing what they think is a shadowy entity. They say that with paredolia your mind is literally playing tricks on you when the lights and shadows come together. I suppose this would explain why people who claim to have had a visitation by a shadow person claim to see it out of the corner of their eye and when they look dead on the form dissipates.

The mainstream also claims that the shadow person phenomenon can be blamed on sleep paralysis. They state that when a person is emerging from a state of deep sleep their brain has not quite caught up with their body and they are unable to move because the connection between mind and body, for whatever reason is not made. They also state that paredolia comes into play because your eyes may be open and you are seeing dark shapes from normal shadows playing across the wall and because the physical and mental connection is not made people become terrified by their experience.

The other theory mainstream researchers have is that people who abuse certain kinds of drugs cause them to see these shadows. A few years ago a person very close to me got hooked on Oxycotin after going through a pretty tough back surgery. As his addiction progressed he began to see dark shadowy entities in the house and believed that these creatures wanted to kill him and drag his soul to hell. After going through detox this person was able to kick the habit and the shadows vanished. I love this person very much and I’m glad they were able to kick the habit because overcoming an Oxycotin addiction is worse than kicking heroine. For those suspicious sorts who read this, no it was not me.

This explantion seems very plausible it is a proven fact that illicit drugs and certain presecriptions ones, can and do play tricks with the mind. But what of the people who experience a shadow person and are the clean living type? In an earlier entry entitled, “True Confessions of a paranormal researcher.” I told the tale of when I was eighteen and investigated a haunting and was attacked by what I described as being a shadow person. I have never used a dangerous drug in my life nor am I a big drinker and such is the story of many who have this rare and terrifying experience. I personally knew of a young girl who was so terrified to sleep at night because of shadow people she had to be checked into a hospital for exhaustion and mental illness. She scared herself right into a psychiatric ward. If it was not for my own personal experience with a shadow person I would be inclined to believe mainstream sciences explantion, but I can tell you this Shadow People are very real and very frightening.

Rick E. Hale
t_seeker@hotmail.com