Shadow People

[Laketear]

Recently I've learned of Shadow People it's a term used to describe shadows or that can look like people or a black blob some people say they're spirits, demons, or even beings from an alternate dimension. Interesting stuff to say the least, I'd like to post my own experience just for some peace of mind and also to hear of any opinions on the matter. Also I wasn't entirely certain where this post should go so I'm sorry if this thread is in the wrong place.

My earliest memory of 'it' is from when I was in elementary school I want to say I was about five or six maybe even seven. Anyway I've always called it the Black Figure that's just my little name for it because that's what it looks like a person in all black even the head just a...well black figure. At my old elementary school the playground was right beside the auditorium and it was enormous and whenever I was outside playing sometimes I would look up and see the Black Figure standing on the rooftop, in broad daylight by the way. I even the teachers about it one day because I thought it odd that someone would be up there and they said it was impossible to get onto the auditorium roof there's no stairs or anything leading up there. I didn't say anything to anybody about it because I realized no one else saw it but me and I didn't want to seem...well crazy.

Over the past few years I've still seen the Black Figure sometimes on and off I'll go months without seeing it and then sometimes it's quite frequent I guess I should pay attention to my mood or the seasons or something and see if there's a connection to why he appears at certain times. Also whenever I see it, the Black Figure is always on rooftops I've very rarely ever seen it on the ground even at a distance. Like coming in or out of Walmart sometimes I'll see it up there looking down or even on top of my house, sometimes it'll look like it's sitting down on my rooftop just looking down at me, watching.

There are some similarities in stories told from other people with my own like the age of the people who experience this or the places they're at. For example there's accounts of people who have very, extremely vivid dreams something like ASP? They're literally in between sleep and being awake and their shadow person is watching them sleep, they'll say they can't breathe, or move, or talk. The same thing happened to me when I was in high school only it wasn't the black figure it was more like a...black mass or blob like a small black mist only you couldn't see through it just solid black and it probably wasn't any higher than my knees. But I would feel like I was awake and I would be looking down at the foot of my bed and the mass would be there and I couldn't move, scream, I could hardly breathe and then all of a sudden it would quite and I would wake up. That only happened to me two or three times the last time it ever happened I fell off my bed and I asked it what it wanted it immediately quit and I woke up and have not seen the blob since. I assume the mass and black figure and not the same because the black figure has never tried to hurt me it just watches and always from a distance on rooftops out of reach even.

Actually here lately it hasn't been all that far away sometimes when I'm sitting outside on my porch there will be this sound from overhead and I'll just know it's the Black Figure I can't see it but I know he's there. Like he enjoys being nearer to me but still out of reach, I don't mind him I just think of him as a spirit and from what I gather about Shadow People is that some of them just like to 'watch' and I think since I've acknowledged it it's become more open?

Except for a few nights ago, I was sleeping at my great grandmother's house in the back bedroom and it was late at night I rolled over and pulled the covers completely over my head which is rare for me to do since I was little. There's also a night light too so I can sort of see through the covers all of a sudden there's a dark shadow looming right over me and I can sort of see it through the covers because of the night light. I was filled with such an overwhelming terror I have hardly ever felt before I could barely breathe this shadow over me just terrified me so and what added to it was that it TOUCHED me it poked me in my left thigh. I began to breathe very heavily like panting and then the shadow went down my bed towards my feet out of sight. Then I woke up...I didn't even realized I was dreaming till I woke up that's how real it felt but what was really unnerving was that I was in the exact same position I was before I woke up but the covers were down. I was very tempted to pull the covers over me but the thought occurred to me it might happen again so I left them down.

I'm not certain if it was the black figure of the blob or something else but I realized in the morning that it didn't actually hurt me it's never hurt me just terrified the $hit out of me but that might just be me not understanding it. I think maybe it was curious and it might not realize the effect it has I don't want to under estimate it or anything but still...advice I've read about shadow people say that when you stand up to it and fight show your not afraid they usually leave you alone. I believe it since my little black mass incident back in high school.

There was another night I stayed over at my grandmothers house only this time it was back when I was sleeping with a teddy bear (So what I sleep with a teddy bear made me feel better I know I'm 22 but it's cute and soft and I like him.) it was in the middle of the night and suddenly I was afraid again. Not terrified like before just scared so I shut my eyes and hoped I'd fall back asleep or it would go away. Nope, it pulled the covers off-completely- slowly until I was completely exposed I just remained still with my eyes closed like I was sleeping then I felt something grab my teddy bear by the foot slowly tugging it down out of my grip. That' when I got mad and I said, "If you take my teddy bear you and I are going to go round and round." Yes I literally said that and it quit tugging my teddy bear and left me alone then I woke up. Like before I didn't realize I was dreaming till I woke up.

I know I've wrote a lot but this was more for myself therapy of sort and I wanted to tell my experience or story before I went to bed, yes I'm writing this at night hoping I don't have another encounter...watch me have one now.

Does anyone have any similar experiences, advise or questions? Like maybe ideas or theories about why the Black Figure likes roof tops so much? Thanks so much.

[lillywolf]

Re: Shadow People

Well the feeling like you are paralyzed could be a medical condition, i can't remember the name of it but I know that the person feels awake but unable to move or speak and breath heavy,so it could be that.As for the shadow, are you sure it is the same one? if you normally only see your one on the rooftops, why would it come into a bedroom when you are at your grans? you say you never feel scared of your one, yet the one at your grans you feel fear. that would suggest to me they are 2 different things. Now as for the rooftop shadow, maybe it is a guardian spirit or even angel keeping an eye? I am no expert on these things so it is a pure guess. The one at your grans, is her home haunted at all? I say that because it interacts and seems to like to scare you, i would confront that one and lay down the rules.

[Astrayus]

Re: Shadow People

Breaks between paragraphs please! My eyes went all crazy trying to read that.

That's a trippy little experience and the part about feeling paralyzed when sleeping is called: (wait for it ...) sleep paralysis! It's a phenomena that hasn't been fully explained by science. Just like all those other crazy fun things. I had a case of it when I first got to Korea and it scared the crap out of me. I was lying flat on my back and I woke up not being able to move. I could hear and I could move my eyes and that was it! There was pressure on my chest like someone was holding me down and I thought I could see something/someone in my room. I don't think I fell asleep, I think I fainted. I could see the clock across the room and then there was this dizzy spell and bam! 15 minutes later I was able to move.

All through my childhood I always saw a figure, a shadow, that would be by my bed. Sometimes I would wake and find "him" leaning over me. I always had this weird feeling like it was part of the family. This thing in Korea though, NOT FAMILY!

I don't know if my experiences help you relate at all. Oh, and I never had anything touch me. Unless you count the pressure on my chest.

[Optimistic discord]

Re: Shadow People

This is a little similar to an experience I had when I was 14/15.
A friend and I were exploring the local trout lake, getting ready to try the rather shoddy looking raft we had found.
When everything went totally silent. Not just quiet/no birds silent, but totally silent. We both looked to the other side of the lake as a jet black feline/fox like shape jumped in slow motion over a bush.
As it reached the top of the bush its progress paused ( it was still in midair), and as it paused it turned and looked at us both.

At that moment, sound came back and we heard several shrill whistles, the shapes motion resumed and we both turned and ran the hell out of there.

I had and have never felt so terrified in my life as that day.
The next day we went back with other friends to find evidence, thinking maybe it had a natural explanation ( maybe a deer, or someones dog).
The "bush" it had jumped over was easy to find as it was the only one on the other side of the lake, but it was no bush it was a good sized shrub/tree, easily over ten foot across and the same in height...
There were no foot prints either, and the ground was fairly soft.

To this day I do not know what it was, only that it was not natural.

I went through a period of sleep paralysis and its horrible, but I have got quite good at being able to resist it. The down side is I do now tend to sing quietly a little in my sleep :\

[Poshi]

Re: Shadow People

Wow... That sounds like a very frightening experience, and I'm sorry for that. If you feel that this figure is definitely something you are experiencing, you should decide what your course of action will be. You could either:
1) Continue on like you are.
2) Decide you want to try to communicate with it positively.
3) Try to get it to go away through banishing or cleansing.
Whatever you decide is up to you!

Edited because Po can't type.

[monsno_leedra]

Re: Shadow People

Just a suggestion but please ask a mod or admin to separate your paragraphs as it is a killer to read your post.

I have to admit your the first person I've come across who says they see them on building tops or such. Most stories I encounter describe them as black shadow beings who are always near their beds or appear in hallways or corners of the room. Occasionally speaking about them wearing some sort of hat and occasionally having red or orange colored eyes. Ironically I suppose but most of them seem to say they are always male, abt 6 ft tall or taller and wearing a long coat though I can't think of a single example of a female shadow person.

Have never heard of them causing sleep paralysis though. Well unless you might try to equate them to the old Night Hag stories of the heavy or large woman who would sit upon your chest and possibly even try stealing your breath away. At times taking the form of a large cat or other animal as it sat upon you and stole their breath from them. Also known as night terrors I think it was though i've read various descriptions of those over the years.

As a side note I have to admit I've wondered if that aspect, the shadow figure and blazing eyes, of the story was not either brought in from the vampire lore or exported to it given the way the vampire is supposed to cause their victim to experience a submissive paralysis. In many ways the Shadow people seem to fit many of the mythical lore of the western vampire. The eastern vampire mostly seen as a crypt corpse what we might call a ghoul vice the sexual persona of the western stories.

[Doc_Holliday]

Re: Shadow People

Sleep Paralysis is the name of the medical condition where vivid halucinations occur and the body thinks its awake but can't move.

[MaskedOne]

Re: Shadow People

Paragraphs in the OP have been separated. Separation was based on where lines ended abruptly and left a lot of white-space after and I have not done anything with the text itself so I don't guarantee that the paragraphs are broken up in a convenient or logical way just that it's less wall o'text.

[monsno_leedra]

Re: Shadow People

Paragraphs in the OP have been separated. Separation was based on where lines ended abruptly and left a lot of white-space after and I have not done anything with the text itself so I don't guarantee that the paragraphs are broken up in a convenient or logical way just that it's less wall o'text.

Speaking for myself, thank you as it was difficult to read otherwise.

[Spinoza]

Re: Shadow People

Well, I don't have any advice, but I have had similar experiences. There is often a shadow-like figure in my dreams that is always in the corner of my eye, never directly in my field of vision. He frightened me the first time I met him, but he has not tried to harm me in my dreams. He sometimes laughs in an amused way when I am afraid, but he seems equally amused any time I show any emotion whatsoever.