81 replies to this topic

[Tarnibritan]

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone would be able to enlighten me a little on the topic of shadow people?
Are they ghosts trying to take another form or possibly something else entirely. I guess im just curious as the most recent ive seen one was a few weeks ago-where i live, I saw a tall shadow of a person walk out of the katchen-turn to look at me and then walk out the front door
The first time was years ago at my Grandmothers house when i thought i saw my sister walk into the laundry and i went to go and talk to her, but no-one was there, they tend to move so quick and i find them quite alarming.
Any opinions are welcome as to what you think they might be (or your own personal encounters)

Thanks Tarni

[Jackofalltrades]

Welcome to UM Tarni...

I have only experienced "shadow people" once...

The one I had seen was approximately 5' 6" and looked like they was either wearing a hood/ hoody or had long hair past their shoulder's

They walked from the stair door diagonally across the room to the kitchen door, they moved slowly, without looking at me or knowing I was there (that is what it seemed like anyway)

Here is the wiki link for shadow people

http://en.wikipedia....i/Shadow_people

[Rafterman]

An interesting take of the shadow people phenomenon:

http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4175

The conclusion:

These experiences are weird, and can be scary. But they're also fascinating, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to experience the true power of your brain. To conclude that it's a supernatural being is to rob yourself of the real wonder of what's probably happening. Faith in the supernatural offers you nothing better than an implausible and ignorant supposition that stifles further understanding, while the willingness to accept science gives you a whole universe without limits.

[Oppono Astos]

There are many existing threads here on Shadow entities

[DancingCorpse]

They seem almost like the polar opposite of ghosts (obviously not 'alive' as we consider it ), unfamiliar, solid, dark and pretty interactive, if not rather creepy in how they go about their business.. whatever that may be...

[JGirl]

hallucinations and/or overactive imagination, add a dash of gullibility, and there ya have it - shadow people.

[71Barracuda]

"hallucinations and/or overactive imagination, add a dash of gullibility, and there ya have it - shadow people. "


Nope, that’s not it.
It’s too simplified to say all these individuals are having; hallucinations and/or overactive imagination, and that they add a dash of gullibility.

Under the Stories & Experiences section, there’s a thread titled “Those who’ve seen the Hatman/Shadowman,” has 75 pages (mostly) of individuals relaying their experiences.  People from various locations throughout the world and of different ages, gender, and most importantly, different life experiences growing up.

Aside from this site, I’ve found quite a few other sites where individuals report seeing the same entities. Most of the responses start with; I thought I was the only one that was seeing these shadow/hatman. Too many reports from individuals that don’t each other for the phenomenon to be purely hallucinations and/or overactive imaginations.

And, no, I have never seen one.

Edited by 71Barracuda, 16 October 2012 - 05:03 PM.

[JGirl]

 71Barracuda, on 16 October 2012 - 05:02 PM, said:

"hallucinations and/or overactive imagination, add a dash of gullibility, and there ya have it - shadow people. "


Nope, that’s not it.
It’s too simplified to say all these individuals are having; hallucinations and/or overactive imagination, and that they add a dash of gullibility.

Under the Stories & Experiences section, there’s a thread titled “Those who’ve seen the Hatman/Shadowman,” has 75 pages (mostly) of individuals relaying their experiences.  People from various locations throughout the world and of different ages, gender, and most importantly, different life experiences growing up.

Aside from this site, I’ve found quite a few other sites where individuals report seeing the same entities. Most of the responses start with; I thought I was the only one that was seeing these shadow/hatman. Too many reports from individuals that don’t each other for the phenomenon to be purely hallucinations and/or overactive imaginations.

And, no, I have never seen one.

sometimes the simplest explanation is the best one. i don't care how many posts there are on the matter here - do you realize this is the type of site that attracts those who would either hoax or fall into the categories i listed earlier?
have you also counted the number of posts here from those who believe they're vampires? werewolves? demons?
please post some proof (not first person accounts - proof) that these entities exists as something more than fantasy.

[scowl]

Sometimes we think we see movement in our peripheral vision. Our vision is poor in those areas so our brains are easily fooled into thinking that for a moment we saw something that disappeared just before we looked at it.

Most people will disregard these experiences but some people have decided that what they think they saw must have really existed. They've created a new paranormal field called "Shadow People". To believe in them you have to believe in living creatures with no physical form that appear and disappear with no purpose. Since you can't take pictures of them, the field 100% anecdotal evidence.

[71Barracuda]

- Have you also counted the number of posts here from those who believe they're vampires? werewolves? demons?
-- Aside from demons, I don’t remember any firsthand accounts on werewolves and/or vampires

- Please post some proof (not first person accounts - proof) that these entities exists as something more than fantasy.
-- As far as I know, there is no physical evidence (at this time)

Going back to the “Those who’ve seen the Hatman/Shadowman” thread, there are many accounts of seeing these entities straight on, not just a peripheral-vision encounter.
They’re not asleep and they aren’t hallucinating.
Here comes your reference to gullibility; I believe them, I do not think that they are lying.  Yes, there’s a few I’ve read that sound too farfetched to believe, but I think vast majority (90+%) are telling the truth.

The truth being that they actually did see an entity of some kind that we do not understand.

[scowl]

People claiming to see specters and spirits is nothing new. The only thing new is that they're calling them "Shadow People" now.

[Jackofalltrades]

 JGirl, on 16 October 2012 - 05:08 PM, said:

sometimes the simplest explanation is the best one. i don't care how many posts there are on the matter here - do you realize this is the type of site that attracts those who would either hoax or fall into the categories i listed earlier?
have you also counted the number of posts here from those who believe they're vampires? werewolves? demons?
please post some proof (not first person accounts - proof) that these entities exists as something more than fantasy.

Yes there are some people that post hoaxes etc on a site like this and other site's....

But with that being said that does NOT mean everyone that post's their experiences on this site or any other are all hoaxer's...

Excuse me for NOT having a video or photographic camera handy when I had my experience....

At the time of my experience with a "shadow person" I was watching TV at the time and had no reason to need any type of camera

Even if I did have a camera handy and I managed to take a photo or video, would You also debunk that as a hoax or some form of fantasy ?

 scowl, on 16 October 2012 - 05:25 PM, said:

Sometimes we think we see movement in our peripheral vision. Our vision is poor in those areas so our brains are easily fooled into thinking that for a moment we saw something that disappeared just before we looked at it.

Most people will disregard these experiences but some people have decided that what they think they saw must have really existed. They've created a new paranormal field called "Shadow People". To believe in them you have to believe in living creatures with no physical form that appear and disappear with no purpose. Since you can't take pictures of them, the field 100% anecdotal evidence.

My experience was in a very well lit room, illuminated with a 100 watt lightbulb, the wall's was painted a magnolia colour

At first it was sighted out of the corner of my eye as I was seated, watching TV at the time , but as soon as I had seen it I stood up and watched it full on as it walked from the stair door to the kitchen door diagonally across the room, I never took my eye's off of it, it was visible for 10 - 15 second's approximately

At the time I did not know what it was called it was only after reading other people's experience's that I determined it to be a "shadow person"

[scowl]

 Jackofalltrades, on 16 October 2012 - 06:56 PM, said:

At the time I did not know what it was called it was only after reading other people's experience's that I determined it to be a "shadow person"

So where did it go? Why do Shadow People need to walk?

[JGirl]

 Jackofalltrades, on 16 October 2012 - 06:56 PM, said:

Yes there are some people that post hoaxes etc on a site like this and other site's....

But with that being said that does NOT mean everyone that post's their experiences on this site or any other are all hoaxer's...

Excuse me for NOT having a video or photographic camera handy when I had my experience....

At the time of my experience with a "shadow person" I was watching TV at the time and had no reason to need any type of camera

Even if I did have a camera handy and I managed to take a photo or video, would You also debunk that as a hoax or some form of fantasy ?

did i ask you for pictures? actually i don't recall asking you for anything.
my post was in reference to the idea that because there is a thread with 75 or more posts of people with this experience that it must lend some credence to it being a real entity. i was simply pointing out that there are other threads with many posts where other claims are made by many people as well. it does not add any validity to whether the phenomenon is hoaxed, real, whether it has a scientific or medical cause, or whether it is just superstitious nonsense.
if you want to say something exists and you want others to take that seriously you need to show empirical evidence that supports your claim. otherwise you are telling a story, do you understand that?
your taking a picture or video would be interesting but in itself would also not be proof. it's too easy to manipulate. so, when i suggest proof i am talking about incontrovertible proof.

[Jackofalltrades]

 scowl, on 16 October 2012 - 07:08 PM, said:

So where did it go? Why do Shadow People need to walk?

When it got to the kitchen door it disappeared, and no I never opened the kitchen door to find out if it went into the kitchen or not

Probably the same reason we need to walk...

I am not 100% sure the one I had seen walked, I assume it walked due to moving like it did, but I never did see any feet, not that I was looking for feet at the time I was primarily thinking to myself WTF is that, I was not expecting to see what I saw

 JGirl, on 16 October 2012 - 07:12 PM, said:

did i ask you for pictures? actually i don't recall asking you for anything.
my post was in reference to the idea that because there is a thread with 75 or more posts of people with this experience that it must lend some credence to it being a real entity. i was simply pointing out that there are other threads with many posts where other claims are made by many people as well. it does not add any validity to whether the phenomenon is hoaxed, real, whether it has a scientific or medical cause, or whether it is just superstitious nonsense.
if you want to say something exists and you want others to take that seriously you need to show empirical evidence that supports your claim. otherwise you are telling a story, do you understand that?
your taking a picture or video would be interesting but in itself would also not be proof. it's too easy to manipulate. so, when i suggest proof i am talking about incontrovertible proof.

No I dont believe You asked me for any such thing
I was just replying to Your post, explaining why I never took any photographic or video evidence at the time, and that not everyone goes around with a camera ready to make a video or photograph of the next inexplicable thing that happen's

I agree that just having a photgraph or having a video as evidence is not good enough, having multiple photograph's and video's and from multiple source's of the same thing happening at the same location is what I would call or class as credible evidence, as long as that evidence was not or had not been tampered with in any way...

There is quite a few thread's about the same topic and I partly agree with You that it does not necessarily mean it add's any credence to it being a real entity, there are other thing's that are going around like "Slender Man" that is not real and was originally started off as a story (as far as I am aware)

But at the same time if it is not a real entity then why are so many different people from different part's of the world and from different walk's of life, stating they have had similiar or the same experience's ?

There may be some that are hoaxes but due to myself seeing what I described I do not believe that all are hoaxes

I can and do understand why You would require empirical evidence, there is time's I would like or have liked to have had the same thing

As stated I have no such evidence as I did not have any type of camera at the time

If people do not believe me then that is their choice, which they are welcome to, I could not really care one way or the other TBH if anyone believe's me, it is simply my own experience, and yes I do understand that

I am just simply stating what I saw and what the condition's of the lighting etc (that may be/is relevent) was like at the time of seeing it