They say Shadow People look like they are wearing 'hats'.. (one comment being that that is where their connection to another dimension is)... and also that the form is somewhat solid looking and difficult to discern arms and legs.
I am not sure if it was a shadow person I saw, but my experience was that I saw 'dark energy' trying to take form (no hat - lol). It looked like a black SWARM of bees - in dim light while trying to go to sleep. It was about two feet away from my face at the side of the bed - scared the hell out of me. It gradually faded away. It happened twice. The second time it was above my head, and I tried swatting at it and as i did so - where my hand went through the swarm separated. Weird. Has anyone had a similar experience?

dream/hallucination ??? were u trying to fall asleep but were completely awake or u had nodded off?

Well, from my experiences, some things that we think are ghost, shadow people, demons, etc. is usually just your own energy. If you're really stressed, depressed, sad, sometimes this manifests into what we think is a "being from another dimension".
I was watching this show the other night where a woman kept being attacked by what she thought was a demon. A psychic came over to her house and poked around for a bit and came to the conclusion that it was her own negative energy taking on a life of its own. The woman who was being attacked was a stressed-out housewife, and didn't want to her own negative energy to show.

More or less, that is what it COULD be, I'm not saying that's what it IS. Perhaps you should yahoo or google what you think it could be and see if anyone's descriptions of similar cases match yours, then mayhaps that would help on figuring out what it was.


(Edited to add more >_<)
By the way, you say you were trying to sleep when you had this experience? Were you in the place of half-asleep and half-awake? There really isn't much detail in this description, so you might want to explain some more. Part of it is based on your state of mind at the time of the experience.

Hope this helps.

I used to work at the VA counseling veterans with PTSD, they would often comment on seeing "shadow people". Personally I attribute this to the increased state of anxiety that they experience day to day. Their minds are constantly over vigilant in the search for threats. Given the inate ability of the mind to recognize faces and the human form it is not suprising that shadows would would be percieved by their mind as people.

Since your were trying to sleep during your experience, it could easily be explained as a trick of the mind. When entering or exiting the sleep state, it is not uncommon for the conscious mind to mix the dream reality with your everyday reality.

The ones I have seen are just black formless shapes that dart into the breakroom at work, or around a corner or something. No hats to be seen. I did see a black disenbodied cat's tail cross the road in front of me once. lol This was shortly after my daughters beloved black cat disappeared and we presume died (we lived out on a little ranch in the country with lots of coyotes around.....). It was sticking straight up in the air just like a cat that was trotting along in a good mood if you know what I mean. It was very funny to see.

How do you know you are not hallucinating?

Here to put my "penny" into the bucket.(I would say two pennies but that would suggest that I have some sense). A couple of things about the shadow people. First, I have had a few visits from "Mr. Hatman" in my life, so you could imagine what I felt like when I found the hat being associated with these entities and peoples drawings looking very similar to my encounter. I have no idea whatsoever why so many people see a hat on it's head. I also read that many people associate it with being in a half awake, dream like transe and I would agree with you except for two things. One, not all reports are with the "physical" presence as shadow people are often seen in "haunted locations" and at the ends of swamps, bogs and forests. Two, I was not in this state on one occasion as I came back from using the restroom, got into bed, raised up to grab my covers to find it in front of the window(I was fully awake). Many people associate shadow people with negative energy or evil. I believe that they are making assumptions from their emotions or simply with the figure being dark in nature. Looking back a time ago, I discovered that most of my interactions with this entity came at times where good things were happening to me and I was in good spirits. If you have any more questions, drop a message off or you can read some of my former posts to get some more opinions/etc.. about these entities.

*chuckles* I started my own topic on something similar a while back. I don't know if this is what you're looking for but here's the topic.

Link

I've seen shadow people before in my house from the sides of my eyes. and no, they werent wearing any hats.

EVERYONE takes their hat off in my house. including Them

sorry just being Random.

Thank you for your comments ~ I'll check that out. On reflection~ I do not recall any negative 'energy' when I saw this 'buzzing energy'. It just scared me because it was so weird and unexpected.

LOL ~ good comment

I too have seen two black shadows. One was after I accidentally steeped into a sacred aboriginal site, that night my bed was spinning after I saw this flash of a black silhouette..The second time it slowed down slow enough and I drew it..

I too live in a neolithic "sacred site" You know one of the theories associated with "SP's" deals with sacred sites and the geomagnetic energies that supposivly is emitted there. This theory is also present with earthlights/willow wisps as they too are associated with these special places of our ancestors.

Try this link for more information on Shadow People...

http://www.myspace.com/paranormaltaskforce

You can also look up Rosemary Ellen Guiley, right now she's the best source for information on shadow people.

i've seen those black swarms of bees or shadows that u mentiond but never though about it or about shadow people to be honest i dont even know what shadow people are, but after reading your post i guess i've seen them.i guess their like my roomates cause i see them alot,mostly when i cant sleep i look at the shadows in the corners in my celling and the shadows start to move from corner to corner and some like you mention a swarm of bees in the middle of my room.i always tought it was just my imagination or me moving the shadows with my mind(sounds crazy but sometimes when i see them it does feel like im moving the shadows), but shadow people thats way better.