Those Who've Seen the Hatman/Shadow People

[Podo]

3 hours ago, Shadow Person said:

yeah i do every time i find one in my dream  i try to kill it and i try to find them so it makes it hunting 

Ah, but it's only when you dream them, so it's not something that you actually think is really, truly happening. That clarifies, thanks.

[Shadow Person]

7 hours ago, Podo said:

Ah, but it's only when you dream them, so it's not something that you actually think is really, truly happening. That clarifies, thanks.

did you know that dreaming something is thinking as well so can you explain more?

[Podo]

11 hours ago, Shadow Person said:

did you know that dreaming something is thinking as well so can you explain more?

Dreams are, as best as we can tell, the brain's way of sorting through its own memories. It's not a conscious thing, though some people are capable of lucid dreaming. There is no evidence at all to suggest that dreams are "prophetic" or anything beyond our brains firing on all cylinders.

[Shadow Person]

1 minute ago, Podo said:

Dreams are, as best as we can tell, the brain's way of sorting through its own memories. It's not a conscious thing, though some people are capable of lucid dreaming. There is no evidence at all to suggest that dreams are "prophetic" or anything beyond our brains firing on all cylinders.

so do you believe in lucid dreaming and shadow people if not why are you here?

[Podo]

Just now, Shadow Person said:

so do you believe in lucid dreaming and shadow people if not why are you here?

Lucid dreaming is definitely a thing, even I can do it on occasion. All it is, though, is a person being aware that they're within their own dreams, and influencing their interactions with their mind. There is nothing magical or mystical about it.

I do not believe in shadow people, though, since there is no real reason to think that they exist. That doesn't mean that I think everyone who sees them are liars, though; shadows are tricky things, our eyes don't work very well in the dark, and pareidolia is a very powerful thing. Humans see patterns everywhere, and we're very good at it. The problem is that we tend to see patterns where there are none. I myself have seen a "shadow person" (I've talked about it in past posts), but I also acknowledge that such a thing is impossible. Never attribute to magic or mysticism what can more easily be attributed to fatigue, tricks of light, tricks of mind, or straight-up lies.

[Shadow Person]

2 minutes ago, Podo said:

Lucid dreaming is definitely a thing, even I can do it on occasion. All it is, though, is a person being aware that they're within their own dreams, and influencing their interactions with their mind. There is nothing magical or mystical about it.

I do not believe in shadow people, though, since there is no real reason to think that they exist. That doesn't mean that I think everyone who sees them are liars, though; shadows are tricky things, our eyes don't work very well in the dark, and pareidolia is a very powerful thing. Humans see patterns everywhere, and we're very good at it. The problem is that we tend to see patterns where there are none. I myself have seen a "shadow person" (I've talked about it in past posts), but I also acknowledge that such a thing is impossible. Never attribute to magic or mysticism what can more easily be attributed to fatigue, tricks of light, tricks of mind, or straight-up lies.

why do u think a shadow person is impossible when u have seen one , and when u saw it did it give of a fear feeling not a  normal fear feeling a different feeling , and in one of CW leadbeater books he talks about shadow people , and because there has been more than 1 million people reported seeing a black figure with yellow,red eyes so its not impossible 

[Podo]

26 minutes ago, Shadow Person said:

why do u think a shadow person is impossible when u have seen one

Mainly because it is physically impossible for a being made of shadow to exist. When I saw one, it was late/early in the night/morning (4am), I had just worked a 10 hour shift, dawn was JUST starting to break (making the light really weird), I was riding a bike, and I saw it from the corner of my eye. Now, are you really as naive to suggest that my situation, so similar to the vast majority of "shadow person" sightings, can be considered a reliable eye-witness account? Don't kid yourself. I saw it, and I remember it clearly, but it simply isn't possible, and there are a multitude of factors that can realistically contribute to my seeing something wonky.

29 minutes ago, Shadow Person said:

and when u saw it did it give of a fear feeling not a  normal fear feeling a different feeling

Well yeah I was pretty rattled at the time, but once I thought about it rationally and in a non-fatigued, mentally-rested state, I realized that it was clearly a mistake brought on by pareidolia, which in turn was caused by the number of factors I have already listed.

 

3 hours ago, Shadow Person said:

and because there has been more than 1 million people reported seeing a black figure with yellow,red eyes so its not impossible 

This is a classic fallacy. Just because a lot of people claim to have had an experience does not mean that they have had that experience. Furthermore, even if they have (like I did), it doesn't mean that what they saw actually was what they saw. I saw a "shadow person," but in reality what I saw was a series of tricks perpetrated by my brain in non-ideal conditions. Also, people lie. While I think that liars are a minority, you would be a fool to write it off.

[Shadow Person]

8 hours ago, Podo said:

Mainly because it is physically impossible for a being made of shadow to exist. When I saw one, it was late/early in the night/morning (4am), I had just worked a 10 hour shift, dawn was JUST starting to break (making the light really weird), I was riding a bike, and I saw it from the corner of my eye. Now, are you really as naive to suggest that my situation, so similar to the vast majority of "shadow person" sightings, can be considered a reliable eye-witness account? Don't kid yourself. I saw it, and I remember it clearly, but it simply isn't possible, and there are a multitude of factors that can realistically contribute to my seeing something wonky.

Well yeah I was pretty rattled at the time, but once I thought about it rationally and in a non-fatigued, mentally-rested state, I realized that it was clearly a mistake brought on by pareidolia, which in turn was caused by the number of factors I have already listed.

 

This is a classic fallacy. Just because a lot of people claim to have had an experience does not mean that they have had that experience. Furthermore, even if they have (like I did), it doesn't mean that what they saw actually was what they saw. I saw a "shadow person," but in reality what I saw was a series of tricks perpetrated by my brain in non-ideal conditions. Also, people lie. While I think that liars are a minority, you would be a fool to write it off.

did you know what a shadow person was at the time if not how can your brain just out of no were make a shadow person even if you were tired if u don't know what a shadow person is 

[Podo]

11 hours ago, Shadow Person said:

did you know what a shadow person was at the time if not how can your brain just out of no were make a shadow person even if you were tired if u don't know what a shadow person is 

No, I'd not heard of them before. 

 

I think you've hit upon a very important question. How can so many people see something matching the discription? Clearly something is going on, but what is it?

The most logical explanation is that, because of our great skill at pattern-recognition, it is a natural human feature to see "people" where there are none. We know that pareidolia is a thing, for example, and we know that our brains allow us to impose order into chaos (seeing shapes in clouds, in smoke, in steam, etc). It stands to reason, therefore, that "shadow people" are a common psychological trick that our brain plays. There are other examples of widespread shared experiences, the best example being sleep paralysis. Almost everyone will experience it at least once in their lives, and the symptoms are similar across the board, generally involving shadowy figures, a pressuren on the chest, and the impression that someone is standing over you. Just because millions of people experience it, however, does not mean that there is actually some evil spirit messing with them. We know how sleep paralysis works, and we know that despite a wide range of people claimimg otherwise, it is nothing more than a natural thing that happens to some people. 

 

The punchline here is that just because many people experience something, does not mean that it is somehow mystical. Arguments to numbers (X people saw it therefore it must be true) are ignorant attempts to qualify unproven claims. 

[Shadow Person]

i guess at the end of the day it is just if you believe it or not and i do even if science says its impossible 

[AppleShampoo23]

On 3/2/2017 at 3:59 PM, Podo said:

Artists tend to be a bit loopy, so this kinda reinforces the notion that shadow people are nothing but pareidolia. That you have suffered from psychological issues reinforces it even more. High emotions lead to hallucinations, waking daydreams, vivid dreams, and increased patter-seeking behaviour (pareidolia) makes perfect sense. More sense than shadow monsters, anyway.

 

You're trolling, right? Or do you genuinely think that you "hunt" shadow people?

 

 

 

That would make total sense except for the fact that high emotions don't throw physical objects at you from across the room or pull your hair so hard that you scream. Also, there is a HUGE difference in seeing an illusion and an actual entity both of which I've experienced. I was an actual temp schizo for a period of time after I got off of drugs when I was 19 and I can absolutely with CERTAINTY say that there is an energy field that you can FEEL when you experience one of these shadow beings. It's not like seeing something that your schizo mind has conjured up that's exactly why I never said anything to any of my psychs growing up because I knew they would try and shove pills down my throat and I know for a fact that it was not in my head and that I was ABSOLUTELY seeing and being attacked physically by this thing so much that I actually have PTSD now. Also, don't tell me that this thing isn't real when thousands and thousands of people have experienced this SPECIFIC entity. I almost **** when I was 18 and finally realized that others had experienced him also. It's not a coincidence, not all of these people have psychological problems and that absolutely doesn't mean that they're making it up or experiencing illusions. If you would've experienced what I experienced growing up you would know that this thing isn't a made up "monster" this thing is VERY REAL and he is terrorizing THOUSANDS of people DAILY. I'd also like to add that I started seeing The Hat Man when I was 3 years old and it continued until I was 13. I didn't have any emotional problems at 3.

 

-Gracie

Edited March 5, 2017 by AppleShampoo23

[Shadow Person]

2 hours ago, AppleShampoo23 said:

That would make total sense except for the fact that high emotions don't throw physical objects at you from across the room or pull your hair so hard that you scream. Also, there is a HUGE difference in seeing an illusion and an actual entity both of which I've experienced. I was an actual temp schizo for a period of time after I got off of drugs when I was 19 and I can absolutely with CERTAINTY say that there is an energy field that you can FEEL when you experience one of these shadow beings. It's not like seeing something that your schizo mind has conjured up that's exactly why I never said anything to any of my psychs growing up because I knew they would try and shove pills down my throat and I know for a fact that it was not in my head and that I was ABSOLUTELY seeing and being attacked physically by this thing so much that I actually have PTSD now. Also, don't tell me that this thing isn't real when thousands and thousands of people have experienced this SPECIFIC entity. I almost **** when I was 18 and finally realized that others had experienced him also. It's not a coincidence, not all of these people have psychological problems and that absolutely doesn't mean that they're making it up or experiencing illusions. If you would've experienced what I experienced growing up you would know that this thing isn't a made up "monster" this thing is VERY REAL and he is terrorizing THOUSANDS of people DAILY. I'd also like to add that I started seeing The Hat Man when I was 3 years old and it continued until I was 13. I didn't have any emotional problems at 3.

 

-Gracie

finally someone on this website that believes this stuff , i have seen 1 shadow person and i took its energy by grabbing its throat , and when i was 9 years old i saw the hat man with these little minions that was keeping me from leaving my bedroom but i got out and attacked them then i saw him he looked at me then shoved me across the room then i woke up. 

[Podo]

On 3/4/2017 at 10:52 AM, Shadow Person said:

i guess at the end of the day it is just if you believe it or not and i do even if science says its impossible 

So you choose to believe it even if you know that it is impossible. Okay, well good luck with that. 

[Shadow Person]

17 minutes ago, Podo said:

So you choose to believe it even if you know that it is impossible. Okay, well good luck with that. 

i know its possible because it happened to me so i believe that science is wrong 

[Podo]

3 hours ago, AppleShampoo23 said:

Also, there is a HUGE difference in seeing an illusion and an actual entity both of which I've experienced. I was an actual temp schizo for a period of time after I got off of drugs when I was 19 and I can absolutely with CERTAINTY say that there is an energy field that you can FEEL when you experience one of these shadow beings.

So you admit to both having been a druggie and having schizophrenia, and yet you expect anyone to take your experiences seriously? That's...kinda backwards. If you have had schizophrenia, especially if you experienced shadow people around the same time, your perceptions are not exactly the stuff of trustworthiness. I fully believe that you, while suffering through psychological illness, saw things that you think are shadow people, but that does not mean that they are mystery entities from beyond our dimension, or some other fantastic explanation. Hopefully you've sorted out the schizophrenia? I can't even imagine how difficult it would be to deal with an illness like that. 

1 hour ago, Shadow Person said:

I know for a fact that it was not in my head

How? How do you know this? Every religious person, every UFO abductee, every person who sees a ghost or hears a voice or photographs a sasquatch says that they "know for a fact" that what they saw was real, but history has shown that to be 100% false. What sets you apart? What evidence do you have that allows you to claim that you factually know what you saw? 

1 hour ago, Shadow Person said:

that I was ABSOLUTELY seeing and being attacked physically by this thing so much that I actually have PTSD now.

You have been medically diagnosed with PTSD by a real doctor?

1 hour ago, Shadow Person said:

Also, don't tell me that this thing isn't real when thousands and thousands of people have experienced this SPECIFIC entity.

This, again, is a common fallacy. Many people believing or seeing the same thing means absolutely nothing unless one of those people can prove it. Hundreds of millions of people believe that rhino horn is a sexual stimulant, and we know that to be demonstrably false. Billions of people believe that their gods are watching down on them, and that doesn't mean anything, either. Unless you can prove something, the old and tired rhetorical strategy is nothing more than a bad argumentum ad populum.

1 hour ago, Shadow Person said:

It's not a coincidence, not all of these people have psychological problems and that absolutely doesn't mean that they're making it up or experiencing illusions. If you would've experienced what I experienced growing up you would know that this thing isn't a made up "monster" this thing is VERY REAL and he is terrorizing THOUSANDS of people DAILY.

I don't think every person who sees it has psychological problems at all, nor do I think that they're experiencing illusions. Please read up on pareidolia; the human brain naturally seeks patterns in chaos, and seeing a human shape in things like shadows, smoke, water, clouds, etc is very common. Also, keep in mind that people lie. Not everyone, of course, but liars do exist. I think it is far more likely that people are simply wrong about the nature of what they see, not the validity of whether they saw it. 

1 hour ago, Shadow Person said:

I'd also like to add that I started seeing The Hat Man when I was 3 years old and it continued until I was 13. I didn't have any emotional problems at 3.

At 3 you barely had coherent thoughts, as 3 is the earliest time that memories can form. I wouldn't trust memories from that age, since they're subject to childhood amnesia, and other issues pertaining to being formed at such a young age. 

[Podo]

Just now, Shadow Person said:

i know its possible because it happened to me so i believe that science is wrong 

No you don't. You know that you saw something you can't explain, that's all. You've filled in the blanks with what you want, with no evidence to back it up. I don't doubt that you saw a shadowy, human-shaped figure, since I saw one myself. But you don't know anything beyond that; anything else, any mystical explanation for what it was that cannot be proven, is conjecture at best. Conversely, we know that pareidolia is a thing, as well as sleep paralysis--rational explanations exist for why and how a human could see a human-shaped shadow. You just don't like them, so you're tossing them out. You're allowing belief to override your ability to look at your experience rationally. Which is fine, I guess, if that's what works for you. But don't expect others to take you seriously if all you want is a confirmation-bias-filled echo chamber. 

[Murlin54]

So here is a video of AGAIN, another person whose experience is a match for mine. Found this accidentally today. Difference is I only had the one visitor, one time, one night and that was the "hat man."  Same experience as her day three description (starting at 7:05). Standing right by the side of my bed looking down at me, very still. He appeared to be three dimentional, almost like a hologram, not a shadow. The hat in this video is not quite right. Too tall on the top. Mine was like the hat worn in the sketch of Zacharie Cloutier (French carpenter that was my ancestor grandfather-can find on Google search images).  Her description is right but the re-enactment for TV is a bit off. Still, how can several people have the exact same description of what happened to me when I was about 10-ish. I did not have a clock by my bed but no matter, I only had her day three experience where I woke and the "Hat Man" was standing right next to the side of my bed.  This is the hat man experience that I've read about a few times now, having an uncanny similarity or even exact description of my experience. That is quite mysterious to me and I can't buy the paredolia or sleep paralysis explanation.

 

[AppleShampoo23]

10 hours ago, Shadow Person said:

finally someone on this website that believes this stuff , i have seen 1 shadow person and i took its energy by grabbing its throat , and when i was 9 years old i saw the hat man with these little minions that was keeping me from leaving my bedroom but i got out and attacked them then i saw him he looked at me then shoved me across the room then i woke up. 

 

So you aren't seeing these things physically while you're awake but in your dreams instead? I am confused. 

 

[Shadow Person]

2 hours ago, AppleShampoo23 said:

So you aren't seeing these things physically while you're awake but in your dreams instead? I am confused. 

 

i have seen 1 shadow person in real life but that was at 3.46 at night then i fell asleep and i saw it in my dream room and i attacked it . so i am seeing both 

Edited March 6, 2017 by Shadow Person

[Podo]

5 hours ago, Pop It and Shove It said:

That could be applied to you as well.

In a broad sense, yes, you are correct. The difference, however, is that I'm drawing a likely conclusion based on factual, real phenomenon. Fatigue, dawn light levels, the speed with which I was moving, as well as pareidolia; with their powers combined, they bring you hallucinations and mistaken impressions! Examining all angles is a necessary step to any rational thinker--likewise, stating "I know 100% that thing I saw that I know nothing about is definitely an extradimensional thing despite having no evidence whatsoever to back that up" is religious thinking at best and blatant stupidity at worst. Any argument grounded in measurable reality will always have more weight than one grounded in wishful thinking. I could choose to believe that the thing I saw was some kind of magical djinn, malevolent spirit, or whathaveyou, but I would be willfully ignoring the many, many rational explanations that could, and do, provide a solution. Could I be wrong? In theory, yes. But there is no evidence at all that my sighting, or the sightings of anyone else, has been anything other than a combination of natural phenomenon mashing together to create an eerie (but perfectly mundane) experience. 

[preacherman76]

16 hours ago, Podo said:

So you choose to believe it even if you know that it is impossible. Okay, well good luck with that. 

Well not everyone's experience is as easily explained as yours. I was well rested and it was a bright sunny morning when I had my experience. 

[Podo]

3 hours ago, Pop It and Shove It said:

I definitely think fatigue and tiredness can make your mind play tricks on you but to paint every experience as that seems like a cop out. I've had experiences at all times of day, experiences other people have experienced at the same time and other things that aren't as easily dismissed. I'm just saying your own statement can be applied to you "filling in the blanks" to suit your own "rational explanation".

I think you're missing a key aspect of my argument. I'm not claiming to know 100% that fatigue, shadows, and whathaveyou are the explanation for every sighting. I've not once stated in empirical terms that I know this, either. I am saying that these are the most likely explanations for such encounters. I go where the evidence is. Any explanation is always stronger when steeped in actual facts. We know that pareidolia is a thing, we know that fatigue is a thing, we know that humans don't see very well in changing light levels. Conversely, we have no compelling evidence pointing to the physical existence of an animate shadow, the existence of "4th-dimensional beings," djinn, and there is certainly no evidence to support the existence of spirits, let alone malevolent ones. Could these things be real? Could this be what someone is seeing? Theoretically yes, I suppose, but there is zero evidence to support it. Therefore, the most logical conclusion is still the aforementioned ones that are based on reality. The evidence, as it currently sits, points to there being a non-magical explanation. There is no evidence, beyond poor eye-witness accounts (which are unreliable) to the contrary. If you think that magical shadow-beings are equally as likely as people being wrong about what they see...well, that's a choice you're consciously making.

[Murlin54]

On 3/5/2017 at 9:52 PM, Pop It and Shove It said:

 

Listen if it was a one-off thing that happened a long time ago, don't worry about it. I've seen dozens of "shadow people" since I can remember and rarely if ever have I had good vibes or experiences off of them.

I'm definitely not worried about it. This happened over 50 years ago. ONCE. I have posted on this thread because I wrote that experience off as being unexplainable, probably something I imagined. Then I was watching the show Ghost Hunters (years ago now) and eventually logged on to their website/forum and was very surprised to read one particular posters account in a shadow person thread that could have been me. It was exactly the same as my experience. Same age range, same description, same impression of the incident. Since then, I have read a few other people's experience that was a very close match to what I experienced.  That is when I learned that the "hat man" was a world wide phenomena. I actually just stumbled across the youtube video I posted the other night and was surprised to hear this woman give a very similar account. That brought me back to this thread. (I occasionally watched that show too, but didn't see this episode.) Most of the posts in this very long subject thread are not something I can relate to, as they are not similar to what I experienced. What is very interesting to me, is that there are people that can describe the exact same experience that I had. That would be the "hat man", and not random shadow people. Makes you want to go hmmmmmm.

 

Edited March 7, 2017 by Murlin54

[Paranormal Gal]

I know how you feel i have seen shadow people 4 times in my life.    And they are not to be messed with the ones i seen are total black couldn't see threw them and just the blackest black i ever seen. Everyone of them i got bad vibes from.

[Sylviakail]

On 3/5/2017 at 2:59 PM, Podo said:

No you don't. You know that you saw something you can't explain, that's all. You've filled in the blanks with what you want, with no evidence to back it up. I don't doubt that you saw a shadowy, human-shaped figure, since I saw one myself. But you don't know anything beyond that; anything else, any mystical explanation for what it was that cannot be proven, is conjecture at best. Conversely, we know that pareidolia is a thing, as well as sleep paralysis--rational explanations exist for why and how a human could see a human-shaped shadow. You just don't like them, so you're tossing them out. You're allowing belief to override your ability to look at your experience rationally. Which is fine, I guess, if that's what works for you. But don't expect others to take you seriously if all you want is a confirmation-bias-filled echo chamber. 

I been seeing the same shadow man all my life, and I feel like he is an evil presence in my life. Three years ago I woke up from a nightmare and told this demon, he had no power over my life. Two months later my Son killed him self. I always had really bad luck in my life, I been molested, raped twice, my first son came up missing when he was a baby, I had cancer twice and now my other son is gone.  This thing is a demon and now he can't hurt me anymore, I lost everything I loved. Be careful!!!