Shadow Man Returns

[Catherine510]

I just recently had my third experience with a shadow person. I am growing concerned because (I know this going to sound paranoid) but they are watching me. Let me back up......When I was much younger ( I am 46 now), about 3 years old, I use to see things that others could not....They said I had an overactive imagination...

Fast forward about 6-8 years.......I experienced my first death of a loved one, my pap (grandfather). I was heartbroken. After his death, I was visited by a man. They way I described it was I had a dream within in a dream within in a dream about at Shadow Man with a fedora, no face no features. I wake up in the within the dream etc....only to find the man really at the foot of my bed. The first night it scared me but the second night I was not as scared because I thought it was my grandfather saying goodbye.....

6 months later.....My Nina (grandmother) dies.......I was very close to her. I loved her so much. After her death, the shadow man came to at least 3 times in the same way described above. I remember having some fear but I was ok with the visits. My family didn't believe me they thought I was grief stricken. Then in church for catechism class (I am Catholic) we were kneeling at the alter praying for love ones. The shadow was present but not visible......I was over come with grief and for a lack of a better term paralyzed. I couldn't speak etc....They had to call my mother and a close family friend ( a mom like friend) held me until my mother came. No one knew what to think. The priest prayed, I cant remember if I was blessed with holy water.

After that the experiences with the shadow people has been brief.....Like out of the corner of my eye or a brief glance.

Until about 2 weeks ago....I had been preparing to take my oldest child to college...I was tired. Two days before leaving for New Orleans (She is going to Loyola), I had been dreaming nothing special......woke up about 3 am.....Fell back to sleep. Then I saw him....but this time I felt like he was holding me down. I could not move or scream. I tried to relax.....it seemed like a long time passed but it was probably no more than a minute or two....Now I am feeling watched especially in my bedroom.

I want to communicate but I now sure I should or how. I feel a presence. He has never held me down before and that is scaring me.....Any advice.....

[Nighthawk9653]

When you perceived him to be holding you down, it could've been sleep paralysis. It's a stage where your brain shuts off your movement so you won't move about while you're dreaming and injure yourself. People have reported 'waking up' in this stage of sleep and thinking they were being held down by ghosts or spirits. Maybe you became semi-aware of the sleep paralysis and your brain filled in the rest as being held down by the shadow.

[JesseCuster]

I agree with the previous post. Sounds very much like sleep paralysis.

A dark figure (or figures) in your room. A feeling that there is a presence in the room with you. Happening upon waking from sleep. A feeling like a weight holding you down and the ability to shout out. All quite typical of sleep paralysis based upon my own experiences and reading testimonies of others. I've experienced a few variations but those all sound famiiar to me.

I wouldn't worry about it being a paranormal experience. If it happens again, relax and tell yourself it's not real. That has helped me

What happens is that sometimes people (it happens to some people more than others) don't quite wake up properly from sleep. When you're in REM (dream) sleep, your body goes into a state called atonia where it relaxes itself to the point it won't try and physically act out your actions in a dream. That generally works, but every so often you wake up in a weird intermediary state whereby your are still somewhat dreaming and hallucinating in your head which is why you see things and sense things that aren't there, but on the other hand you are quite awake and you know this because it doesn't have the disconnected bizarreness of dreams and you can recognise your surroundings as being your own bedroom. At the same time, because you haven't woken up properly, your body is in a state of atonia and struggles to move. When you try sitting up, it feels like something pushing down. When you try to shout out for help nothing happens.

Do a Google search for "sleep paralysis" and read some of the websites and testimonies out there. They may help you to understand that what you are experiencing is not anything sinister or paranormal, but just one of the odd things some people experience in that strange state that occurs between sleep and wakefulness.

In your experience, it was a "shadow man". In a couple of my experiences it was the grim reaper. A shadow figure in tattered robes and carrying a scythe. I suspect we project our own inner thoughts, ideas, fears, readings, etc. onto these kind of experiences.

[JesseCuster]

Hello?

Another one hit wonder visitor. Bah!

[Brian Topp]

Hello?

Another one hit wonder visitor. Bah!

I try not to be surpised any more. Most People just want confirm on their thoughts/beliefs not a second opinion.

Edited August 31, 2013 by Brian Topp