~Written by Jason Searle~
Over the last decade, more and more paranormal eyewitness reports are being received with regard to dark, tall and humanoid shadows. They are fast-moving and have no obvious source. What are these entities? Ghosts…and More share what they think of these entities.
Picture this, you are sat alone in your room watching most recent episode of Eastenders, when from the corner of your left eye you see a dash of movement. You turn your head in that direction and you see nothing. You get back to watching TV and you notice it again. You quickly glance in that direction again and see a very dark shadow of a person move across the wall and vanish. You question yourself as to what you have just seen.
Whilst many of us would just pass this off as a figment of our imagination, returning to Eastenders, some of us may start to think that what we have just seen was real. When you are on your own, you can become easily spooked so consciously passing it off as your eyes playing tricks would help to calm us. But several reports have made their way onto the Internet, which states that multiple witnesses have come across the same fleeting shadow that does not seem to have a natural explanation. Possibly what we have seen was real! These possibly real entities are referred to as shadow people.
Reports of Shadow people used to be very rare. As stated earlier over the last decade the reports have increased dramatically. This may be down to the rise of the Internet giving way to an easier way to share information in addition to the rise of interest in the paranormal field, but it could also mean there are many more sightings now than in the past.
Those in the paranormal field may have come across the “corner of the eye” phenomena. This weird occurrence happens quite frequently on paranormal investigations. It is the sensation that you think you saw something move by you, as you sense movement in your peripheral vision. Initially shadow people were explained away by this phenomenon. However recent reports have shown that Shadow people are now appearing in people’s central vision, giving sceptics (as well as us investigators) more to think about when trying to explain away these terrifying creatures.
Although this is not a real picture of a shadow person (as they do like to elude the camera), this looks almost identical to what the author saw in his room one evening. Note the red eyes and the menacing presence.
So what can they be? Let’s look at some of the logical explanations before we look at some of the paranormal explanations.
The imagination. We humans are very active imaginations so we cannot rule this out! I would think that many experiences with Shadow people may occur when the person witnessing them is scared. It could be down to just watching a horror movie or even just not liking the fact of being alone in a building or room.
Natural shadow movements. The shadow that is seen could just be the shadow of the tree moving about in front of the street lights. Even the light source could be moving – the amount of times the Ghosts…and More team have been fooled by a set of car headlights passing by on the road outside a well into the double figures. Combine this reason with the one above and you’re set to give yourself a fright!
Low-frequency motors. The human eye is constantly moving (up to about 20 times a second) and low-frequency sounds created by low-frequency motors could cause the eyes to resonate, increasing the distance the eye moves. This subtle change in the eye movement could be perceived as something moving in a peripheral of your vision.
The above explanations could probably explain away 99% of the “corner of the eye” phenomena, but do not seem to be able to explain away the humanoid shadow shapes that appear in the central vision. Nor would it explain away any idea that some shadow people reports include the figures having glowing red eyes (unless of course the witness has an extremely overactive imagination!)
We can now look at some of the more paranormal explanations for the existence of shadow people. As we do not know what they are for sure this is all just speculative theory and do not represent the full view or views of the Ghosts…and More team.
Ghosts. Could the shadow people be a type of ghost? Quite possibly, although ghosts tend to have more distinguishable features within their apparitions and can usually be seen (it seems all that is!) in your central vision. Shadow people, as explained, generally are just silhouettes. Also, ghosts tend to appear in a milky white mist, whereas the shadow people are just dark shadows.
Demons. The idea that shadow people could be demons is quite popular. This is because when a shadow person is thought to have been seen, there is a sense of malevolence. The fact that they are dark also leads to the idea that it is a dark and evil presence. Similarly, many reports suggest that the shadow people have glowing red eyes that also give rise to a malevolent demonic spirit.
Aliens. It may sound a bit surprising that a shadow person could indeed be an alien. Many alien encounters have reported that the alien can appear and disappear in the blink of an eye, move through solid walls and doors and can appear very elusive.
Interdimensional beings. If science had to pick one of the more unusual explanations for shadow people, this is the one it is most likely to pick. Science currently supports the idea that there are many dimensions outside of the three that we live in. It is therefore logical to believe that otherworldly beings could inhabit these other dimensions. Maybe we share one of our dimensions with those from another dimension hence why we may see a fleeting glimpse of a moving shadow. Not wishing to scare people, but perhaps they have a way of passing into our dimension and exploring it to further their scientific knowledge about the universe they inhabit.
Time Travellers. In the future it could be possible to harness the space-time continuum and find a way to travel back in time. It may seem rather Doctor Who, but I’m sure the science could be out there somewhere. The popular idea of not going back and seeing or speaking to yourself maybe the reason why we see a dark shadow – it could be us getting caught near ourselves and finding a way to evade ourselves. I think I may stop this paragraph before we get ourselves too confused!
There could be many more explanations to the shadow people entities, but we could be here all day trying to go through them all and still not find the right answer. Who knows the shadow people could be a species of their own, therefore ending the debate. As the creatures tend to be so elusive in coming forward and the sheer fact that they terrify pretty much anybody that encounters one, studying them is a real nightmare (quite literally!) and we may never find the answer to this paranormal subject.
If you have experienced one, please feel free to get in touch with us via our contact page. Maybe you have an idea on what they are or what their purpose is. Either way, shadow people are a fascinating subject within the paranormal field and something terrifying to encounter when you’re on your own! As always we shall let you make your own mind up on what these things could be.
Make sure after reading, you take some time to visit Jason’s website, Ghosts… and More.
www.ghostsandmore.info
My grandmother’s house is haunted by a ghost from the graveyard directly behind her house, and has been for the 30 years she has lived there. One night I was taking a nap in the upstairs guest bedroom and was having a disturbing dream that woke me up, and as I rolled over to look towards the door, which led to a hallway with a light on, I saw a dark figure close in over me! I jumped up and turned on a light over the bed, and nothing was there, but I could feel a lingering presence that made me very uneasy, so I ran downstairs to find my grandmother and tell her about it, and she said the same thing happened to her many times when she was sleeping.
The most startling “run-in” with a shadow person that I’ve ever come across occurred during an investigation of private residence in New Hampshire. The location had a history of startlingly intense possible paranormal activity.
An investigator monitoring the living room had the experience of a sudden cold breeze rushing over her shoulder, then a shadow approximately 6 foot tall, humanoid in shape, materialized right in front of her. She raised her camera and snapped approximately 5 photographs. In three of them, there it was, just as she was seeing with her naked eye, a shadow standing right in front of her in the middle of the room.
The pictures are quite chilling. Each was slightly different, and it was clearly not the investigators shadow. None of us in the crew–as well as several of our photographic consultants–could not debunk the photographs. Combined with the first-person account of a very reliable and level-headed witness, I truly believe that this was a real encounter with the paranormal phenomena that has come to be known as a “shadow person.”
Bobby Elgee; Sights Unseen Paranormal
As Jason pointed out when you are in a state of fear from watching a scary TV show or reading a scary story, your senses are running on overload! I’ve felt that sense of paranoia in my own house and in other places that are otherwise completely calm and peaceful. The imagination and, what I would more properly associate this feeling with, the limbic system (i.e. the fight or flight response) are tremendously powerful influences on our mood, our state of mind, and our ability to comprehend the world around us. When something starts to mess with our heads, there can be some unpredictable results! I’m sure that many investigators have been in this fearful state of mind while investigating. How then can they distinguish between what is real and what are the effects of the paranoid mind when we can literally be scared ANYWHERE?
As far as the increased incidence of shadow people and documenting them, there may be some truth to this. Some of the best “ghost” photos that I’ve seen are of shadows that just don’t “fit” into the environment of the picture. Some have very strong human features that really make you wonder how much of a coincidence it would take for a normal shadow to resemble a person in a particular state of dress so closely. As to what shadow people are, I really have no clue. I don’t think that we have enough information on them or any other spirits to do more than to speculate at this point.