The Shadow Man Conundrum

Editing and Commentary by Robin M. Strom

Anonymous

This first-hand account came in from a reader. Shadow people are one of those entities that confound investigators, because they don’t really seem to fit any category of paranormal experiences easily.  Aside from some grammatical changes, this is in the reader’s own words.  

“I have never put this store to paper, but I have shared it many times with my family and friends. It happened around ten years ago. I was approximately 40 years old at the time. I was sitting in my living room in the suburbs of Long Island around 11 o’clock at night playing games on my iPad. My wife was asleep in our bedroom and the kids were asleep upstairs. I decided it was time for bed and went into our hallway bathroom to finish my nightly routine.

Upon entering the bathroom I saw a figure on the toilet. Not thinking twice about it, as my wife usually leaves the light off at night to use the bathroom as to not disturb her sleep. I was startled but commented that I wouldn’t turn the light on, not to worry. The figure then stood up and tilted its head as if it didn’t understand what I said.

I quickly realized this was not my wife and spun so fast around to hit the light that I tore a muscle in my side that still hurts to today. As I turned back around the figure was gone.

I subsequently turned on ever light in the house before locking myself in my room and waking my wife. She didn’t appreciate being woken with such nonsense. It took at least an hour for my heart rate to slow down and a few more hours to fall asleep. I slept fully clothed, light on and above the covers. That way I could jump out of bed if something else appeared. I was not asleep [when this happened] nor on anything that would explain this as my imagination. I don’t think it meant any harm. It seemed as confused as I was. Do with this as you will, just know this really happened and has me questioning reality for quite some time.”

I have written articles on shadow people in the past.  Honestly, I believe that the phenomena are different types of entities. 

Some appear black and featureless and exude malice and evil intentions.  They are often described as cloaked such as a priest and often said to have red glowing eyes.

Then there are the hat men variety that can be frightening, but more often appear to be here to monitor activity and/or keep witnesses in line.  The hat man phenomena are a fascinating line of inquiry, for those that are interested.

Then there are entities such as this one that appear to be benign but curious.  Sometimes they even act in foolish or comical ways that make them seem the buffoon.  These are not what we would typically consider to be a ghost.  They are dark gray to completely black and featureless.  Empaths will tell you that such creatures give off a different sense than do human spirits.  Very often, the visit will be a once and done event, such as this man explained. He never reported seeing it again.  And again, it didn’t appear to have any malice towards the man. In fact, he explained that the shadow person seemed as confused and surprised as did he. 

My son, when he was younger had a similar experience seeing a shadow person in our hallway in the mornings.  He saw entity three times in total.  The entity seemed to be of a comical nature. My son described him as bobbing up and down or acting in some similar strange way. The entity also seemed curious. My son described seeing the shadow man peering into my bedroom from the doorway as I lay asleep.  The creature never advanced, appeared threatening in any manner, and would disappear as soon as my son called out to me.  Three times he saw him, and then never witnessed anything like it again. 

My initial thought would be that such entities may be stepping out of a different dimension.  They may appear grey, black and featureless because they have not fully coalesced as a corporeal being in our dimension as of yet.  If this happened randomly, it would explain why they seem as confused as to the witnesses.  They might be in their own dimension one moment and then sitting on someone’s toilet in the dark the next. 

The entities that appear comical and do show up more than once, may have figured out how to shift dimensions when they desire and come through because they’re genuinely curious.  These are just ideas that I have formed around the anomalous activity.  Shadow beings such as this are impossible to research, because the activity is completely random and rarely reoccurs.  Hence, the best a researcher can do is collect anecdotes of such encounters and look for similarities. 

If you have a similar shadowman story please feel free to email DPRG at delawareparanormal@gmail.com.