Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Readers respond to Shadow People

The 10-year-old was lying in bed when he saw something – someone – in his room.

“A tall shadow bent over my top bunk bed as I squeezed my eyes shut and pretended to be asleep,” anonymous posted on from-the-shadows.blogspot.com. “But holy hell, it scared me half to death.”

He’d seen a shadow person. Since I reported on shadow people in early December, I’ve heard dozens of stories from people living in Missouri, Kansas, New York, California and Hawaii. All have seen dark, human shapes creeping through their lives – sometimes unnervingly active. Here are their tales:

Paul, of West Covina, Calif., saw a shadow person in the late ’90s while spending the night at a friend’s.

“I (woke) up maybe around 3 a.m. and see this dark figure walk across the hallway into her daughter’s room,” he said. “Chills ran down my spine. … I immediately got up and ran to her daughter’s room fearing for the safety of her child. When I went into the room, the night light was on and there was nobody there.”

Mike, of Junction City, Kan., was living in Kansas City, Kan., when a shadow person invaded his home.

“I was frequently troubled by something that would slam doors in my house,” he said.

Then, one day, he saw it.

“I was in my bathroom in the basement,” Mike said. “The only light that was on was the bathroom light. As I was looking in the mirror I saw a black shadowy figure walk behind me. It was darker than anything else around it, as if all the light had been absorbed from the surrounding area. It was standing upright and it scared the hell out of me. I immediately left the house.”

Mike saw the shadow person twice more, but he often heard it “walking and just messing with things around the house,” he said. “I have moved three times since then, and I can’t seem to lose it.”

At eight years old in 1989, John, of Wisconsin, saw a black figure in his house.

“I was sleeping in my room and I could feel something pushing the bed in my sleep,” John said. “I woke up and noticed the dark figure was standing at the end of the bed. It was dark in my room, but this figure was so dark it just stood out.”

John finished sleeping the night with his parents.

“A couple of weeks after that, my parents got into an argument and my dad slept in my room and I slept on the couch,” he said. “Everyone was sleeping when I awoke to a scream. A few minutes later I heard my mom and dad talking at the kitchen table. My dad was sleeping and felt someone pushing at the end of the bed. He woke up and saw a man.

“This thing was the darkest shade of black I have ever seen,” John said. “So much that in a pitch black room it still stands out because it is so black. It was a perfect shape of a man. I don't know if it's evil or just mischievous, but I don't think it’s a friendly spirit.”

Gary G. Ford of Calgary, Alberta, challenges those who don’t acknowledge shadow people.

“They are enough to scare the works out of most people who want to deny these experiences can happen,” Gary wrote. “But I(’ve) experienced them. I know they are real, and that makes the universe more complicated than simple-minded theoreticians wish to entertain.”

For more stories on shadow people, go to: http://from-the-shadows.blogspot.com/2006/12/shadow-people.html.

Copyright 2006 by Jason Offutt

Got a scary story? Ever played with a Ouija board, heard voices, seen a ghost, UFO or a creature you couldn’t identify? Let Jason know about it: Jason Offutt c/o The Examiner, 410 S. Liberty, Independence, Mo. 64050, or jasonoffutt@hotmail.com. Include your name, address and telephone number. Your story might make an upcoming installment of “From the Shadows.”

Jason Offutt is a syndicated columnist, author and fan of all things Fortean. His book of ghost stories, “Haunted Missouri,” will soon be available at www.jasonoffutt.com and all major bookstores.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I HAVE EXPERIENCED STRANGE THINGS IN MY HOUSE AS WELL! IT'S SPOOKY!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Hey can who ever runs this webpage please Email me at parkesie_07@yahoo.com I want to ask you about this "shadow person" I beleive I have seen it more than once so if you could e-mail me it would be great.

Anonymous said...

ive seen shadow people on many occasions and my boyfriend and dad have aswell there all over the house,one night though i saw a white shadow in the reflection of my window there was nobody outside as im on the top floor.If anyone can explain the white shadow email me dawnaprilgregory@hotmail.co.uk

Anonymous said...

I had lived in a two bedroom apartment for atleast twelve years. I had roommates off and on but mostly lived alone. I would switch bedrooms at times moving storage into one that was not being used for sleeping. My first encounter came in what I will call room number 1. I awake about 4 am when it was just getting light out (As I live in alaska the sun comes up early in the summer) to see two shadow forms standing beside my bed. They were about as tall as 7 year olds and were darker than the room was lit. I quickly turned my head back into my pillow realy freaked out. I looked again and now they were reaching tward me. I turned into the pillow again, putting my hand out to keep them back, expecting to be grabed but felt nothing. As I looked again the third time they were gone.
My second experence was in bedroom number 2. I was sleeping on my side when I was awoken by what felt like someone sitting on my bed behiend me. I felt what felt like someone sticking their finger to the middle of my back and I was now paralized. I could not move but I could open my eyes. When I opend my eyes I saw three figures in the corner of the room. Two where as tall as adults and one was shorter. Now in both fear of someone behiend me and the figures in the corner I started to pray to god to help me as I closed my eyes. I opend my eyes again and the shadows were gone and I could move again.
Awile after that I had a dream that I was standing in the hall between the bedrroms and could feel pure evil surrounding me. I felt as if I could fight the evil so I started to try and pull the evil from the rooms and rid the apartment of them . I pulled atleast 4 to 5 black shaped beings from room number 2 and they floated away above me but just as I thought I had the power over the evil, one huge black shaped came from room number two. This shape had a overwelming sence of evil and I could not defeat it. I awoke just as it was taking me into its power.
A short while after that I happened to be in the apartment below me talking to the gal that lived there. We got on the subject of the paranormal and I told her about my experences with the being in my apartment. She got quiet for a minute and told me she too had seen them in her apartment. She chalked hers up from being on pain killers after surgery but after I told her my story she thought twice about what she had seen.
Now thinking back on both experences I think I was showen perhaps my future or parts of it.
I married a gal that had two daughters. One was 7 and the other 14. That could explaine what I saw in room number 2. As for the feeling of someone sitting on my bed and putting their finger in my back I think that might have been my mother, who had died just a short time before that. I had told her before she died that I would freak out if she came back to visit me, as relitives had done to her after their deaths, so maybe she felt paralizing me was what she had to do.
I am now the father of twins. I think that may explain what I saw in room number 1.
I have not seen the shadows since I moved out of the apartment and I hope, even though they may show me my future, to never see them again.