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A shadow person (also known as a shadow figure or black mass) is the perception of a patch of shadow as a living species, humanoid figure, sometimes interpreted as the presence of a spirit or other entity by believers in the paranormal or supernatural. [1]
A number of religions, legends, and belief systems describe supernatural entities such as shades of the underworld, and various shadowy creatures have long been a staple of folklore and ghost stories, such as the Islamic Jinn and the Choctaw Nalusa Chito. [2]
The Coast to Coast AM late night radio talk show helped popularize modern beliefs in shadow people. [3] The first time the topic of shadow people was discussed at length on the show was April 12, 2001, when host Art Bell interviewed a man purporting to be a Native American elder, Thunder Strikes, who is also known as Harley "SwiftDeer" Reagan. During the show, listeners were encouraged to submit drawings of shadow people that they had seen and a large number of these drawings were immediately shared publicly on the website. [4]
In October that year, Heidi Hollis published her first book on the topic of shadow people, [5] and later became a regular guest on Coast to Coast. [6] Hollis describes shadow people as dark silhouettes with human shapes and profiles that flicker in and out of peripheral vision, and claims that people have reported the figures attempting to "jump on their chest and choke them". [7] She believes the figures to be negative aliens that can be repelled by various means, including invoking "the Name of Jesus". [8]
Although participants in online discussion forums devoted to paranormal and supernatural topics describe them as menacing, other believers and paranormal authors do not agree whether shadow people are either evil, helpful, or neutral, and some even speculate that shadow people may be the extra-dimensional inhabitants of another universe. [3] [9] Some paranormal investigators and authors such as Chad Stambaugh claim to have recorded images of shadow people on video. [10]
Shadow people feature in two episodes of ITV paranormal documentary series Extreme Ghost Stories , where the phenomenon is described as a "black mass". [11]
One example of a particular shadow person is the "Hat Man", who shares the characteristics of general shadow people but is named for a fedora or other brimmed hat on his head. Descriptions of the Hat Man date back to as early as the late 2000s. [12] The Hat Man is commonly associated with sleep paralysis and the abuse of the antihistamine medicine diphenhydramine, commonly sold under the brand name Benadryl. [12] He is typically described as having very little or no discernible features, although some witnesses have claimed they can "feel him staring" at them.
Several physiological and psychological conditions can account for reported experiences of shadowy shapes seeming alive. A sleep paralysis sufferer may perceive a "shadowy or indistinct shape" approaching them when they lie awake paralyzed and become increasingly alarmed. [13]
A person experiencing heightened emotion, such as while walking alone on a dark night, may incorrectly perceive a patch of shadow as an attacker. [14]
Many methamphetamine addicts report the appearance of "shadow people" after prolonged periods of sleep deprivation. [15] [16] Psychiatrist Jack Potts suggests that methamphetamine usage adds a "conspiratorial component" to the sleep deprivation hallucinations. [17] One interviewed subject said that "You don't see shadow dogs or shadow birds or shadow cars. You see shadow people. Standing in doorways, walking behind you, coming at you on the sidewalk." [17] These hallucinations have been directly compared to the paranormal entities described in folklore. [18]
Shadow people are commonly reported by people under the effects of deliriant substances such as datura, diphenhydramine, and benzydamine.
Finally, visual hallucinations, such as those caused by schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, may appear to be shadowy figures at the edge of peripheral vision. [19]
In folklore, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or non-human animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes to realistic, lifelike forms. The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a deceased person is known as necromancy, or in spiritism as a séance. Other terms associated with it are apparition, haunt, haint, phantom, poltergeist, shade, specter, spirit, spook, wraith, demon, and ghoul.
In the psychology subfield of oneirology, a lucid dream is a type of dream in which the dreamer realizes that they are dreaming while dreaming. The capacity to have lucid dreams is a trainable cognitive skill. During a lucid dream, the dreamer may gain some amount of volitional control over the dream characters, narrative, or environment, although this control of dream content is not the salient feature of lucid dreaming. An important distinction is that lucid dreaming is a distinct type of dream from other types of dreams such as prelucid dreams and vivid dreams, although prelucid dreams are a precursor to lucid dreams, and lucid dreams are often accompanied with enhanced dream vividness. Lucid dreams are also distinct state from other lucid boundary sleep states such as lucid hypnagogia or lucid hypnopompia.
An out-of-body experience is a phenomenon in which a person perceives the world from a location outside their physical body. An OBE is a form of autoscopy, although this term is more commonly used to refer to the pathological condition of seeing a second self, or doppelgänger.
Sleep paralysis is a state, during waking up or falling asleep, in which a person is conscious but in a complete state of full-body paralysis. During an episode, the person may hallucinate, which often results in fear. Episodes generally last no more than a few minutes. It can recur multiple times or occur as a single episode.
Astral projection is a term used in esotericism to describe an intentional out-of-body experience (OBE) that assumes the existence of a subtle body, known as the astral body or body of light, through which consciousness can function separately from the physical body and travel throughout the astral plane.
An incubus is a demon in male form in folklore that seeks to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women; the corresponding spirit in female form is called a succubus. Parallels exist in many cultures.
Exploding head syndrome (EHS) is an abnormal sensory perception during sleep in which a person experiences auditory hallucinations that are loud and of short duration when falling asleep or waking up. The noise may be frightening, typically occurs only occasionally, and is not a serious health concern. People may also experience a flash of light. Pain is typically absent.
Tulpa is a concept originally from Tibetan Buddhism and found in later traditions of mysticism and the paranormal of a materialized being or thought-form, typically in human form, that is created through spiritual practice and intense concentration. Modern practitioners, who call themselves "tulpamancers", use the term to refer to a type of willed imaginary friend which practitioners consider to be sentient and relatively independent. Modern practitioners predominantly consider tulpas to be a psychological rather than a paranormal concept. The idea became an important belief in Theosophy.
In Scottish folklore, Am Fear Liath Mòr is the name for a presence or creature which is said to haunt the summit and passes of Ben Macdui, the highest peak of the Cairngorms and the second highest peak in British Isles after Ben Nevis.
A mare is a malicious entity in Germanic and Slavic folklore that walks on people's chests while they sleep, bringing on nightmares.
Popobawa, also Popo Bawa, is the name of an evil spirit or shetani, which is believed by residents of Zanzibar to have first appeared on the Tanzanian island of Pemba. In 1995, it was the focus of a major outbreak of mass hysteria or panic which spread from Pemba to Unguja, the main island of the Zanzibar Archipelago, and across to Dar es Salaam and other urban centres on the East African coast.
Sominex is the trademarked name for several over the counter sleep aids.
An Alp is a supernatural being in German folklore.
Hypnopompia is the state of consciousness leading out of sleep, a term coined by the psychical researcher Frederic Myers. Its mirror is the hypnagogic state at sleep onset; though often conflated, the two states are not identical and have a different phenomenological character. Hypnopompic and hypnagogic hallucinations are frequently accompanied by sleep paralysis, which is a state wherein one is consciously aware of one's surroundings but unable to move or speak.
In psychology, anomalistic psychology is the study of human behaviour and experience connected with what is often called the paranormal, with few assumptions made about the validity of the reported phenomena.
Spectrophilia, also known as Phasmophilia, is sexual attraction to either ghosts or sexual arousal from images in mirrors, as well as the alleged phenomenon of sexual encounters between ghosts and humans.
The night hag or old hag is the name given to a supernatural creature, commonly associated with the phenomenon of sleep paralysis. It is a phenomenon which a person feels during a presence of a supernatural malevolent being which immobilizes the person as if sitting on their chest or the foot of their bed. The word "night-mare" or "nightmare" was used to describe this phenomenon before the word received its modern, more general meaning. Various cultures have various names for this phenomenon and supernatural character.
The Dark Watchers is a name given to a group of entities in California folklore purportedly seen observing travelers along the Santa Lucia Mountains.
The Man in the Shadows is a 2015 Canadian supernatural horror film, the first feature film directed by Joshua Fraiman and written by co-star and co-producer Adam Tomlinson, based on a personal experience, as well as on reports by "millions of people around the world" of so-called shadow people, a phenomenon associated with sleep paralysis. The plot centres around a prescription drug-addicted newlywed photographer who appears to be stalked by a dark man in a brimmed hat who follows her from her nightmares into reality. Rachel is aided by William who has been investigating the "Hat Man" phenomenon.
David J. Hufford is an American folklorist and ethnographer known for his research on paranormal phenomena and sleep paralysis. He is professor emeritus of Humanities and Psychiatry at Penn State University College of Medicine, and the former chair of Medical Humanities.
In the field of sleep research, this experience is termed sleep paralysis: an individual, in the process of falling asleep or awakening, finds himself or herself completely awake, but unable to move or speak…Frequently, he or she sees a shadowy or indistinct shape approaching and becomes increasingly terrified.
