Shadow People

Many belief systems from around the globe incorporate some kind of shadow person: a supernatural being who appears to be a shadow but sentient. These creatures have long been a staple of folklore, mythology and ghost stories such as the Islamic Jinn or the Choctaw Nalusa Chito.

Shadow people were brought into the modern zeitgeist by the Coast to Coast AM night radio talk show. Callers would ring in with stories of shadowy figures hovering over their beds, standing in doorways and even holding them down in bed.

Listeners were encouraged to submit drawings of the creatures they had seen and these were displayed on their website. The drawings all had similar characteristics: black shadowy figures standing near people as they were sleeping.

Online discussions about shadow people are divided on the benevolence of shadow people. Some view them as neutral or helpful spirits while others think they are evil spirits or demons.

Some even believe that they are aliens or visitors from another dimension. There are paranormal investigators who claim they have managed to capture evidence of shadow people on YouTube. You’ll have to judge the veracity of these claims for yourself.

Many people describe their shadow person encounter beginning as a flickering image in their peripheral vision. In subsequent encounters the figures become more defined and allow the experiencer to view them fully.

Often times the experiencer is paralyzed during the encounter and feels a heavy weight on their chest. Sometimes they report that the entity climbs on top of their chest and attempts to suffocate them.

These characteristics strongly link shadow people with the medical condition of sleep paralysis which is harmless although very frightening.

When the body falls asleep it paralyses itself so that we cannot flail about and injure ourselves while we are sleeping. Usually this paralysis wears off before we wake up but in some cases it doesn’t leading to sleep paralysis.

It usually wears off after a couple of minutes. Science however cannot explain why this process is associated with shadow people.

Shadow people are often described as being completely black almost like a human shaped void with few facial or bodily features. The features they do have often change or morph into different shapes.

Their movements can be similar to that of a normal human or can be extra fast or slow. Sometimes shadow people appear more than one at a time and even interact with one another. Shadow people rarely speak or attempt to communicate.

It is unknown who shadow people are, what they are trying to achieve or whether they even exist outside of our own minds.