Intelligent, Obvious Shadow Person

Somewhere in the woods that surround the cul de sac outside of my parents' home (in Southern Alabama) and the cemetery that runs parallel to it all, I've seen a tall, opaque, obviously intelligent shadow person. He NEVER leaves that general area. I've wandered out of it and left him behind before. Never has he ever been inside my parents' home. Even in the story following, his feet were planted firmly in the street.

He makes me very uncomfortable. His height is...towering. Maybe 8 feet? When he moves, it's slow, deliberate. Most often, I see him for a split second and then he's gone. I just see him passing by. Usually he seems to be searching for something, looking side to side. I'd believe he looked "lost" in the woods but since I've seen him in the street and outside the house, I highly doubt that to be the case.

I believe he's watching me some of the time that he's around. Observing more than anything else. Even when I don't see him, after I've gotten far enough into the woods with my dog, go jogging too close to the cemetery (not on purpose- it's part of the neighborhood), or even just wander outside after a certain hour, I can feel someone staring at me. It doesn't feel good. I can even hear him walking behind me sometimes. As in, I stop walking and hear a few more behind me. I turn to look and no one is there.

The thing that really, really makes me afraid of him is that one night last year, I saw him leaning against my parents' mailbox. I'd already moved out by then, but I was bringing them some bread and other grocery staples. I stopped short on the way to the front door because I saw what I believed to be a man out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look and there the shadow man was. He was leaning forward, right elbow propped on the mailbox, chin rested in his palm. His other arm was simply resting. He looked. Right. At. Me.

He was totally opaque, as always. Not a fog. Not translucent. Totally solid, as if I could really touch him. Obviously, he had no visible eyes but I could tell he was making eye contact. Absolutely. My blood ran cold. Instant chill bumps. I nearly dropped everything in my hands. It felt like free fall- that feeling in my stomach. I wanted to run inside or yell at him to leave but I was frozen. He terrified me. If I've ever felt "the fear of God," it was then. I can still feel it when I recall him there, staring into me.

It feels like he was there forever. It couldn't have lasted more than five or six seconds but it felt like it went on and on. Eventually, I could move. As soon as I could, I jumped backwards onto the hedges (no clue why, my instincts must be terrible) and he was gone. Just...gone. There one moment, absolutely dissipated the next. Even the air changed. He'd really vanished.

If anyone could tell me what he may be, where he could've come from, and why he would approach me that way, I'd appreciate it. Again, I don't even live in that home. I don't have him figured out at all. Also, anyone who'd like to share with me some knowledge of shadow people in general, please, please do! I'm very interested and know very little.