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An Brief, Uneventful, But Certainly Unexplainable Occurrence

 

To cut straight to the point before supplying details: I believe that I may have witnessed a Shadow being.

Now, to further elaborate: My boyfriend and I saw something for which neither of us could deduce a cause. We are both very skeptical, academic students and, at the risk of sounding pompous, we are rather intelligent and rational people. We are true scientists in that we strive to provide explanations only for events which are common and repeatable and can be studied in a systematic manner, because science is a process and not a belief system (as many people seem to treat it).

To begin, I would like to provide a brief-as-possible description of the floor plan: imagine the living room as a rectangle. The couch we were sitting on has it's back to one of the long walls, with the television backing the other long wall. From where we were sitting, the television was in front of us (about 8 feet away) and the right-hand corner of the living room lay about 10 feet to the right of the television (make the t.v. Closer to the left-hand corner). This right-hand corner has two doors - his bedroom door, in the long wall, and the back-porch door, in the short wall. The right-hand short wall has the back-porch door and a window next to it, which looks out on the back-porch. Aside from the window in the door and the window next to the door, there are no other windows in this whole room.

At night, plenty of light streams in through this right-hand wall because the back-porch lights of all the other apartments stream in. Many times you know when people are passing by the apartment because you will see them through the windows, their shadows move a certain way, and you often hear them. Also, my boyfriend's dog will start barking (he's half-beagle).

As boyfriend and I sat on the couch, watching some late-night Comedy Central, I saw a shadow move in the right-hand corner. By shadow, however, it wasn't really against the wall. It didn't seem like a solid mass, it seemed like a shadow, but it did not stay against the wall. Rather, it moved in front of the wall. I guess you could say it almost looked like it was walking from the bedroom door to the back porch door, back and forth a few times, but I don't know that it was moving between those doors so much as it was just confined to those areas. The other strange thing about the occurrence of this pop-out shadow is that I detected no movement behind the apartment, no single person walking by, and apparently neither did the dog. And I certainly did look from my vantage-point. Given the angle of the shadow in relation to where we were sitting, I should have been able to see the source of it outside the door, and obviously I did not.

I honestly was just a little puzzled, more than anything, but I had a bit to drink earlier in the night and had assumed that it was just a case of slight inebriation. I didn't even say anything, move, nothing. But then my boyfriend asked me if I had just seen the strange shadow, and I said, "The one in the corner by the door?" and he confirmed my response. For a few seconds we discussed possible sources of the shadow and could find no cause. None whatsoever. I don't really know how he felt about all of it, but it actually did no more than puzzle and mildly interest me. We both pretty much just had an attitude of, "Huh, that was different," and then moved on.

The event by itself was no great spectacle, but I can honestly say that I have had no definitive experiences that have been more than just incredibly strong feelings about certain locations or incredibly vivid dreams - in short, nothing I would call paranormal. The boyfriend has told me of a couple of occurrences that he has no explanations for, but they rather discomfort him so unless he brings anything up I try not to let my curiosity take over and ask him anything. Perhaps he is the reason I saw what I did. Perhaps neither of us actually saw anything paranormal, only a strange anomaly of physics. But I do still find this occurrence fascinating, and think that other people can appreciate the account of something unexplainable by a person whose job it is to systematically study natural phenomena.

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Comments about this paranormal experience

The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, PlayfulPuppyDog, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

Javelina (4 stories) (3749 posts)
 
12 years ago (2012-08-26)
PlayfulPuppyDog,
Don't start apologizing for being smart, even an electricians daughter can be a member of Mensa. Of course, if the theory we have been going on doesn't work, I would want to know. But, it's the best I can do for you as far as alternate explanations are concerned. If it happens again though, make note of the weather, the moon cycle, and any other odds and ends that strike you. That way you can at least keep track and maybe someday you'll put it all together for us. Now that would be fitting, eh?

Jav
PlayfulPuppyDog (1 stories) (5 posts)
+1
12 years ago (2012-08-26)
I mainly just mentioned the science bit to emphasize the fact that we're both incredibly skeptical and methodical people who try to analyze every cog of a situation before coming up with any form of a conclusion. And even if we actually come up with some form of a conclusion, it won't be a generalized statement that can explain anything, more like a potential explanation for a specific point.

I actually did wonder if it was something more residual than anything, because it was such a high-traffic area where we saw the shadow, and because his dog didn't make a sound. He's a very chill dog (the other half is basset hound) and usually just cuddles and sleeps, but I would still expect him to bark at some things.

By the way, nothing wrong with being the daughter of an electrician! Somebody trained in the scientific process does not denote intelligence or having even learned "more" than a tradesperson. I study the environment, I don't have much knowledge on actual technology, I just want to be able to play outside and get paid for it. Boyfriend? He doesn't know anything about cars, probably nothing on plumbing or carpentry either. And to be perfectly honest, when it comes to investigating the paranormal I would trust an electrician to do a better job of it since s/he actually knows how everyday things work, how they can act up, etc.
Javelina (4 stories) (3749 posts)
+1
12 years ago (2012-08-26)
PlayfulPuppyDog,
Let's start with the dog. Half Beagle, and I assume you mentioned that fact because Beagles are howlers, barking at most anything, correct?
From knowing that much I can say that eliminating a spiritual presence in this incident is simple. No bark, no spirit. Like the 'Canary in the coal mine', our pets will sense changes in the atmosphere long before their human companions. If the dog was going nuts for no reason, then you might consider a spirit, after eliminating all other possibilities of course. And since this did not occur...
However, there is another theory about these images, and that is of the residual image. What that basically means is that it is a left over, so to speak. A recorded image that plays back on it's own depending on a myriad of both natural and man made causes. The image itself would be of something from a past date that somehow made it's stamp on the environment. A video clip really. The hows and whys are just as confusing, but it could be perhaps the way they wiring is strung in the building/apartment, combined with the mineral content of the soil or bedrock beneath. You might even consider adding thunder storms with lightening into this mix. All these odds and ends in the correct proportion to each other are thought to cause this effect to occur. You being scientists may be able to put these together better than me. I am simply the daughter of an electrician. What sends these residual images into playback mode is just as mysterious as the recording process itself. There are others that could probably explain it better, but really, these are just your basic theories that we have been guessing at for some time now. Who knows what actually causes these events?

Jav
Lakota73 (5 stories) (108 posts)
 
12 years ago (2012-08-25)
Wow!

Such a great story!

As scientists you are having to deal with facts all the time and events of the spiritual world cannot be provided as evidence alone.

However, many people do believe there is an afterlife and other inhuman beings that do visit us from time to time.

Glad no harm came to you and your partner. It's a good and honest story from a scientist!

Thanks for sharing,

Lakota73 😊

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