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Shadow Man In The Doorway

 

I have always been a rational, scientific person and extremely skeptical of the so called paranormal, but I had an experience when I was 12 or 13 that I knew was odd at the time but just assumed it was the worst, most realistic dream I've ever had. I'm now 44 and am thinking differently about it after reading others' similar descriptions and would like some insight/advice as to what may have happened and why.

I've always slept with my bedroom door closed. I had a medium sized dog named Buddy who was sleeping at the end of my bed by my feet and woke up one night by her growling lowly and staring at my door. She seemed unsure, scared, and trying to make out was she was looking at. I looked at my door and it was opened about 2-3 feet wide with the black silhouette of a man standing in it, not moving a muscle and boldly looking in at me. I didn't move because I didn't want it to know I was awake but just stared at it waiting to see if it moved but it didn't. It just stood there looking in, not trying to hide and very confident in itself. There were no men in my family besides my older brother and it was not his silhouette, but definitely a man's. I closed my eyes and fell back to sleep out of pure fear.

I woke up later, felt like an hour or two, with the door in the same opened position, no dark silhouette and my dog gone. I had no other logical explanation at the time other than a very bad and real dream that has stuck with me my entire life. I've had many bad dreams that I don't remember but this one stuck with me because of the realness of it.

Just wondering if anyone can explain what it may have been and what its possible intent was if any.

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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, Queequeg, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will participate in the discussion and I need help with what I have experienced.

HippieLove (1 posts)
 
9 years ago (2015-04-17)
This is real, I believe that it was a sprit or demon. I say this because I had the EXACT same thing happen to me. Except I was around 8 when it happened to me. 😕 I thought it was one of my family members until I actually got up to see everyone was asleep... I feel like it happened more than once, I cannot remember. But I know this was a ghost because the same week my brother saw someone standing by his door by the garage and he found broken pots in the garage. And it couldn't be an intruder because my brother saw a little girl. We don't have little girls in my family except me, except he said the girl looked around 5 and had black hair. And I don't. So the shadow thing I saw looked in at me through my doorway and I just stared back not knowing what it was.
Nephylim (10 stories) (79 posts)
 
10 years ago (2013-09-28)
Hi Queequeg,

I have posted my experiences with this entity on YGS. Check my profile. Perhaps you may be able to take something from my experiences that could be useful.

Neph
Queequeg (1 stories) (2 posts)
+1
10 years ago (2013-09-28)
Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions. It's a good feeling to know I'm not alone or crazy, and that others have had similar experiences.

Nephylim, CharlaC, Spirit waiting - I'd like to hear more about your personal experiences.

Rich - Up until lately, I've always assumed it was mind related. Either an actual dream or a manifestation like you mentioned, and still could have been.

Fergie - I hope it was the case too. I may be reading into it more than I should, but I became very depressed in my teenage years, and have struggled with it my entire life since then. Again I've always assumed it was a chemical imbalance in the brain caused by hormones, until I started reading about shadow people. It has been suggested that they seek vulnerable or depressed people and "latch on" to them, dragging them down like a wet blanket and draining their energy. I can't say dor sure that my depression started immediately after experiencing the shadow man or not, but I've since opened my mind to other possibilities, explanations and things we may not fully understand.
I've also had some very real feeling dreams since being an adult that I was in the presence of a dark entity that I couldn't see, but knew exactly where in the room it was and could feel such a strong, evil force that I couldn't speak and had to fight with everything I had to face it or point towards it. And a few other dreams that I'll submit later, of coming in contact with evil forces and knowing exactly what it feels like to be in the presenve of them.

Sds, Rynne - I haven't asked my brother about any experiences he may have had, mostly because he is even more skeptical and scientific than I was and know he would either laugh or immediately explain it away. But I have recently asked my older sister if she had ever played with ouija boards in that house or experienced anything similar and she said she hadn't.
My dog was gone from my bed and my room afterwards, but not for good.

Zzsgranny - I didn't feel like it actually approached either, but I did close my eyes and tried to go back to sleep out of fear, so I don't know what it may have done between then and me waking up later, but I definately got the heebie-jeebies and felt it staring, almost wanting something more than just scrutinizing.

Thanks again for the interest and the comments. And please keep them coming!
zzsgranny (18 stories) (3329 posts) mod
 
10 years ago (2013-09-27)
Queequeg: I'm one of those who aren't sure that every shadow is a "shadow person". Having experienced my own Hat Man, I can see some differences in what some recount. I lean toward the belief that sometimes, ghosts/spirits just don't have the energy or knowledge to completely manifest.

Typically, from what I've read and experiences I've had, a true shadow being doesn't approach. They will give you the heebie-jeebies 😆 and I think that's just because you're under their scrutiny. It's very uncomfortable to be stared at, even by the living! 😆
rynne (69 posts)
 
10 years ago (2013-09-27)
Queequeg- I hope the comments here, so many interesting ones have been helpful.
I have a question about your dog. You write the dog was gone. Do you mean just at that time, or is it that you never found your dog?
Also, did you ask others in the house later. If any one of them had perhaps opened the door?
valkricry (48 stories) (3257 posts) mod
+1
10 years ago (2013-09-27)
Shadow Men/people are evidently a spirit class coming in all forms and sizes. Some claim these are spirits who lack the energy to completely manifest. Some claim they are evil, some just observers - perhaps from another world.
Personally, I don't think I've actually experienced one. I thought I was being visited by the 'Hatman' for a time, but managed to debunk this hat wearing shadow as just a shadow 😆. However my sister encountered a 3 foot shadow person in the basement of the house she shared with our father. She says it literally ran across the room. It scared her sufficiently that she refused to do laundry there anymore, and instead lugged it to the laundry mat.
Like so much of the paranormal world, I don't think we'll ever know the whole story, unless one day one of us can actually have a talk with a shadow man.
Fergie (40 stories) (1159 posts)
+1
10 years ago (2013-09-27)
Hi sds, what a brilliant analogy you made; comparing the shadow man to the different bits of the elephant that the blind people were touching and describing. So many of us have had experiences with shadow/hat man, and there are so many theories. Mine were...indifferent?

Queequeg, not all shadow men/people are bad. Many claim that they are merely observers, and shouldn't be feared. I only hope this is the case with yours.

Thank you for sharing.
sds (14 stories) (1436 posts)
+2
10 years ago (2013-09-27)
Dear Queequeg, welcome to YGS. Miracles, I agree with you about the shadow man. I personally do not have any expereinces but some of my friends do. And out of 5 friends, 4 said it was harmless and the other did have a nasty experience.

Well, we are developing theories to explain these phenomena. It is like we are in a blind alley and trying to find out a way. In India, there is a story as to how 4 blind people try to explain an elephant by feeling it but not able to see it. That is how we form our theories as regards paranormal. Because we base our theories on experience individuals have and try to formulate as to how and why these things happen.

Still I just want to ask you if you had asked others in the house if they had any such experience about this shadow man including your brother. If so, please let us be informed about it.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Regards and respects to you.

SDS
spiritwaiting (42 stories) (843 posts)
+1
10 years ago (2013-09-26)
Queequeg, my mother as a young child had many experiences with the shadow man, and others she would call plastic people. Sounds weird, but to this day it still scares her. She is afraid of the dark. Throughout her childhood she was abused by her father as well as her siblings. The shadow man was the cause of many of their beatings. Once I get the stories again, I will submit there on the site.
Rich73 (1 stories) (67 posts)
 
10 years ago (2013-09-26)
I've had experiences with shadow people while in a dream. When you go to sleep and dream you go to the astral plane. I'll try to make this simple. Physical objects are made of atoms. When you are in the astral plane while sleeping or near sleep, objects are made of all your fears and desires. When in a sleep state, or near sleep state, you are more in-tune with these objects and therefore are more ready to percieve them. These objects, or entities, can take a life of their own. I'm wondering if maybe this shadow person is the manifestation of some type of innner confict within you?
Miracles51031 (39 stories) (4999 posts) mod
 
10 years ago (2013-09-26)
CharlaC - I think we're all developing "working theories" in all areas of the paranormal anyway. So one thought, crackpot theory, educated guess, or full blown, off-the-cuff joke that may have some basis is as good as another. Who knows? Maybe one day we might see a pattern that might actually make sense. Then again, as soon as "they" catch wind of what we're doing, they'll probably mix it up 😉
CharlaC (6 stories) (22 posts)
+2
10 years ago (2013-09-26)
I'm interested in what Miracles51031 said about trauma in someone's life and that the Shadow Men seem to appear during those times, because I myself have experienced trauma for as long as I can remember: my mother passing away when I was small, my dad sick and in and out of the hospital for most of my teenaged years, and then passing away as I became an adult, my brother attempting suicide three or four times, and in all those traumatic experiences, I have at the very least one or two accounts of seeing shadow men, or figures in my room, at work, etc... Makes me wonder what these spirits are really looking for...

My best friend used to tell me that spirits, especially evil ones, feed off of negative energy, so I have a theory that during times of trauma, or even deep depression, these spirits manifest themselves and feed off of your trauma and sadness and anger, etc. I don't know for sure. This is only a theory, so don't take my word for it.
Nephylim (10 stories) (79 posts)
 
10 years ago (2013-09-26)
Hi Queequeg,

In my experience with the Shadow Man, he caused quite a bit of confusion and turmoil in my life at the time. He/it spent two years haunting me. As there are sightings and stories of this entity from all over the world, I'm beginning to think that it may not be just one sole entity, but rather a 'class' of entity.

One thing that does seem to be a common factor is that people mostly first see this thing in their teens (at least, most of the people I have spoken to). This being a traumatic time in a persons life, what with raging hormones and confusion about one's self, trying to find your place in the world and all the other things teens go through, perhaps that is a key element.

Just a theory.

Nephylim
Queequeg (1 stories) (2 posts)
 
10 years ago (2013-09-25)
Miracles, Freya - Thank you for your interest and your comments on my experience. I honestly can't think of or remember any significant traumatic events during that time in my life, other than the obvious trauma of puberty. My parents had divorced a decade earlier and I was too young to be emotionally affected by it. The only death in the family that I had experienced was a great uncle that I wasn't close to, maybe 5 years earlier. It was the first viewing and funeral I had been to and my first experience seeing a dead person, but other than that there isn't anything that stands out as being significant.

I would also like to hear the full story of your Chihuahua shadow man and any other comments or experiences concerning shadow people.
B4Freya (4 stories) (26 posts)
 
10 years ago (2013-09-25)
Miracles50131: I'll write it up soon. I've got another story in process now. Not that I've had a ton of different experiences in my life. So far just 3 at the ripe old age of 52 (although the first experience occurred over a period of years). The shadow man will be #3.
Miracles51031 (39 stories) (4999 posts) mod
 
10 years ago (2013-09-25)
B4Freya - I'd be very interested in reading your story if you would like to submit it. If you do, please describe your Shadow Person as well as you remember because there have been different descriptions among different sightings. Those also make me curious.
B4Freya (4 stories) (26 posts)
 
10 years ago (2013-09-25)
I'm interested both in this story, and in the statement from Miracles51031. I've been thinking about posting my own shadow man experience. I've had several sleep paralysis experiences in my life, mostly during and shortly after my college years when high-stress and little to no sleep were the norm. A few years ago, shortly before the drug war escalation in Mexico, I had an unprecedented shadow man experience when I was visiting Chihuahua with several colleagues from work. I was under no significant stress at the time, although highly significant stress entered my life not long afterward, which leads me to wonder anew...

In my experience, I woke up in my hotel room in Chihuahua to find a shadow man standing over my bed looking down at me. Yes, I had the symptoms of sleep paralysis. I could not move, and my jaw was locked though I fought to shout at him to "get out of my room." Then he started to fall down on top of me. I became "unlocked" the instant before he reached me--or just at the moment of him reaching me--and found that he had vanished. And yes, I screamed at that instant. (I now have to investigate what year that trip was, because that might be significant...)

I wonder, Queequeg (love the name, btw!) if any significant stress entered your life shortly after your experience? I know the traditional question is whether there was already stress in your life, which suggests you conjure the image or visit somehow. But as of this writing at this moment, I'm starting to wonder if my own experience was in any way related to a warning or premonition rather than a "conjuring." As though his "falling on top of me" brought bad things into my life (although it brought bad things into a lot of other lives, too, i.e. The recession, the fall of the auto industry [my industry], etc). In fact, while I'm still with the same company, most (but not all) of the colleagues who'd joined me on that trip are no longer with the company and have disappeared from my life.

Don't take my words as anything expert, however! I'm just wondering about it all myself!;)
Miracles51031 (39 stories) (4999 posts) mod
 
10 years ago (2013-09-25)
Queequeg - this has been a topic of discussion many times on this site, as well as off-site, and is also something I've become interested in for a personal reason. So on with my questions 😊

During this period of time in your life, did you experience any trauma such as a death (doesn't necessarily have to be a person I don't believe, or even someone you were close to) or was there a divorce, separation, or emotional trauma for you of any kind? For some reason this seems to be a key ingredient in most of these sightings. Not all of them are benign, but the majority seem to be. The Shadow Men seem to just watch and don't interact, but there have been cases where, unfortunately, the hasn't been as harmless. I honestly don't know what the difference is but I keep reading the experiences, trying to figure out why.

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