Almost a decade ago, I saw a movie called “Shadow People”. The movie featured a conspiracy theory radio talk show host investigating the phenomenon of dark spectral beings called Shadow people. In the movie, callers would phone in to his show and recount the experiences they had with these terrifying apparitions. The host, Charlie Crowe, goes on to say the shadow people are responsible for a sudden outbreak of mysterious deaths in his hometown. The movie, while not going down in history as one of the most prolific, introduced me to the topic and sparked my fascination with the subject.
What the shadow people are is somewhat of a debate among those who consider them to be true. Some say they are ghosts however…the consensus seems be that to due to their specifically black appearance that they may be different. In my research I’ve heard everything from extra dimensional beings, demons, aliens and even djinns, a mythical spirit creature from the middle east. When seen they usually, but not necessarily always are associated with feelings of uneasiness and dread. The modern day belief of them seems to have began on the radio program coast to coast am when interviewing Harley “SwiftDeer” Reagan who spoke about them. Later on in the year a guest Heidi Hollis who coined the term “shadow people”. However, similar creatures are said to have been spoken of since ancient times. Such as the shades of greek mythology. The Choctaw had a similar creature called Nalusa Chito. A soul eating shadow demon that preyed upon those that allowed dark thoughts to enter their minds.
For a long time the possibility of shadow people existing to me was nothing short of the ramblings of the deranged and mentally unstable. I never would’ve taken it seriously. It was just a fun thrill in a movie and a quick joke in reference about looney tunes who might think it’s true. This conception was challenged over time while passingly or jokingly referencing shadow people to those I knew. To my shock these people I knew and trusted as perfectly sane minded rational people. They told me that they too had seen shadow people. As with all the entries into the Farmer Files we will dive deep into the topic of the day and attempt to cast the light of truth onto the shadow people.
James’s Story
The first story is from a friend of mine. A very gifted musician named James. While at his cousins house after a night of writing and recording music, James laid down on his cousins couch to sleep. James and I actually often would joke about shadow people much like we would lizard people to explain trivial things. For example, if we lost a guitar pick we’d say it was “a shadow person” or if one of us heard an unexplained noise we’d jokingly refer to them as well. This time however, it was not a joke. He said he thought he had seen a dog. Then he remembered something bone chilling…his cousin didn’t have a dog.
After realizing it was no dog, the creature stood up and resembled closely the picture in the header. A mist was around it almost as if it were on fire. An aura of darkness engulfed the being and it radiated terror. As James recalled the being “shifted” or shape shifted again a few times. The shadow person took on various forms such as varying humanoid forms, a dog, a cat and things James claimed to never have seen before. He ran away into his cousins computer room, hiding for a while before he laid down again. This time not seeing the creature. While reading his phone he read that a bandmate of his had posted on Instagram that they too had seen a shadow person. Then suddenly out of nowhere his phone inexplicably died leaving him alone in the blackness of a night covered room.
My initial thoughts were that he was only joking with me. However, he was adamant that he was telling the truth and seemed terrified. I know that he suffers from sleep paralysis. Often those who have it report seeing similar things to what we think of as shadow people. This is often used to explain away the phenomenon in a scientific way. If that were the case it can easily be explained as merely a realistic, but sleep induced nightmare. I brought this point up to James who told me that it couldn’t be sleep paralysis because upon seeing it he stood up to look at it. So this leads us to the second case.
Kiki’s Story
The next story comes from Kiki, a dear friend of mine. While brainstorming ideas for the site, I tossed up the idea of investigating shadow people. To my shock she told me she had seen them before but not just one. The story takes place when she was 13. Like most teenagers, Kiki sought time to herself alone. On this particular day in her favorite spot, which happened to be a bridge that ran across the woods not far from where she lived.
While sitting underneath the bridge she vaguely thought she saw somebody walk past her. She said “excuse me!” and before her very eyes in broad daylight was not just a shadow person. In her words “six to eight of them.” Obviously terrified, she then heard a response, a male voice, but it sounded like an ordinary man not deep and demonic. She heard it say “you’re excused.” Kiki claims that when she heard it, it sounded as though the voice was directly inside of her head. Now upon hearing these stories I was shocked even to an extent terrified. I was however skeptical of them and sought scientific explanations.
Explanations
The most common and reasonable explanation would be sleep paralysis. While not totally understood, those who suffer from it find themselves in between being awake and asleep and see things that are often disturbing such as shadowy beings around them, over them or even holding them down and speaking to them telling them horrifying things. This explanation would explain many cases but not of those cases explored today. Psychologist point to apophenia, which means to look for or perceive patterns and connections in things with no real meaning. Often times shadow people are seen out of the corner of the eye. In this cases in could be a trick of the eye letting our fear make us see things that aren’t there. Again this wouldn’t explain it.
Some people with mental illnesses such as schizophrenia see things that are not there. Other who take illegal drugs such as meth or even legal drugs will reports seeing things that do not exist such as shadow people. According to a report from webmd in 2006, a swiss doctors performed electrical stimulations on a 22 year old woman with no history of mental illness. After these shocks she reported seeing a shadow person at one point saying it was behind her, and even putting its arms around her. Could it be that due some sort of electrical stimulation sane people minds could naturally short circuit like a computer and cause them to experience shadow people? While interesting and possible I’m unsure of how people minds could be naturally stimulated so much.
Conclusion
It seems clear that through out history and from various cultures people have long reported shadow like beings. Are they the result of something scientifically explained as in the above section? Are they merely a psychological construct, an embodiment of our fear of the dark and negativity like the Nalusa Chito? Altogether, while very fascinating, it’s hard to definitely give a verdict on what the truth is. I hope that you my readers will take the evidence presented and research more on your own to come to the conclusion you think is best. I remain skeptical but open minded. These spectral beings lurk in the shadows of mystery for the time being.