Paranormal Story Archives
April 2002 –
Page 27
Shadow
People in New York
by Diane W.
The first time I saw the words "Shadow People," it really startled me because the term perfectly described something a close friend of mine encountered years ago. Now, keep in mind that I grew up in New York City and Manhattan is the least "spooky" or "ghostly" place you are going to find. Bright lights, big apartment buildings and the people aren't exactly superstitious. When I was in college, I dated a man who was very intelligent, business-like and not prone to flights of imagine. One sunny afternoon, he and I were walking through a heavily wooded area of a park and he all of a sudden became very agitated and wanted to leave. I pressed him for several hours as to his change of mood.
He finally told me a story about when he was 11 years. He and his older brother shared a bedroom. In the middle of the night he awoke to see a black outline of a person standing it the center of the room. He couldn't see details such as arms or legs, but there was definitely a neck and head and the top of the head was a little wider and seemed to him to be the brim of a hat. He was sure that this was not a shadow because he could not see through it (streetlights shined through the windows, so the room was not pitch dark) and it seemed to have some depth to it. He said that he ducked under the blankets and stayed that way for several minutes. When he peeked out again, the thing was still there but it had moved to another spot in the room. His wanted to wake his brother, but he was afraid to make a noise. After what he thought was about ten more minutes of hiding under his blanket, he looked out again and saw the thing standing right next to his bed and it seemed to him almost like it was leaning forward a bit. At this point he started crying and put the blanket back over his head. He did not remove the cover until his mother came in to wake him in the morning.
I asked him why he was thinking about this incident now and he said that he saw "it" in the woods where we were walking. This was in broad daylight in the middle of Manhattan and he was a man now. I was understanding and comforted him, but in my mind I just thought he was stressed out over school etc. It wasn't until I read an article about the "Art Bell Show" in TV Guide and saw the term "Shadow People" that I realized that others have had the same experience. Now I feel bad that I didn't take his story more seriously at the time. Personally, I have never experienced anything paranormal... but I would imagine that seeing something like that at such a young age would be unsettling to say the least.
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