Paranormal Story Archives
September 2002 –
Page 18
More
Shadow Madness
by D.
My family, both immediate and extended, have had something of a history with strange occurrences. Particularly with these strange shadow people.
The first encounter that I can remember was when I was seven years old. It was the weekend and I was going to stay up late downstairs playing video games and sleep on the pull-out bed. I was preparing to go to bed, when for some reason, I got the impression that something was watching me. I got scared enough to run back upstairs, and while I was running, I could see very short (no larger than 2 ft. tall) and squat figures darting after me. They were very indistinct in features, and appeared as nothing more than inky-black silhouettes. I realize that this may have been the overactive imagination of a child, and so I haven't given this particular incident much though. But it was only the least of these events.
The second shadow people related experience didn't happen to me personally, but my parents. This took place about four years after the prior experience. They were out driving, and decided to park in a secluded area. They were near a field and a stream and a barn was visible in the distance. My mother said it wasn't long before she saw "something" dash across the road, passing through the headlights of the car at about a distance of 70 - 100 ft. My parents both whispered, "What was that?" and instinctively locked their doors. They continued to watch through the windshield for a few moments, and the "thing" dashed in front of the car again, only this time closer. My mother told me that the appearance was humanoid, only much thinner than any human would be, with a head larger than normal. She also said it was blacker than the night, was hunched over in a "predatory" stance, and ran faster than any human being could possibly run. At that moment, a small, but incredibly dense patch of fog rolled in from the direction of the stream and enveloped the car. That was enough for them, and they sped away as fast as they could.
I never saw nor heard anything more of these shadow people until we moved into my Grandmother's large house some years later. This is where the bulk of my experiences have occurred. It was here where I have experienced cases of what many would refer to as "hag attacks". I found these occurrences very frightening, and they were accompanied by visions of vague shadowy figures. On one incident, I awoke quite startled from a deep sleep to a state of complete and ungroggy awareness in an instant. In front of me was a glowing red "smile" that was very deformed in shape and proportion, being the size of almost my entire face. I did not experience paralysis this time, and the image suddenly slipped downward and disappeared into the ground. Despite how frightening I found these incidents, I am more ready to explain them away as sleep muscle paralysis combined with post-waking hypnogogic imagery. There are other happenings, however, that are far more difficult to explain.
The neighborhood that my grandmother lived in had a history of being "spooked," and these events were experienced by others than those in my family. My sister was at her friend's house next door one day. As I walked past her house, they started shouting out the screen door at me hysterically, shouting that "someone" was walking around on her roof. I looked, but I saw nothing. They said it stopped when I came by.
When my aunt was young, she was sleeping over at a friend's house at the end of the street when she said that a "shadow man" appeared at the foot of the bed and began to call out her friend's name. She screamed and said that it disappeared into the floor.
I, personally, have had quite a few strange experiences. Often, when I was alone outside after dark, I would get the distinct impression that someone was following me. Sometimes I could swear I heard very soft footsteps. I would spin around quickly, but always there would be nothing there. The most I would ever see was flickers of movement from the corners of my eyes, but anytime I tried to focus on it, it would disappear, as if whatever it was was trying to avoid direct eye contact.
Perhaps stranger are the sounds I've heard. Once while walking home one night, having that same impression that I was being followed, something giggled at me while I was entering my backyard. It most resembled the giggle of a small child, but one that was strangely distorted - not something I would really call human sounding. I thought perhaps the neighbor might be on the other side of the fence. I looked, but there was no one there. There were no other people around aside from me. Rather than becoming frightened with this, however, I became annoyed. That feeling persisted with me, as I began to consider these things less and less frightening, and more and more bothersome.
At nights, I always got this feeling that someone was staring in through our window that faced the backyard. I glanced at the window once, and was sure I saw the silhouette of something staring in. I quickly strode over to the window to stare back at whatever was staring in. I could see a shape of what I can only describe as looking vaguely like the head of a large panther, only without ears. It was then that two large, green bright spots, about four inches in diameter, glowed into life where the thing's eyes would likely have been. I almost panicked, but I steeled myself and ran outside to see what it was. I tried to reason that perhaps it was the glint off an old barbeque we had on the patio, but when I got out there, I saw that the barbeque would not have been visible through the window at any angle. After I inspected my backyard, I went back inside and again looked through the window. Whatever I had seen was no longer there, however. I thought perhaps it was light from inside the house being reflected on the window, or light coming in through the branches of distant trees. I tried many things to reproduce the effect, but I was entirely unsuccessful.
Perhaps the most alarming incident occurred with my sister and her friend as they were having a slumber party on the deck in the backyard. They said they were lying down, gabbering away, when all of the sudden they saw a "shadow guy" sitting in the tree directly in front of them. I asked if it couldn't have been one of the neighborhood cats among the branches, but my sister told me that it was in the distinct shape of a human, with barely discernable "clothing" and even facial features. She told me that it was "smiling" down at them, it's "face" barely recognizable, it's features being outlined in a barely visible smoky-gray. She said that it also seemed to be wearing something like a rolled up cap on top of it's head. It did not make a sound, or make any other moves other than to slightly change it's position in the tree. She said that they were too frightened to move, and stared at it all night long and into the morning whereupon it simply "faded away". I do not really know what to say about her story, as I was not there to witness it. Of my sister, however, I can say that she is not prone to make these sorts of things up, and she had the verification of her friend. I also found it interesting that it was in the tree, as many times I have been in my backyard when the branches and leaves on various trees would move when there was no wind, meanwhile the trees growing alongside them were utterly still.
In my experiences, and the related experiences of others, it seems to me as if these things are dispelled by acts of will. Whether that be shouting prayers, pursuing them, or simply just turning to face them. I have been unable to imagine a reason for this behavior.
< Previous story | Next story >
|
Do you
have a paranormal tale to tell? |
