Shadow People Series: Shadow Things

Obviously, the "Shadow Things" are types of shadow entities whereby a person reports seeing something not quite human-like but something that has a presence of some sort. People tend to speak of a shadow "thing" when the dark black shadow looks like an animal, as well. Sometimes the animal type is quite distinct and a person will report something like, "a dog-like shadow," shape - but often, these shadows are very indistinct entirely. What the person who feels he/she has experienced a shadow thing might report are more details about 'feeling a presence' than descriptions on 'sighting a shape.' Not always - but often.

Black Mist or Black Smoke: Sometimes people will report a black mist or black smoke that 'behaves' like a shadow person. What this means is more like - the black mist or smoke doesn't exactly 'behave' the way mist or smoke usually does - therefore, the black mist/shadow or black smoke/shadow ends up being treated as if it is a shadow person. There might be an overwhelming presence felt by one who experiences or sees this black mist/smoke shadow entity. In short, the black mist or smoke doesn't dissipate like we're accustomed to seeing smoke 'break up' or fade away. The mist-type shadow entity may show a very indistinct form but mainly stay unrecognizable but appear with blackness concentrated in certain areas - which is unlike mist which usually appears to be spread, overall, to cover and take up space.

The shadowy "THINGS" that escape classification into other shadow types are often the most feared of shadow entity experiences. Now, call me skeptical but I think this might have something to do with fear associated with people not being able to PLACE or FIGURE OUT what these things are...

I think it's sort of natural to fear things we cannot name...naming something allows us, in most cases, to at least feel we have some control in our world. Not being able to sort out a blob-like 'thing' - a mass of blackness and shadow - might be psychologically damaging and disturbing to us - even if the blog turns out to be explanable. Perhaps the "dread" comes from a shadow that our brain failed to explain even with PAREIDOLIA...even if the shadow is harmless. So long as our brain has failed to associate a random shadow pattern and name it for us as something we do recognize - perhaps our minds just cannot, in the short-term, handle this possibility - so our minds feel a 'dissonance' which is named as a feeling of DREAD.

Dissonance is definitely uncomfortable, no matter what causes it. For those unfamiliar with what dissonance means/is, it's basically a 'disharmony.'

When two seemingly valid beliefs or things converge upon one spot or at one time, but these beliefs/things are contrary to each other or do not closely resemble and compliment each other, a disharmony happens as a result. In the thought process, this disharmony can be felt as discomfort, emotional pain, with fear to go along with it...we often fear that which backs our beliefs into one corner while an alternate explanation is being presented to us.

If this is happening in a subconscious way - with our brains automatically classifying the things we see in our world - and when that classification fails to turn up something known, believed and familiar to us...the disharmony/dissonance that happens can truly affect our emotions and mental processes. I believe this feeling of 'dread' can definitely be the result of dissonance and a plain and simple classification glitch our brains may encounter when a visible shadow is not able to be quickly classified. 

We trust our eyes, those of us who are not visually impaired or blind...and we are totally accustomed to having our brains determine what our eyes see - within micro-seconds. If something happens and our brains do not manage to classify something quickly enough, indeed, this can be frightening...or if our brain tells us that we're seeing something 'familiar' and that familiar thing is something we know to be frightening, our bodies start reacting right away - whether a shadow-shape is coincidentally strange and frightening - but turns out to be 'just a draped coat on a coat rack,' or not. Our brains do what they do in very automatic ways. Sometimes our brains kick off or turn on 'safety' and 'reaction' mechanisms in our physiological body and chemical structure that we do not, consciously, get to have a say in - until it is too late and we have already "felt the dread" or 'felt fear' and started to react in defensive ways...

I believe that with many unclassified shadow entities which end up not being determined as the other available kinds of shadow creatures/beings, many experiences are explainable by these ideas surrounding pareidolia, fight of flight automatic responses, mental, emotional and subconscious effects of our brains...

However...there are OTHER EXPLANATIONS, too

Some say the shadowy things that cannot be classified into other categories of shadow people are causing people such dread because they are evil entities that cannot take shape. Or, they're evil essences that need no shape in order to affect people...they are manifestations from another realm where things don't have the sort of physical shapes we do in this physical realm.

Many shadow 'things' have been reported, along with some of the most compelling accounts of 'fearfulness' and terror. I tend to believe that people who report the 'dread' and 'fear' in these experiences really ARE EXPERIENCING the emotional impact they say they felt. On the matter of fear and dread, I do not question those who submit their stories online or those I've spoken to face to face...the origin of the presence is still in question - but not the manner in which someone experiences terror and dread.

I have no way to measure whether or not evil essences can suddenly enter our physical realm with a non-descript shape or form...I can view the secondary effects of "fear of the essense of evil" and the secondary effects of 'evil acts' or acts deemed to be evil - that happen in my world. I can believe, to a certain extent, that we don't know everything about our universe that we want to know. Shadow entities of all sorts - not just the 'unshaped' and hard to classify kinds - are a strange and confusing phenomenon...however people keep reporting experiences that fit into certain types of narratives, stories, accounts...

There are, MOST CERTAINLY - certain sorts of experiences told about blob-like black shadows with non-descript form - that are uniquely different than the average ghost-story, a story with possible hints of reincarnation, an urban legend about a vanishing hitch hiker, etc.

Something about these experiences requires more and better explanation than we can currently offer...

Are the blog-like, non-descript mass shadows some sort of shapeless evil entities from another realm? Certainly most who describe an experience involving this kind of shadow DO NOT WISH to experience this entity again...but how can they avoid such an experience again if people, scientists, paranormal researchers, the general public - cannot agree on possible explanations?

In my opinion, if you watch the video below, what you are seeing is NOT even close to the sort of thing most people are talking about who give personal accounts of experiences with "Shadow People."

Most people describe with quite a lot of certainty - a very visible (to the naked eye) shadow, often being able to also use many words and concepts to describe shape of the shadow.

I think the vid below is an attempt at filming some kind of - any sort of - "unusual disturbance" of things regularly known in the room where the camera was set up...more like a "ghost-busting" or "ghost hunting" tactic.

Although the video is quite interesting, it may be showing something unexplained that was caused by car lights, shadows from neighbor's lights, even someone lighting a cigarette or using a flashlight in a nearby room or something...

One of the biggest impressions I get from reading accounts about shadow people and from talking with people who claim to have experienced a shadow person's presence is that the shadows often gravitate toward a person once the person acknowledges the shadow entity in some way... this is part of something which may be "lore" or "urban legend" in its origin - psychological, etc., but is PART OF THE STUDY, in my opinion, of Shadow People and related creatures.

MAIN POINT: Although the vid is a portion of a clip from a real paranormal investigating crew, it is put together as clips from a You Tube member...who adds explanation (and is NOT a part of the original paranormal investigative team)...the vid seems to be MISLABELED, the You Tube user utilizing terms that, likely, the original paranormal team never did use for this portion of film footage...

Just trying to give you a head's up about jumping to conclusions here...

WRONG TERMINOLOGY USED on the You Tube page to explain what's happening in this video...what is apparent in the video should simply be called "UNEXPLAINED ACTIVITY AND POSSIBLE PARANORMAL PHENOMENA" instead of being called any sort of Shadow Person or Shadow People.

It's just "unexplained stuff" on a you tube vid. Very interesting - but don't let it throw you off about what Shadow People are or look like...

I have to admit, I am still trying to FIND the original vid coverage from the Erie Country paranormal team who made this video available to the public. I have not yet found a video that matches the one below...

In my opinion, the only term used correctly by the You Tube user is "apparition" - yes what is on this video below might be referred to safely as "an apparition" but this does not mean it is a Shadow Person or Shadow People.

This lens is part of a March 2010 Hub Challenge I'm doing. I started March 1 and have a personal goal to publish at least 60 hubs over the month of March.

To check out how I'm doing, see my challenge hub, link below: 

Mythbuster Hub Challenges 

This Hub is part of a Shadow People Series set of articles. The matching Shadow People article links are below:

Shadow People Series: General , Shadow People Series: Hat Man , Shadow People Series: Old Hag , Shadow People Series: Hoodies , Shadow People Series: Shadow Things