For the most part, the articles I publish are the product of a traditional journalistic methodology. I observe a given phenomena, investigate it, and document my findings. Often the sources I’m working from are second or third hand, when I do get to interview primary sources they rarely want to talk on the record. This subject matter lends itself to Gonzo journalism, and I do my best to lean in to the old school praxis I learned as a student.
Thus far the phenomena I have written about are topics that I have not experienced myself. I’ve been able to research them with professional detachment, and evaluate the evidence according to the verifiable facts. When it comes to the phenomenon popularly called Shadow People, I can’t write about them with any degree of honesty without stating outright that I have had multiple encounters with these entities myself.
I have vivid memories from my childhood of seeing unnatural shadows, and being told my eyes were deceiving me. My eminently rational mother would say, “That’s just your imagination running away with you.” I would picture what it would look like to run away with my imagination. But, that only gave me the power to control how I perceived what I was seeing. To some extent that saved me from being bothered by them for most of my life.
Living in Savannah, Georgia, encountering these out of place and unnatural shadows became second nature. It was enough to make me feel like I was going mad, but I was fortunate to have befriended locals who assured me it was perfectly normal to see people who were not there.
So, what is this phenomena exactly?
I’ve been told they are ghosts, or spirits, or manifestations of inter-dimensional entities. I’m not certain I can parse a meaningful difference between those terms when applied to material reality. That they are matters far more to me than what they are. That said, what are they?
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Being a seasoned skeptic, who has become more and more open-minded over recent times, I really enjoyed this article. After reading about your personal experiences, it has actually made me wish I that I had seen shadow people. I am curious and I want to know what it is like.
Most witnesses say it is an absolutely terrifying experience, but being skeptical seems to make them much less menacing. This paradox makes the phenomenon hard to study.
It seems that with my current mindset, it is unlikely to happen. I suppose it would be hard to find something terrifying if you haven’t experienced it. I do hope to experience this phenomenon one day, so I am doing my best to be more and more open-minded than I used to be.
I think that the fear of the unknown makes such specters uniquely terrifying. If you know what you’re seeing, it won’t be nearly as distressing.