10 People Share Their Eerie, Otherworldly Encounters With ‘Shadow People’

Flickr, Keoni Cabral
Flickr, Keoni Cabral
Found on Reddit.

1. My true story. My wife and I will swear to it in front of any person on this planet.

We lived in a fairly new doublewide mobile home that sets on a spot that has never had house of any kind and is at least half a mile from where any house has ever sat, so you would not think that it would be a likely location for a haunting. However my wife and I have on occasion seen some rather strange things there, the most startling of which I relate here.

One night after a uneventful day my wife and I retired for the night, we sleep in a large waterbed. Some time had passed and I was unable to sleep, my wife’s breathing had become regular and reached a point at which I assumed that she was asleep. It must be also known that we leave a light on in the bathroom farthest from our bedroom because we normally have children in the house, however that night there was no one in the house except my wife and I, but the light was on as usual casting a glow through our open bedroom door which weakly lit it.

While lying there unable to sleep, I became aware of a presence and suddenly and silently a figure moved through our bedroom door and proceeded parallel to our bed. Then rounding the corner of our bed took up a fixed position ad the foot of our bed. I was aware that this entity was conscious of us and was intently watching us as we lay there. The entity can best be described as a something that had the appearance of black smoke or a shadow, however it was more material that either of these but less material than a real person. The most odd thing about this is my lack of fear. Although I was acutely aware of this being and the fact it was not of this earth as we perceive it, it did not seem to arouse any fear response in me, I would say it aroused a feeling that would fit somewhere between “creepy, awed, and curiosity especially considering the fact that it was aware of me as I was aware of it. After some time I almost convinced myself that I was imaging it but then I became aware of the fact that my wife was no longer breathing like she was asleep but was breathing almost silently. I then said “Honey you awake? ” to which she answered “Yes.”

Then I said “do you see anything?” Expecting her reply to be “what do you mean?” but much to my surprise she said “You mean that thing standing at the foot of the bed?” At this time I did become somewhat “nervous”. We laid there for about 10 minuets and then it was gone. It just over a period of about 10 seconds became less solid and our perception of it’s presence became weaker until it just wasn’t there any more. Then it was if it had never been there. Nothing like this has happened since and the only evidence it ever existed is my wife’s and my memories of it.

beetlejuice

2. I saw one walk through my kitchen and didn’t take it too seriously.

I was freaked out, but reasoned it away, thought I was seeing things and kind of forgot about it. About a month later my friend visiting also saw it and described it to me exactly in the same place in my kitchen, same height, body shape. It really freaked us out. A few other house guests saw him over the course of my stay in that apartment (in which many other unexplainable things happened) but he generally seemed to not see us/ care. Craziness.

beetlejuice

3. When I was a bit younger, I went up the forests in the mountains where I live.

This one forest in particular used to be a location of an ancient Celtic village and I often saw shadow figures roaming around the area there. At first I was really spooked but after a few months of visiting this forest I noticed that the figures didn’t pay much attention to me and some even waved at me!

beetlejuice

4. My experience is not reliable because it’s a childhood memory…

…but I remember I was playing outside of a playcastle when I saw a shadow figure running on top. There was no wall or anything behind it.

beetlejuice

5. i was visiting my family and my sister and i had just turned the light off to go to bed.

i was lying on my back and after my eyes adjusted, i looked toward the closed door and saw a shadow darker than the dark walk across the door. i clearly saw what looked like legs walking. i just closed my eyes and turned onto my side and tried to fall asleep as fast as i could. it freaked me out since it was in my old bedroom and i used to have weird stuff happen to me in there when i was in high school. i get nervous whenever i stay at my parents’ now.

beetlejuice

6. I saw one one night while smoking a cigarette outside my parents’ house.

I was zoning out, just starring forward, not really looking at anything in particular. All of a sudden, directly where I’m looking, the silhouette of a person turned, took 2 or 3 steps, and was gone. There were no visable features, and I could see through it, it was just like a 3 dimensional shadow. It seemed almost like it was watching me, then got bored and walked away.

beetlejuice

7. I only ever see apparitions in the form of shadow people.

I’ve seen several throughout my life. I’ve seen them both peripherally and straight on.

beetlejuice

8. My grandpa used to see shadow figures out of the corners of his eyes as a kid, while awake, and so did his little brother.

He was a very no-nonsense Englishman so one day he simply told them he wouldn’t be seeing them anymore, thank you very much, and he never did after that. He said they didn’t scare him, but they distracted him; he would see them sort of doing cartwheels, dancing jerky dances like puppets dance, or just walking around. When he got into grammar school he decided he was too grown up for them, and told them to go away. His brother carried on seeing them and as far as he knew, never stopped.

He 100% did not believe in the paranormal. He was all about science. Never heard him tell a ghost story in my life. And he told me about this when I was in my 20s, so he certainly wasn’t just trying to scare the grand-daughter.

beetlejuice

9. Yes. During an investigation.

All four of us in the room saw it. It has no sound. It moved very smooth, not articulated. It reflected nothing and was darker than any shadow. It seemed very curious about us and kept walking by the door of the room we were in and eventually came inside. We had the lights off in the room, but it was light outside and in the hallway. The window let enough light in to see clearly and even on our infrared cams. I didn’t “feel” anything, not even scared.

beetlejuice

10. Yep. We had one who was one of our normal house guests, if you will.

I only ever saw him while wide awake and straight on too, not just the corner of my eye. My mom did too (wide awake, straight on), though she saw him walking to “his spot.” I always saw just standing in his spot. My siblings also saw him, though I’m not sure too much about their sightings.

Also, he never had a negative feeling from him, more sad if anything. Never felt threatened by him either.

Thought Catalog Logo Mark

Horror writer for Creepy Catalog, ESFP, Kylo Ren advocate, Slytherin, sassbasket.

Keep up with M.J. on Instagram, Twitter and Website

More From Thought Catalog