Has anyone else seen a black shadow (a pure black man-shaped figure)?

Question

One night I was asleep with my sister only to wake up to my sis with a frightened look on her face then I look up to see this black man shaped figure standing over me, it stayed there for about 30 minutes, then finally moved on, which aftrwards I could see the rest of the room because before the figure was blocking my vision, it was very strange and me and my sister saw it both. has anyone else seen anything similar to this?

my sister and I were 7 and 11 at the time, I was so scared I couldnt talk but I wasnt having sleep paralysis because I could move, after awhile since it wouldnt move I just wondered why it was there and I almost wanted to put my hand in it, and I remembered looking to the floor to see if it had feet and it was just blackness straight to the floor, blacker than the surrounding darkness.

Answer 1

First of all, yes.

Now, what you actually saw could be any number of things. Discounting for the moment mental health issues, sleep paralysis, vivid day dreams, etc, I'll try to look at just the paranormal possibilities.

When we "see" a ghost, it is widely believed that whats happening is our brain is receiving a signal (via one or more senses) This signal the brain translates into a form we'll understand. Obviously this happens all the time (our eyes pick up a higher amount of electromagnetic energy, we see a light. our ears get buffetted by air waves, we hear a sound etc) and sometimes it crosses over between senses ie if you're in an orange room you'll feel warmer than if you're in a blue room.

So, we "sense" a ghost, and our brain displays the image as either a sound, or a vision, or even a smell. Sometimes we don't receive full details of the ghost, or receive details that the brain doesn't believe, and so we'll get confusing images, or even no image at all. for this reason a black ghost could be no different to a normal ghost, only the haunt itself would have a lower energy output. It could even be that the brain detects that there's less light in a spot, but can't see whats shielding it, so shows a shadow.

However...

Demons? I hate using the phrase, as it does create impressions of little horned beasties running amok with pitchforks, but yes, if you mean a ghost that's never been a living soul, they do exist. Some are created out of emotional energy, and may not even be capable of manifesting (this would usually take the form of patches of grass that never grow etc) others are, however,older than time, not created, just have always been.

I mentioned yes i'd seen one, well, I did, briefly, have an experince of one of the oldies. I should explain that i'm no stranger to the paranormal, and currently co-own a forum on the subject, however, I've never experienced anything like this. For the first time i can recall I experienced concern. I'll not go into full details, as it may seem a bit far fetched, but if it was one of these, you'd know it.

Reading your original question, i'd say it's more likely you just saw a ghost, and only saw it as a shadow. No need for concern, ghosts are generally like people, there are far more good ones than bad!

Answer 2

Don't panic! And I would also be very cautious about some of the answers you have been getting as they are often biased towards the personal belief systems of the individual.

An early respondent gave a good balanced suggestion regarding sleep paralysis. This is quite common (I have experienced it myself) phenomena known as hypnopompic paralysis where the mind awakes before the body and you are unable to physically move anything but your eyes.

This is sometimes experienced with hallucinations and are recorded in all cultures, such as belief in the Succubi, Duppies (as in Bob Marley's "Duppy Conqueror") etc. The most common description is of an Old Hag, or grey shadowy figure, who sits on your chest and pushes you down.

This is all perfectly scientifically acceptable stuff. The part where it gets weird is your sister seeing it to. Ask yourself: is that part really true or just something kind of subconsciously "editted together" by the two of you the next day or in future years? Is it possible that you both experienced it sepetarely on different occassions and then mixed the two together?

If you really did both see it at the same time then you have to wonder if there is more to the legends of the Old Hag than just a hypnogogic hallucination, but if so you should be careful before embracing some uneccesary conclusion about this (e.g. ghosts exist) and keep an open Fortean mind.

Answer 3

I am a ghost hunter. The shadow you saw is what is called a type 3 shadow being. They are not from another dimension, nor are they evil spirits. What a shadow being is simply, a ghost or spirit that shows up as a shadow instead of a white or grey whispy fog or form. There is nothing to fear with them as most are not aware of our presence. Most ghosts are residual energies left by the person they represent and not the spirit of that person. An endless loop if you will of that person going about their daily work or whatever. A type 3 is the rarest one of all. They are typically between 5'9 to 6'0 tall, manish in shape, wearing a hat and a long coat or duster. There is a very small .01% chance that the shadow being is an intelligent haunt or that it is the actual spirit of the person. You can try to communicate with it if you see him again. I don't know if you will since you said you were 11 when this occured and I don't know how old you are now.

I lived in a house with one that was an intelligent haunt. We lost more babysitters for me and my brother because of him. He would only come out when there was female sitters.

Answer 4

Yes! Me and my friend were about 7ish at the time and we were at the local Church hall on a Sunday evening with her mum, helping to set up play group for the next day. There were 2 sets of double doors and as we walked in the first set, we saw a black figure run past on the other side of the second set of glass doors. We both said it immediately at the same time because it frightened us and we thought someone was in there. My friends mum went in and had a look around but there was nobody in there and there was no other way out so if there was someone, they would have been there!! Over 20 years later we still remember it really clearly and swear that we both saw it.

Answer 5

I have in both wake and sleep.

A few months ago, i was sitting at my computer and out of the corner of my eye realized that there was a shadowed man leaning against the wall next to me. Of course I was freaked out and as soon as I looked again he was gone. I went and got my sister, who is somewhat more receptive to spirits than I am. She told me to relax and proceeded to standing in the center of my room and attuning herself. After about 8 minutes she came out and informed be that it was my grandfather that passed several years ago, that he was just checkin in on me and had something that he really needed to tell me. She then proceeded to describe how he had been standing, which I hadnt told her before. Very reassuring. Maybe someone was checking in on the two of you?

In my dreams, a shadowed man was a constant. Everynight no matter what the dream he was always there in the back. It was very frightening as I tend to have very evil themed dreams. I prayed alot for protection and that has helped a considerable amount.

And last but not least I have had an experience that is similar to hag syndrome, although according to Sylvia Browne, it was just me catching myself re-entering my body after an astral projection and scaring myself. The pressure was immense and horrifying.

Most likely though it was just a spirit looking to check in on you that had accidentally let itself get caught, or someone who needed to communicate with you for some reason. Or it could have been an astral projection of someone else although often times those are recognizable.

Has it happened again? Was there any particular smell in the room? Temperature rise or fall? What vibes did you get from it?

Answer 6

Yes I have seen this before too, except differently.......
I was sitting at my desk which to the right is a rack for clothes, and if i look up and a little to the right is a doorway to the laundry room.

I was the only one in the room, at the corner of my right eye.. I saw something, what looked like a shadow, tall human shadow walk into the laundry room, and i saw it starting from the clothes rack on.

I wasnt sure to believe it or not so I got up and looked inside the laundry room and no one was in there, no one. Asked around the house if they just went in there and everyone said no.

It didnt scare me. I used to be afraid of seeing Spirits... or stuff like that. but now it just kind of exciting!
I guess the older you get the more brave and crazy you are :P

Answer 7

did you check you surroundings? could it just be a shadow that turned to a figure by both of your over imaginative mind? you were still young and your mind might have played some trick on you. you saw your sis frightened of something. then you saw the shadowy figure, you just assumed that the figure was a spirit. further investigation would answer you question, and with the time span of 30 min. it could be a car park outside your room with the lights on for 30 min hitting a garden figurine with its light forming the shadowy figure. who knows. it may be possible that you had a supernatural encounter.

Answer 8

We used to live near a 15th century abbey, my sis used to see a friendly monk all the time watching over her when she was sleeping too, one day a medium came to the house to give the family a reading and she and my sis spoke to the monk, nobody else could see anything, when my sis got married the monk followed her 6 or 7 miles to another town, in the end the medium had to come back and ask the monk to leave my sis alone as she was scared and he left.

Answer 9

Yes I see them all the time. So has my best friend (who is currently sitting next to me). I have been told by several people experienced in this sort of thing that they are minor demons...nothing to really worry about. (Be aware that in most cultures and languages, "demon" does not refer to an evil devil-following thing, but simply a supernatural being.) With the help of a sort of mentor I have figured out that they were probably feeding off of my negative emotions/stress as a sort of energy source. After awhile, I realized they were nothing to be frightened of. If you ask them to go away, usually they will simply do just that.

Answer 10

I occasionally suffer from sleep paralysis and I ofter see very tall shadowy figures leering over me.

If it were not for the fact that your sister saw it too, I would have said that this is what you were experiencing. What are the chances of you both having it at the same time and seeing the same thing!!!