Shadow People following me...

[seraphim_rei]

This experience happened a few years ago (2007) and at the time I didn’t have any prior knowledge of what an OBE was, or even what it meant to astral project. Yes, I did believe in the Spirit World and ghosts, but I always pegged that to be a realm for people with “special” abilities, not for everyday people such as myself. However, this “dream” or experience, whatever you want to call it, made me reconsider.

It was either late summer or early autumn when this happened. I was currently attending my local community college and had spent a considerable amount of hours that evening on the phone with my best friend Kim (something we did a lot back then), and decided to call it quits around midnight. I had work in the morning. I tell her goodnight and hung up the phone, turned my bedroom lights off and went to sleep. Sometime later I was forcefully awakened from a sound slumber. I mean, really. I woke up to someone shaking my shoulder. When I open my eyes I see a dark shadow leaning over my bed, which strikes me as odd because it was the darkest thing in an already dark room. I like to keep my room as dark as I can get it because I have a sensitivity to bright lights. Yet I can see this thing as if it were day!

I sit up on my elbows – fully awake – to regard this human shaped shadow in my room. I was not afraid of it because I honestly thought it was my dad. Before he retired he had a habit of coming into my room early in the morning (he had to be at work at 6:00 a.m.) and asking me to perform some task before I went to school/work. Normally it dealt with me feeding the pets, or taking out the garbage, or mailing the PEPCO bill; something of that nature. And he usually only asked me to do these things when he was running late. Other than that, he never came into my room in the morning.

So there I am, looking at my “dad”, waiting for him to ask me to do something before he leaves for work. But he/it never says anything. It is at this point that I realize something is wrong, and I think the shadow knew it, too. It rapidly floats away from my bed and across the room toward my lamp, only to disappear through the wall into my old bedroom.

I shot up in bed and stared frantically into the direction where I last saw this shadow and know (now, truly) that I was NOT dreaming! Whatever it was that was in my room was real, and what was even more disturbing was that it physically TOUCHED me! I try to be logical, my mind running the gauntlet of possibilities of what that thing could have been, but nothing makes sense! At some point during my panic I look over at my alarm clock to see that it is PAST 6:30! My dad had already left for work! Hell, he’s already THERE!! And there was no one else in the house at the time; my mom was in the hospital having foot surgery, and my brother had bought his own house and moved out over a year ago. I was supposed to be completely alone! The only two things that would’ve made sense was that somebody actually broke in and was watching me sleep, or my dog somehow got in and jumped on the bed, which really didn’t make a whole lot of sense because in either scenario I would have heard the bells (I used to have Christmas bells attached to my doorknob) as they came in!

I didn’t know what else to do at that moment… I was too afraid to get up and turn on the light, and too afraid to even reach for the phone. I pulled the covers back over me, backed all the way back to the wall, curled into a ball and tried my best to go back to sleep. When my alarm woke me up a few hours later I immediately called my dad at work to make sure that he hadn’t come into my room that morning. He hadn’t and, like I said my dog couldn’t open a door without making noise. The only conclusion that I have been able to come up with over the years that it was a Shadow Person. I only recently discovered what they were in 2010, and what’s even stranger is that ever since that experience, I’ve seen them multiple times since then. They never speak, at least not to me, but what’s even more eerie is that my son seems to not only see them, but “talk” to them as well. I put quotes around “talk” because my son isn’t two yet, so it mostly comes out sounding like educated gibberish. My last experience in seeing him talk to one was a few weeks ago. The A/C unit in his room broke and we brought him into our room to sleep with us that night. He woke up around 3 a.m. and just talked nonstop to something in the closet for over two hours. Freaked me the hell out!

Anybody have any information as to what “Shadow People” are? I’ve done some research, but most of the stuff I get is either too fantastical, or scientifically attributes them to “sleep paralysis” or some type of vivid nightmare. I KNOW that I am not sleep when I have these experiences. I am awake and fully alert of what I’m seeing in front of me. Any insight into this would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[unconsciousdreamer]

How you ever heard of a Jinn? It's mostly known by Muslims and other religions have different explanations for this but I'll give you my explanation of these "shadow people".

They're called Jinns and they live in this "parallel universe" for lack of a better word. It's said that if you saw them in their own form and in the light, you would literally be scared to death. Which is why when you do see them, it's usually a shadow or an animal, sometimes they'll possess a person. They probably wouldn't be as scary now than they were before though, considering all the horror movies that build up everyone's fear tolerance.

When you sleep or have an outer body experience, that's when you sort of, "enter their world" so to speak. In Egypt, my dad used to play with fire and ask these things for favors. It's like asking the devil a favor, I really wouldn't recommend it.

Usually people who have family members who've dealt with the paranormal can see the Jinns. After my grandfather took a trip on a boat in the Nile River in Egypt, a Jinn tried to pull him in the river but people were near by and saved him. After that, entire family from then on has gone through a lot of "paranormal activity". My guess is that maybe you're great great great grandfather or any old relatives have dabbled with the paranormal, and perhaps the ability to see these things have been passed down.

Children are actually more subjected to seeing Jinns though. Considering he's very young, they might feel it's okay to allow him to see them. From my religious knowledge of these things, they actually live on different planets in a different parallel universe-ish. I say "ish" because although we can't see them (unless they want us to), they can see us all the time. They supposedly come to Earth to observe us and how we live, speak, and react to things because they don't have schools of their own to learn that type of stuff like we do. Some are good and follow the rules of not interfering with human lives, but there are bad Jinns that do not follow the rules and simply try to freak people out to entertain themselves (aka "ghosts haunting houses").

My idea is that they might be observing your son.

I hope this helps. Like I said, it's only from a religious point of view, along with some personal family knowledge of these things. I wouldn't bring this up unless I completely believed it myself.

[seraphim_rei]

Hmm… I DID read a book about a year or so ago about the possibility of Shadow People being Jinn, but most of the accounts illustrated in that book dealt with them being negative and evil, and I’ve never felt any of that from the ones I’ve encountered. I mean, other than feeling completely unnerved when I see one.

I’m not too sure of my family’s history past that of my great grandparents (and even that’s a little obscure), but I do know that the women in my family on my mother’s side have always been privy to spirits. Whether it’s being able to sense them, see them, or communicate with them, every woman from my grandma down has reported seeing something odd or strange in their lifetimes. But for them the experiences always started in childhood and ended abruptly in puberty, which is why I always thought they were pulling my leg growing up, or that they just had overactive imaginations. I just came to the conclusion that I wasn’t “special” enough to see them seeing as how I didn’t have my first experience with the paranormal until I was 23!

I think there might be something to your proposal that someone in my family a long time ago had some dealings with these beings or some unique experience with the spirit world that has trickled down through the generations. But my family tree is pretty sketchy, so I may never get the full truth. I wouldn’t even know where to start to research something like that. Thank you for your insight, though. I guess it’s back to reading for me.

[Deathdealers747]

OK. I'm going to try to explain my views and interpretation of this "non-dream" events that occur. I don't know what Jinn is or how it is relevant to shadow spirits. But you're likely seeing Spirits, Ghosts, etc.

OK, just to clear the air, everything that I am about to say is 100% specific to my beliefs, and I am not enforcing any one that reads this to be forced to believe what I believe.

Basically, you are probably seeing a ghost, but your ability to see them is not quite as advanced. I used to be able to see them, both as a child, and in 9th grade when a particularly interesting event happened that night, and a few weeks after that more events happened, but luckily, I had help from a Psychic named Shirley. She helped me out a BUNCH and if it wasn't for her, I'd probably be a scaredy-cat and hide in a corner till it goes away - that's NOT how it works. But, luckily, you seem to be encountering either friendly or interested spirits. At the moment, they mean you no harm.

Lemme set up a few guide lines to follow:

1) Spirits CAN enter in this dimension of our world, and they CAN touch you - and yes, they CAN harm you!
2) Only the strongest of spirits can enter this dimension, speak to someone directly, or throw objects around - some even stronger ones can move couches and big screen TVs at will (normally through Anger).
3) Please, please, PLEASE, if you seek council from any locale experts - psychics or otherwise - PLEASE make sure that they know the difference between a Demon, Satan, Lucifer, and normal Spirits! Seriously, getting one wrong can be extremely bad depending on the circumstances.

From your description, they (or it depending on how many pass through your house) seem to want something from you. I don't quite understand why it would require you to be woken up at 6:30am, but maybe they mistook you for their wife. Think about it, these spirits are mostly lost souls that are just passing by eternally. They may seek council with any family members, they may grow extremely violent, or they may be able to freely release their inner nature (a.k.a. serial killers can kill without consequence). So, as of right now, you and two-year old seem to be in the clear. I don't see any description of violent events occurring, and you seem to be safe, for now.

Spirits are mostly wandering - they can move from place to place, which is why houses at times need to be "cleansed" of a spirit or more. Sometimes a spirit will find a house that they prefer, and latch onto it, then other people buy the house, and it does not want them in his/her house. So, they could be in your car, in your house, in your basement, on your front lawn, etc. But you'll never know it until they purposefully make themselves known to you.

Psychics that invest their time and effort towards improving their ability to see other spirits and Demons, are the ones that can see them clear as day, whether the spirits make themselves known or not. On top of that, where you or I would see a shadow spirit, a psychic invested in this ability would see the actual person's face, skin color, clothes that they may be wearing, etc. They see everything - depending on how advanced their ability is.

My advice to you is, try to seek council from a local psychic, and try not to be hasty with decisions. Don't kick them out if they're not doing anything wrong, you'll just piss them off and they'll come back later in full-force, or they'll just move on. Which is partly why I am hateful towards Priests: they only see spirits and Demons as threats, and nothing less. Thus, to them, they should remove the spirit or Demon, no matter what. It's quite a flawed way of seeing things.

Spirits and Demons are JUST LIKE PEOPLE! They can be good, bad, dangerous, helpful, save your life, etc. They can do anything they want, and they can "live" their life however they want.

[Valblue]

I had a similar experience as a teenager. I woke up one night and there was a shadow floating above me. To me it felt as if the shadow was a male. He also had a glow around it. It was like if you took a luminescent marker and drew an outline around the shadow. I was so frightened I threw myself off my bed and landed on the floor. I then jumped up onto my feet and ran out of my bedroom. I would also often see lights in one corner of my room at night. I would just lay there and watch them. I believe now I was seeing orbs. I knew nothing about orbs at the time. I know now there is a belief they are associated with spirits. I wasn't scared of the lights, I just thought they were strange. A few years ago I woke up to the sound of a child's voice. I opened up my eyes to see a large orb floating above me. For a split second, I also saw a face in it. I purchased a book called " The Orb Project". It's written by a theologian and a scientist. It's a fascinating book and gave me some good insight on orbs. Although it doesn't discuss the phenomenon of shadow people.