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From childhood until about 15 years ago, I was visited many times by a shadow man. And although the entity I encountered did not wear a hat, my experiences mirror those of the hat man stories; I would wake in the middle of the night, paralyzed yet aware, attempting to talk or scream, without success, eyes open to see the dark outline of a man standing either at the foot of my bed or directly next to my side of the bed. This entity was the size and shape of an enormous man, a dark shadow, faceless, lacking detail, yet seemingly staring silently, unwavering, without movement. My shadow man experiences were many, and happened mostly when I was sick or going through particularly stressful times. Over the years, the entity followed me to many different locations, both to homes where I was living, as well as places I was visiting. I wasn't the only witness to my experiences with the shadow man, my pets would often react by waking up suddenly, eyes trained on the faceless outline, on alert, yet wary. My dearly departed husband had even seen the entity on 2 occasions, both times running out of the house in a panic, banging on our police officer neighbor's door, in his underwear, in the dead of night, to report an intruder. I tried to explain to both of them that it was just a shadow man, not a physical person, and not to be afraid, but my husband swore he saw a hulk of a man dressed in black, and our neighbor swore I was crazy... I lost count of how many times the shadow man had visited me after the first few dozen, and yes, it scared the crap out of me each and every time! But over the years, and with each subsequent visit, I began to understand that this entity meant me no harm, but was rather more like a sentinel, a sentient being that was simply watching over me in the worst of times. With that understanding came acceptance, and with that acceptance I acknowledged the shadow man as friend rather than foe. I have not seen my shadow man friend for many years now, and I wonder if perhaps I don't need him anymore, if he's moved on to the next needy soul, or if he's simply waiting in the wings for my next worst of times...

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