darkness walks: part one

So a little break from Sailor Moon with one of my most favorite collection of "true" hauntings ever. "Darkness Walk: The Shadow People Among Us" is a book by Jason Offutt that explores the supernatural phenomena of Shadow People. Are they real? Are they figments of mankind's imagination? Are they ghosts? Demons? Or just dreams? Sleep paralysis? Well I just finished the first four chapters so lets find out.

The author himself claims to have seen Shadow People and interviews many others who make the same claims - as well as others who claim it is just a bunch of nonsense. He breaks Shadow People down into eight categories which he expands upon in his book:

• benign
• negative
• red eyed
• buzzing
• angry & hooded
• attacking
• cats
• the Hat Man

He also explores the various beliefs on who or what they are. Like mentioned before some people think they are real, semi-physical entities. Others think they are figments of our imaginations or that the cones in our eyes are not processing things correctly out of the corner of our eyes. Some people think they are ghosts, others demons. Some people believe they are humans from another dimension who have crossed over into our dimension but are not vibrating at our frequency so we can not fully see them. Still others think they are spirits from another dimension. Some people think they are good, others evil, others curious, and others neutral. Some think it is just dreams or sleep paralysis while others think that sleep paralysis has been misdiagnosed. Yet all those who seem to believe agree that while seemingly vaporous the Shadow People have form and the ability to touch.

He even interviews physicists who says that it is impossible for something to be both solid and gaseous at the same time - that if Shadow People are real they must be one or the other. You cannot have a gas that can either hold shape or push against you or even both. Some people even put forth the idea that Shadow People are just archetypes of our fears - explaining how people from continents all over the world can claim to see the same thing. In the end we are just human and humans are very easily afraid of the dark and/or the unknown. It could even be argued that Shadow Men are just another symbol of the Grim Reaper or Death.

Religion even factors in with an entire chapter dedicated to it. Native American beliefs are mentioned. There is the belief that Shadow People are Medicine Men who abused their power and turned into sigli (witches). Others seem to believe they are ghosts. Islam offers the explanation of Jinn. Christianity offers the explanation of demons. Hinduism of something similar to ghosts. Buddhism acknowledges that there are dark spirits out there but advises just staying away from them and their influence.

Many people have meet benign Shadow People. They describe either single encounters or multiple encounters with either one or many Shadow People. And they attest that the Shadow People are nothing to fear. Some even insist that the Shadow People are just as curious about us as we are of them. Even pets seem to be able to see them. One person talks about their dog chasing these shadows that appear in his house. And just because one person sees a Shadow Person does not mean everyone who is with them or lives with them will see it too. For some reason only some people can see them while others cannot.

However, not many people seemed to have benign stories. For the moment this is it. I'm in the middle of devouring this book, though, so I'm sure I'll be back tomorrow with four more chapters, all of which seem to focus on negative Shadow People.