Paranormal Enigmas of the Night

Have you ever had paranormal experiences of so-called Shadow People? There are variations such as the Hat Man. Some experiencers and researchers include phenomena such as Black-Eyed Children, shadow creatures as spiritual parasites, and other related weirdness. Others consider them separate phenomena. Many Earth Humans have experienced them across different cultures, regions, and times, and have given them many definitions. Yet they remain a mystery. They’re mostly are seen at night and are usually considered malevolent or at least tricksterish. Yet in other situations they appear to be hurrying through as if focused on a mission, or even lingering about harmlessly but with intense curiosity. Once commanded to leave or if one turns on the lights  or flashes a bright light, they invariably glide away and vanish.

It’s common to see a flicker or flash of movement of someone out the corner of our eyes, a shadow swiftly moving by. Was that a real object or entity? Or just shadows and reflections of furniture, drapes and curtains, random stuff, and tired, sleepy, overactive minds? Such are often mind tricks, illusions, from our overreactive imaginations creating instant stories in our minds. We in turn sometimes project these perceptions forth and interpret them as “real.” If we are scared, we might anchor these otherwise silly incidents into our belief systems with intense emotions. Most everyone experiences those moments. I’m talking about something different here, however, something distinct from Homo sapiens. I’m talking about and for the reality of being unable to move while these solid black masses of one-or-two dimensional humanoid beings flow across walls and slide along furniture in full view by our woke, conscious minds.

I had these Shadow People in my bedroom for several nights running back in 2017, and experiencing them terrified me. They “scared the shit outa me,” I texted my brother. The Shadows didn’t hurt me, nor did they reached out to attack me in any obvious way. Their very presence terrified me, however, and they felt icy cold, tho the cold seemed to be more the cold of intent rather than temperature. They also seemed to feed off fear and upset. My whole body felt a visceral reaction to them as something inherently dangerous.

Turned on the lights, and that usually made them flee. Sometimes, however, I could still feel them even if wasn’t able to see them. Sometimes in the dark, while laying in bed, I could sense their presence first. Once my eyes adjusted to dim lights from the urban residential neighborhood where I then lived, I could see solid black, humanoid, two-dimensional forms, length and width only, no depth. Of course I did not dash over to measure these with any tools. Was there any depth of particle-waves of the shadow overlaying the materials of walls, curtains, mounted art, and furniture? I do not know. My goodness, I was too scared, and often was unable to move at first. So I commanded them to leave. Even invoked the command “In the name of Jesus, leave! Leave me alone! In the name of Jesus Christ, go away!” Then managed to get myself out of bed to turn on the lights.

To be clear, I did not then and do not now identify as a Christian, although was raised in Western, Judaeo-Christian traditions. I have studied many different religions both from the academic and the experiencer perspectives, including Islam, Buddhism, Wicca, Shamanism, Ceremonial Magick, Gnosticism, Hinduism, NeoPaganism, and various other factions of these traditions off and on all my life. Sometimes I joke about being a “Spiritual Atheist,” but that label is completely true for me. I’ve numerous experiences of the Divine, and while not a Christian I do have enormous respect and love for Jesus and his teachings. So I used them to protect myself and my home, a house I shared with family and friends.

During this time in my life, I was living in the Latona-Tangletown neighborhoods of North Seattle’s Greater Green Lake in Western Washington. Was struggling to rebuild my life and reclaim my health with a good deal of slow-moving success. Was busy recovering from the extended fallout of the Great Recession, quasi-homelessness, an unwanted divorce, and was rebuilding my finances. Had recovered from a bout of severe episodic depression that lasted from March 2010 when our house in Edmonds burned down to the Spring of 2014. Was worried about my three teen daughters, too. I loved them so much, and was heartbroken my depression prevented me from being the engaged father I expected myself to be for them. Life is messy, and on life went for us who chose to live. I share these things in case those researchers with more medical and scientific credentials than me find value in them. Aside from my ADHD and a cluster of learning disabilities, I was fine. Was not in the habit of taking recreational drugs into my body during this era. I seldom drank any alcohol, did not smoke tobacco, and after trying the new, legalized cannabis, found it way too strong and pungent to my liking. While not a purist or a teetotaler, I was more or less clean and sober. My primary vices were strong black coffee and food cravings. If any of this affect one’s perception of Shadow People phenomena, feel free to comment below.

These entities were sometimes short and sometimes tall. They could stretch out taller or shorten in height. They never appeared wider or heavy set, however, nor did I experience any particular smells, odors, or dust from these mythic cryptids. They appeared androgynous but more manlike, meaning no shadows of flowing dresses or kilts, robes, and cloaks for that matter. So the masculine appearance could be truly masculine or my cultural conditioning. Or both. A few time I saw the so-called Hat Man. Seems each time I saw a Hat person it was always with other hatless Shadow People moving along the walls or standing there separate from walls and furniture. The Hat Men were always masculine in appearance, and seemed to be the only entities among the Shadow crowd to smoothly detach from gliding over walls and furniture. They would stand still, move slowly, then disappear. I felt a greater degree of malevolence from the Hat guys, although their energy felt much more businesslike and less wild evil. Think of Nazi and Communist technocrats. I sometimes wonder if these were birthed by Cold War nuclear and multidimensional experiments, except these creatures have been reported for ages. The Hat Men, however, seem to favor fedoras and homburg hats. …

***Unfinished; to be completed soon.***

William Dudley Bass
Sunday 30 November 2025
Shoreline/Seattle, Washington
USA
Cascadia
Earth
Sol

Notes:
Originally arose from a text exchange with my brother Joe back on Wednesday 12 February 2025.

Copyright © 2025 by William Dudley Bass. All Rights Reserved by the Author & his Descendants until we Humans establish Wise Stewardship over and for our Earth and Solarian Commons. Thank you.