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, bizarre shadow creatures as spiritual parasites, and other similar weirdness such as Men in Black. Others, however, consider those separate phenomena from the Shadow People. These are not the so-called Silent Watchers. They aren’t Mist People. Many Earth Humans have experienced these Shadow Folk, including Hat People, 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 and quickly 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, our overreactive imaginations creating instant stories in our minds. We do know intense stress and trauma heightened by prolonged sleep deprivation may trigger so-called “hyper-vigilant states.” Our brains generates images in our minds as it fills in blank spaces with shapes our imaginations form from the interplay of light and darkness. Perhaps there are forms of pareidolia at play, where our minds sees patterns and objects not really there.
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 such as fear and terror. 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.
When I felt centered and present enough to command these Shadow beings to leave, they paused and then disappeared. When I reached out to turned on the lights, even a bedside lamp, doing so usually made them flee. Sometimes, however, I could still feel their presence even if I wasn’t able to fully 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. Sometimes they appeared jagged with sharp, angular corners in their limbs, torso, and the case of the Hat Man, their hats. Of course I did not dash over to measure these shadow beings 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 as adrenaline pulsed thru my body.
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, Christianity, 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. Haven’t yet evoked the Buddha or the Prophet Muhammad, Peace be upon him, or any other divine being or spiritual entity. I jumped straight to Jesus the Christ from the impulse, power, and foundation of my first traditions with Protestant Christianity.
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 struggled to rebuild 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 so on life went for those of 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, hearing loss, 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. I did, however, suffer from sleep deprivation and insomnia, and clearly had experienced multiple traumas in my life. In what ways may these elements factor in to this experiential mix?
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 sometimes appeared androgynous but more often looked manlike, meaning no shadows of flowing dresses or kilts, robes, and cloaks for that matter. Didn’t see any buxom, feminine forms among the Shadows. So the masculine appearance could be truly masculine or my cultural conditioning. Or both. A few times 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.
Another noticeable oddity was the lack of any particular smells or odors. Nothing. Also no distinguishing features other than arms, legs, and in the cases of the Hat Men, hats. There are different degrees of sleep paralysis, and such states are more often associated with the Hat Men. Benadryl, an old-style antihistamine many misuse as a sleep aid, may also play a role in seeing these phenomena. Wonder if Benadryl and other psychoactive chemicals don’t cause hallucinations as much as they open our minds by temporarily “removing” or suppressing our brains’ neurological filters. There are many articles online describing such neurological processes. Overuse of Benadryl has also been associated with dementia. Does that have anything to do with what one sees moving in the shadows?
Encountered these entities again some years later time in the master bathroom of the apartment complex my wife Faithlyn and I lived in just north of Seattle in Shoreline. Had woken up in the night to pee and sat upon the toilet to do so without having to flip on the lights. And, dammit, there they were, moving rapidly along the walls without going anywhere in particular. It was crazy! Like a frenzy of shadows while I sat still upon the toilet. The faint green glow from the charging lights of our electric toothbrushes were bright enough to illuminate the windowless restroom. I instantly felt cold, chills, murderous chills, goosebump chills, and the terror of being in mortal danger. I commanded them to go away and get out of here in the name of Jesus Christ and leave me alone. Leave my whole apartment building! Took a second or two, but the Shadows took off. I cannot explain these creatures.
There is a connection between the Shadow People, including the Hat Men, and UFOs or UAPs, Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. Don’t know what it is other than “anomalous phenomena” covers a wide range of enigmas. Nor am I aware of what category of beings to place them in, such as Extraterrestrial versus Temporal or Interdimensional, but they are definitely a Cryptid of some kind. Yet they don’t feel in the same category as magickal creatures such as faeries or mysterious Bigfoot. Psychospiritual, quasi-divine or astral, multidimensional, and Ultraterrestrial are other categories. They appeared more intelligent and sentient than animals acting on raw instinct alone. Perhaps our growing familiarity with this phenomenon, however, when mixed with sudden, unexpected fear, triggers our consciousness to somehow manifest a type of egregore from the unconscious collective. If such speculation is indeed true, that doesn’t make these Shadow beings any less real.
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.
Further Reading:
Harvey, Austin, Cara Johnson. “The Hat Man, The Mysterious Shadow Person Who Lurks In The Dark Corners Of His Victims’ Bedrooms,” All That’s Interesting, 2025. https://allthatsinteresting.com/the-hat-man
Staff. “Shadow People: The Dark Figures That Haunt The Edge of Perception,” Cryptid Atlas, 2018. https://cryptidatlas.com/shadow-people-the-dark-figures-that-haunt-the-edge-of-perception/
Staff. “Who is the Hat Man? ‘Shadow People’ and sleep paralysis,” The Week, 2025. https://theweek.com/97457/who-is-the-hat-man-the-nightmare-shared-by-dreamers-across-the-world
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.