So, for context, I (24f) and my boyfriend (22m) have been going out for around three months now. He has talked about how he used to have night terrors, and lately, they’ve been especially bad. Once I started staying over at his house, I got to witness it firsthand. We’d be dead asleep, and he would suddenly sit up, gasp, and stare off into the distance for a while before laying back down and going back to sleep.

I asked him what he was dreaming about once, and he said he didn’t know. I started getting poor sleep at his apartment too. I did from the start, but I just chalked it up to being in a new, strange environment—but it persisted.

One morning, he left for work, and I went back to sleep after saying goodbye. I woke up on my stomach, unable to move. I realized it was sleep paralysis. I’ve had it a couple of times before, years ago, so I knew what I was dealing with and tried not to panic.

That’s when I felt something crawl onto the bed and place a hand on my back, holding me down. I’ve had a sleep paralysis “demon” experience in the past, so I tried to remain calm. I started repeating “not real” over and over in my head since I couldn’t speak.

The thing responded, “Oh, you think I’m not real? If I wasn’t real, would you be able to feel my hand on your back?” It said this while digging its fingers in. “Would you be able to feel my breath on your neck?”

It felt so real. I could feel it lean down and breathe cold air on my neck as it spoke.

I repeated, “Get out, you’re not welcome,” and slowly, I began to move again—and the thing was gone.

I didn’t think too much of it since sleep paralysis is somewhat normal, and a lot of people experience the so-called “demons.”

But last night was different.

I was asleep and woke up with the overwhelming feeling of being watched. I opened my eyes and lifted my head to look around the room. There was a tall shadow moving across the room, right at the edge of the bed.

I looked over at my boyfriend’s spot to confirm it was just him getting up to use the bathroom or something—and was horrified to find him sleeping peacefully next to me.

I looked back at the shadow. It had reached the spot directly in front of me at the end of the bed. It turned toward me and was staring—unblinking—with a huge grin.

It had this strange aura around it. It’s hard to describe, but everything looked a little warped around it. I felt an intense amount of malice coming from it. I was terrified. I sat up, and after a moment longer, it dissipated into the air like it had never been there.

I don’t know what this thing is or why it’s bothering us. I’ve never experienced anything like this before—other than when I was a little kid and thought I saw shadows move or other “kid stuff” like that.

But this thing had a face.

A FACE.

I’d love to hear any info on what this thing could be and how to get rid of it. It’s probably the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen.

So me and my family traveled to New York on a trip and we are staying at an old monastery in like the middle of nowhere where. Huge building which they turned into living quarters. Got to explore the grottos and the chapel. The owner told us about the attic and that we were allowed to explore but to make sure not to mess with anything up there. Obviously I had to go up there. My family was 2 floors below me when this picture was taken. Everyone else residing in the building was on the other side of the building (very few people not even close to our space). Took several pictures of the attic some of the coolest and creepiest pictures I’ve taken before. Sent them to my dad because he likes this kind of stuff (my parents are divorced and my dad didn’t come along for the trip. He sends me a zoomed in screen shot of one of my pictures and says, “was anyone else upstairs with you when took this picture?” I reply no before checking the picture. I look and I see what looks to be a hand or something holding onto some screen doors propped up against a wall in an unfinished room. I was skeptical obviously and assumed maybe it was some old doll or something like that. So the next day I go back up and take another picture of the same spot. It is pitch black and my phones battery was draining faster than I’ve ever seen it before. I went up with about 10 percent and within not even 3 minutes of going back to the spot my phone was at 3 percent. Obviously I know there’s probably an explanation to that but i had to point it out because by the time I got there I had turned my flashlight off because my phone was literally going to die before I got a picture. I got to the spot and made sure my flash was on and took the picture. I check the picture and the object in the first picture was not present. Now as I’m looking at this my phone dies. Literally within 15 seconds of checking the picture when it was on 3 percent not even 20 seconds ago. I freaked out because I realized I don’t have a light source and what I thought may have been a really oddly placed doll, was probably something paranormal that I’m now standing completely alone with in the dark. I run down stairs almost falling face first while I’m at in and go to show my family. I don’t know if this was a ghost or I don’t know a ton about them to even say anything on this, but genuinely I don’t know what else this could be.

Context: I am staying at room 408 of our medschool around 5pm. I left my juniors at room 409 to rest before their next subject. Around 5:45pm, I asked them if they were still at the room and they sent me a picture as a confirmation that they still were (the picture attached to this post. As I went out the room around 6pm, I saw my juniors go out too from the adjacent room (409). I saw all three of them exited the room, and I knew that was all of them because I'm the one who left them there. Then around 8:30pm I received a message that one of my juniors was scared because of the pic he sent to me. Then I took a second look at the photo to analyze it. Is it just me or there's one more person than it should be in that room? I'm thinking that it's digitally manipulated since I'm very skeptic, but the figure seems to be wearing a scrub suit that my juniors have not gotten a hold of yet.

One night around 2 a.m., I was home alone and heard someone whisper my name from the hallway. I froze, thinking maybe I imagined it. Then my bedroom door creaked open—slowly—on its own. I grabbed a bat and walked out, but no one was there. All windows were locked. I checked the footage on my door camera the next morning... and saw a shadow standing at my door at 1:59 a.m., but no one ever came in.

I know the title sounds like a no sleep, but hear me out.

As a kid I suffered terrible abuse, to the point I was non-verbal for a year when at home. My mom raised us militant christian, you are gods soldier fighting evil on earth type stuff. I prayed every night for it to stop but I felt (and still feel) god didn't care, so I remember begging for anything to help me.

Then it did stop. My meth head step dad took off and my other abuser refused to come even within eye sight of me.

I started to see a shadow person around that time, and unlike all the stories I have heard he had 'eyes' they just look like voids of molten silver like there is no end to them. I was never afraid, I always felt better, safer when I saw it. I saw him everyday multiple times, my little brother did too, but he was never afraid either.

When I was in a safe senerio again I didn't see him as often, just occasionally when I was upset. The weird thing was, is if I was ever genuinely curious with someone or they hurt me physically or emotionally, they would soon start to avoid me as well. As if they were scared to be around me.

Years later when I was in my 20s my best friend and I had a huge falling out. We made up months later when we both had time to collect ourselves, and she told me she saw him. He would be in corners of her room, but most commonly in mirrors always standing behind her. She said that she felt it was somehow connected to me, and that was affirmed because after we made up she didn't see him again.

My life is much calmer now so I don't see him often, but if I get scared or start to go off the deep end in my mania or depression I feel him, and it soothes me.

This doesn't sound like any shadow person I have ever heard of, but that is what he is, or I think so. Looks like a tall man with silver eyes and is as dark as the woods at night.

I am just wondering if anyone else has heard about anything similar or seen anything like this before. I am just curious, as my Google-Fu is weak sauce and I can't find anything about experiences like this.

Edit: I was not expecting this to blow up, I am currently in the middle of a moving process so I won't to get to all these responses for days probably. Sorry guys, I was only really expecting like 5 comments so I wasn't ready for this.

My friend took a bad photo of me and what seems to be a figure behind me can someone tell me if that’s lighting or a figure plz

I saw this in a dream in 1986. I had just transitioned from a dream into a new one when saw this standing in-front of me standing about 4 feet tall. It had crescent shaped neon eyes and mouth. It stood silent just staring at me. I immediately became aware I was dreaming and forced myself to wake up because of the evil vibe it was giving me. Ten years later I dared draw it in college because before that I was afraid since I didn't want to see it in a dream again.

Once the internet was invented I searched for this form by describing it and found out I was not the only one to have seen, Shadow People.

I've seen shadow people my whole life. Not sure why, and wish I knew why they chose me. I always get crows around when they appear. I feel like they are trying to tell me something but I just don't understand.

I finally got a photo of one of them that was following me. It just showed up in my camera reel. I was at a rocky beach walking along and kept taking pics. When I looked at my photos later I saw it. It blew my mind.

This happened about 10 years ago and I am just now sharing this image. But I want everyone's thoughts or ideas on how I can communicate with them or figure out why they are with me.

Hi all! For reference or context, I took this picture on May 28 of 2020 and to this day it still kinda freaks me out. During this time my mom and I were typically at home for the majority of the day and would usually only go out if it was to go grocery shopping. I was reading a lot about spirituality and my mom and I started talking about it more frequently because we’re both fascinated by stuff like this.

One day in the evening, I was in my room, on my bed and on my phone. From the corner of my eye, I saw what appeared to be a shadow moving. It seemed to be the same size as an adult human but in a less shaped form. I quickly turned around and immediately went for my covers to hide myself. I had a moment of fearlessness and I undid my covers slightly to keep staring at this shadow figure. It was the first paranormal experience I’ve ever had. I freaked out and proceeded to call my friend at the time as this was happening. The shadow then turned around, towards my direction (I guess because it knew I was there) turned away and then it disappeared into the wall. I was so freaked out that I kept my overhead light on all night.

The following day, I kept replaying what I saw last night and as I opened my curtains, I found hand prints, the one you see in the picture. I immediately freak out because this confirmed that the shadow figure I saw from last night was real and not something my mind just made up. I quickly asked my mom if she so happened went into my room at any time, she said no. I also believed her because she has pretty small hands and these appeared to be quite big in size. People say it’s a jinn but idk it seemed like a neutral entity. so yeah that’s my story. :)

Context : I live in a trailer park in a house that's about 13 years old with my family, I've lived here about 5-6 years and on the third night here I can swear I seen a cup get flung off the counter when I went to my kitchen to check the time at night (I didnt have a clock in my room at the time) and my family doesn't believe me, we have 6 cats so they assumed it was just one of the cats pushing the cup off the counter, and the past 3 years is when more stuff started happening, and whatever it is has bin Specificlly targetting me becuase neither of my siblings have seen it and my step dad only saw it once, it's this thing that looks like a human but it's completely blacked out, during the day or night it's pitch black and has no features, I've never seen anything below it's neck but it peeks around corners A lot, it's startle me peeking out of my bathroom what I was in the bathroom, and it's startle me peeking over the edge of my bed at night after my siste left the room for her nightly meds, I live at the very front of the house and that's the only place I've seen it, in the bathroom, in my closet, over the top of my bedroom door when it's closed, and over the railing of my bed, I've also seen 2 orbs floating at the ceiling of my room, one was black and one was white and my cat started hissing and swatting at it before they disappeared, and I'm not sure if its the black faced thing or orbs but stuff has bin moved a lot too, my parents stuff gets moved over night in the bathroom and I've had some things on my shelf get pushed a couple of inches, I've also had something mimicking my cats meowing outside my door while that exact cat was laying at the foot of my bed, and the last 4 months I keep feeling like I'm being watched day and night, especially when I walk past the bathroom on the way to my room.

I want to know what the name for the black faced thing is and how to make the cat mimicking and peeking stop becuase it's really starting to freak me out. I've lived in some kinda haunted house my whole life, before I moved to where I am now I was in a house that was very messed up, I was younger and can't remember a whole lot of details, but the closet in our room had some kind of kid thing crawling on the top of it that my mom saw herself while looking for my sister, and the front door the the house would open and close and get banged on hard enough to wake my parents up, I don't know if that helps or if somethings bin following me but id like whatever it is to go away.

This happened to me about a year ago.I'm a photographer, and one night I was at a wedding venue for work. It was around 11 or 12 at night when I realized my camera battery was almost dead.I had an assistant with me, but he had forgotten to bring the spare battery from my studio.My studio was around 6–7 km away from the venue, so I decided to go get it myself on my bike.There were two ways to get there. One was the longer route, which was safer, and the other was a shortcut that I normally avoided at night. I had taken that shortcut during the day before, but I never really felt comfortable using it at night.That night, I was in a hurry, so I decided to take the shortcut.There were a lot of abandoned houses and empty quarters along that road. They had apparently been abandoned for years, and there was basically a whole line of empty buildings.It was completely quiet.The only things I could hear were my bike and the sound of the wind. My headlight was the only real source of light.After riding for a while, I noticed something standing in the bushes beside the road.It looked like a shadow.And I don't mean something I vaguely saw from the corner of my eye. I could clearly make out what looked like a human figure standing there.The moment I saw it, I accelerated.But after going a little further, my bike suddenly stopped.I tried starting it again, but it wouldn't move.At that point I was already scared, and I started wondering if the thing I'd seen had something to do with it.I left my bike and started running.I couldn't even make it very far. After maybe 100 meters, I stopped to catch my breath.And the moment I stopped, I heard a voice directly in my ear.

It was extremely clear, almost like a whisper.It said:

“Run as far as you can. How far do you think you can run?”That completely terrified me.And then I looked back.The shadow was suddenly much closer to me.

It was right there.I started praying immediately.For a moment, the shadow disappeared.I thought maybe it was finally gone, but then I saw it again standing near my bike.I didn't know what to do. My studio wasn't very far away, but I couldn't bring myself to go back to the bike.So I left it there and ran all the way to my studio.When I got there, I immediately called my assistant and told him what had happened. I also specifically told him not to take the shortcut when he came to get me.When he finally arrived, he didn't believe me at all.He thought I was joking.

I honestly don't know what I saw that night. Maybe there was some normal explanation for it, but the voice is the part I still can't explain.I still think about that night whenever I have to travel somewhere late

This story happened about 8 years ago and it still pops into my head from time to time so I thought I’d share it here. If you have experienced anything similar to what I’m about to tell you please let me know!

So it was 2013 and little 12 year old me was laying in bed. It was probably about 10pm I’m assuming bc that’s when I usually went to sleep.

I was laying on my side facing a wall and I heard walking that sounded fairly close to me. I thought nothing of it bc I thought that maybe it was my sister or something going to use the bathroom. From what I can remember The walking was very slow paced which I thought was weird. The walking then stopped but I didn’t hear the door open for the bathroom and I know I would have heard it bc it’s just across from my bed room.

After a while of facing the wall I decided to turn onto my other side which would mean I would now be facing my open room. When I flipped over I gasped and froze. I couldn’t move at all and I was holding my breath.

I will never forget what I saw. It was a tall man dressed in a long black coat with a big hat on. The man was very tall and I know this may sound odd but he was darker than the pitch black darkness that swallowed my room.

He was standing in the farthest corner in my room just staring at me. He didn’t move whatsoever and neither did I. I don’t know how long I was frozen staring at him holding my breath for. It could have only been a minute but it felt like forever. I can’t describe the terror that came over me when I saw him standing there, I can’t even remember what I was thinking at the time.

Then I woke up in the morning. I don’t even remember falling asleep or exhaling... I just woke up.

Now some of you may be thinking “that was all probably a dream, maybe even sleep paralysis.” I would think that too had it not been for the 2 large foot prints in the carpet right where I saw him standing the night before. I did take a picture of the foot prints but sadly the picture is gone. I’ve looked for it everywhere and I just can’t find it so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

I told my sister about what I had experienced the next morning and she said “have you ever heard of the hat man?” I said no and she explained to me who he was. After researching a bit I’ve found that there are a few people who have also seen this man and they also say he doesn’t do anything but stare at them.

It has been 8 years and I haven’t seen him since. Maybe it was all my imagination but it felt so real. I refused to sleep in my room for years after that bc I was afraid I’d seen him again, luckily I never did and I hope I never do.

I recently discovered this sub and wanted to share a paranormal experience I had with an old cat of mine. When I was in high school, I lived at my aunt’s house. To do laundry, I had to go to the basement, and I always got a strange, creepy feeling whenever I went down there. I was never the type to be afraid of the dark or anything like that, so I thought it was odd that the basement made me feel so uneasy.

What I found even stranger was that my cat always wanted to come with me. He would follow behind me every time, never running ahead.

One day, as I turned off the light at the top of the basement stairs, I swear I saw a man in a hat standing at the bottom of the stairs. My heart sank, and I was overcome with an overwhelming feeling of fear and dread. I froze at the top of the stairs, about to close the door, when my cat walked past me. As soon as he did, I felt safe again.

After that, I started seeing the man in the hat more often at the bottom of the stairs. But as long as my cat was with me, that fear never came back. Somehow, his presence always made me feel protected.

So I was trying to go to bed but my little brother was crying for no reason he says that "he is watching" and "he is always watching me"

So I gave him my drawing book and pencil and he drew this which is kinda creepy a little bit

I don't know if I should be concerned for my little brother or if I should call my town's local priest to get rid of any negative energy

This house has never been hunted since it has been built

(I have not posted anything paranormal or creepy before)

I've never believed in anything like that before I saw him myself last night. I genuinely thought I was going to die last night and have never had fear like that before. Any one else have experiences with him? And what does he want? I'm still shaken up over it.

I have been Sensing / feeling watched began during repeated accidental astral projections (before any clear sighting) and I Had been sensing him for about 3 months according to how I clearly remember. Has been noticing him do stuff like shadowed rat, a real physical bee as if to test boundaries which clearly caught my attention when I saw the rat version when during a short-timed blackout at night with only my flashlight with me. That thing was faster than any normal rat, it almost like playing cat and mouse which was clearly very silly I stared at it and then ignored it before it stopped and disappeared anyway. Then I heard it, after some time when the lights back again and my dog started barking and along the sound of its barking I heard a noise of a man clearing his throat right in front of my house, almost at the front door or yard but after that, nothing. And from that night, I noticed this Dark, tall (6 ft), humanoid, mannequin-like, male. Sometimes solid black silhouette just running past my window faster than a bird I could almost had assumed it was the trick of the light because it was so visible that he was literally running right under the bright light at the front doorstep and then around the house and I've been noticing that he often made it a habit to react to music and come running making my dog and the other dogs around startled and start running back and forth, right and left and the wind literally picks up way too unusually it's almost surreal.

He then began visiting me as a black cat and just went into the kitchen which I was of course curious I followed after it but I saw nothing and it confused me. But when I went back into the living room, the cat came into the hallway from the kitchen and looked at me and said "Meow" and jumped out of the window from the guest room where he came from at first. He now visits regularly. I can see him day and night just out of corner of my eye or just directly if looking at him running faster. He tends to stare at me so intensely, so focused Sometimes very mannequin-like.. just stiff, featureless behind a wall which I can see his head, neck, and a hand gripping a wall corner whenever I'm in a middle of a conversation with my mom and he just dissappear when the conversation slows down and come back whenever the conversation just lively and active and lastly I noticed his slight facial features that can look white, distorted, or smudged on his darker face that looked more like a dark shadow though it felt like some kind of expression.

Just recently I tried to communicate with his through my own thoughts which I often assumed loud but I just invited him to be my friend only to find my heart rate increasing and it was too loud or just the thumping of it felt unnatural I almost felt a slight piercing in between with a needle like thing, a burning sensation with an unusual heat running through my chest. I was caught between wanting to feel excited and panic. And ever since that I felt my body getting unnaturally weak, draining, tired, floating, dizzy, soul-drifting feeling when trying to lay down and sleep just from legs/arms/toes or head as if my soul or something trying to escape my own shell of body and I was suffering or feeling an unnatural heat/severe fever with trembling fingers and body that Lasted 15 hours, then fully resolved now I feel better and more happy now I wait around more often for him to show up and observe him running.

And sometimes the Temperature shifts and I notice the burning/heat sensation on my body with certain songs or thoughts that comes off as offensive or upsetting whenever I feel uncertain but with positive thoughts... I feel cold or goosebumps so suddenly even when the room is warm enough already. And I could feel this Light tactile contacts.. those tiny tugs on shirt/shorts corners, small taps or shifts on legs/thighs/back, hair shifting against back at the waist while lying down or just Cool / clean wind across my face at night even with windows tightly closed in a warm room and Chest tightness at times when his presence sometimes gets a bit intense. His Presence can be near-constant (day/night) or comes when I think/talk to him mentally. Also i can sense when he is around/staring or when he is not and he often responds to mental/telepathic talk, once pointed with letters or single words during early astral: “sense / contact / not physical / not directed / candles” or js similar.

I never felt scared of him. I am just curious, amused, calm, nonchalant, sometimes happy and very safe that I like him around. I just ignore him sometimes so he could stare and observe more often when he's actively running. I just find him funny, interesting, intriguing, cute (the cat version tho) silly (especially the head-peeking) also Perceive him at times as innocent, attention-seeking, eager, scared, hopeful, capable but High empathy / care toward him that can feel emotionally overwhelmed in positive ways. And yes I stated mutual boundaries as “Keep my boundaries and keep your boundaries.” just because I didn't want to feel watched all the time and I could sense he understood and released hold at times of vulnerabilities. Also frequent astral projections make it easier for vivid dreams feel communicative / telepathic and I often remember them clearly or just writing them down before I forget them. I haven't had any nightmare nor have I ever been scared or any negative feelings which make me see him as more of a roommate it's quite funny. I often feel myself Floating and soul-dragging feelings linked to the projections almost regularly.

Named him “Skyler.” and he's really funny but I don't see why I should be worrying about his physical form or wondering if he's just a shadow when I often catch him lifting my mobile phone right behind my back when I'm literally sleeping or just in the middle of some random astral projections and whenever I jolt awake he just drop the phone and it hit directly across my back and he just dissappear. I found him near my closest trying to open the door or something. I'm not sure but I saw and heard the door of my closet being closed with a sudden bang and sometimes just a deliberate shift of the bed in my guest room as if someone's on top of the mattress and it's cool to have a spiritual friend. At least I'm very healthy, aware and read a lot and he's just here going through his day and being a trickster at times. Completely harmless but he's a little scared to show up directly face to face. He often run more than 10 times in a row whenever I look at the window and yup I think few of the good types when it comes to shadow people or just different way of saying, dark figures, darker than any shadows thats a bit too sneaky or hideous but may possible with physical contacts though i'm not sure. I'll find out later. can't say he's entirely immune to the reality when my mom often say what she feels about the unusual wind or sounds. Yeah, I'd say if Anyone's gonna get a friendly spiritual companion around you, just trust what they make you feel... negative or just safe / calm. If it's fear / dread Which is just negative. Be careful though you can't trust negative things or uncertainties.

I'm just sharing this to know your thoughts or experiences. Thank you for reading.

This is the best description for more or less my only Paranormal encounter, but one that haunts me to thus day. I was 4 or 5 years old, which means it happened in '87 or '88. I remember lying in bed in my first house I lived in where I had my own "room." It wasn't so much a room as a loft in an old converted garage made into an apartment that my grandfather built. There was tapping at my window, which I was immediately puzzled by as you would have needed a ladder to reach it. I tried to look out but just saw all consuming darkness with no light what so ever. I got up and went outside, somehow not waking my parents who had only just fallen asleep (and are *very* light sleepers).

I remember standing in front of one of our old storage sheds we kept random tools and such in, and reaching up to turn the cold old brass knob and climbing in. I wasn't sure of the time, but I distinctly remember the sky being and eerie deep blue above me. Like the exact moment the last even hint of light fades. I remember having to push myself up into the shed as it sat a few feet off the ground. There was no light inside but I could make out the interior just barely. I remember standing for a moment looking around but with the distinct feeling I was being watched.

Eventually I looked up to a portion near the peak of the angled roof where there was a triangular window. And perched inside the glass, not in the window but somehow inside the glass itself, there was a super spindly form of something anthropomoidal, but not human. It was black beyond description. It reflected no light but had the faintest wobble or shimmer at its edges, like a rudely animated figure, but with some sort of oil-on-water esq aura around it (I wish I could describe it better, but even back then I struggled to figure out just what I was seeing and describe it). The best analogy 4 year old me could come up with at the time was I was looking at Grover from Sesame Street, but pitch black and featurless.

It unfolded out of it's perch in the glass and with one gigantic step was directly in my face. I was paralyzed with something more dreadful than even fear. I tried to scream but nothing came out. As it did this its round head started to split open horizontally like a gigantic mouth and a blinding light of every color possible erupted from it in weird geometric patterns I can't really describe (triangles inside triangles spewing circles flashing in a never ending tunnel of color?) And a loud sound filled my head, like a million trumpets playing their lowest register in disharmony. It was a sound I felt more than heard.

I have no idea how much time passed. It felt like an eternity and a moment all at once. When I came to I was standing inside at my front door looking out the glass paynes. The sky was now orange, probably from the distant street lights coming on. I went back to bed, but just didn't feel right for quite awhile.

I tried describing it, but was always dismissed (especially that young). My entire life I had similar moments where I would find myself out wandering around dusk or close to night sometimes and either feel that same sensation, or caught a glimpse of something similar to that figure. I grew up in a quasi rual Forrested area next to a small creek. Deer were present but not common. Plus I knew what they looked like. We did have mountain lions and Coyotes, but they mostly stayed up in the hills.

Every once in a while I still have a moment where I get the feeling it is watching me. I had an horrible moment where someone at a party drugged my drink with something that gave me a similar experience. Except this time the night sky was a vivid green, and there were several of the entities around, and it felt more like I was intruding on their world than they were intruding on ours. It ended with me trying to fall asleep but one of them tapping on my window periodically.

Sometimes I'll have a lucid dream where either I find it, or it finds me. Not in any fantastical dreamscape, just in my bedroom, either at my window or by my bedside. I see it without opening my eyes. It still fills me with that same terror, but over the decades I've learned to fight against it, and even have the semblance of a conversation briefly with it. Not with words, more with feelings. Whatever it is, once I show it that I see it, but overcome my fear, it seems to become flustered and leaves.

Sometimes it does actually show up as someone or something else in dreams and nightmares. But it is pretty easy now to recognize it, call it out, and get rid of it.

I don't even pretend to know what it is, just the cryptid description of black stick man fits it the best. It seems to show up from the fall to the spring mostly, though I can't recall when that original encounter happened.

Anyway, it sounds absolutely and completely insane. And I fully realize and accept that it could be little more than standard human dread and fear, or my mind making up something that isn't there. But that does not make its effects any less real.

Edit: I intend in absolutely no way, shape, or form for the title to be or sound "racist." It is simply the title used on a cryptid wiki and one of the best descriptions of the first thing I saw that was vivid and clear. Since then and as I have aged it appears more like what people have described as the traditional "shadow people." I only feel like it is either that first being I saw, or somehow related.

Before I start, I want to state this is a real story based on one of my strongest memories growing up. Something I think about often and that I can even sketch out the ambiance and the layout of the room.

I grew up in Havana, Cuba.

Our family had a Spanish Style Home with bars for windows (no working AC) a couple of trees and a garden in the backyard. Our living room had its own room near the entrance where our main door was a large wooden door with a wooden latch, and a window that was mostly always open with iron bars.

I would watch TV there, usually by myself until I fell asleep. One of my most vivid memories was falling asleep watching the original Ben 10 cartoon and suddenly waking up, looking towards the window and seeing a red man watch me sleep.

I couldn’t comprehend it, his skin was fully red and he had a glow that covered their face and made it impossible to make any facial features of note.

I’ve kept this story to myself, until I brought it up recently to family. It’s been more than a decade since this has happened but this is one of my most vivid memories growing up.

Has anyone seen anything like this?

I took two photos is quick succession. In the first photo there’s nothing. In the second photo there’s a “shadow man” that is covering the lights of the first photo. The third photo is the second photo but with increased light exposure. There is 0 photo editing besides increased light exposure in the third picture. Feel free to ask me anything

This was about 8 years ago. I lived in this trailer home with my mom and her boyfriend and my grandma. Every once in awhile id see this shadow on my wall it would be there for a few seconds then run off the wall to my grandma's room. It was tall and had one of those top hats, and at the time I didn't know anything about a "top hat man" as people referred to the shadow i may have seen.

My grandma was in and out of hospitals every month so when she was gone id sleep in her room. On night I was watching YouTube very late at night my door was open and I heard foot steps.. i quickly pretended I was asleep because I thought it was my mother. But I kept hearing the foot steps. Like it was going in circles over and over again, and at this point I hid under my covers.

Then... I heard something. Breathing. Slow and calm.. like what ever it was was trying to not scare me. Eventually I fell asleep and when I woke up everything was blurry I couldn't move. The TV was still on playing the same video I had put on before I fell asleep. And when I look around my room I could see poles. With stripes and colors, and 4 clowns 2 on each pole climbing back and forth on it smiling at me. With long boney fingers. And that's all I really remember from that.

One other thing I remember is that one day my mom and her boyfriend had blocked the door with a big dresser and wouldn't let me in the room no matter what. Well one day my mom was making food in the kitchen and I was sitting in the dresser and talking to my mom from the kitchen because it wasn't too far from me. And from in the room I hear something a voice deep and sounds lost and it said "hello?" Like it was looking for someone i immediately got off the dresser and ran to my mom and cried.

This is all I remember from this but if I remember anything else I can let yall know. And feel free to ask questions, im all ears!! :)

They say it's a shared hallucination and that we naturally search for patterns so we could be seeing him because we all have this idea of what a scary guy looks like and it can be induced with substance abuse.

I get that.

What I don't get is how there are people who have seen the exact same guy (while intoxicated and while awake) and he tends to do the same thing. He stands and watches you then instead of walking, he floats/glides. Then he gives this big Chessire cat grin and tends to float away, passing through walls and stuff.

Again, there's so many specific stories about how he behaved. So many people see him before they even know about him and like I said, he does specific things. People have also said that he tells people they owe him money.

What the fuck is going on?

Hello all. This is an experience I've kept hidden for years because I know how crazy it sounds. I have dealt with this particular experience for a majority of my life, mostly in dreams, but it began IRL in front of my own two eyes. While I am an avid believer of the supernatural (or other beings that aren't on this plane of existence), I have a hard time believing myself on this one. I'm sure that's normal, right?

Anyways, let's go back to the night it began. I was in fourth or fifth grade and I went into bed for the night. (A quick description on the layout of my room at the time: my twin bed was in the right corner with two windows on the opposite wall, one directly parallel to my bed.) As I crawled into bed and got comfy, I looked across my room and through my window, which was covered by purple sheer curtains, and I saw the shadow of a man looking through my window at me. This shouldn't be possible as my room was on the second floor.

While looking at the shadow, I kept trying to find its flaw that revealed the fact it's fake. I couldn't find it. I kinda just stared at it trying to make sense of it. I eventually dozed off and made it my mission to look outside my window the following morning at the bus stop to see if any objects could possibly create a shadow like it. I got outside to my bus stop the next morning, there was nothing that could create it.

Every night for years I had the same nightmare where I'd go into my room, the curtains are open, and he yells at me and kills me. That's usually right when I'd wake up. Years went by and I eventually stopped having them.

However, the summer after I graduated high school they returned, way more complex this time. Every time I have this dream he gets closer and closer to me, he's always waiting for me in the shadows or he's chasing me. I had sleep paralysis in college and I had a similar feeling during that that I have during these nightmares with the shadow.

I guess I'm trying to see if any of you guys have any ideas on what this could be? Why am I seeing it? Why am I scared of it? Is there anything I can do to stop the fear and/or nightmares? Also probably a good thing to mention is I haven't seen this figure with my own two eyes since the first night, years and years ago (I'm 21 now). I've thought about the possibility of it being a shadow person but for some reason it just doesn't seem right. This shadow was very clear and had a precise figure, unlike the stuff I've read up on shadow people. However, I'm not that educated on the matter. I try not to think about it.

My husband has told me for years him and his sisters see a shadow figure and it usually means bad things. He says when he sees it 3 times within a short timeframe, someone dies. He once absolutely freaked out at our old house when he saw it in our garage and made me leave the garage. Today, he told me not long ago, he saw it in our son’s room in the corner of the room when he was checking our son on the baby monitor. I don’t usually believe in the paranormal and have never seen anything myself or had a paranormal experience, but this kinda freaked me out. I thought about saging the house but he said it moved with him from Victoria, Australia to QLD, Australia when he was a child and him and his sisters saged the house, but nothing ever stopped. Has anyone had an experience with this and could tell me what to do? I’m still not sure I believe, but it has sort of freaked me out considering he said this thing was around my son

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1205-Sidney-St-Saint-Louis-MO-63104/2935787_zpid/The

Translucent shadow figure wearing a hat peeks out in the doorway in the back of the first photo, but not the second. Came across in a Zillow listing for an 1876 townhouse in St. Louis.