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Shadow people

What I'm about to share I've only shared with a handful of people in my life. I'm fully aware of how crazy this will sound but I need to vent because I'm rather unnerved.

I will attempt to explain in as much detail as I can. Some I can only describe through the eyes of a child, so keep that in mind.

Have any of you ever heard of shadow people? I'm not talking about some tweakers hallucinations. My whole childhood is filled with memories of what I used to call the devil. Most of my life I've had this constant companion that always remains in the shadows. I'd only know it there because you could "feel" it. It emanates a feeling of evil(for lack of better wording). You could feel what direction it was. It almost always remained behind me. Only twice have I actually seen it. Both times were as a child. Once when I was about 7 years and once somewhere around 10 or 11 years. The second time I saw it I wasn't the only one. My sister's used to get scared at night, come into my room and crawl into my bed. On this particular night we all woke at the same time and saw this stocky dark figure standing at the door of my bed with it's arms crossed. It had glowing red eyes. We covered our heads and remained still, too scared to move or speak. We never spoke about this to one another until one of those sisters and I were at a party as adults(18+19ish) where everyone was sharing ghost stories. Up to this point I could still convince myself it was a dream or imagination. But after realizing it couldn't be a dream because she remembered seeing it as well. Despite only seeing it twice I would feel it's presence daily. It was a constant companion. I hated the dark. It was always just out of sight. The closer it was the more intense the feelings. When I was about 22 I hit the beginning of the worse era of my life. I won't get into full details. I lost a wife and child that were my world. I went into a serious downward spiral that lasted the rest of my 20s. Shortly after this tragedy happened I was walking down a dark street about 1030 pm and that feeling came upon me from my shadowy stalker friend. It caught me in the wrong mood. I turned toward where I could feel it and began screaming at it. "I'm done running from you! If you want me so fucking badly come take me! Enter me, take me, do whatever just leave me the fuck alone!" That was the day it disappeared. After this I gave up on life. I began getting drunk and high off whatever I could get my hands on. I used to say if it can be smoked, snorted or swallowed I've most likely done it. I don't like needles, doctors, or hospitals due to being run over at 3 and being in a body cast for the better part of a year. Thankfully this is why I drew the line at needles. It was also at this time that I was hit with major wanderlust, or maybe it was me running from the area and my pain. I moved all over the US, never staying in one place for more than 3 months or so. I became a jack of all trades, a master at none. I picked up whatever work I could quickly get until I had to move to get away from myself. I never left any location with more than a backpack. I couldn't let myself succeed. Self hatred and suicidal thoughts were my only companions. I couldn't begin to tell you how many drunken nights I had a loaded gun in my mouth. Obviously, I never had the courage to pull the trigger. I was afraid I wouldn't do it right and would wind up as an invalid. Eventually an extremely caring and patient angel made her way into my life and saw something in the broken man I'd become. She stubbornly refused to be pushed away and held my pieces together when I simply wanted her to leave me alone. I don't know how or why, but she put me back together better than before. We are currently happily married. I know I've digressed from my main focal point but I feel I needed to add some details to tie the beginning of this story to the end. In all my dark years not once was that presence felt. I'd assumed it was gone. Until recently.... My wife woke one night about a year ago. She rolled over to cuddle and fall back asleep but froze. Standing over me on my side of the bed was this dark stocky figure with crossed arms and glowing red eyes. She was so scared she covered her head and began praying. A few minutes later she uncovered her head and it was gone. Since then I can feel the presence again. Not as strongly as before, but it's there in the shadows at night. Always watching. On a possibly linked separate note, over the last few years both my wife and one of my daughters have had episodes of sleep paralysis where they wake up, can't move, and see something in the room. This brings me to a few days ago when I ran across others speaking about shadow people while I was researching more occult stuff. I'd never given it the time before. These people were discussing what they looked like and I froze. They gave detailed descriptions of what I've experienced. Down to the short, stocky dark figure with crossed arms and glowing red eyes. So now I'm rather freaked out and just needing to vent while I sip on my coffee. Have any of you experienced what I've explained?

I've always had sleeping issues. Trouble falling asleep and trouble staying asleep. All males in my family suffer this curse, averaging 4-5 hours of sleep. I consistently wake ay 3am and 330 am. Like seriously, exactly those times. In recent years it's only become exacerbated. I'm now beginning to wonder if it's a familial curse.

Debated putting this in the occult sub. Still not sure it shouldn't be there.

Edit: fixed some spelling and grammar

What I'm about to share I've only shared with a handful of people in my life. I'm fully aware of how crazy this will sound but I need to vent because I'm rather unnerved. I will attempt to explain in as much detail as I can. Some I can only describe through the eyes of a child, so keep that in mind. Have any of you ever heard of shadow people? I'm not talking about some tweakers hallucinations. My whole childhood is filled with memories of what I used to call the devil. Most of my life I've had this constant companion that always remains in the shadows. I'd only know it there because you could "feel" it. It emanates a feeling of evil(for lack of better wording). You could feel what direction it was. It almost always remained behind me. Only twice have I actually seen it. Both times were as a child. Once when I was about 7 years and once somewhere around 10 or 11 years. The second time I saw it I wasn't the only one. My sister's used to get scared at night, come into my room and crawl into my bed. On this particular night we all woke at the same time and saw this stocky dark figure standing at the door of my bed with it's arms crossed. It had glowing red eyes. We covered our heads and remained still, too scared to move or speak. We never spoke about this to one another until one of those sisters and I were at a party as adults(18+19ish) where everyone was sharing ghost stories. Up to this point I could still convince myself it was a dream or imagination. But after realizing it couldn't be a dream because she remembered seeing it as well. Despite only seeing it twice I would feel it's presence daily. It was a constant companion. I hated the dark. It was always just out of sight. The closer it was the more intense the feelings. When I was about 22 I hit the beginning of the worse era of my life. I won't get into full details. I lost a wife and child that were my world. I went into a serious downward spiral that lasted the rest of my 20s. Shortly after this tragedy happened I was walking down a dark street about 1030 pm and that feeling came upon me from my shadowy stalker friend. It caught me in the wrong mood. I turned toward where I could feel it and began screaming at it. "I'm done running from you! If you want me so fucking badly come take me! Enter me, take me, do whatever just leave me the fuck alone!" That was the day it disappeared. After this I gave up on life. I began getting drunk and high off whatever I could get my hands on. I used to say if it can be smoked, snorted or swallowed I've most likely done it. I don't like needles, doctors, or hospitals due to being run over at 3 and being in a body cast for the better part of a year. Thankfully this is why I drew the line at needles. It was also at this time that I was hit with major wanderlust, or maybe it was me running from the area and my pain. I moved all over the US, never staying in one place for more than 3 months or so. I became a jack of all trades, a master at none. I picked up whatever work I could quickly get until I had to move to get away from myself. I never left any location with more than a backpack. I couldn't let myself succeed. Self hatred and suicidal thoughts were my only companions. I couldn't begin to tell you how many drunken nights I had a loaded gun in my mouth. Obviously, I never had the courage to pull the trigger. I was afraid I wouldn't do it right and would wind up as an invalid. Eventually an extremely caring and patient angel made her way into my life and saw something in the broken man I'd become. She stubbornly refused to be pushed away and held my pieces together when I simply wanted her to leave me alone. I don't know how or why, but she put me back together better than before. We are currently happily married. I know I've digressed from my main focal point but I feel I needed to add some details to tie the beginning of this story to the end. In all my dark years not once was that presence felt. I'd assumed it was gone. Until recently.... My wife woke one night about a year ago. She rolled over to cuddle and fall back asleep but froze. Standing over me on my side of the bed was this dark stocky figure with crossed arms and glowing red eyes. She was so scared she covered her head and began praying. A few minutes later she uncovered her head and it was gone. Since then I can feel the presence again. Not as strongly as before, but it's there in the shadows at night. Always watching. On a possibly linked separate note, over the last few years both my wife and one of my daughters have had episodes of sleep paralysis where they wake up, can't move, and see something in the room. This brings me to a few days ago when I ran across others speaking about shadow people while I was researching more occult stuff. I'd never given it the time before. These people were discussing what they looked like and I froze. They gave detailed descriptions of what I've experienced. Down to the short, stocky dark figure with crossed arms and glowing red eyes. So now I'm rather freaked out and just needing to vent while I sip on my coffee. Have any of you experienced what I've explained? I've always had sleeping issues. Trouble falling asleep and trouble staying asleep. All males in my family suffer this curse, averaging 4-5 hours of sleep. I consistently wake ay 3am and 330 am. Like seriously, exactly those times. In recent years it's only become exacerbated. I'm now beginning to wonder if it's a familial curse. Debated putting this in the occult sub. Still not sure it shouldn't be there. Edit: fixed some spelling and grammar

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[–] • 14 pts

When I was in my early twenties, I dated a girl who told me that sometimes a man watched her while she slept.

I didn't think too much of it, and dismissed it in passing, thinking to myself

Bitches be crazy

But one time we decided to go away for the weekend together, to her parents "mountain house", which was neither on a mountain, or really even a house. It was more of a small cinder block cottage on a slightly inclined plane. But it was in the Poconos, and there was a lot of kayaking and fishing in the area, and a lot of liquor to be drunk and meat to be grilled.

Her parents, particularly her mother, were devout Catholics. The amount of Saints and Iconography on the walls of that cottage was borderline disturbing, particularly in the master bedroom. We had the place to ourselves, and were planning on banging a lot, so we decided to stay in the kids room, which didn't have eight or nine bloody Jesus's staring down at us from the walls in judgement of our sin.

The kids room had two twin beds on opposite walls, with a TV in the middle. We decided on the bed we were going to share, and got to drinking.

Although this place wasn't exactly in the middle of nowhere, the nearest neighboring house wasn't within sight, and when it got dark outside, it got really dark. When you looked outside a window, you couldn't see anything except a big empty window pane of blackness.

We watched Elf, starring Will Farrell. It was a great movie. I was kinda skeptical going into it, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend you watch it as well if you get the chance.

We went to sleep on that one twin bed, together, but I have to admit everything about the place was kind of creepy. My back was against the wall, and I was spooning my girlfriend as we both drifted off to sleep together, and I just looked at the bed across from us, and the window pane above it that was so empty and black, and told myself I was being a faggot scaredy cat over nothing, and went to sleep.

A few hours later, my girlfriend shook my awake.

Theo, there is a man sitting on the bed across from us, watching us

She was in a weird state, clearly afraid but also quite drowsy, like she was still half-asleep. She didn't have any of that nervous fight or flight energy to her, so I took it as her having a bad dream.

But I felt really frightened too, although I didn't show it to her, because men need to be brave when women are afraid. Something just didn't feel right, it felt like I was in a bad place, and I had the strong urge to leave immediately.

But I said

You just had a bad dream. There is nobody there.

And I held her a little tighter and kissed her forehead, and cooed at her to go back to sleep.

And as nervous as I was, I went back to sleep too.

And in what seemed like a few minutes, I woke back up.

And there was a man standing at the foot of my bed.

And my girlfriend was sound asleep.

The man, or thing, or spirit, or demon, was standing there, watching me.

It was dark in the room, but this figure was darker, like it was made of a complete black void that somehow didn't seem to be static, like the actual black depths of it were somehow swirling about.

And I was frozen in terror. It is extremely difficult to describe the fear that I felt, because I have never felt fear like that. It was like I was looking at something that absolutely hated me. Not the sort of hatred you might feel for an enemy, like you want bad things to happen to them, or even the hatred you could feel towards a man you want dead.

Hatred like it wanted to make sure I existed forever, so I could suffer more.

It reached down and grabbed my foot, and began to pull me.

And it didn't feel like I was being pulled out of bed.

It felt like I was being pulled out of existence.

I had no idea what to do, so I said the Lord's Prayer.

And then it just disappeared, and it was over.

I saw something that night that was true and objective Evil.

It is easy to stop looking at the big picture when you are casually going about your day to day life, full of work and chores and tedium, but whenever I think back to what happened to me that night, I remember that there is a lot of bigger stuff going on behind the scenes, stuff that I can't really claim to understand, but I have witnessed a small portion of it, and it serves to remind me of the stakes that lay upon us.

I hope you try understand the gravity of the problem you are having, and pray for knowledge of God's Will.

I'll keep you in my prayers.

Regards,

-Theo

[–] [deleted] • 7 pts

Hatred like it wanted to make sure I existed forever, so I could suffer more.

That is the fate they are doomed to. That is why it wants you to join it. They are in pain, eternally. This is why responding in hatred won't fix anything, it will just make them angrier.

Saying the Lord's Prayer was a good move. It is a prayer of gratitude.

[–] • 14 pts

It is a prayer of gratitude.

Thank You, dear God, for another day, The chance to live in a decent way, To feel again the joy of living, And happiness that comes from giving. Thank You for friends who can understand And the peace that flows from Your loving hand. Help me to wake to the morning sun With the prayer, “Today Thy will be done,” For with Your help I will find the way. Thank You again, dear God, for another day.

-AA Prayer I've been saying in the morning

[–] • 4 pts

> It is a prayer of gratitude.

> Thank You, dear God, for another day, The chance to live in a decent way, To feel again the joy of living, And happiness that comes from giving. Thank You for friends who can understand And the peace that flows from Your loving hand. Help me to wake to the morning sun With the prayer, “Today Thy will be done,” For with Your help I will find the way. Thank You again, dear God, for another day.

Thank you for posting this. This will be one of the few posts I save. I've never been to AA or NA for myself. My dad used to go and my sister's and I would stay in the kids room to play. I have abused the hell out of substances of all kinds in order to kill my pain. However I never had much of a problem getting up and walking away when I was ready to face reality again. Only nicotine was rough to quit. I loved cocaine the moment I first used it. I loved it enough it scared me so I knew to stay away from it or I'd become addicted. I can count how many times I've snorted coke on one hand. Granted when I say how many times I don't mean how many lines. I mean from start to stop. Sometimes one time lasted 3 days. It's why when I've read your story in particular about your struggles some time ago I can relate. I've been there. It sucks when you hate life and struggle with finding anything positive. If you ever need to chat feel free to reach out.

(Yes, I know this is off topic for the thread)

[–] • 5 pts

Thank you. I could use the prayers.

[–] • 8 pts

Don't listen to the faggots that say you're psychotic or the idiots who ask you to take pictures of it. You experienced a very real and probably non-material phenomenon. Don't discount your own experience, you know what you saw.

[–] • 4 pts

> Don't listen to the faggots that say you're psychotic

This is why I've only ever told a handful. People seem to fall into 2 groups. Disbelievers who say you're crazy and those who do believe. I'm highly intelligent. I know the difference between my imagination and reality. There's other anomalies in my life which lead me to believe some people may be born with specific energy signatures which make them targets. I just wish I knew more. It disappeared when I confronted it all those years ago. Why is it back?

[–] [deleted] • 1 pt

If I ever need writers for a screen play I know where to go.

[–] • 1 pt

There was a time I stopped talking. To anyone. Ever. Slowly episodes like this kept happening until it was every night then it hit me, I stood before the gates of hell. The terror of just SEEING the gates left me in essentially screaming terrified horror running away from it. You could actually say my whole existence since then is just a definition of running away from it.

My only explanation was it is possible to die internally and I was incredibly close to full completion.