Fulton County Paranormal
Serving Upstate New York and Regions Beyond
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Blog Entry 06/14/07: Thoughts on the
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My first ever blog entry, and I chose the topic to be my thoughts on shadow people and the resounding phenomenon. As the reports of "shadow people" grow it becomes harder and harder not to take notice to the phenomena. On a personal side note, I myself have had an experience pertaining to said area, that I can not seem to explain rationally. It had happened in our old apartment, roughly 2- 2.5 years ago. First I will set up the scenario and layout of the apartment. It was originally a home, roughly built in the 40's-50's, that was turned into two mirrored apartments. While residing there (about 2 years) my girlfriend and myself came down with very bizarre ailments; Torticolus, Hot Tub Flabicculitis, Pilondial Cysts, etc. Sicknesses that I have particularly had never heard of. Anyways, the master bedroom was in a sort of upstairs loft, with only room enough for a small bed and a dresser or two. Before I go on, I have to admit that I myself am a bit of an insomniac, and even moreso back then. Now because of this I had always slept on the left side of the bed, facing the top of the stairwell. On one particular night I was in bed and watching late night infomercials, must have been around 3-4 am. I for some reason decided to glance down at the base of the stairwell, and when I did I observed a figured shadow hover and then pass in front of the steps. It really did not frighten me, or even shock me for that matter. What is fear but an absence of knowledge. I did not however desire to stay there for much longer and moved later that February.
Onto the speculative theories!!
One plausible medical explanation for some supposed Shadow People sightings could be that of Hypno or Hypnagogia.
To site reference wikipedia : Hypnagogia (also spelled hypnogogia) describes vivid dream-like auditory, visual, or tactile sensations, which are often accompanied by sleep paralysis and experienced when falling asleep or waking up.
Hypnagogic sensations
Hypnagogic sensations are vivid dream-like experiences that occur as one is falling asleep or waking up. Accompanying sleep paralysis can cause the sensations to be more frightening. The features of these sensations generally vary by individual, but some are more common to the experience than others:
Most common
Vividness
Falling sensation
Fear
Common
Sensing a "presence" (often malevolent)
Pressure/weight on body (especially the chest or back).
A sensation of not being able to breathe
Sense of impending doom/death
Fairly common
Auditory sensations (often footsteps or indistinct voices, or pulsing noises). Auditory sensations which are described as noise instead of sensations of distinct or comprehensible sounds, are often described to be similar to auditory sensations caused by nitrous oxide by persons who have experienced both.
Visual sensations such as lights, people or shadows moving around the room
Less common
Floating sensations (often described as out-of-body experiences)
Seamless transition into fully immersive lucid dreaming, also associated with out-of-body experiences
Tactile sensations (such as a hand touching or grabbing)
Rare
Vibration
Involuntary movements (sometimes the feeling of sliding off the bed or even up walls).
The feeling of being pulled in different directions
During the hypnagogic state, an individual may appear to be fully awake, but has brain waves indicating that the individual is technically sleeping. Also, the individual may be completely aware of their state, which enables lucid dreamers to enter the dream state consciously directly from the waking state (see wake-initiated lucid dream technique). Many artists, musicians, architects, engineers, and others demanding creativity to be successful have benefited from hypnagogia, where the mind can be free and open to creative and new ideas.[citation needed]
An experience of the hypnagogic state is not an uncommon occurrence with 30 to 40 percent of people experiencing it at least once in their lives. However, it could be a sign of a sleep disorder, such as narcolepsy and insomnia, or associated with temporal lobe epilepsy.
The hypnagogic state can be accompanied by or associated with anomalous phenomena such as alien abduction, extra-sensory perception, telepathy, apparitions, or prophetic or crisis visions. This conduciveness to anomalous phenomena can be correlated with the initial increase of alpha and the later increase of theta brainwaves.
Other theories and speculations range from parallel dimensional beings, demonic activity, aliens, and of course most common; hallucinations. However with such an elevation in the number of reported cases it would be hard to dismiss the phenomenon as simply flight of fancy. Case reports vary on size, height, and state of said phenomenon. Some claim to be between 3-5 feet in height, others 5-7 feet. Some are gender specified, while others see as only a black shapeless mass.
Almost all cases of reported "Shadow People" claim it to be benign in nature, and I am hard pressed to hear of a case where a person was physically assaulted by a shadow being. One of my own personal theories is that reports of spectral "Black Dogs", Grims and other death omens could possibly tie in with the "SP" phenomena. Like that of the Banshees' of Ireland, Black Dogs and Grims supposedly signal the passing of a member of an ancesteral house. Although death omens themselves can be taken for nothing more than pariedolia(people seeing what they want to see), it is an interesting premise to think about. Could "shadows" be trying to convey a message of passing or even possibly to warn of impending danger?
Anyways that is enough for this evening, feel free to leave any comments you would like, as I am always up for intellectual discussion.
-FulCoPara
Onto the speculative theories!!
One plausible medical explanation for some supposed Shadow People sightings could be that of Hypno or Hypnagogia.
To site reference wikipedia : Hypnagogia (also spelled hypnogogia) describes vivid dream-like auditory, visual, or tactile sensations, which are often accompanied by sleep paralysis and experienced when falling asleep or waking up.
Hypnagogic sensations
Hypnagogic sensations are vivid dream-like experiences that occur as one is falling asleep or waking up. Accompanying sleep paralysis can cause the sensations to be more frightening. The features of these sensations generally vary by individual, but some are more common to the experience than others:
Most common
Vividness
Falling sensation
Fear
Common
Sensing a "presence" (often malevolent)
Pressure/weight on body (especially the chest or back).
A sensation of not being able to breathe
Sense of impending doom/death
Fairly common
Auditory sensations (often footsteps or indistinct voices, or pulsing noises). Auditory sensations which are described as noise instead of sensations of distinct or comprehensible sounds, are often described to be similar to auditory sensations caused by nitrous oxide by persons who have experienced both.
Visual sensations such as lights, people or shadows moving around the room
Less common
Floating sensations (often described as out-of-body experiences)
Seamless transition into fully immersive lucid dreaming, also associated with out-of-body experiences
Tactile sensations (such as a hand touching or grabbing)
Rare
Vibration
Involuntary movements (sometimes the feeling of sliding off the bed or even up walls).
The feeling of being pulled in different directions
During the hypnagogic state, an individual may appear to be fully awake, but has brain waves indicating that the individual is technically sleeping. Also, the individual may be completely aware of their state, which enables lucid dreamers to enter the dream state consciously directly from the waking state (see wake-initiated lucid dream technique). Many artists, musicians, architects, engineers, and others demanding creativity to be successful have benefited from hypnagogia, where the mind can be free and open to creative and new ideas.[citation needed]
An experience of the hypnagogic state is not an uncommon occurrence with 30 to 40 percent of people experiencing it at least once in their lives. However, it could be a sign of a sleep disorder, such as narcolepsy and insomnia, or associated with temporal lobe epilepsy.
The hypnagogic state can be accompanied by or associated with anomalous phenomena such as alien abduction, extra-sensory perception, telepathy, apparitions, or prophetic or crisis visions. This conduciveness to anomalous phenomena can be correlated with the initial increase of alpha and the later increase of theta brainwaves.
Other theories and speculations range from parallel dimensional beings, demonic activity, aliens, and of course most common; hallucinations. However with such an elevation in the number of reported cases it would be hard to dismiss the phenomenon as simply flight of fancy. Case reports vary on size, height, and state of said phenomenon. Some claim to be between 3-5 feet in height, others 5-7 feet. Some are gender specified, while others see as only a black shapeless mass.
Almost all cases of reported "Shadow People" claim it to be benign in nature, and I am hard pressed to hear of a case where a person was physically assaulted by a shadow being. One of my own personal theories is that reports of spectral "Black Dogs", Grims and other death omens could possibly tie in with the "SP" phenomena. Like that of the Banshees' of Ireland, Black Dogs and Grims supposedly signal the passing of a member of an ancesteral house. Although death omens themselves can be taken for nothing more than pariedolia(people seeing what they want to see), it is an interesting premise to think about. Could "shadows" be trying to convey a message of passing or even possibly to warn of impending danger?
Anyways that is enough for this evening, feel free to leave any comments you would like, as I am always up for intellectual discussion.
-FulCoPara
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