Maybe you’ve heard of ghosts, but have you heard of the strange phenomena known as Shadow People?

There are countless reports on such things. Theories ranging from ghosts and spirits to inter-dimensional beings and time travelers. People who claim to have seen these Shadow People all share similar stories of being in the dark in bed and seeing something that is darker than their pitch black room. They are said to be human figures that you first see out of the corner of your eye. Usually these presences are seen as just silhouettes, other accounts recall them to be appearing male wearing hats and with long coats but still have no discernible face or features. While they do sound to be kind of like ghosts, they are quite different.

Ghosts are typically seen as white transparent beings that stay in one place. Shadow People stories are usually all the same. They are seen as very large dark beings that usually stare at the person seeing them in the middle of the night. Once seen, the person seeing it usually freezes in fear and feels as though they cannot move. While most Shadow People just stand in one spot, some have been known to sit onto of people and press down on their chests, the ones seen wearing hats are said to have a more malicious or evil vibe.

Obviously a lot of people try to link seeing such beings to some kind of mental or emotional issues. Seeing Shadow People sometimes has related to having sleep disorders or poor sleeping schedules. Others blame overactive imaginations, but most are connected to the way the brain, and often peripheral vision, works. Paranormal blogs that discuss these shadows mention that a type of anti-depressant drug lists “visual disturbances” as a side effect. So the the rise in use of these drugs could be the answer for the increase in Shadow People experiences.

But what is this? Stephan Hawking himself has weighed in. Because 95% of universe is made up of dark matter, which we cannot see and due to the possibility of dimensions that are invisible to us: “There could be shadow galaxies, shadow stars, and even shadow people”. Meaning entire populated realms could exist that we don’t know about because we can’t perceive them. The shadow being phenomena could be caused by other dimensions that overlap our own and occasionally intersect. Which is crazy. Other theorists claim that because there is no actual law of physics that states time travel is impossible, Shadow People could be visitors from other times. These theorists propose that what if when time travelers visit other times, they aren’t so visible as we see them in movies? Another theory claims that they are the spirits of people having out-of-body experiences. Some believe that we all travel out of our bodies while we sleep, so our essence is traveling and unknowingly showing ourself to others in different time levels.

Some theories state that the appearance of a Shadow Person can be created by negative energies surrounding the person seeing them. Meanwhile some think them to be angels or spirits watching over them. Whether you believe in ghosts or shadow people or not, the thousands of encounters and experiences recorded are quite compelling.