I wrote about my experience with a shadow man in my first book, but not any of my thoughts on what they might be. I have a lot of thoughts on this, but keep in mind, I can only speak about my own experience with a shadow man and other people's experiences may be totally different, but that doesn't make them any less true.
I found an amazing resource that explains them quite well, if you are looking for more information (whether you've seen them before or just are curious about them):
http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/topic/151198-collected-facts-about-shadow-people/
It's a good description of them and their behaviors. But it made me sick to my stomach to read it because the older and more powerful ones are darker than normal shadows and can be out in the open more. The one I saw was extremely dark, just
pure blackness. It was probably why he was so terrifying. And as you know, mine was out in the open and (depending on which story you believe) possibly moving.
If you are curious as to what shadow people actually look like, here are some pictures that look the most accurate in my opinion. They have different clothes and different forms, but they are very three dimensional and solid.
http://s2.photobucket.com/user/danolson/media/hatguy_zps7ba2f5d1.jpg.html
This picture absolutely terrifies me to look at. I used to be fine looking at pictures of Shadow Men until I actually saw one. The only thing I will say is inaccurate, is there is no lines or anything where their clothes (like their hat) is. It's all just straight blackness.
The second best picture I will say that I've seen is this one:
https://sightland.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/running-shadow.jpg?w=614
Again though, they are pure black and so they don't have light reflecting off of them in any way. They're just blackness, but you can tell they are three dimensional.
The thread I linked to at the beginning of the post talks about the different theories of what shadow men are. I will admit, I am not 100% certain myself because they are so awful and so different than anything else I've ever seen, but from my impressions...
They definitely weren't human. Not now or ever were human. When you see a shadow man, one thing that isn't made clear is that although they don't talk, you can feel things coming from them. Yes, I was terrified when I saw him, but I could feel his emotions as well and they were malicious. Not like he hated me personally, but like he thought humans were beneath him. Toys he played with and/or studied. They have this curiousness and a heartlessness. It's not that they hate us, it's just that they are sociopaths. They have zero empathy whatsoever.
I don't know if a shadow man can kill a human, but I know that if they did, they'd feel no remorse over it, so I'm afraid of seeing one again.
Which is why their combination of evil and curiousness leads people to believe that they might be beings from another dimension, studying us and messing with us. I don't think that is true because I think most intelligent beings would have the capacity to feel empathy towards other intelligent beings. Shadow men can not feel empathy for us.
So I doubt that theory as well, although I think it's possible.
In my opinion, shadow men are actually most likely either demons or manifestations of a bunch of dark things that have happened in a certain area. There's so much evil in a place that it winds up taking a physical form and wandering around.
It felt more like a disconnected entity than something with true feelings, emotions, and experiences.
Hands down, shadow men are always going to be the thing I saw that terrified me the most. More than anything else I will write about. They are the most evil things I've ever seen, which is why whenever I write about them, research them, or look at pictures of them, I always feel terrified.
Let me know if you've had any experiences with shadow men.
