Jan. 23, 2012

Legendary radio host Art Bell's intrigued by them, neurologists dismiss them, psychologists laugh about them. But now grim researchers are investigating startling cases of the mysterious, faceless entities called Shadow People that are relentlessly attacking unwary humans.

Horror-stricken Australian Anne Williams claims a shadow person attempted to rape her.

Photo of alleged Shadow People next to a tree

The appalling incident started years ago with glimpses of something dark hiding behind trees, darting around corners, or fleeing a room as she entered.

The sightings escalated gradually until they became a daily event and her brief glimpses transformed into full views of nightmarish things.

Then her paranormal experiences began to escalate until they reached a crescendo of screaming fear.

The night the shadow attacked

Imagine cowering helpless in your bed, paralyzed with fear, fully awake, helplessly watching something dark and silent creeping inexorably towards you. That's what Williams claims she encountered.

Some have dismissed her nocturnal attack as nothing but sleep paralysis and lucid dreaming, but she insists the bizarre attack left her bruised, scratched and emotionally shaken. She swears she didn't imagine the sinister thing fondling her, tearing back the bed covers, and roughly groping her.

Even as it happened she knew she was being sexually molested and while the experience terrorized her then, it completely sickens her now.

Shadow People often appear when least expected

According to researcher Jason Offutt Williams testifies that “One early morning I felt so strongly that there was a presence standing next to my left as my bed was right in the corner of the wall. I felt as though I was blocked, like something was standing over me or wanted to scare me.”

This is a classic encounter with an entity that appears in the middle of the night.

“As I opened my eyes to see what the hell it was, there stood on my left side of the bed a black cloaked hooded figure."

The ghastly thing leaned over her, pinned her to the bed and grabbed her neck when she attempted to scream. When she tried to push it away it savagely pinned her to the bed and then began groping her and hurting her.

“I felt that it shoved its arm down [on] my neck and was choking me as nothing came out of my mouth,” she explained. “Like no noise. I could not even hear myself scream, but I was.”

Finally, after what seemed an interminable struggle, the being left. After the attack, Williams felt enraged, soiled, and frightened. Upon learning the details of the incident, Williams' mother speculated that the entity may have been the evil ghost of a dead rapist.

But the being Anne Williams encountered in her bedroom was no ghostly entity; it was a shadow person.

Photo of a shadow person standing in doorway

Other witnesses encountering Shadow People also describe physical attacks leaving them with scratches, bruises, even burns.

Attacks by Shadow People on human victims can range from being stalked and chased to being attacked with weapons.

On rare occasions Shadow People stalking a victim have been witnessed by friends and family.

Not all Shadow People are the same

Paranormal researcher, Rosemary Ellen Guiley says of the phenomenon, "There are different types of Shadow People. The core, dominant experience is the nighttime bedroom visitor: a tall silhouette of a man, often dressed in a coat or cape, and a brimmed hat. The figure is blacker than black and 3D, obstructing light and blocking the view of objects. There are no facial features or eyes (sometimes red eyes are reported), but the experiencer knows he is being observed with great intensity. The figures do not communicate, but often radiate a malevolent, trickster, or evil intent."

What are Shadow People?

The perception of Shadow People differs depending on the researchers and their specialties.

Some experts believe that the sightings have little to do with reality, but are simply people's minds playing tricks. Others think seeing a shadow person is evidence of a neurological anomaly in the region of the brain that governs sight.

Imagination may play a role in some Shadow People experiences, argue other experts, while those with strong religious beliefs assert that the appearance of these things are nothing less than manifestations from the dimension called Hell: demonic creatures sent by Satan to torment and terrorize humans.

Victims often report that calling on God or Jesus to help them wards off an attack.

Although experts disagree over exactly what Shadow People are, where they come from, and how they manifest themselves, strangely witnesses from every culture and throughout history tend to describe something similar. Certain traits repeat themselves.

The most ubiquitous feature present in many of the reports of Shadow People encounters describe a tall, mannish-looking entity that, curiously, wears a wide-brimmed hat.

A faceless entity that wears a hat is high strangeness indeed.

Famed paranormal researcher Heidi Hollis says she created the name "Hatman" to differentiate sightings of dark, featureless entities seen wearing hats. She says those beings are often described as wearing long dusters or trenchcoats and 1940s style, or Hispanic gaucho type hats.

If the beings actually exist, and witnesses swear they do, then the likely source of their origin is a nearby universe or parallel dimension.