Shadow People (Part 1)

[00:00:19] Hello, everybody. Welcome to Enter The Rift Podcast, Season 1, Episode 4. And today on this episode, we will be discussing shadow people and what they may be. I'm your host, Kenny, and joining me is my co-host and brother, Garrett.

[00:00:32] Yo!

[00:00:34] All right, so let's get into it.

[00:00:36] The term shadow people is actually a relatively new paranormal research term that was created by the researcher and author Heidi Hollis in the late 90s and early 2000s.

[00:00:46] Even though this is a relatively new term, the phenomena has been reported for centuries by different cultures all around the world.

[00:00:53] In the Islamic world, this phenomena was called the Djinn. Different Native American tribes have different names for shadow beings.

[00:01:00] The Choctaw tribe of North America has several names for shadow beings, notably the Nalusa Chito or the Soul Eater.

[00:01:08] So just to name a few different cultures that have names for shadow beings.

[00:01:14] And there's also the multiple accounts that are also interlinked with kind of the same concept, like the incubus and succubus.

[00:01:23] I have heard multiple people kind of describe them as a similar entity kind of thing, but I know most of the time those are rounded up as a different subject.

[00:01:32] But multiple podcasts that I have listened to or other videos I watched about it, they all mention them as well.

[00:01:39] I guess because they kind of fit the general vibe.

[00:01:41] Yeah.

[00:01:41] So what do shadow people look like, right?

[00:01:45] They are very dark humanoid silhouettes.

[00:01:48] A lot of them are said to be like blacker than black, as though they absorb all light that's hitting them.

[00:01:54] They are said to be three-dimensional and they contrast sharply against the environment, even in really dark rooms.

[00:02:01] Some descriptions say that they have glowing red eyes, and in others it could be either yellow or completely white.

[00:02:07] They usually don't have any discernible features.

[00:02:09] Sometimes they have like a vaporous or wispy appearance with wisps of smoke wafting off the body.

[00:02:17] Sometimes they've also been showed to look like TV static.

[00:02:21] Most often they are reportedly seen in just the person's peripheral vision, and they flee upon being spotted or if you go to look directly at them.

[00:02:29] However, sometimes there have been cases of shadow people being seen directly in someone's center view by eyewitnesses.

[00:02:36] Yeah, and I believe that now I do not remember off the top of my head the name of the professor or doctor, whoever it was, but he did an experiment where he completely blocked off his center of his vision, and so he could only focus on peripheral.

[00:02:52] And I believe that he had multiple, I guess you would say visual hallucinations of like shadow entities during his study.

[00:02:58] Oh, okay.

[00:02:58] That's pretty interesting.

[00:03:00] Yeah.

[00:03:00] Unfortunately, I don't remember who it was off the top of my head.

[00:03:02] So there are several theories regarding what shadow people are.

[00:03:09] Everything from more benign scientific theories to more of a paranormal or metaphysical theory.

[00:03:18] So one of the main theories that shadow people are is that they are actually either a hypnagogic or hypnopompic hallucination.

[00:03:26] So what hypnagogic hallucinations are, are when your brain is going between states of wakefulness and sleep.

[00:03:35] So hypnagogic hallucinations happen as you're falling asleep, and hypnopompic hallucinations occur as you're waking up.

[00:03:44] So in that transition state, a lot of people have hallucinations, and then some of them are of shadow people.

[00:03:52] And this also plays into sleep paralysis.

[00:03:56] For sleep paralysis, there's a natural mechanism that the body does when people are in rapid eye movement sleep called atonia.

[00:04:05] And that's when the body, it's like a temporary form of paralysis where it's a natural defense mechanism that people don't act out their dreams like thrashing or kicking around in the bed.

[00:04:16] It's a way to prevent harm to yourself or others.

[00:04:20] What happens in sleep paralysis is where atonia is still present, and then the conscious self wakes up.

[00:04:26] So the people wake up, and yet they're unable to move.

[00:04:31] They're completely paralyzed.

[00:04:32] And then during that state, that's when a lot of people will have hallucinations and see shadow people.

[00:04:40] And they can be very, very vivid hallucinations that feel very real and can cause a lot of fear.

[00:04:48] And some people say they feel like they have something like crushing their chest or trying to choke them during that state.

[00:04:55] Yeah, so kind of like the old hag syndrome or experience.

[00:04:59] Yeah, it's very similar to that.

[00:05:00] There's a lot of overlap between old hag syndrome, which is like another name for some people use for sleep paralysis.

[00:05:07] But there's a whole lot of paranormal things just surrounding sleep paralysis, like shadow people.

[00:05:13] But the old hag is like, it can be its own paranormal topic.

[00:05:19] But that's one theory of why people see shadow people.

[00:05:24] And it's just that it's the mind making that image from someone when they're in that state between sleep and wake.

[00:05:32] It's the mind trying to process information to try to see if there's any threats that it has to recognize and respond to.

[00:05:40] So another explanation for why people see shadow people is substance abuse, particularly Benadryl and methamphetamines.

[00:05:48] So there's actually a pretty big recent trend, especially on things like TikTok, of people abusing Benadryl to purposely get high and experience these states.

[00:06:01] Benadryl is also known by diphenhydramine.

[00:06:03] It's an over-the-counter antihistamine that people a lot of times will take for allergies.

[00:06:09] They got stung by a bee just to help prevent allergic reactions.

[00:06:16] Some people also use it as a sleep aid.

[00:06:19] Low doses is perfectly safe and helps people treat temporary insomnia.

[00:06:24] However, now there's been an ongoing thing where people are taking extremely large doses of Benadryl to put them into a deliriant state to try to get high.

[00:06:34] And people have been showing it like, oh, it's like acid.

[00:06:38] It's like mushrooms.

[00:06:40] But you can just go to any store and buy it.

[00:06:42] It's not really like those two.

[00:06:44] So it is a serotonin reuptake inhibitor.

[00:06:48] In large doses, it will actually inhibit the central nervous system and puts people into these states of delirium.

[00:06:57] So it's not a pleasant experience.

[00:07:01] Like a lot of people report acid or mushrooms.

[00:07:05] It's a very unpleasant state.

[00:07:07] So people report at least that the revision gets all grainy and distorted.

[00:07:12] People say that they see thousands of spiders crawling all over them in the walls.

[00:07:17] And they can feel spiders biting them.

[00:07:21] They also report seeing shadow people either like this looming in the corner of their vision.

[00:07:28] And sometimes on Benadryl, they will see shadow people more directly coming in and out of their rooms, trying to like choke them.

[00:07:38] Some people have said or like to stare at them, looming at them menacingly.

[00:07:42] One, I guess, type of shadow person that a lot of people see while they're on these big doses of Benadryl is the hat man, which is a shadow person.

[00:07:56] But he's more of like an archetype of the shadow people where it's everything that we just described earlier.

[00:08:03] But he's usually wearing like a wide brim hat or maybe like a fedora.

[00:08:07] And the doses that people typically take, if you go, let's say less than 300 milligrams in a day of Benadryl is what the typical recommended dose is.

[00:08:16] So for just like trying to sleep, 25 to 50 milligrams is all what anyone would recommend to take to try to sleep.

[00:08:23] And for like an electric reaction, you could do a little bit more every like four to eight hours.

[00:08:30] But what these people who are trying to get high off Benadryl do, they'll take around 500, 600 milligrams in one go.

[00:08:39] It does just wrecks them for four or five hours at a time.

[00:08:45] Yeah.

[00:08:45] And I don't understand why anybody would want to purposely have a, I guess you would say a bad trip.

[00:08:51] I mean, who wants to feel spiders crawling all over them and biting them and having hallucinations of shadow people, spiders on the ceiling?

[00:09:02] It just doesn't sound very appealing.

[00:09:05] No, not at all.

[00:09:07] And another drug that people reportedly see shadow people on is methamphetamine.

[00:09:12] Methamphetamine.

[00:09:12] Yep.

[00:09:13] Or like crystal meth, ice, whatever you want to call it.

[00:09:17] Crank.

[00:09:18] Crank.

[00:09:19] Yeah.

[00:09:20] How, uh, how this makes people see shadow people is basically since it's such a powerful stimulant, a lot of people who abuse meth, uh, they won't sleep for days at a time.

[00:09:30] So many people said once they're, once they've been awake for like three to four days, they'll start seeing shadow people just from the sleep deprivation.

[00:09:39] Being awake that long would put you into a state of delirium just by itself when you're not being able to sleep or get any rest.

[00:09:47] So then you're all cranked up on meth.

[00:09:50] You're paranoid.

[00:09:51] You haven't slept in days.

[00:09:54] You haven't slept in days.

[00:09:54] And then now you're seeing all these shadow beings trying to like follow you around, try to like stare at you, try to get all up on your space.

[00:10:05] So, and that's what a big side effect from, uh, I believe from meth abuse.

[00:10:10] And that's why some people see shadow people.

[00:10:13] Yeah.

[00:10:13] So if you want to experience this, contact your local, uh, Mexican American at the trailer park and go on a spirit guide.

[00:10:20] So another reason that people see shadow people, that's not so grounded to, uh, we could say is that shadow people are actually just ghosts or spirits.

[00:10:32] So a lot of people think that shadow people or the shadow beings are ghosts that just haven't fully manifested like other typical ghosts.

[00:10:43] Are instead of like the white stereotypical image of a ghost where they're like kind of transparent white.

[00:10:50] And you have all that detail of like the clothing they wore while they were alive.

[00:10:54] The shadow people are just like the description we said.

[00:10:58] Uh, and there's some theories that, so like the ghosts, they don't have a will of their own.

[00:11:04] Like if it's like the stone tape theory, it's just like the surroundings manifesting a phenomena, replaying it over and over again.

[00:11:13] Whereas shadow people do have a will and they're a sentient being that is doing something.

[00:11:23] So that would be the difference between like a ghost in the typical sense or a shadow person.

[00:11:30] Another theory is that shadow people are actually an interdimensional or astral traveler.

[00:11:37] It's a being from like another dimension that is somehow traveling and appearing in ours.

[00:11:44] And the way it's manifesting in our reality is this typical just black wispy appearance.

[00:11:51] And they can't maintain that form for a very long time.

[00:11:55] And that's why people only see them for like split second.

[00:11:59] Another theory with the interdimensional beings is that they're here to observe us but not really be seen.

[00:12:06] And that's why they are always in the periphery of people's vision.

[00:12:12] They're there to try to watch and see us for who knows what reason.

[00:12:16] And that's why they flee when you see them.

[00:12:20] Another theory of what shadow people are is that they are actually just astral travelers.

[00:12:26] So one theory is that it's people or maybe another being that's astrally projecting itself.

[00:12:33] And what people are seeing is its astral body as it's appearing before them.

[00:12:40] So it could be someone, you know, from around the world and they've learned astral projection.

[00:12:45] And this is what people are seeing.

[00:12:48] They're just seeing a vague representation of that person.

[00:12:53] So they're seeing what could be like their avatar or something like that, or just their astral body.

[00:13:00] Typically in talks of astral projection, there's always talk about like a silver cord that's connected to the body that connects the astral and the physical body.

[00:13:09] And those usually aren't described in accounts of shadow people.

[00:13:15] So that could be a potential explanation for why some people see shadow people.

[00:13:21] However, I don't think that's very likely.

[00:13:23] Yeah, I pretty much am on the standpoint of most of this just like a demonic entity.

[00:13:29] Considering the fact that, you know, every encounter most of the time, I say most of the time, but usually it ends up being like a hard like fear response.

[00:13:40] Like a it's just trying to feed off of your fear and negative energy.

[00:13:45] Right.

[00:13:47] A lot of people believe that they are demons or negative spirits and that they are literally just trying to feed off of the energy that people have when they see them.

[00:14:00] And so they feed off their negative emotions and fear.

[00:14:03] And the researcher, Heidi Hollis, she actually says that like a good way to repel the shadow beings is to think, you know, like positive thoughts, prayer, turning on lights and all that sort of thing will counteract their attempts to feed off of you to banish them, basically.

[00:14:26] So with that, another explanation or theory for what these shadow people are, that they are demons.

[00:14:35] So what you're seeing is their form and that they're manifesting in this reality to try to torment people, to scare them, to abuse and neglect them.

[00:14:49] There's been cases where shadow people try to choke or scratch or generally attack people.

[00:14:57] And it's the same signs that a lot of supposed demonic activity displays with the whole like the scratch marks on with people hearing very like deep, disturbing voices saying awful things.

[00:15:13] A lot of things, a lot of it happens at like the same times, typical demonic activity would take place usually in, in at night, but sometimes in the day as well.

[00:15:24] Most of the time at night though.

[00:15:26] Another explanation or theory about shadow people is that they're jinn from like Middle Eastern mythology.

[00:15:34] The researcher Rosemary Ellen Giley did a whole book theorizing that a lot of the paranormal phenomenon associated with shadow people and other things such as ghosts or poltergeists were actually jinn.

[00:15:49] So in Rosemary Ellen Giley's case of how she compares jinn to shadow people with their similarities and how she believes shadow people are in fact jinn, jinn are said to be very masterful shapeshifters, though not everything is 100% correct.

[00:16:09] And there's been many cases where people have seen shadow people that are actually like blobs or they resemble a dog or a cat.

[00:16:17] There's beings like called like shadow spiders where it's not really like a spider in the typical sense, but it's like a being of many tentacles that's seen by people.

[00:16:28] Another reason for that she believes they're a jinn is that they, they hate people or because in the Islamic mythology, jinn were here on this world first.

[00:16:40] And then they're either pushed out by us or for us.

[00:16:44] And that made them very resentful of people.

[00:16:49] And that's why in these cases of shadow people attacks, they'll wake up after the fact and have these bruises, red marks, scratches, or cuts.

[00:17:01] And those can be attributed to jinn attacks.

[00:17:06] That's like the kind of things that you would see if one was abusing a person, which could, it also kind of plays into what, like I was saying earlier with, with the typical demonic style of activity.

[00:17:21] Yeah.

[00:17:21] It all generally sounds like a malicious being.

[00:17:24] There really no aiming aspects to it.

[00:17:26] It's mostly just an embodiment of evil.

[00:17:29] Yeah.

[00:17:30] There's some people who argue that shadow people aren't malevolent, but most of the cases involving shadow people leave, at a minimum, leave people feel uneasy.

[00:17:44] Most of it leaves people feeling extremely frightened or have a feeling of dread or anxiety, which that doesn't sound benevolent at all to me.

[00:17:54] There are a few people who believe they're benign or neutral, or some even say benevolent.

[00:18:01] There was some people say that shadow people are actually like protectors or something like that, but that doesn't seem to track.

[00:18:10] No.

[00:18:11] So I think most of these beings are malevolent, do not like people, want to abuse or attack for whatever reason.

[00:18:22] Sometimes there's been cases where it says shadow people try to do like a temporary possession of a person, which is a similarity to the jinn.

[00:18:31] But that is also exactly like a demon in traditional Christian theologies.

[00:18:39] Yeah, an evil spirit tries to possess a body to do bad things or to experience the world and the human body in a bad way.

[00:18:48] Something that is benevolent is not going to try to take possession of somebody.

[00:18:53] It's not going to hurt them.

[00:18:54] It's not going to make them feel like a sense of total dread.

[00:19:01] Yeah, it's not going to be a fun, happy time to get a visit from one of these.

[00:19:06] I don't understand how somebody could be like, oh yeah, it's just my friend.

[00:19:10] It's just like my friend.

[00:19:12] Nah.

[00:19:13] This sounds like general demonic behavior.

[00:19:16] Right.

[00:19:17] So yeah, so there's a fair bit of different reasons that could explain what shadow people are.

[00:19:24] And honestly, it could be a little bit of all of the above.

[00:19:27] Some of these sightings, or maybe even most of the sightings, could be people just having hallucinations or drug-induced hallucinations.

[00:19:36] It doesn't just have to be the hypnogonic or hypnopompic ones where people are just going between sleep and wake.

[00:19:44] Like, you know, if people want to eat a whole bottle of Benadryl, that's probably a good way to see shadow people.

[00:19:49] Whether or not that's an actual shadow person that they're seeing because they're in that state,

[00:19:54] or it's just a hallucination induced from the drugs.

[00:19:58] And then obviously, like, yeah, maybe the shadow people are actual paranormal entities.

[00:20:02] Whether or not that means they're a ghost, or that means they're a djinn, or a demon, or anything of that sort.

[00:20:13] So of all the theories that could explain shadow people, what are your thoughts?

[00:20:19] I'm under the personal belief that regardless of whether this is a drug-induced hallucination or hypnogonic or other sleep-involved hallucinations,

[00:20:31] regardless of the fact that it's like you're about to fall asleep or you're currently waking up,

[00:20:35] or if it's even a sense of, like, sleep deprivation.

[00:20:42] I'm kind of under the understanding of, with most of this stuff, that it can be summed up as,

[00:20:48] maybe we're trying to use a scientific lens to understand something that is spiritual more or less than a vice versa.

[00:20:55] Like, most people would look at it as, like, old folklore from the past,

[00:20:58] with, like, a lot of, regardless of if it's of the Native or Middle Eastern or New Age.

[00:21:06] I think it's mostly, like, you're all looking at the same thing through a different lens.

[00:21:11] And it's, most of the time, in my opinion, by most, I mean all,

[00:21:17] we're all of the time having an encounter with a demonic entity, regardless of what lens you're looking at it through.

[00:21:24] Whether or if you're using a substance to open up into a different plane,

[00:21:31] or if you're in a more vulnerable-induced state, like being in a hypnogonic state.

[00:21:40] I'm pretty much at the standpoint that this is, regardless of how you get there,

[00:21:45] you're still experiencing it.

[00:21:47] And the fact that you are experiencing it means that they can feed off of you.

[00:21:50] So you think that it's an actual, like, paranormal entity, potentially, like, a demonic entity,

[00:21:56] even though, like, it could be just that when you're taking, you know, the 500 milligrams of Benadryl,

[00:22:03] versus you are having an episode of sleep paralysis that puts you in that state to be able to perceive them,

[00:22:10] like, actually see them.

[00:22:12] And when they notice, you notice them, that's when they try to feed off of you?

[00:22:15] Yeah, I'm under basically the belief that you're opening up the door to something when you take a psychotropic substance,

[00:22:24] or you are in a weakened state.

[00:22:27] So regardless of, like, let's say you haven't slept for three days because you're on a meth bender,

[00:22:34] or you have severe insomnia,

[00:22:38] the meth bender is more of, like, you're opening the door and you're exhausted.

[00:22:41] And I believe, like, under any insomnia-induced situations, it's more like you're in a weakened state.

[00:22:47] So it's more like a predator-seeing-prey kind of situation.

[00:22:52] It's weakened, so that's when they come.

[00:22:54] Okay. That makes a good bit of sense.

[00:22:57] I mean, obviously they would want to find, if they are a predator,

[00:23:03] or looking at humans as a food source,

[00:23:07] then, yeah, it would make sense that you want to pick off the weak ones.

[00:23:10] Yeah, and I don't necessarily think it's a food source issue.

[00:23:14] I think it's more of a torment through jealousy,

[00:23:16] because if you look at a lot of, like, most of the sightings with children,

[00:23:21] it's at night.

[00:23:23] You know, children are, like, the only thing that has purity and innocence in the world,

[00:23:28] so they want to destroy it.

[00:23:30] And with a lot of, like, the adult situations,

[00:23:33] where it's, like, people that are, like, on a drug-induced bender,

[00:23:37] they are in a weakened state,

[00:23:39] and they want to keep them from being in a healed state.

[00:23:42] They want to keep them down.

[00:23:43] They want to keep them weak.

[00:23:45] And it's not like they want to consume.

[00:23:47] It's more of a destroy situation.

[00:23:51] Just out of hatred?

[00:23:52] Yeah.

[00:23:53] Because I'm under the impression that these are demonic entities,

[00:23:56] and the demonic, they're not trying to eat your soul.

[00:23:59] They're not trying to consume you,

[00:24:01] and they're trying to hurt God,

[00:24:03] because they cannot kill God.

[00:24:04] They want to kill what God loves.

[00:24:06] Gotcha.

[00:24:07] I mean, it makes a lot of sense.

[00:24:09] If you can't hit what you really want to hit,

[00:24:11] you hit the next best thing.

[00:24:13] Yeah, if you can't.

[00:24:13] It's like a criminal situation,

[00:24:15] and that's what a lot of the spiritual can be looked through,

[00:24:18] is like a system of law and order.

[00:24:20] And it's basically a,

[00:24:23] well, I can't hurt my enemy,

[00:24:24] so I'm going to go do a drive-by on his mom's house kind of situation.

[00:24:28] It's like, it's generally a no-go,

[00:24:31] but they do it.

[00:24:32] Yeah.

[00:24:33] What are your thoughts on people,

[00:24:36] like when they see shadow people,

[00:24:37] that it's not like a paranormal entity

[00:24:39] of like a supernatural being

[00:24:42] that's trying to do whatever to them, you know?

[00:24:46] What are your thoughts on it being like somebody

[00:24:48] who's like astrally projecting,

[00:24:50] and like they're just having to see

[00:24:52] the astral form out of the corner of their eye,

[00:24:56] or something like that?

[00:24:57] Um, that I'm a little iffy on.

[00:25:01] Um, I haven't really looked into a lot of like the astral projection stuff,

[00:25:07] because that's more of the new age kind of stuff.

[00:25:11] I mean, it's not, but it is.

[00:25:12] Most of the stuff you're going to find on it nowadays

[00:25:15] of the new age,

[00:25:16] not really of the like old mystic stuff,

[00:25:19] but a lot of the old mystic stuff,

[00:25:20] I think is just kind of like the demonic stuff.

[00:25:22] It's just blends.

[00:25:24] The idea of the soul being able to like leave the body

[00:25:27] while in a state of like sleep,

[00:25:29] like we're like lucid dreaming astral projection,

[00:25:32] I think is more of a,

[00:25:33] an iffy or subject for me.

[00:25:35] Because I'm, I'm, I'm not really sure on that stuff at all.

[00:25:39] I think that most of the time, uh,

[00:25:42] your, your, your, your soul cannot leave it.

[00:25:44] It's, it's a vessel until you're dead.

[00:25:46] So, and I don't believe in, uh,

[00:25:49] like disembodied spirits or ghosts.

[00:25:52] I don't think ghosts are people.

[00:25:53] Once you're dead, you're,

[00:25:55] you're, you're dead and awaiting the last days

[00:25:58] kind of situation.

[00:25:58] You're not really aware of what's going around you.

[00:26:01] You don't have your memories.

[00:26:02] You're just like, you're asleep.

[00:26:04] You're just in the ground.

[00:26:05] Gotcha.

[00:26:07] I'm just generally under the impression that like

[00:26:10] where astral projection or ghost or seances,

[00:26:14] you're just, uh,

[00:26:15] kind of involving yourself with witchcraft

[00:26:18] and demonic activity.

[00:26:19] You're not really seeing people that are

[00:26:21] like disembodied spirits.

[00:26:23] Okay.

[00:26:24] All right, everyone.

[00:26:26] Thank you for listening to this episode

[00:26:28] of enter the rift podcast.

[00:26:29] I thought this was an interesting primer

[00:26:32] into the topic of shadow people.

[00:26:35] Uh, stick around for the second half of this episode

[00:26:39] where we were going to go into all kinds of

[00:26:42] eyewitness stories and accounts of shadow people,

[00:26:45] including the hat man,

[00:26:48] which is one of the most famous examples of shadow people.

[00:26:53] If you enjoyed this episode,

[00:26:54] please give us a like, rate us, subscribe, follow.

[00:26:59] Share it with your friends

[00:27:00] and please tell us what you think.