Celluloid Diaries: February 2012

Friday, February 10, 2012

Shadow People

Shadow Person
Shadow people are human-shaped hooded forms that can be seen out of the corner of your eye. They are opaque black and when you turn to face them, they vanish unnaturally fast into the ether. Sometimes they are caught in pictures and they always appear with a sense of dread and doom. Many believe them to be harbingers of catastrophes and it is said that they will appear more often when the end of the world is near. Strangely enough, the amount of eyewitness reports is increasing at an alarming rate. Is this because more people are talking about this phenomenon so others are admitting to it? Or is something more eerie going on?

These shadow people were my initial inspiration for the dark hooded beings in my short story The Strangers Outside. Although I haven’t remained entirely faithful to the phenomenon (the dark figures in The Strangers Outside are clearly visible when you look at them directly and even seem to come closer and closer), I have kept several of their characteristics such as their dark nature, their hooded shape, and the fact that they seem to be harbingers of catastrophes.

The Gestalt Effect or the neurological processes we use for interpreting things we only see partially is probably the most logical explanation for shadow people. The human mind is capable of seeing only a small fraction of an object and filling in the blanks to understand what the complete object is. It isn't uncommon to see part of a lamp post out of the corner of your eye and think it is a cat. The mistake is quickly rectified when you turn to face the item. The same thing could be possible with shadow people. This would explain shadow people's quick movements and the fact that they are always seen in the peripheral field of vision where perceptual errors most commonly occur.

Also, living in a world with HD TV, computer screens, and other kinds of electronics that constantly update their screens at a high rate of speed is changing our vision rapidly. Things we didn't see in our peripheral vision before are now available to us. A peripheral vision of up to 90 images per second is also able to handle faster light waves than the central vision of 3 to 4 high quality telescopic images per second. That means that your peripheral vision would be more likely the place to pick up something that moves in a higher speed spectrum. Perhaps shadow people are the only images out there that are rapidly refreshing, other than our electronics, which might explain why we aren't seeing more than just shadow people.

Shadow People
However, those who have had encounters with shadow people firmly believe in the supernatural aspect of this phenomenon. For them, the scientific theories only explain why we are able to see these beings, but they don't explain what they are or where they come from. Some suggestions have included demons, aliens, time travelers and interdimensional beings. One of the weirdest things is that some people do see them with their central vision, especially young people who trained their eyes on high-speed computers and televisions from a tender age while their visual perceptions are still forming. And what about shadow people who seem to have a mind of their own and move off to incredible speed when someone notices them? One of the eyewitness reports says: "The figure seemed to be made of darkness, no discernable features other than the outline. It was mid afternoon and the kitchen was quite bright, yet the figure seemed to just absorb the light. For two or three seconds I stared at the figure, then it seemed to notice me. As soon as it did it moved off to the left at incredible speed, almost seeming to melt away in that direction."

Let's finish with your opinion on this. Which theory do you think is the correct one? And have you ever had an encounter with shadow people?
This post appeared as a guest article on Reading and Writing Urban Fantasy.


Book About Shadow People
About The Strangers Outside

Two sisters return to their remote holiday cottage after a day at the seaside. But little do they know they are being surrounded. Soon after their arrival, the girls will come face to face with THE STRANGERS OUTSIDE. When the assailants make their intentions known, things take a shockingly terrible turn and an intense battle for survival will begin.