OVERNIGHT'S Haunted Homies E2: Liz's Shadowman Staredown

Liz's experience:

'This story happened when I was twelve, but to this day I still see the shadow figures. I remember I was in the kitchen making a bowl of cereal, home alone, and it was very quiet. I could see out of the corner of my eye a figure, just like a man's black figure outline that you would see on a bathroom but more fuzzy, and it was about 6'7 I would say. I could feel that it was watching me, but when I would turn to face it, it would disappear. I let out a sigh, confused, and a little on edge. I finished getting my bowl of cereal and I was gonna sit down to eat it. I set the bowl down on the kitchen table and then I froze. The figure was inches from me. I could practically feel it but I could only see it out of the corner of my eye. It was on the right side looking over my shoulder. I was shitting my pants like it was just waiting to get at me, to jump at me, again. I went to turn to confront it and it disappeared. The strangest thing about this experience is that I knew it couldn't not actually harm me. Sure, I was kind of scared, but I wasn't rattled as some people get when they see things, I was almost calm. I was practically daring it to come close to me, to reveal itself to me, because I knew that it could not harm me. It was almost like the figure was scared of me, it was checking me out to see if I was harmful or harmless. Keep in mind I'm twelve, most twelve year olds would be freaking out right now yelling, crying, but me, I was almost Stone Cold Steve Austin calm. I have no idea why it really left me alone that day, but it did not come back and I haven't seen it since.'

Liz's Q&A:

Elton:

'Describe to me you as a twelve year old, were you scared? Like, why were you intimidating the shadowman? I need to know what you looked like.'

Liz:

'I grew up religious, so I'm still Christian, so I knew that these things existed, um, and I've always, I've kind of very empathic so I've always seen things, heard things, known that they were there but kind of like what you walking about with Patty. I just, I guess, I just automatically had that in my head because I would just shut it down. I'd be like 'no, you can't touch me, like, no, you're not allowed to'. Like, even the shadow figure was just as close as here *Liz puts her hand beside her head* like if it could breathe like it was a person, it would be breathing on me, like I could feel it. So, it didn't have eyes or anything, but it was just staring me down right here and I was just like, in my mind, I was like 'yeah, come, come at me bro, I'm not scared'.'

Corey:

'Have you ever, have you ever had anyone, like especially when you were that young, tell you, like, you know, spirits can't do anything to you or demons can't do anything to you, just turn it off, or did you just know?'

Liz:

'Um, kind of both. Um, my mum and grandma are both very strong religious women, um, and I just, I think it's also just kind of that knowing that, um, the Holy spirit and me being like 'hey, you can do this, like you, you're allowed to do this' it's not just like 'oh, you're just some human' like, you know.'

Corey:

'I feel that.'

Liz:

'It was really strange because I was kind of scared but not, like, what, I wasn't like quaking or, like, crying or anything. I was just kind of like more curious, like 'why are you looking at me? Why, why are you looking at me? You know there's a bunch of other people who don't believe and you're getting onto me, like I don't, I just don't understand'.'

(...)

Corey:

'I can relate to that though because there's a lot of times growing up where like after I knew it was the shadowman that I saw, and I know that you know I was having experiences with them, I could feel him like standing behind me and I would just be like 'don't turn around, like ignore him' but I, I feel like I was way more scared than how you just explained yours. I was terrified because I would be in, you know, don't turn around but run as fast as you can to get out of, you know, where you are. I would always run from it.'

Liz:

'I was an elite gymnast for a long time so I, just the mentality of that sport I think helped too, like, telling yourself 'oh, yeah, you can do a backflip on the beam and you won't die' like that, that kind of mindset also helps just strengthening; strengthening that and just being like 'oh yeah, no, what are you gonna do? Like, I've already done worse to myself, what are you gonna do to me?' Like...'

(...)

Elton:

'Have you ever gotten to the point where you have said, I'm sure you've had these encounters since then where you've said 'hey, back off' and, and you felt as though it wasn't listening? You've never felt in danger in any capacity?'

Liz:

'No.'

Elton:

'Interesting.'

Liz:

'Um, kind of like what we were talking about was that, a couple of girls and Corey, like, you have seen it via ouija board, I've never played with any of that stuff in my life and the shadowman that you describe has a top hat, mine doesn't. Mine doesn't have a top hat, no clothes, just a figure like looking at me. Like, I could tell it was mal intent, bad, wanted to do something to me but couldn't, like some sort of barrier.'

Elton:

'Do you have any idea where like the origination of this came from because, like, you know for you, you're twelve and this is just happening? Have you ever throughout the years been able to kind of trace back why this began?'

Liz:

'No, I, I mean, I would reason it's because kind of like the same way little kids can see ghosts and see spirits. I was just vulnerable at that time, um, and they just, like, they take advantage of kids and people who don't even know, like, themselves yet, or just like have been talking to their parents their whole life and haven't made their own belief system or strength in their self, they just take advantage of it and I think I had a really head start with that and like my own personality wise and just being already strong at that age.'

Corey:

'Wow.'

Elton:

'So you, you firmly believe that with that, that mental attitude of 'you can't harm me, shut this down' that it is 100% effective for you?'

Liz:

'Yes.'

Corey:

'I think, I think that works for everybody, just gotta learn.'

Liz:

'I was gonna say, like, I believe if somebody believes enough and that says like 'you cannot' they won't do anything to you.'

Corey:

'But if you still have that little very scared feeling in the back of your head where it's like well maybe they can...'

Elton:

'A little chink in the armour.'

Corey:

'Yeah, then they're gonna keep messing with you, but if you completely belive that it's not going to, you just turn that switch off.'

Elton:

'I think that's why nothing like, I don't know, that's why I go into all these things I'm like 'you can't do anything, like, you can try, go ahead', but in my head I'm like 'you can't', like the walls shut down, like, I'll be like 'challenge it' but I don't know, stop it right there.'

(...)

Liz:

'I started up a conversation with my mum like 'hey have you had any experiences?' Because I, I know that when I was younger I would always told I was scared, um, and I would tell my mum 'I don't want to see anything, mum I don't want to see anything' like I'm scared to see something because I guess I knew it was there and that was probably when I was four, five, and I was like 'mum, I don't want to see something' and my mum was like 'don't worry, they can't harm you' like, and then fast forward like several several years later, I'm talking to my mum about this because I'm coming here and just like out of curiosity, like, 'hey have you had any experiences?' And she's like 'yeah, when I was twelve, when I was your age, when you saw your shadowman, I saw what I believe was my guardian angel' and I was like 'why didn't I get a guardian angel? What the heck?' But uh...'

Corey:

'What did she say that her guardian angel looked like? Did she say?'

Liz:

'Um, same thing, same figure, but pure white light. No, didn't feel any bad vibes or anything just completely calm, totally washed over her, was like 'hey I'm' almost like a 'hey, I'm checking in on you' like a good, like somebody who cares, like, if you're sick, like, they check up on you. So, like, it was almost like that for her.'

Elton:

'And this was at the same exact time that happened to you?'

Liz:

'Same age.'

Elton:

'Oh, same age, got it, okay, that makes more sense.'

Liz:

'Same age, when she was twelve, then fast forward several years and then I'm twelve, I have the same experience but the opposite.'

Corey:

'Yeah, but I've also, I, I believe it was Patty that told me this, she was like 'you know the shadowman could not, you know, it doesn't have to be a bad thing, like, you know thousands of people see the shadowman, like, it could just be a type of spirit and, you know, they're not always bad, you know, there's multiple of them. Some can be good, some can be bad' and when I was younger I thought mine was bad and evil, but as I've gotten older, like, I don't think it's really done anything to harm me and Patty's, you know, told me like 'why don't you try talking to him? Why don't you talk to your shadowman?' And I want to but I'm scared so I won't do it yet.'

Liz:

'The whole Cold Stone Steve Austin thing, yeah, basically me like standing there like it's, it's right here *puts her hand in front of her face* and I'm just like 'what are you gonna do about it? What are you gonna do?' '

Corey:

'That's wild.'

Liz:

'I wasn't scared, I just sat there and like watched it out of the corner of my eye. Like, every time I would turn to look at it it'd be gone and I'm like 'why don't you look at me face on? Like, what are you so scared about? Like, look at me!' '

Summary of activity:

1. Shadow figure seen out of the corner of the eye

2. Shadow figure disappears upon direct viewing

3. Sensation of being breathed on

4. A shadow figure or guardian angel manifests itself to 12 year olds

5. Mental resilience wards off spirits

My thoughts:

This experience puts a different spin on the traditional 'I've seen a ghost' story, and that is because instead of focusing on the spirit and how scary it was, it instead flips it and focuses on mental resilience and how spirits can't do anything if you don't let them. As Corey says, thousands of people have seen a shadowman and so that part of the experience isn't anything out of the ordinary. It's Liz's attitude and the figure disappearing as a result which is key. It is often believed that if you mess with ouija boards, if you get anything attached to you, if you come across a bad spirit, then you are as good as doomed and that you need to be cleansed. This shows that isn't the case. Liz's experience shows you can ward off negative spirits just by sheer mental attitude. 

This would make a great deal of sense as to why the skeptical can never seem to experience what others claim to experience regardless of how hard they try. Just as Elton says, he is skeptical, he constantly is challenging spirits, yet he experiences very little because his mental attitude says they can't do anything to him. It would also explain why I haven't experienced anything with the ouija board despite doing solo sessions. I don't believe anything will happen, and so it doesn't. A skeptic would argue against this point by saying if you expect things to happen then your mind is more likely to fabricate things around you, for example seeing shadow figures in the dark because your mind is expecting to see that. It's similar to when you are in a dark room, see a figure, but then when you shine light on it you see it is only a chair with some stuff on it. 

Personally, I think it can be both of these points. I think some instances are a chair in the dark, yet others are legitimately shadow figures. There is no reason why the two explanations cannot co-exist. 

Regarding Liz's mum have a guardian angel version of the shadow figure appear to her at the same age of twelve, I find this to be a topic I need to look more into. It is widely believed children are more sensitive to spirits, and it is also believed that teenagers tend to attract spirits, particularly negative ones, because of all the emotional energy which is ripe for feeding off. The figure appearing at the age of twelve could be testing the emotional resolve of the individual to see if it is worth hanging round, kind of like a lion stalking its prey. I'm not too sure why something resembling a guardian angel would have appeared, unless it was a disguise of sorts. The good vibes accompanying it don't imply that though. 

If you would like to watch the second episode of OVERNIGHT'S Haunted Homies, you can click the link below:

Haunted Homies episode 2

It would be interesting if I find more experiences which are similar to this one which show mental resilience against spirits, and also ones which show a link between apparitions and the age of twelve. I really hope you enjoyed this blog post. If you have any comments whether that be about the blog, experiences of your own, or even places you would like for me to investigate, then you can comment and follow on here, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or Reddit, and you can email thetrueparanormal1@gmail.com for a quick response to any questions.