From: Ava
To: The Official Shadow People Archives
Sent: Monday, August 22, 2016 4:00:03 PM
Subject: Shadow man story

My first encounter with this "shadow man" was in 2014. I had been sent to a behavioral health inpatient hospital in Pennsylvania for an intentional overdose. It was the second night of my stay when I opened my eyes to see him. Our rooms were set up with two beds, and a bathroom. The man was standing in the archway into the bathroom. He was solid black, no features, no eyes, just black. It appeared he was wearing a hat. I will admit, he scared me. I was too paralyzed to get up and check him out, or to say something, so I decided to dismiss it and go back to bed. After all, ​I am in a freaking mental hospital. I'm on heavy medication. It could be nothing.

Fast forward a couple of months and I'm living at my aunt’s house. My dad went on a rampage sort of thing and hurt me and my sister, and I couldn't walk into the kitchen without freaking out about it so my mom decided to move me out until I could function better. The night I first spent in my aunt’s house, the man was there. Standing in the doorway. What really freaked me out was that I always shut the door to my room. The man could open doors, which means he could make contact with me.

This time, I was still afraid, but I knew that it wasn't my imagination. I was on different medication then. I stared at him for a while, trying to work up the courage to say something, or ask him a question. Unfortunately, I got the sudden urge to fall back asleep and ignore him. That's what I did.

The morning came and I told my aunt about it. We did a little research and found I wasn't the only person to see him. My aunt and I burned white sage throughout the house, and I hadn't seen him since.

Now, fast forward again two years. Today is August 22, 2016. I stayed with my aunt and cousins from the 13th to the 16th because my parents were taking my sister to college and they knew I wasn't a rule follower so they made me stay at my aunt’s house. It was the first night and I remember asking myself if I would see him again. Now, I'm completely off medication and working on fixing my mental health problems. I haven't seen him in two years and I associated the man with my depression and other shit.

I was in bed when I felt weird. The best way I can describe it was I felt I was being watched. I was laying on my right side and I could feel a presence behind me. This may not be too convincing, but I'm quite sensitive to my surroundings, and I will know if there's someone behind me or sneaking up on me. And I knew it was him.

I sat up and looked in the corner, but he wasn't there. I whispered "I know you're here, what exactly do you want?" But nothing happened.

Every night since then I've had the same feeling. And now, during the day I will see him out of the corner of my eye. Standing, sitting, leaning against a wall or crawling on the ceiling. But every time I turn my head he is gone. He is watching me type this. He's crouching in my corner. I want to know who he is, but he will not answer me, or stick around long enough for me to look him in the face.