Sorry to say this man, but you're trying real hard to justify these shadows, indicating there is a prior bias to your inquiry. If you feel like they're worth it, by all means, delve. What I can tell you is that while everything IS you, not all of it is good. It's up to you to draw the line between helpful and destructive. And honestly, if you're gonna be defending these things this much, as opposed to questioning them, I really feel this thread belongs in the mystic subcategory. Good luck, shadows suck! sorry, that was just too good to pass up...lol

Feel free to move it if seen fit. Though open discussion seems suitable. I have to say though It's quite interesting to me to see all of the different views on these figures, personally I don't make many assumptions about them, but I think It's ones choice to see them their own way.

You have me all wrong and missed my point entirely. If that is what you took out of my writings then you clearly failed to understand what I was saying. I am not justifying them. I am justifying keeping an open mind. I am not defending them nor am I condemning them. My point is simply that we don't know. I'm the one that is questioning this stuff. You're the one that assumes he has the shadows 100% figured out. I did have a prior bias, and it was the same thinking as yours. Not the other way around. Before I thought they were something bad. Now I think it's better to keep an open mind cause MAYBE they aren't. Notice I said MAYBE and used MAYBE several times in my last post because absolutely nobody can say with all certainty they have the shadows all figured out. This belongs in open discussion cause that's what it is. An open discussion.

I've got a book on the neuroscience of the mystical experience called "The Spiritual Doorway in the Brain." In it is described a fairly well-known experiment on a sufferer of seizures. They opened his brain up to isolate the source of the seizures by "mapping" his brain - probing and inquiring as to the effects.

In the left temporo-parietal junction (around the left temple), they found they could induce a perception of a "shadow being" at a certain location behind the subject. He claimed to feel a 'presence' of some being at a very specific place behind him. An amazing thing happened when the doctors continued to probe this region - they induced an out-of-body-experience. To the subject, he now WAS the shadow person, looking at himself from behind. As if the shadow figure, all along, was just a part of himself observing. When the doctors removed the electrode, he was right back in his body again.

I have experienced "shadow entities" during a couple of particularly nasty sleep paralysis bouts I've had. Normally I'm paralyzed and it's mostly awful and I wait it out. A couple times it was quite frankly terrifying. I couldn't move at all, but I felt totally awake in my room with my eyes open. And there it was - at the foot of the bed - chills down my spine remembering this - I felt only fear. A common experience with paralysis is a feeling of constriction, of being unable to breathe. Mostly these occurences happen when you sleep on your back. The shadowy figure is said to sit on the sleeper's chest maliciously, choking them in their sleep. It's the source of many a folkloric tale, and this beautiful and terrifying classic painting:

http://images.suite101.c...stituteofartsdetroit.jpg

I have a friend who experimented briefly with dried salvia leaves (not extract). He smoked bowl after bowl until the first effects were had - as he puts it, "the shadow people started coming out to say hello." At that point he put the bong down and never touched the stuff again.

Finally, there's always wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_people

"I have experienced "shadow entities" during a couple of particularly nasty sleep paralysis bouts I've had. Normally I'm paralyzed and it's mostly awful and I wait it out. A couple times it was quite frankly terrifying. I couldn't move at all, but I felt totally awake in my room with my eyes open. And there it was - at the foot of the bed - chills down my spine remembering this - I felt only fear. A common experience with paralysis is a feeling of constriction, of being unable to breathe. Mostly these occurences happen when you sleep on your back. The shadowy figure is said to sit on the sleeper's chest maliciously, choking them in their sleep. It's the source of many a folkloric tale, and this beautiful and terrifying classic painting:"

I had an experience exactly like this and can relate a lot. Thank you for sharing this.

My brother told me something similar. Once he decided to see how long he could stay awake. After 2 days he started seeing shadow people. At first in peripheral vision only, then strait on. Then one came up and whispered my brothers name is his ear and then took off running. My brother chased it for a while until it darted around the corner of a building. When my brother turned the corner of the building the shadow person was gone. He said at that point he decided to go home and go to sleep.

He CHASED AFTER IT? That's... pretty much awesome.

Why do I picture the shadow person giggling while it runs away?

I did the same thing!

When a person stays up for extended periods of time they will begin to hallucinate while awake.

This very thing happened to me - I had been up for an unknown number of days - I was not keeping track of the calendar, but I think it was 4 or 5 days.

When real insomnia hits, it's a beast. No way to calm the mind.

I went for a walk at some ungodly nightly hour into a nearby park. I walked through the woods when it became clear to me that something was following me - I had the distinct impression that it was the TREES. Somehow they were following me around. Whenever I stopped and looked behind me everything looked normal, but this feeling was incredibly strong.

At some point I felt a strong presence of something powerful in the woods and it was as if I had sidestepped out of my familiar park and into some sort of dark fairy tale woods where an ancient witch resided, where the fallen logs were the ragged bones of old dragons. I realized I was essentially slipping into waking dreams while out on my walk. Every time I realized this, I snapped to it and I'd be awake and clear-minded and sober - for a while.

It was quite fun, though there was a general feeling of unease and bad health - anyone who stays up for long periods of time knows this feeling. It's just a general "shitty" feeling, like "My body is not healthy right now."

I walked to a big field and lay down and looked up at the stars. There, the stars themselves became like windows into other worlds, but I couldn't see through. The moon was the biggest window - This painting by Beksinski struck a deep chord with me when I first saw it:



Then I witnessed a crease in the sky like it was a book - the moon rolled and bounced around on this crease.

That's when I figured it was time to make another go at bedtime.

I slept for 16 hours.

I also gotta thank you for describing that, as it made apparent a trend I've been noticing. These "Shadow People" beings you describe here (and about 2 or 3 other similar descriptions I've found across the internet) are the closest things to what I saw on my first (and only) DMT trip. I don't know what the dose was, but it was given to me by a good friend who referred to it as a 'double hit.'

Upon experiencing the initial visual distortions of the world around me, I was basically forced to close my eyes. From there, after the whirlwind of intense, flowing, communicative-seeming geometric patterns of vibrant colors calmed down [a little bit], these being presented themselves in a ritualistic, yet mischievous, manner. They are quite like what most people who have "entity encounters" with dmt describe, only entirely made of blackness, as opposed to separate flowing geometric patterns, as is often the case. There were three of them. They're grins stretched wide, but not to the point of stretching across the entire face. They had no skeleton, and they almost seemed to be intelligent forms of energy contained within an amorphous blob of blackness, which they manipulate into a humanoid-type figure. There was also a more human looking figure in the 'world' they took me to, who stood in the right corner of my closed eyed vision, overseeing the whole room I was in. What's crazy is my friends saw them too during they're trips (we went one after another, not thinking it wise to all be trippin on it at the same time, of course). You may find that hard to believe, but the details they described were extremely similar. I'm an EXTREMELY rational-minded individual. I tried to notice differences in they're descriptions. Once my friend described seeing the more human-looking figure, before I described seeing him, I was convinced we all saw the same beings. I was an atheist prior to doing DMT; I don't know what I am now (which, I suppose, makes me agnostic now). The only manner in which I have sinse heard about beings such as what I saw during DMT are generally referred to as "shadow people" (the google search of which brought me here).

The other thing is that I did not ultimately feel a negative vibe from them. Visually, they appeared just like how people usually describe "shadow people" only they weren't evasive. They were looking right at me, and I, terrified beyond any level I've ever experienced, stared directly back at them, telling myself what I'm seeing is impossible. Exactly opposite of how most people describe 'shadow people,' looking directly at them only revealed further detail of them. When they first started pulling my spirit out of my body (which is, at least, the ONLY way I can describe the experience), they began pulling me toward what I percieved as 'the light' (i.e. the thing people report seeing as they die/during near death experiences). They had tenticals which protruded from their body as well, randomly enough.

I didn't necessarily think I was dying, but I wasn't sure; it was a thought that crossed my mind. All I could do in defense was tense up all the muscles of my body and go "Oh God, oh god, oh god!!!!" which lasted about three to five seconds, after which I remember hearing my friend (the one who provided the DMT) saying "It's okay [my name], they're cool. Let them take you" (which he, sitting in the same room as me, really did say). This calmed me enough to where I just instantly released all tension and focused on keeping my eye on them. Once we went through the light, they danced on me. I don't like dancing, I remember almost feeling embarassed. They were going out of there way to communicate that they cared for me; as they danced, they're eerily unhuman-like hands caressed my face, which I could feel completely. They're facial expressions indicated humor at my reaction to them, as though they knew this was my first experience with dmt. I sensed that they wanted to communicate something to me. In retrospect (and upon reading straussman and mckenna) I believe what they were trying to tell me was 'not to give into astonishment,' which had already long sensed happened by this point. After some time they seemed to realize I had, indeed, given into my astonishment, and more or less said "screw it" (in no way literally, everything they communicated to me was through they're 'body language' and just went kinda like "well, while you're here, we might as well dance."

The come down felt nothing like coming down from a drug, and everything like being placed back into my body by these beings. As I was coming down, I could remember regaining my sense of reality while the beings were still visible, and I watched as they very obviously guided my soul back into my body, turned around and walked non-shellantly away before fading into the blackness of my closed eyes.

I just wanted to post this to see if anyone else had similar experiences on DMT with beings such as this. Like I said above, I consider myself an extremely rationally-minded person, and so this whole experience completely runs contrary to my entire mode of thinking. I didn't even believe ANY drug could possibly produce closed eyed visuals of any sort, so you can imagine my level of astonishment upon blowing out the hit initially. Thanks to all who read.

man thats really profound

I was able to get my first concious OBE/Astral experience a week ago at night. Right I was being hypnotized into my dream state at night I realized "oh I am aware!!" and my body is fully asleep(paralysed)... it felt really light.I easily floated halfway(upperbody) out of my body I started to do a 360 view and something creepy happened... wind noises and air sounds were amplified.I saw this zebra colored person with a Jester hat and it was trying to hide in my peripherals it was so creepy so I spun faster until I got him in my view... then it changed form into some weird fuzzy looking being like static/smoke/shadow like. Then it some how distracted me back to unconcious for a split second and my view turned into crystals then I woke up. As I woke up,I got a headache and as if there was alot of pressure on my forehead.

There was another incedent in my dreams a few days after, where I walked into this dark room and I saw the shadow guy in my peripherals again and it felt like it was the same shadow person so I chased him and grabbed him by the chest and it instantly woke me up as I grabbed him. I woke up with my hand in the air clenched as if I was grabbing it in the air and also as I woke up I felt like I wasn't breathing for awhile and took the biggest breath. They are definately neutral but very creepy, unexpected, startling since you can't see them that well and they suddenly show up out of nowhere. I have no problems facing these guys because I never wake up from my nightmares... when things go out of hand in my nightmares I realize its a nightmare and I take control and go on a destruction frenzy even if it means I die. usually when I die in my dreams the scene just changes drastically into another setting as if the nightmare didnt even happen...

I really felt violated knowing that something was watching me at night without my permission...

Sleep paralysis bout back in 2007, I'll never forget:

Day 1 - woke-up and couldn't breath or move and the shadow men were swirling around the room, leaving me in a terrified state that lasted for 20-30 seconds but felt like an eternity.

Day 2 - woke-up with same result but this time there were more than just a few of them invading my space and feeding off my fear.

Day 3 - After doing some internet research, I said a prayer and with a firm voice, I asked them to leave my home. Immediately, every hair on my body stood erect and I panicked out the front door not to return for two full days. They followed me to my parents house.

The last day I ever encountered them - I woke-up during the middle of the night (paralysed/can't breath) and the lights were off but the room was lit clear as day. The Shadow men were out in full force and I've never seen so many at one time. I should be terrified but a calming sensation soothed my emotions like never before. Why is the room so bright, I say to myself without any fright. At first I suspected someone pulled their car up to my bedroom window and lit the room with high-beam headlights. But, there it was, the source of the light which hovered over my chest - it was an orb! There was no doubt this orb was here to protect me and this explains why the shadow men were swirling the room much faster than normal...they don't like this orb.

Never again have I experienced sleep paralysis or seen the shadows or the orb.

I have dealt with numerous shadow entities this week alone.. Same with succubi. They're friendly just notice whether it's you thinking or the "thing" helping you think. For the most part they are completely friendly.. Except.. They feed off your energy. But this isn't always a bad thing, some feed off bad energy so you don't have to feel shitty all day. Just be careful, remember, you are the bigger one, your aura is ten times stronger than theirs... They can't force you do anything if your smart about it. Good luck guys. Don't be afraid.. We're in the year of change now. Alot of weird things are going to start happening lately, just sit back & watch.. don't force anything, if your pure everything will fall into place perfectly for you. Safe Travels.. Pandub

Once, a few years ago in my hard drug use days, I went on a week-long methamphetamine binge (I wasn't a meth user previous to this), and at the end of it I took 2 ecstasy tablets. At the end of the night, me and 3 others were walking down the road when I noticed a diminutive man waving a cellphone. I asked "do you guys see that little man with a cellphone?", not realizing how psychotic the statement was and my friend looked at me really strangely and said in an ominous tone "do I see a little man??, which made me realize what it was that I had just said. At this, the man with a cellphone became a man with a horsehead, bobbing the horsehead in a VERY creepy, jerky manner. He loped off, bobbing and jerking his horse-head and then became a bunch of snakes that skittled off into the woods. needless to say, I was horrified and stopped the meth binge...

This was due to sleep deprivation and was one of the scariest things I had been witness to up to that point...

Hello everyone, I happened to stumble upon this thread after having an experience with these black shadowy figures during my second blastoff. My first blastoff was the big bang literally I watched the conception of atoms, molecules, matter etc. Which truly destroyed everything I once believed in. Anyway, during my second take off, the only thing i remember after blasting off was being awoken out of a black infinite room by a shadow figure. He did this by a tap on my head which than caused an subatomic technicolor explosion from my head. I than noticed I was back in my bed, however I was far from alone. At least 6 of them where present the one who had awoken me from my black slumber by exploding my head open, and the other 5 where holding me down on my bed with red lasers from their fingertips, almost as if they where holding me down from exploring more of the spice, however while i was being held down I almost was able to escape. It felt as if my right eye was making its way into another parallel realm,(i could see the fold or wall, and it felt as if my right eye was in it) it was but i stopped it from happening. These shadow figures had convinced me not to venture or explore, they even left me with the feeling that there was an order being broken. Telling me never to return, using extreme threats such as brain tumors, It felt as if they planted to small bombs above both of my eyebrows, extreme hot energy coursed in a fast painful manner in these areas. I than out of instinct created a ball of light which sprung from my lower body and exited through my chest blasting these entity's into non existence, right after destroying them i heard police sirens, I than felt that these entitys are needed for our existence on earth so I traveled back in time right before i destroyed them to restore balance, well atleast in my dmt trip Afterwards after the extreme feeling of being took advantage of by these other world moderators if you will, I felt as if I was sexually assaulted, my room even smelled of sex. What can i make if these experiences if anything. Also I feel it is extremely important to add this last bit of information before my first blastoff i had no intent or goals, however last night before i took off for the second time, I told myself that this will be for healing purposes both physically and mentally.(Also I had a overwhelming fear of dying or not retuning to my shell. So one theory of mine is that these shadow figures where working on me which would explain the feeling of being on a alien operating bed held down with constant red energy beams shooting out these shadow people's fingers.Or my second theory is that I dont yet deserve what spice has to offer, that I must destroy my ego and wishes and wants. Or atleast leave them with my body.

When I was into stimulants (thank god im not anymore thanks to divine intervention!) I would see shadow people that were so real they would vanish into meta particle looking dust and they would knock things over in my room and move things a lot it was really sketchy. I did indeed get weird vibes from them but it was the energy I was giving out being so far gone in another galaxy

my DMT trips have started to manifest this Clown/Jester appearance to them it is not like it is right there, i see it and it is like a part of the trip but like a theme maybe or an entity on another plain but still connected and all ways present, like it lives in the DMT or something?

its like it is the trip in whole, but also sometimes manifests during the trip into a being a face and then dissolves back into the layers of realms, it is the vibe of the trip, but it is more like a physical interpretation of the whole trip, crazy and laughing vibe maybe a bit manic but not threatening, softer compared to the intensity of the DMT bong hit it comes with.

only started appearing in last few trips comes with intense colours, maybe the last 3 or 4 trips it has been present, not scary though only makes an appearance and is noticed.
more like it is among the transmission not 100% in one place more in-between places.

******

as for shadows i have been noticing small shadows and small things move out the corner of my vision from all direction, but this is day to day not on chemicals and not regularly random, just lately last 4 months. ??

I've seen the shadow people or at least felt their presence every time I've spiced so far. The first time on DMT, i had shadowy hands waving in front of me and then a shadow person dressed up as a classic magician with top head stood next to me, trying to show something to me with his hand showing to my side.

Since then, every time I spiced I felt them near me, touching me, working on me. Not sure what to think of them, I haven't felt any hostile vibe from their side, just neutral being there - almost a friendly "oh, you're back again".

Sometimes I have to laugh even, making jokes with them like: "jeez, I can't believe you are still waiting here for me all this time" (meaning the time in real life when you don't spice). I'm never really scared about them but like others say here, I always feel a bit suspicious about beings where you cannot see their faces.

But reading all these (mostly) negative things about them makes me wonder. I would love to know more about these guys since they seem to play (at least for now) a role in my spice adventures.

I did experience what was a shadowy entity during a sleep paralysis, can't confirm it is the same thing. When i looked to the right, it was staring at me(no eyes, just black, transparent quality) and grabbed my shoulder. There was a feeling that it was negative and curious but it couldn't actually do anything to me. As if it just dropped in to see who i was. I wasn't really afraid because i knew that it was sleep paralysis at the time, even though it was my first time experiencing it.

When i think i see something in the physical reality, i jump! Although it is never real, i can have an underlying edginess. I'm surprised that i had very little fear when i was staring it. Really interesting reads.