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St. Michael
New Member
7 Posts |
 Posted - 09/07/2005 : 19:22:38
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Could you guys please elaborate on the subject and provide explanations. To be honest, the idea creeps me out; although I have yet to see one, if they exist. Thanks
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 09/07/2005 : 19:40:55 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by St. Michael
Could you guys please elaborate on the subject and provide explanations. To be honest, the idea creeps me out; although I have yet to see one, if they exist. Thanks
From what I know, "shadow people" is the nondescript name given to a nondescript concept of a nondescript event.
Basically the gist is this. Ever see something out of the corner of your eye, something so quick it didn't really have time to register as anything specific, but when you turned to look at it nothing was there? It happens all the time to most people. Sometimes something really did just flit past--like the shadow of a bird. But more often than not it's just your brain playing tricks on you. Your brain actually registers something that is not there, often beyond what you would normally be able to perceive anyway. It's just a normal error in perception. It is most likely to happen in heavily shadowed areas or places in low light--places where your brain has to work extra hard to pick out any sort of pattern or meaning from your surroundings.
People who tend to look for the most outlandish explanations in everything claim that those litte "errors" are actually peeks into an alternate reality/dimension inhabited by beings outside our normal realm of perception--i.e. the Shadow People.
Kind of a creepy idea, but one which is absolutely unfounded. It is by far the less likely explanation.
And welcome to the SFN, St. Michael.
P.S. You picked up this idea from Coast to Coast, didn't you?
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
| Edited by - H. Humbert on 09/07/2005 19:42:58 |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 09/07/2005 : 19:46:32 [Permalink]
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Well, since I (for one) have no idea what you are talking about....
Perhaps a little more info?
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 09/07/2005 : 20:04:49 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Dude
Well, since I (for one) have no idea what you are talking about....
Perhaps a little more info?
Here's an overview.
The really depressing part is the poll they conducted:
quote:
Which do you think best describes the shadow people?
Figments of the imagination. (550) 10%
Natural shadows. (137) 2%
Ghosts. (510) 9%
Demons. (1220) 23%
Astral bodies. (249) 4%
Time travelers. (108) 2%
Interdimensional beings. (1209) 23%
Aliens. (63) 1%
Not sure. (1098) 21%
Total Votes: 5144
Yes, that's right. There are more people who consider "demons" to be a more reasonable choice than optical illusions.
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
| Edited by - H. Humbert on 09/07/2005 20:05:26 |
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Dry_vby
Skeptic Friend
Australia
249 Posts |
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furshur
SFN Regular
USA
1536 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2005 : 06:35:03 [Permalink]
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We are so prejudiced. Why does it have to be interdimensional shadow people. I think we are seeing interdimensional shadow gibbons. Gibbons are very fast and this could explain why when you turn to look they are gone!
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If I knew then what I know now then I would know more now than I know. |
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Valiant Dancer
Forum Goalie
USA
4826 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2005 : 08:31:50 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by St. Michael
Could you guys please elaborate on the subject and provide explanations. To be honest, the idea creeps me out; although I have yet to see one, if they exist. Thanks
I've seen a few. They are usually just on the edge of perception. They are also optical illusions and sometimes are floaters on the edge of perception. Floaters in this case are protien blobs or remnants of blood vessles which atrophied and are floating in the fluid within your eye. It explains why you can't dart around and see them. |
Cthulhu/Asmodeus when you're tired of voting for the lesser of two evils
Brother Cutlass of Reasoned Discussion |
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pleco
SFN Addict
USA
2998 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2005 : 08:48:12 [Permalink]
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Demons and interdimensional beings are the obvious logical explanations. 
And we wonder why a majority of people believe in ID/creationism? |
by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart. |
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| Edited by - pleco on 09/08/2005 08:48:33 |
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Plyss
Skeptic Friend
Netherlands
231 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2005 : 09:18:35 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by St. Michael
Could you guys please elaborate on the subject and provide explanations. To be honest, the idea creeps me out; although I have yet to see one, if they exist. Thanks
The wikipedia entry on shadow people lists two non-paranormal explanations, at least one of which seems pretty far-fetched.
quote:
It has also been proven recently that areas with erratic or powerful electromagnetic fields can interfere with the electrical impulses or firing synapses of the human mind, thus influencing people subjected to such environments over time to believe that they are hearing or seeing ghosts, aliens, or perhaps shadow people. Such environments include old buildings with substandard wiring, power plants, and areas with naturally occurring strong magnetic fields.
This is typically the sort of claim that would have to be referenced in a serious article. Valiant Dancer's response seems quite a lot more likely. |
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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St. Michael
New Member
7 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2005 : 19:32:53 [Permalink]
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Thanks for the explanation. Actually I didnt hear it from coast to coast, I heard about them from doing research into the boogeyman; sounds like the same thing to me.
There has been a recent surge in the number of reportings, at least so I hear. Sounds like the witch hunts of the 17th and 18th century, just plain mass hysteria. One person starts it, others elaborate, and it is taken as the truth.
Thanks again |
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St. Michael
New Member
7 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2005 : 19:38:57 [Permalink]
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| By the way, thanks for the welcome. |
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Hawks
SFN Regular
Canada
1383 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2005 : 20:31:16 [Permalink]
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quote:
The really depressing part is the poll they conducted:
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Which do you think best describes the shadow people?
Figments of the imagination. (550) 10%
Natural shadows. (137) 2%
Ghosts. (510) 9%
Demons. (1220) 23%
Astral bodies. (249) 4%
Time travelers. (108) 2%
Interdimensional beings. (1209) 23%
Aliens. (63) 1%
Not sure. (1098) 21%
Total Votes: 5144
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Yes, that's right. There are more people who consider "demons" to be a more reasonable choice than optical illusions.
What's really depressing is the lack of choices to pick from. Apart from more supernatural ones such as "interdimensional shadow gibbons", Popeye and Yahweh, what about including more natural ones such as "natural reflections", flitting lights, dust on the cornea etc.. |
METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL
It's a small, off-duty czechoslovakian traffic warden! |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2005 : 22:43:27 [Permalink]
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One need merely look at how our brains interpret input to understand such events. Whatever stimuli reach the brain, the brain interprets it in light of all the past things the brain has encountered. So, for example, if you can't quite see enough of something to tell what it is, on many occasions, your brain will interpret it anyway and fill in the missing data. Once more data comes in and the object is better identified, the brain will correct its interpretation and eliminate the added data that didn't fit.
Ever see something in the distance in poor light that looked like something? Then when you got up closer or had more light you saw it was really something else. At that point the image you had that wasn't correct cannot be re-created. You can remember it, but you can't make your brain put the incorrect image into the same focus you thought you had seen in the dim light. Your brain literally filled in the missing details, right or wrong, so what you really saw wasn't the object, it was an interpretation of the object.
Everything we see, hear, feel, smell, touch and so on is an interpretation of the nerve impulses reaching the brain. Nothing is in our conscious minds that hasn't been interpreted.
So any stimuli one receives "out of the corner of one's eye" is possibly going to be interpreted as "something" despite how minimal the stimuli was. Whether the impulse was generated internally (random nerve firing or a nerve triggered by a nerve firing near it for example) or whether the nerve impulse was triggered by some external stimuli (a reflection or shadow or EMF waves for example) wouldn't matter. If you know how the brain interprets such impulses, by adding data to fill in the data gaps, then you can understand how that thing you thought you saw out of the corner of your eye was merely the brain trying to interpret some nerve impulse(s). |
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Dry_vby
Skeptic Friend
Australia
249 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2005 : 22:51:25 [Permalink]
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Finding patterns in the chaos.
Our brains like to make stories, so, our brains correlate a number of random instances and puts a linear narative to them and we call that our lives, or our memories, or our dreams.
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"I'll go along with the charade
Until I can think my way out.
I know it was all a big joke
Whatever it was about."
Bob Dylan
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trishran
Skeptic Friend
USA
196 Posts |
Posted - 09/09/2005 : 15:15:52 [Permalink]
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| On the west coast, when you're in the woods and think you see a person, but there isn't one, they call it a "stick Indian" [I guess it comes from old-fashioned assumptions about what kind of people you might see in the woods - the "stick" part - obvious] |
trish |
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