Submitted Story: Shadow Person Encounter
The following submitted story was sent to us from “Michka”. Being an avid reader of GhostTheory, Michka wanted to share their Shadow Person experience with the rest of us.
I’m always intrigued by any Shadow Person story that I read or hear. As many of you guys may know, what attracted me to the paranormal and researching the vast subjects, was an encounter that I had with one of these so called “Shadow Person”. I’m not the only GhostTheory editor with an eerie encounter with these beings. Gary Popella also had a similar encounter with a Shadow Person, which ultimately led him to GhostTheory.com and become a writer.
Read Michka’s encounter:
After reading the shadow person story, I was reminded of time that I started to share in the comments, but only teased the readers. So here is everything I can remember of my encounters with the shadows.
Back in 1998, I moved to Middletown, NY to change my family’s business from nightclub to dinner theater. Very quickly, I noticed that there were strange happenings in the building. Nothing that’s truly worth noting except for the nagging feeling I felt when were rennovating that all receipts had to be accounted for. I even went so far as to tell the owners we should be careful what we spend money on cause I had this overwhelming feeling we would be audited. About a year later, I was doing research on the building because there were many curiosities about it and found out that the IRS had an office there.
In the interim, I always felt like I was being watched and would catch out of the corner of my eye a quick glimpse of a shadow. I’d look in the direction it came from and it nothing would be there. I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me give a brief description of the layout of the building.
Through the main doors, you are met by a dividing wall. To the right is the main bar entrance (and path we always took) and to the left were steps that led to the seating area. The bar itself was at least 25 feet long. Just past the divider and to the right is the narrow entrance to the sound booth (one place I hated being in). From the entrance way, you can look all the way through and see the seating and dining area, the stage and the stairs to the kitchen.
Walking all the way down, there’s an opening that leads to the bathrooms and the side door. Beyond that are steps that lead to the kitchen. Once into the kitchen to the left is the long hallway to our main office. As you go down the hallway, you see on the right the breakroom. And as you approach the office, to the left is the back entrance to the stage and dressing room.
Of course there’s a basement, but we’ll get to that later.
Just about every time I would get ready to lock up for the night, I would catch that shadow I mentioned earlier out of the corner of my eye. I used to imagine that it was an old man with a set of keys walking the hallway. Mind you, I never heard the keys, but it was like I knew they were there.
One thing I should mention here is that the building suffered from fire prior to my family owning the building. Never came across the records for when it went from a 3 story building to a single. As time went on while I was working there, I continued to notice things that had been left behind from the original structure.
Behind the wall in the back hallway was the original back wall of the building complete with two doors that now go nowhere. In the basement are markings on the beams left from when it was an agricultural implements store. Also in the basement at the front of the building remain part of the original steps to enter the store. And then there’s the large brick “entity” that seemed to have no purpose.
Back to the shadow man. I don’t remember the exact date or the show we working on, but there was one night when I was closing down. All the lights had been shut off, and I had forgotten something in the office. Now, all the light switches were “conveniently” located behind the bar. And the only light was coming from under the bar illuminating the sinks and from the red exit signs. Not liking the dark in there, I was walking quickly towards the back to get to the nearest switch.
At that point, I thought I heard my name from whoever was with me waiting to leave and I turned around. This is when I came face to face with our resident shadow man. I could see through him, and it wasn’t a complete apparition, but I knew he was there and felt the warmth of his breath in my face. He looked at me, checked me out, recognized me and turned and walked the other way.
This all took about 5 to 10 secs to occur. Maybe less, but I went about making my way to the office. I was a little shaken, but since it went the other way, I just kept on towards the office. There were other times that this happened and actually had a customer question me about it. I knew she was coming to the show and it turned out she was a psychic medium. Unfortunately, I can’t remember her name, but I she had the ability to draw what she saw. So she took a napkin, now destroyed, and drew what it was that was moving through the building.
Lo and behold, she drew an old man. She described what I had felt all along. Unable to get a name, she said he was a ground’s keeper that was just wandering the building and checking the doors. Now, why I never heard any door handles jiggle or the sound of keys, I don’t know. Especially since he was able to give off the heat found in someone’s breath. Never found any record of him either. I was amazed that I was even able to find the pages of information that I found. And that says a lot since until 1964, it wasn’t that popular of a gathering place.
Some who have lived or visited Middletown may recognize the name Dino’s. That was the first bar that opened up in the building. It started off as a long hole in the wall, and it wasn’t until the lighting company that owned the space next to moved that the owners took over the rest of the area. The way this place is set up, you would think that it was always some sore of entertainment venue.
I know it isn’t often that you find spirits who are basically residuals with intelligence, but this one was just that. But the other happenings never really seemed to bother him. That’s a whole other story.
Written by Javier Ortega - javier@ghosttheory.com
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As an investigator, I have to ask, You said he had a warm breath? i have never herd that before, Most people claim how cold an entity/ or a room with them in it is. And another thing, this entity said your name? did you have any problems with an entity before you got this place?
I was beginning to get a little suspect because the story seemed to start flowing like a fiction writers story. However, it only lasted for a moment and as I read on I felt it was genuine. Thanks for the story Michka.
Did you ever try your luck at acting on the family stage? Or at least having a run at one of the stage starlets? Why do I always start talking about this stuff?
jeff, I have to say you got me. I took a small writer’s liberty where the breath was concerned, but that was how close this old man was to me when it happened. And to answer your second question, yes. It may not have been the entity I saw directly, but i have had problems before with other entities. There was one instance a few years before where I had a run in with an entity that took the form of mist. Fortunately, when that happened, I was close to a car and just drove away before having any other dealings with it. There’s a little more to that story, but for now that’s all I would like to say on the matter.
jbondo to answer your off-topic question, yes I did. Out of the 17 plays/shows that i directed for that stage, I was in about half of them. And no, i never went after any of the starlets.
Thanks for reading it guys. it means alot.
I was thinking maybe something followed you to there? or it’s possible that you may be somewhat “sensitive” Not like “psychic”. See I’m still skeptical on psychic’s but i believe some people are more sensitive then others. just a thought?
Thank you Jeff. I don’t consider myself a psychic. When I think of a pyschic, I think of someone who opens a shop and waits for customers to come and so they can take their money. Not to mention giving shotty readings that have no true bearing on the person’s life. Being a sensitive is something I completely agree with. I know that I have spirits around me all the time and sometimes they whisper things to me at the right time to tell someone in my life. This isn’t to say I’m a true medium by the classic definition either.
I’m still skeptical myself by what goes on around me and try to debunk anything that I feel or think I hear. And I take the fallback with humility because I don’t ever want to be considered a hack like some famous people I won’t mention here.
I know you believe in the possibility of what happens to people like me, but you are always aware of the fact that they are never 100 percent correct 100 percent of the time.
I’m interested to see how much further this conversation goes. There so much more that you and I both are looking for answers to.
IMO sensitivity is 90% visual cues. I think some people believe they are psychic but don’t realize that they are just extremely observant. Champion poker players come to mind. Many will tell you it’s luck and playing the cards when in reality it’s learning your opponent and then playing off their cues, tells and ticks.
When I was 19 I played poker for a living before I got a job. I soon learned that in order to win I had to know my opponents and watch them intently for giveaways. I knew I was on the right track when people I played with regularly stopped playing completely because they couldn’t beat me. It always amused me to hear them say how lucky I was. Of course I don’t see anything special about myself and IMO most people can do this if they put their mind to it. An example would be getting your GF flowers and she wonders how you know her favorite color. It’s because your subconscious remembered visual cues when you were with her and when you picked the color those cues unknowingly played a role in the selection.
JMO.
jbondo,
I do believe you’re on to something. This is the exact reason that I don’t consider myself a psychic. Part of being “sensitive” is being in tune with your surroundings. And in order to do that, you have to use your visual cues. Here’s your debunker…what happens when you run into someone who’s sensitive and they can’t see. Not that I’m doubting your opinion, but what would it be then?
But you are right. There are way too many people who are good at reading the situation and making obvious observations and then going to the bank with their rewards. I’m constantly trying to debunk what I feel, see or hear. Making sure that what I’m sensing is correct. If I’m wrong, great, it was just gas and I pass it along. pun intended.
Thanks for sharing your “O”.
Michka
“what happens when you run into someone who’s sensitive and they can’t see.”
It’s a well known fact that blindness can lead to hyper-sensitivity in the other senses.
Jbondo gave an insightful opinion for what “sensitive” might actually be (unusually observant, either by training or nature)
You keep using the term “sensitive”, but you shy away from the term “psychic”. What, exactly, do you think you are when you say you are “sensitive” ?
Understanding exactly what you mean by “sensitive” might help JBondo answer your riddle about blindness and “sensitivity”.
Dorie,
I have to apologize first if it sounded like I was bashing what jbondo said. That wasn’t my intention at all. I was simply attempting to have him look at his skepticism in a different way.
The reason I shy away from the term psychic is because I don’t consider myself that. Not yet. If what I have been experiencing lately was completely trained and focused, then yes I might consider myself a psychic by definition. use sensitive becuase I am sensitive to what a medium might experience with communicating with spirits. But I still question everything I hear. And I am also sensitive to some psychic events. But I still question everything I see. Years ago I had grown cocky and disillusioned to these abilities which caused me to not be able to tell between real and fantasy. It nearly sent me to the looney bin. But then I met my current partner who has children and I had to make a personal choice to either shut down and have the family I never thought I would or continue on the path I was on.
A decade later, I’m glad I chose the path I have because I’ve beenable to live in the real world without much distraction.
Now to try to help clarify what I was trying to say to jbondo. I do agree that pyschic abilities do rely on visual cues. They also rely on audio cues. The remainder of the ability is to see beyond that. So in essence I was agreeing with him. Am I skeptical of my own “sensitivities”? Absolutely. Recently, I have had experiences that have helped validate what I’ve suspected. Do I think I’m fully a psychic/medium? No. But I do have higher perception than others when it is necessary.
What I can’t believe is how candid you guys have made me. I never wanted to talk about any of this publicly like this before. Can’t decide if I should thank you or run screaming. But for now, I’ll say thanks.
Michka,
You’re good at writing about an experience and making it really interesting. I got totally spooked.
I wonder if your ability to know things about the bar and your experience with the entity aren’t related. I hope you will share more of your stories.
I have a few of my own but I’m still not there yet…meaning being able to write about them. Yours was inspiring.
G
Glynis,
Thanks for the compliments. I’m glad that I could inspire you as this website has inspired me to talk about things that have long been stored in my memory.
the only thing that saddens me is that I have no proof to offer as evidence of what I’ve seen. Thank goodness for my knack for detail to paint a picture of what happened.
I look forward to hearing your stories. And never be afraid to express yourself. It leads to greatness in all who can.
you should know that most of what I told in the story happened before I did any research on the building. The things that happened led me to research its past. My biggest regret is that I didn’t have the courage then that I do now to ask people around the city if they knew anything about the past. Or if they had any pictures of the building in its previous forms.
After writing the story, I revisited sites that have historical pictures and wasn’t able to find ANY. That was not cool. It’s almost as if something doesn’t want the original facade to appear. Wouldn’t surprise me since it hasn’t ever been totally rennovated.
I’ll put in more stories…this I promise.
Be well Glynis, and have faith in yourself. More than you do now. Again, I look forward to the stories you have to tell.
Michka
Thanks, Michka.
I think I will write about them soon. I’m actually working on a series of paintings about the experience. My goal is to finish before Christmas.
G
Glynis, if and when you do, I’d love to see them. Sounds like they made an impression that you should really share. Helps to sort through what you experienced.
Michka,
I’ll be finished with them soon, I hope. I’ll definitely find a way to show them to you. I’m not sure if you can post that kind of stuff here?
Thanks for your interest. I’m going to take your advice and write about the experience.
Have a fabulous New Year!!!
G