296: Shadow Man vs Unknown Creature, A Haunting In Wyoming & Ghost In The Shower

[00:00:05] Tonight I'll be talking about the ghost of a little girl, a spirit in the shower, a protective shadow man that fights with an unknown creature, and much much more. I'm Nic Ryan and this is Paranormal Mysteries.

[00:00:23] Happy October and thank you for joining me. It's been over a month since my last new episode aired and my friends, that's far too long. Over the last several weeks I've been moving myself and

[00:00:50] my family across three states and it's been a heck of a journey. Thankfully though, everything went as planned and because of my wonderful family, my amazing wife, and all of your outstanding

[00:01:02] support, I am able to once again return to doing what I love and bring you more bizarre tales of the unexplained. Also bear in mind that I'm still getting the studio set back up and the audio

[00:01:14] quality of this and upcoming episodes may be less than ideal, but rest assured that I'm working hard to get everything back to normal as soon as possible. I have a lot of fascinating experiences

[00:01:26] to share with you, but before we start tonight's show, I'd like to recognize Sharon, Andromeda, Richie, David, Anna, Brett, Trish, Emma, Kenny, and Samantha for their contribution on Patreon. Buy me a coffee and PayPal. Thank you so much for your support and your generosity.

[00:01:51] And of course the show wouldn't be possible without all of my amazing listeners around the world. Thanks to all of you for listening. And with that being said, let's begin with our first experience of the night, which comes from Lisa, and Lisa's story is called Sleeping Shadows.

[00:02:12] Lisa says, I can't recall which show exactly, other than it was one of those where people talked about their experiences and showed reenactments. Our living room is right next to the kitchen, which then leads down a short hallway to a bathroom and our dad's bedroom.

[00:02:53] This hallway has a door that blocks off the kitchen area from the back of the house, which we usually keep closed at night so the noises from the TV won't wake up our dad. But this was a hot summer's night, so it was left open.

[00:03:06] Our older sister kept passing back and forth while doing her skincare regimen, repeatedly leaving the hallway door closed and making noise to which I got annoyed from constantly getting up to open it, and it was left open when she finally went to bed.

[00:03:21] As we continued to watch the show, we suddenly heard the hallway door close behind us, not slam shut, but how you would normally close the door. We thought the TV and all the noise from our sister walking back and forth had woken

[00:03:34] up our dad, and he decided to close the door himself. So I got up to go and check if the TV could be heard from his room to know if we should lower the volume.

[00:03:43] But when I peeked into the bedroom, I noticed that my dad was asleep and snoring, which doesn't start unless he's in a deep sleep, which doesn't happen right away. I shrugged it off and went back to the living room, leaving the hallway door open since

[00:03:57] the TV wasn't loud enough, and his bedroom door was now halfway shut. Moments after, my brother and I jumped up when we heard the door close again, and we peeked from behind the couch, thinking that my dad woke up for a glass of water, but he

[00:04:12] never came into the kitchen. I nudged my brother to swing the door open, which he reluctantly did, but was confused when he could hear our dad snoring. He sat back down, and again the door shut closed behind us, and at this point we thought

[00:04:26] that our dad was pranking us. The next time the door was left open, we were ready, and as soon as it shut behind us, I lunged over the couch to swing it open and catch my dad in the act, only to realize that

[00:04:39] he was in bed, and really asleep. If it was a prank, I would have caught my dad in the middle of trying to jump into bed, but he was wrapped in the sheets in a way that you wouldn't get without tossing and turning throughout the night.

[00:04:51] We thought that it could have been a gust of wind from the window, but it was a calm night, and even then it would open the door, rather than close it. Feeling a little spooked, we decided to call it a night, but rather than going to sleep

[00:05:04] in our rooms, we each took a couch because we were too chicken to admit that we got freaked out. Right before going to sleep, my brother and I were still trying to explain how the door could close on its own, and my brother just casually mentions,

[00:05:18] Oh, well maybe it was the shadow. Whenever you fall asleep in the living room at night, I see something from the corner of my eye, like a tall shadow, looking over at you while you sleep. Well, goodnight.

[00:05:31] Nick, he literally proceeded to roll onto his side and sleep after telling me that. Why would you tell me that? Perfect. Fast forward a few years to when I took a trip to Hawaii with my friends.

[00:05:44] I shared a hotel room with my friend, Jasmine, and we were taking a break from our day out before dinner late that night. We watched Netflix in an attempt to fight away the threat of napping, which didn't help while resting on such a comfy bed.

[00:05:59] Our room had a light fixture above a small bedside table that separated our beds. The light was one of those dimmers with a knob switch that began flickering, and in that moment my friend was curled up on her bed on the phone, and I had my arms hugged

[00:06:13] around a pillow while watching TV and facing away from the light. Without thinking, I just said out loud, stop it, and the flickering stopped. I sat up to look at my friend, who stared wide-eyed at the light, and then at me, saying, girl, that wasn't me.

[00:06:31] I got up to check the light, thinking the bulb might be going out, but no. I checked the dimmer knob, and it wasn't loose either, so you'd really have to turn it to get it to dim and brighten as it did.

[00:06:42] I joked, saying that it was probably the shadow that watches me sleep, who tagged along, needing a vacation too, and letting us know it was time to head out for dinner. Safe to say, I don't think it was my friend, since she was genuinely spooked, and we don't

[00:06:57] often talk about stuff like that. Now jump to a few days ago. My brother was cleaning out his room, and had dumped out a lot of stuff all over the house while moving around furniture.

[00:07:08] I was on my computer in the living room, and I barely heard the hallway's door shut through my headphones, only to hear it open a few minutes after, and my brother racing to my side, saying, why'd you close the door on me?

[00:07:20] I was asking if you wanted to go and get food. I stared at him for a good moment before I took off my headphones to ask what's up, only for him to repeat himself.

[00:07:30] I was confused, and I laughed, telling him that I did not close the door since I was in mid-game. It's been a while since the hallway door closed by itself, but I guess it wanted to remind

[00:07:41] us that it was still there, and telling my brother to focus back on cleaning up his mess. I truly enjoy every episode, and can't wait for more. Thank you for creating a safe space for us all to share. Best wishes, Lisa

[00:08:02] Our next experience comes to us from Beth, and Beth's story is called Trudy. Beth says, I recently found your podcast and am working my way through your back catalog, but I just couldn't wait to share this with you.

[00:08:17] I've always been more open to the paranormal, and have had minor experiences here and there over the years, but my current home gives me regular experiences. My husband and I bought our current home in December of 2015, when we moved to Wyoming.

[00:08:32] Our home is not old, it was built in 2008, in a quiet little subdivision in an equally small town about a half mile from the North Platte River. We only have homes to the east, west, and south of us, and an open field behind us that

[00:08:47] leads directly to the river. The house is a ranch-style home with a full finished basement, and when we moved in, we had a one and a half year old and two small dogs, and the basement was not fully finished.

[00:09:00] Every few months I will hear footsteps and muffled voices in the middle of the night, but as soon as I get up to check, everything stops and picks back up once I am settled back into bed.

[00:09:10] The footsteps for years sounded like a man in work boots walking the length of our house, but it never seemed to get closer or further away, and our dogs never seemed to react, nor could anyone else hear them.

[00:09:24] That's really all it was until we had our second child in December of 2018. Now I would not only hear the boot footsteps and muffled conversations, but I would also hear what appeared to be children's footsteps running up and down the stairs, like they were playing.

[00:09:40] We now have two large dogs, one of the original small dogs, and a cat, and they never seem to react to any of this. I've never actually seen anything until last summer. My office is in the basement, and it has a large walkthrough closet that connects to

[00:09:56] a bathroom. To leave the closet and enter the bathroom, you have to go into a separate storage closet and then turn left. The builders framed everything strangely, and we had zero desire to apply for additional permits when finishing the basement.

[00:10:11] So one day I'm walking to the bathroom, and I turn left as I get to the storage closet, and I look down to my left. Against the wall was a little girl. She was maybe five or six in 30's era clothing and completely transparent.

[00:10:26] It was like I was just seeing the outline of her, but she was there, and I could also make out the texture on the wall behind her. It's hard to describe, but if you've ever had migraine aura or have seen Predator when

[00:10:39] it uses its camouflage, you might get an idea of what she looked like to me. Just as quickly as I saw her, she was gone, and she didn't acknowledge my presence. My children are boys, and my only niece at the time was four, and looks nothing like

[00:10:54] this girl, and she was not in the state at the time of this encounter. When I told my husband, who is not a skeptic but a cynic and paranormal denier about this a couple of months later, he dubbed her Trudy, and blames all the random things that happen

[00:11:09] in the house on Trudy. However, my most recent experience is the one that has me most unsettled. It happened about a month ago. I was in the kitchen with my husband and our oldest who is now eight, and we were having

[00:11:22] a discussion about what to have for dinner when I heard, Hi Mommy, clear as day. My boys call me Mom, or Mama, but never Mommy. Our youngest was off watching a show in the basement when this happened, and the voice was distinctly a little girl.

[00:11:38] I stopped and asked if my husband or son had said Hi Mommy, or if they heard someone say it, and they both denied everything. Even thinking about it now gives me chills. Thanks for continuing this podcast and providing an outlet for stories like mine. Beth.

[00:12:00] Before we continue, please remember that you can share your experience with me through email or voice message at paranormalmysteriespodcast.com or at paranormalmysteriespodcast at gmail.com. And if you're interested in showing your support, please consider following and sharing the podcast.

[00:12:17] And by giving me a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts, you can help new listeners to find the show. You can also support me on Patreon, buy me a coffee, or even on PayPal by making a one-time donation. Or become a member and listen to every episode ad-free.

[00:12:35] If you're looking for additional ways to get involved, please visit our website and join the forum, and be sure to follow me on social media for show updates and future content. And of course, links to all of our contact and support information can be found in the

[00:12:49] show notes. And remember that if you're looking for a relaxing way to end your evening after tonight's Check out my wife's new show called the Sleep and Relaxation Podcast. And you can find links to her podcast in the show notes as well.

[00:13:06] Our next experience comes to us from Clara Ann. And Clara Ann's story is called My Protector. Clara Ann says, Hello Nick. Like many others, I've listened to your podcast for a while and have debated sharing one of my stories.

[00:13:23] You've shared several stories involving sleep paralysis and shadow people, so I've finally decided to tell you about mine. For a bit of background, I've always believed in the paranormal, from spirits to demons, and all manner of the fae, although I'm not religious.

[00:13:40] I also have a highly active imagination, even now as a 26-year-old. Despite my wandering imagination though, I'm always aware of when I'm daydreaming up a good story or present in reality. As a child, I would often see or hear things that others could not.

[00:13:56] The voices were not a recognizable language, but I could always understand them after a few moments. Not the words themselves, but the intent. The most memorable creature was my shadow man. He would follow me when I traveled and didn't mind my seeing him.

[00:14:13] No matter where I went, I could always see him standing a respectful distance from my windows watching me. Now, when I say that I could see him, I don't mean to imply that I could see any distinguishable features. I simply recognized his presence.

[00:14:28] He was, as all others have described shadow creatures, darker than black. He didn't have visible eyes, but I could feel him watching me. His whole body looked as if it were covered in a thick black mist, obscuring his features.

[00:14:43] I could make out the legs, torso, arms, and head shape all resembling a man. I always knew where he was, but he didn't frighten me like those who see shadow people associated with sleep paralysis. Instead, he had the opposite effect, relaxing me and making me feel safe.

[00:15:01] My shadow man is my protector. He has been with me as long as I can remember, and remains with me now as an adult. I know that he means me no harm and will actively protect me because he's done it before.

[00:15:15] When I was a preteen, roughly eleven or twelve, I spent the night alone with one of my closest friends. I'll call her Dee, in her home out in the country on a farm in Wisconsin.

[00:15:26] We often spent our time at her home out wandering the fields, and it wasn't uncommon for us to be out past dusk on weekends. What made this time different was the absence of her parents, as they had gone away for

[00:15:39] the night and left us in charge of the house. Our original plan that night had been to stay out with the cows and horses until we got cold or tired, but as the sun began to set, we both got an off feeling and decided

[00:15:53] to return to the house. Shortly after we entered her house, a strange howl sounded in the distance. Now there are coyotes known to wander the woods of Wisconsin, but we don't have wolves, and even if we did, this howl was one that didn't sound completely animal.

[00:16:10] It's hard to explain, but it sounded off and unnatural. We locked the door and made sure that Dee's dog, a large mastiff, was inside with us. Dee and I exchanged worried looks and ran up the stairs as the howl sounded again, but closer this time.

[00:16:28] We didn't hear any echoing howls from other creatures. It was one howl from the same creature. When we got upstairs, we looked out the hallway window as it had the best view of the pasture,

[00:16:39] and with the lights off, we felt safe enough to look for the source of this howl. That's when Dee and I noticed my shadow person. He stood out in the driveway near the milking barn. Dee pointed at him and asked, Do you see it?

[00:16:55] I nodded and then rested my hand on her shoulder and said, It's not him we need to worry about. And then the howl sounded for a third time. We were both shaking at this point while our eyes adjusted to the growing darkness outside.

[00:17:10] We could pick out the milk barn on the other side of the driveway, my shadow man mere feet from the door to the barn, the pig barn further down the driveway, and the fence that contained the animals.

[00:17:21] We couldn't see any movement, and for what felt like an eternity, everything was unnaturally still and silent. That stillness was broken by a fourth howl, much louder than the third had been. And my shadow man changed.

[00:17:37] I watched in awe as my shadow man lowered himself to all fours and took off toward the pasture, running at an impossible speed and suddenly looking more like a dog than the man that I was used to seeing.

[00:17:50] He leapt over the fence with no difficulty and disappeared from sight within seconds. The sounds we heard a few moments later were worse than the howl that started it all. Dee and I glued ourselves to the window, sitting on the floor with our hands pressed against

[00:18:07] the glass, while the sounds of two large creatures trying to tear each other apart flooded our ears. It was a distant sound, but we could hear it clearly. I'm not sure how long it lasted, but my legs had gone numb by the time the howls, roars,

[00:18:23] and whines died down. Dee and I both let out the breath we hadn't realized we'd been holding when my shadow man took up his place once again by the barn, looking once more like the man I had grown so used to.

[00:18:37] We tore our eyes from the window and looked at one another, making sure that the others saw and heard the same things without actually saying a word. Our faces told the other more than enough.

[00:18:50] We then slowly returned downstairs and woke the dog, who had slept through all the noises, and moved to the living room to spend the rest of the night watching movies. Two freaked out to go to sleep.

[00:19:01] Neither of us ever told anyone else and refused to go back out to the pasture for quite some time. When her dad returned home the next day and went out to check on the animals, he came

[00:19:12] back visibly shaken, but refused to tell either of us what had him so upset. Dee and I haven't spoken of that night, but I do have another friend who I speak to from time to time.

[00:19:24] We both have small, unusual experiences with the paranormal and we discuss them every time we get together. She doesn't have a shadow man of her own, but she hears the same strange voices that I do.

[00:19:37] We both feel that we have a connection to this hidden world that we don't completely understand. I hope this finds you well and you enjoy my story. After reading her experience, I asked Clara Anne what she thought her shadow man protector

[00:19:54] fought with that night, and she had this to say. I honestly don't know what my shadow man fought with. I didn't know much about the paranormal at the time. I never saw the other creature. I only heard the howling from it.

[00:20:09] Just the memory sends a chill down my spine. Our next experience of the night comes to us from Joanne, and Joanne's story is called Ghost in the Shower. Joanne says, Both my husband and I have had many paranormal encounters, ranging from him seeing an Australian

[00:20:31] Aboriginal man over 20 years ago, a trio of spirits at one house we lived in, and a shadow man and the spirit or ghost of more than one young girl, including seeing one last week.

[00:20:44] The story that I will share today is from 2008, just after our first daughter was born. The house we lived in back then was a duplex, two small single story houses with joining garages.

[00:20:57] At the time, we were friends with the lady and her two daughters who lived in the other duplex. To set the scene, a few weeks after we moved in, I found out I was pregnant.

[00:21:07] Over the following months, my husband would see shadows out of the corner of his eye, and this progressed to the sensation of tugging on the lower leg of his pants, as if a young child was trying to get his attention.

[00:21:19] A couple of weeks after our daughter was born, I put her in the bassinet for sleep, and put the bassinet in the lounge room with her older brother, so he could keep an eye on her while my husband and I went to have a shower.

[00:21:31] The shower in that house had a Roman-style bath, so we could enjoy the shower together. This was approximately 1 or 2pm, and as other parents would understand, you take those precious moments for personal care when you can.

[00:21:45] My husband had set his mobile phone to play music, and had gotten out and was drying himself off while I finished rinsing off. When we both heard a little girl's voice say a very happy, Hello. He asked if I heard it, and I said yes.

[00:22:00] Thinking that it was a glitch in the music, he replayed the song, and we didn't hear anything. Then we both thought that it might be the neighbor's younger daughter, so he wrapped

[00:22:08] himself in a towel and went to the lounge, but our son said that the neighbor's kid had not come over. We were puzzled, but accepted that we had both heard a spirit. For the rest of the time that we lived in that house, our daughter suffered night terrors,

[00:22:24] which stopped as soon as we moved. About a year after the shower incident, I found out from another neighbor that apparently a young girl had passed away in that house some years earlier. However, I never checked out the history to find out if that story was true.

[00:22:44] Our next experience of the night comes to us from Zach, and Zach's story is called Apartment Ghost. Zach says, Hey Nick, it's been a while because to be honest I haven't had anything out of the ordinary happen. That was until earlier last month.

[00:23:03] For a little backstory, I moved into an apartment for college, and some stuff has been happening that we just can't explain. I have three roommates, and I share walls with two of them, Matt and Jordan. Now on to the things that we've been experiencing.

[00:23:19] To start, our balcony door will sometimes be open, same with one of my roommate's doors when he swears that he locked and shut it. In fact, just a little bit ago at the time of me writing this, I found his door open when

[00:23:32] I knew that he had shut and locked it. The worst of it has been the knocking on the wall. I share a room with my roommate Matt, and there's been three times when I have woken

[00:23:41] up at 2.55 and then at 2.57, and I will hear some form of knocking on the wall. A few of these times Matt hasn't even been home, and other times he has also been woken up to the knocking. On one occasion, Matt heard it when I hadn't woken up.

[00:23:59] The first time it was heard was the 21st of September. I had woken up at 2.55 and then at 2.57, and I heard what I would describe as someone hitting the wall really hard.

[00:24:10] At the time, I assumed it was Matt, and I had asked him about it in the morning, and he said that he had woken up to it as well. Neither me or Matt had woken up until the 4th of October, however, I didn't wake up

[00:24:22] to it that day, but Matt did, and he described it to me as three knocks, either on the wall or on the ceiling. The next night, Matt was out of the house, and I woke up at 2.55, and once again at 2.57,

[00:24:37] and I heard what I can only describe as someone running on the wall in a diagonal line, from one corner to the other corner of the wall. After this, I got out of bed and noted that I felt rather sick, like I was about to lose

[00:24:50] my lunch levels of sick. I then couldn't fall back asleep until 4am. The next night, I woke up at 2.55, and I heard one knock, followed by what sounded like someone dragging a finger across my side of the wall, and then Matt's side, or at least the second

[00:25:08] time it sounded fainter, so I assumed, and once again I felt sick and couldn't fall back to sleep. Now that brings us to Thursday night and Friday morning. I had to work early the next morning, and I couldn't afford being woken up again, so I

[00:25:23] slept on the couch, but I did record my room with my PC. I used a setup that allowed me to tell what time it was in the video, and at 2.55, there was what sounded to be a knock.

[00:25:36] I have no idea what's going on, and I'm really just curious to see if someone else has experienced something similar. Once again Nick, thank you for giving us all this space to share our experiences. Sincerely, Zach from Utah.

[00:25:57] As we bring tonight's episode to an end, I'd like to thank Lisa, Beth, Clara Ann, Joanne, and Zach for sharing their experiences, and remember that if you have a story to share with me, you can find links to all of my contact information in the show notes.

[00:26:15] Until next time, thank you all for listening, and I look forward to having you back here in my next episode, as we continue our journey into the unexplained… right here on Paranormal Mysteries.