My daughter wanted to watch scary movies this weekend. It got us talking about something that used to scare me as a child, and being in the right mood last night to research such things, we checked up on it. That's when things got really weird.
First of all, when I was a kid on at least 3 occasions I saw a shadowy figure moving in the dark in my room. The figure had a long coat on and a hat with a brim. It would move back and forth between my closet and the door. Once I watched it go behind the door and wait. I was terrified, but I managed to get out of bed and turn on the light. There was nothing there.
One night I had a friend sleeping over. We were on the top bed of a bunk bed and I was laying awake watching this silhouette moving along the far end of my room. And then it moved up to the bed. It stood by my bed, face to face, inches away. I could see no facial features and it made no sound at all, but I could see the outline clearly. And then it reached for my neck.
It grabbed my pillow and began tugging on it and I sat up in terror and tried to get away. It was then I saw that my friend had grabbed my pillow in his sleep and was pulling it. Absolutely crazy timing for him to do that. The absolute scariest thing from my childhood!
So I tell my children about this and the theories start flying. Ghost, demon, negative energy being (they know surprisingly much about such things it turns out). So I google "shadowy figure in a hat" kind of as a joke.
I got a chill when dozens of pages came up, about people from all over the world, reporting seeing a shadowy silhouette figure in a trench coat and wide-brimmed hat, moving silently in the darkness, and occasionally trying to choke its victims. How weird is that?
So first the weird thought that these things could be real (!), but it must surely be some kind of neurological phenomenum programmed into our brains. But that's really weird too -- how is it so specific? That so many people saw exactly what I saw, shadowy figure in trench coat and hat, watching and then trying to choke me? That's pretty damn specific.
Any of you seen "the hat man"?
I'll say. I haven't had your experience in particular, but the first thing that came to my mind was sleep paralysis - which is mentioned in bfv's link above. From the bit I'm looking at, they seem to be one and the same, if not similar. Never want to experience that again. Scared the living balls outta me thinking I was going to die. My experience was seeing lightning and (felt like) I was experiencing lockjaw from/while being electrocuted everytime I tried to breathe. Again, not anything I ever hope to experience again. EDIT: While I can't seem to find where my experience would fit in to the Jungian mold, shadow definitely is on the list and an interesting read.
Well shit... I remember when I was young, one day I woke up to my mom seeming very worried, saying: Are you okay?! I was a bit confused here... I asked what... What is wrong? (My mom has alwas been a superstitious one) She then replied: Did the falcon man hurt you?! Or did he just stare?! I stated that I honestly had no idea of what she was talking about... And so she explained that during the night, I had woken up, screaming about a Monster in my room, Stating that it was a falcon man, wearing a boulder hat and a trench coat. I, to this day, have no memory of this. A few years later, I simply concluded that she dreampt the whole senario, as my brother did not even remember any noise. I suppose I'll take a guess and say it's some hard-wired code in the brain.
Something similar happened to me when I was 12 or 13. But it only happened once, and I was heavily medicated, I had antidepressants and sleep aides in my system at the time. I had woken in the middle of the night and saw a dark shadowy figure in the doorway. It did not linger long, it left my room and headed down the hall. I was so terrified it was headed to my sisters' room. I ran through the hall and into their room, but no one was there. Absolutely terrifying....did not help my insomnia.
from Devac I wouldn't lean away from too much. I'm sure you've heard of Jung's collective unconscious, a concept that has always fascinated me. I don't recall seeing the hat man, but I've had my share of nightmares, still do, and many of them are archetypical. We have to bring our children up to be resilient -- and courageous enough to face down their nightmares enemies - even if they are shadowy and hidden by hats!To your comment, I would rather lean away from 'hardwired' word.
Collective unconscious (German: kollektives Unbewusstes), a term coined by Carl Jung, refers to structures of the unconscious mind which are shared among beings of the same species. According to Jung, the human collective unconscious is populated by instincts and by archetypes: universal symbols such as the Great Mother, the Wise Old Man, the Shadow, the Tower, Water, the Tree of Life, and many more.
I meant to reply to Devac's comment when I had time, but he has since deleted it, so I'm replying to you but really for his sake. You really want to start with secondary sources to follow Jung. Behind the scenes he was very interested in mysticism, religion, and magic, but, good scientist that he was, he also didn't believe in the supernatural. His work on the collective unconscious and active imagination was inspired by a experiences he had during a nervous breakdown -- funny enough, hypnagogic visions, which was what I was thinking of when I suggest that to mike. He wrote an account of them in the Red Book, which was only published recently. The collective unconscious started as a theory of why his dreams resembled mythology and accounts of mystics' visionary experiences, and later his theories of archetypes evolved though his interest in alchemy, seeing the symbolic language of alchemy as describing psychological processes being projected on the external world. Because he was worried about his reputation as a scientist he didn't want to talk about that stuff, there really being no way you can talk about alchemy in a scientific context without sounding like a crackpot, so he danced around what motivated his theories until late in life and his writings are hard to follow without (more than) a little context. Jung is in a funny place now. As a psychologist, he's regarded as a pseudoscientist, and rightly so because his theories aren't falsifiable. There are still clinical psychologist and counselors who use his theories, and reputable programs that will train them to, and they're justified because there's enough evidence that they help people even if their theoretical basis is shaky. He also inspired people interested in the esoteric to look at it in psychological terms, so they can play with their tarot cards or whatever if that works for them without feeling like moonbats or obliged to become a moonbat, which can be seen as good or bad depending on where you live and how many people have told you you're, like, such a Gemini lately, but has probably been a positive on the whole.
Thanks for your reply to Devac. I would have babbled something about dream symbolism, attics (imagination), basements and tunnels (the subconscious, the shadow), blah blah. I wasn't aware of the background to Jung's theories. I'll definitely look into it more. I preferred him to Freud, probably because I loved the symbolism - and the notion of a universal common human experience. I used to apply Jung's allegorical journey to my reading of Tarot cards, back when I was a moonbat, but in truth, the only thing I believed in was my own scepticism. bfv how did you get to Jung? through music lyrics, or through some other means?
I worked with a guy who had been a Jungian analyst back in the 60s or 70s before becoming a programmer. He went off on the best tangents. I probably shouldn't have said "moonbat," it's just awfully convenient shorthand. I've cited occultists in threads about skepticism twice in the last month. Through comics and music I picked up a taste for that stuff myself, though I've never been a believer.
I like the term "moonbat" although some would surely find it offensive. I will use it the term in respectful silence when a certain close relative says she prefers to work with her acupuncturist and take Chinese medicine rather than getting an ultrasound or medical diagnosis for heavy post-menopausal vaginal bleeding. Argue with me hubski, I am always interested in being righted. Another friend uses the phrase "Here's where our world views diverge," when moonbattology is proferred. I should use that phrase myself.
I would not mind that, really. I mean, the moment where I would be all snooty on other people for waffling it's the moment where I would have to be hospitalized for a ruptured hypocrite gland ;). Most of the time I try to encourage that to be honest. Plus I have already explained in a post to bfv about the reasons for comment removal, but that's nothing personal or against anyone in particular. More directed at you lil: how did you found out Jung? What's the appeal of symbolism? At least aside of being an abstraction layer as seen in maths, that's my view of the subject. Believe or not, but I have discovered meditation in a broader, non-Buddhist, sense less than half a year ago. Anything mystical that was not Greek, Roman or Norse mythology is a pretty much an uncharted territory for me.I would have babbled something about dream symbolism, attics (imagination), basements and tunnels (the subconscious, the shadow), blah blah.
No snark. I wrote above: The appeal of symbolism is that it's a way of looking at one thing to mean both what it means concretely and also what it means symbolically. In this way, we take The Wizard of Oz (or any journey story) as both a story about a girl trying to get back to Kansas and also a story about a symbolic journey - the journey that perhaps we all are on. Just as a hero sets out on a journey in search of the holy grail or the golden fleece or the broomstick of the wicked witch of the west, we are the heros in our own myths and we are in search of what we are in search of. Jungians might call that integration of our inner and outer selves. Americans might call it the pursuit of happiness. As we follow the journey of a story, there is also a symbolic journey going on. The hero has tests or trials and has to emerge on the other side intact - bruised, battered, but made strong and wise by confidence, courage, and commitment. The appeal of symbolism is that it gives a story the possibility of universal applications. We don't really know what the symbolism means, but we can imagine that since Noah's ark is rudderless, a human cannot steer it. It will go where it has to go blown about by the sea and wind. Like our lives. If you get my circuitous drift.I used to apply Jung's allegorical journey to my reading of Tarot cards, back when I was a moonbat, but in truth, the only thing I believed in was my own scepticism.
Thanks! I will need to ponder a bit on what you have said here, but it does sound very intriguing indeed! Could you recommend some good secondary sources that don't require psychology/philosophy major to follow? I know that this is probably a rather tall order, but I would not be myself if not asking this. I'm not against getting some background in the field anyway, contrary to that I would like to actually get more exposed to humanities. I would be perfectly OK with you telling me to binge Psych portal at Wikipedia for a month, but some guidebook would be much appreciated :D. To clarify deletion: I have actually removed it because I wanted to fix the wording since I got this sudden feeling that everyone and their mother will hawk at me for being an ignorant and dismissive boob… because of the wording. As quite usual turn of events, much to my dismay but not without my fault in some cases.
The Very Short Introduction books are always good for things completely new to you.
Interesting... is the hatman an archetype? After I posted this, I told my gf about the experience and she surprised me by saying she experienced the same thing as a child, except it was a German Shepherd with green eyes. She couldn't move, and sometimes it was just the head, very close, watching her. Now you've got me reading about the Jungian archetype the Shadow. Cool and creepy stuff!
Now listen to Forty-Six & 2 again.Now you've got me reading about the Jungian archetype the Shadow. Cool and creepy stuff!
I have neither seen or experienced anything like that nor even heard about such thing before you wrote a post. It made me do a quick research on my own and I have seen a rather interesting article on a wiki dedicated to psychoactive substance use. That's not to say I had no creepy moments during early childhood, but living in a house with two physicists, maths professor and a medical doctor quickly makes you skeptical and very demanding of hard proofs ;). I had a window curtain with a pattern that made me experience weird "house must be moving, but I don't experience any acceleration" moments due to translation-distortion effect similar to ones described in this Numberphile video.
Don't get the wrong idea -- I too am very skeptical! I have always dismissed the experience as an active imagination. But you can imagine my surprise when I read that what I experienced is a widespread phenomenum, down to the hat and trenchcoat and behavior. Happenstance? Cultural influences? Something hardwired?
Maybe I took my explanation in a wrong direction: I was not intending to dismiss your question as if you were believing in some supernatural stuff (nor, for that matter, assuming that you were abusing substances as a child :P). I have never experienced something like it and got very inquisitive upbringing, hence maybe I was not really prone for it as a kid? I don't know, but I do find question as intriguing. To your comment, I would rather lean away from 'hardwired' word. I don't know what kind of predator (aside of pedophile Columbo) could possibly be ingrained in humans on the basest of base levels of threat detection to be considered as hardwired. There is a phenomenon called pareidolia that was observed as a form of hyperactive/idle visual recognition side-effect in humans where we see people, faces etc where there are none. Since children are on a very receptive-intense learning phase it could perhaps run haywire. It's a person with unknown features that is not supposed to be there. It's foreign, therefore could pose a threat. That leads to fear, if you don't mind me going on a Yoda's monologue ;). I would like to get some better explanation though, this is just a fast-talking attempt at finding a good reason for Shadow People.