by Andrew Arnett
Methamphetamine (aka: ice, crystal, crank, speed, shards), is a powerful drug overtaking America today. Its effects can be devastating to individuals and society alike. Often times, people under the influence of meth report seeing Shadow People. Are these Shadow People merely phantoms conjured by a mind in the throes of ‘meth psychosis,’ or are these entities ‘real,’ made visible by dint of the meth itself?
One theory holds that Shadow People are inter-dimensional beings who, searching for negative energy, are drawn to people who have opened a portal by engaging in self-destructive behavior.
To be sure, meth releases a tremendous amount of dopamine. As a result, the brains’s initial contact with meth often results in pleasant experiences of euphoria, colors, and even hallucinations of a religious nature like seeing angels, etc.
After continued use, the brain’s dopamine production becomes depleted, atrophied or burnt out. The user becomes an addict, needing more and more meth to maintain even a semblance of normality, as he sinks inevitably into ’meth psychosis’ with its accompanying symptoms of paranoia, hallucinations, fear, and violence. Meth users can stay awake for up to 72 hours or more and this lack of sleep can contribute to hallucinations.
Meth and Encounters with Shadow People
A trip report published on the Erowid website tells of a particular nasty encounter with the Shadow People by a group of friends whilst under the influence of meth. The writer, a female college student, was at the time visiting her hometown for her birthday. She got together with her boyfriend and another couple and they rented a motel room where they proceeded to ingest a large amount of methamphetamine. What happens next is completely nuts:
After about 10 minutes, A. sat up and noticed that a large vortex was forming in the corner of the hotel room. From this vortex, which looked like a smoky grey cube imploding on itself, emerged hundreds of shadowy figures. They were roughly human in shape and seemed to be composed entirely of shadows. They had no facial features or clothing or any type of distinguishing marks. Being avid researchers of the paranormal, we instantly recognized these creatures to be Shadow People. Panic quickly set in as the shadow people began to circle the room.
In their state of hyper alertness, the group concluded that the shadow people were extra-dimensional beings who preyed on human energy. Methamphetamine had caused their bodies to vibrate at a higher resonance. This in turn attracted the shadow people, who entered our physical dimension through a vortex.
In the hopes of making the shadow people go away, the group decided to smoke even more methamphetamine. This only increased their paranoia, psychic energy and ability to perceive the shadow people. Then, a translucent blob the size of a human torso began forming underneath the table. What happened next was truly terrifying:
The blob started speaking to me telepathically, telling me that it was going to spiritually possess me and use my body to murder my friends. As it was speaking it began climbing up my body. It inserted three tentacles into my navel and began to enter my body. Where the tentacles touched me, I felt a sensation similar to ice-cold needles being pushed through my skin. I wanted to get up and run away but the creature had me completely paralyzed.
The fascinating thing about this account is that all the members of the group were able to perceive the Shadow People. As such, they were all terrified by the creature and what it was doing to their friend. One friend took a flying leap at the blob creature then, threw her into the shower. After some Xanax and the passing of time, the shadow people dispersed. The writer concludes that meth “basically ruined my life through a long series of events. In the end, I ended up with methamphetamine-induced schizophrenia.”
Another report of an encounter with the Shadow People by a group of friends on meth can be found at the Official Shadow People website. Here, the writer claims:
A group of friends and I used crystal meth for a brief period and this is a drug that keeps one from sleeping for long periods of time (think 3 and 4 days) during this time I saw shadow people every where and it seemed because of being ‘sped up’ that I could look and focus on them for a second or two before they would disappear and they were *everywhere*, but only when it was just the three of us, they didn’t appear when lots of people were around. One day one of my friends happened to mention something about all the shadow people around, and me and the other guy were kind of amazed, it turned out we had all been seeing them but until then had not mentioned it to each other.
Is there a direct correlation between increased Shadow People encounters and the rise of meth abuse? To be sure, not all encounters with Shadow People are the result of meth abuse. Indeed, the majority of Shadow People sightings, and there are thousands, have occurred by people who were stone cold sober.
Shadow People Caught On Film
One has to wonder, with all the reported sightings of Shadow People, if anyone has had the wherewithal to snap a picture whilst in their presence. Maybe, being that Shadow People are purported to be inter-dimensional beings, they wouldn’t even appear on film. Nonetheless, a plethora of “photographic evidence” circulates on the internet. Let’s take a look at a few of the more intriguing ones.
A photo taken in 2011 by a family on a visit to the former prison facility Trentham Cottage in Port Author, Australia, reveals a dark silhouette sporting a hat. Curiously, Shadow People are often seen wearing hats, which has spawned its own category of Shadow People – the “Hat Man.” The character in the photo reminds me of the mad cult leader Kane (Julien Beck) from the movie Poltergeist 2, one of the creepiest portrayals of pure evil in cinema.
Another photo, taken on the British ocean liner RMS Queen May, permanently docked at the port in Long Beach, California, purportedly shows a Shadow Person. The ship now serves as a hotel and tourist attraction with a reputation for being haunted.
Is the photograph bogus? Are Shadow People just another ghost story told to creep you out? Or is this a legit paranormal phenomenon?
We are marking, as of this writing, the 100th anniversary of the invention of methamphetamine. This potent stimulant of the central nervous system was first concocted in 1919 by Japanese chemist Akira Ogata who utilized iodine and phosphorous to reduce ephedrine into methamphetamine. Could the rise in popularity of this drug be in some ways providing a gateway for demonic forces entry into our world? Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps, to quote a pulp hero from the 1930s, only The Shadow knows.
Sources
https://www.erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=48313
http://shadowpeople.dotster.com/shadowpeople.html
http://shadowpeople.dotster.com/main/shadow/notcounted/meth.html
ARNETT FILES 