Shadow Figures, Good or Evil?

If you watch any ghost-hunting show, you'll notice that investigators often come across what they call a “Shadow Figure.” Many people in the paranormal community believe these shadow figures are evil, mostly because of their color. In many metaphysical beliefs, black is linked to evil. I also think that, as a culture, we grow up thinking anything paranormal is probably bad. Put these ideas together, and it explains why so many people see shadow figures as negative. Personally, I don’t think they are necessarily evil.  Any spirit can be malevolent, but this determination has to be based on something more significant than color.   In my experience, I have encountered several shadow figures during my investigations, and none has been malicious or evil.  

With the advent of digital photography, shadow figures have become more prevalent as evidence.  My reasoning is that photography has become more commonplace and almost completely free.  Everyone now has a camera on their smartphone that can store thousands of photos.  When I started my paranormal career, the holy grail of paranormal evidence was a Polaroid photo.. Polaroid photos were considered tamper-proof and free from photographic flaws that were often induced during film development. The only drawback was that every Polaroid photo cost around two dollars.  Nowadays,  investigators armed with digital cameras can take hundreds of photos during an investigation.  The only limitation is the amount of memory they have.  The more photos you can take during an investigation, the greater the possibility of capturing a spirit.

So what is a shadow figure?  I think they are a different type of apparition.  Everyone has seen photos of the “classic” apparition.  The white human-shaped silhouette which is still the holy grail of paranormal evidence.  Now, for that white silhouette to be captured by your camera, light has to be reflected off of something tangible back into the camera’s aperture.   Cameras only work when there is reflected light.  This is also how your eyes work.

This is how I categorize apparitions, and it’s based on how they interact with light.  If you think back to your high school physics class, anything that reflects all the frequencies in the visible spectrum appears as white.  Anything that absorbs all the colors of the visible spectrum appears as black.  The same can be applied to spirit apparitions.  Apparitions that can reflect light, the “classic” white apparition, and apparitions that absorb light, shadow figures.  Also, a common fact you may now start noticing during your investigations is that you tend to capture shadow figures in areas with high to moderate light levels, and the classic apparition in areas with low to moderate light levels.   Now I have encountered shadow figures in low light conditions and white apparitions in well-lit conditions.  But in either case, some level of light must be present to capture either type of apparition.  

So, do I think shadow figures are evil?  No.  I think that a shadow figure is simply a different kind of apparition.