The Londonist posted a story this morning from the archives of Fortean Times Magazine. It was a 2003 account from a few guys from London who witnessed a “Shadow Person” like creature strolling about the streets of Brockley. South east London.

From the Londonist:

I was walking from a friend’s house to my own, in the early hours of the morning after a night of general chat while I was at university here in London. I had drunk only tea or soft drinks all night and had consumed no drugs whatsoever. The time was around 6 am and dawn was literally breaking when a friend and I found ourselves walking down my street where my apartment was located. We saw a figure walking up the street towards us. The word we coined later to describe its movement was ‘lolloping’ — a kind of up and down bouncy walk. It took a few seconds for the two of us to realise this was no human being.

The creature was entirely black and like a cardboard cut-out, flat and one-dimensional. It had no features at all, and it had arms that hung down to its knees. It seemed to be ignoring us, then it seemed to realise we could see it and it began to lollop faster towards us. We ran to my front door and hid in the hallway as quiet and unmoving as possible when we saw the thing — we felt it was male — approach the front door and appear to look through the glass from the way its head moved up and down and around. It then turned away.

It’s difficult to take online testimonies serious. You just don’t know who wrote the story, and under what motive. Regardless, I’ve read weirder things and experienced a shadow person encounter myself. When I tell my personal story to some people, they roll their eyes as if I’m crazy. Well they might be a little on the right side, but I know what I saw.