History Main / LivingShadow

* Not precisely "living", but on one episode of ''Series/TheXFiles'', an experiment involving antimatter [[GoneHorriblyWrong goes horribly wrong]], causing the shadow of the scientist to consume the body of anyone it fell upon, leaving only a scorch mark on the wall/floor.

* The ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' has [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-017 SCP-017]] and [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-280 SCP-280]], both of which are homicidal monsters made of shadows. They differ in the opposite ways they are contained; SCP-017 has to be in a cell surrounded by bright lights, while SCP-280 has to be in a cell surrounded by total darkness. Otherwise, they will escape and kill people.

* ''Literature/JohnDiesAtTheEnd'' features the Shadow Men, malevolent entities that can erase people from existence.

* In Disney's ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' the BigBad, a voodoo magician named Dr. Facilier, called in-movie "The Shadowman", has a living shadow that can interact with the real world, and serves to both mirror and accentuate his evil, mysterious nature. Later in the film, Facilier [[DealWithTheDevil bargains with his "Friends on the Other Side"]] for the ability to [[spoiler:control a whole swarm of living shadows]].

* In ''Film/VanishingOnSeventhStreet'' the entire apocalypse seems to have been precipitated by shadows and darkness becoming sentient and malevolent. People left in the dark vanish, leaving behind a shadow that also starts trying to vanish people. They're capable of mimicking speech, cries and other human noises, as well as causing hallucinations in those they're about to vanish. Only light keeps them at bay, and they're somehow able to make the day shorter and shorter.

* This is the power of the ComicBook/{{Shade}}, a foe of Franchise/TheFlash and a sometimes enemy/sometimes ally of ComicBook/{{Starman}}.

* Eddie in ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' is a living shadow that now fully controls his old hosts' corpse. [[spoiler:Subverted in Xrd, when Zato-1 is revived and takes back control of his body AND Eddie.]]

* At the end of the Creator/PatrickSwayze-Creator/DemiMoore film ''Film/{{Ghost}}'', [[spoiler:living shadows drag Sam Wheat's former friend Carl Bruner and his associate Willy Lopez down to Hell]].

* ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'': The Lasombra have the Discipline of Obtenebration (shadow manipulation). Their Antediluvian (also called Lasombra) [[spoiler:becomes a creature of pure shadow living in the Abyss, and comes to the world during Gehenna]].

* Dante of ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' once had to fight one of these. It later became an ability of his.

--> -- '''Creator/HansChristianAndersen''', "Literature/TheShadow"

* Creator/HansChristianAndersen's 1847 story ''Literature/TheShadow'' is about a writer whose shadow comes to life and eventually overcomes its owner. It has a DownerEnding, too.
* Radio/TheShadow appears to be able to become one (the first book is even called ''The Living Shadow''). Whether or not it's really a trick is unclear.

* An urban legend known as the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_person shadow people]] entails humanoid shadows appearing in the periphery of some people's vision, only to disappear when confronted, while others are seen straight on as they walk around and are often described as being extremely black or even "blacker than black". There are many explanations - both scientific and pseudoscientific - for this phenomenon, such as being caused by sleep paralysis, but little agreement over the true culprit.

* An urban legend known as the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_person shadow people]] entails humanoid shadows appearing in the periphery of some people's vision, only to disappear when confronted, while others are seen straight on as they walk around and are often described as being extremely black or even "blacker than black". There are many explanations, both scientific and pseudoscientific, for this phenomenon, but little agreement over the true causes.
** So-called "shadow beings" are fairly common hallucinations reported by people suffering from [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis sleep paralysis]] nightmares. Frightened witnesses interpret these entities as [[SleepParalysisCreature demons, ghosts, or spirits approaching them while they sleep.]]
** Some studies have suggested that this and similar/related phenomena such as {{doppelganger}}s and [[AstralProjection out of body experiences]] are a result of, more or less, a part of the brain misfiring. Essentially, the part of the brain that's responsible for spatial self-awareness (i.e. how the brain knows where your hands are and how you're positioned so it can do basic things like walk and put your finger on your nose) can, if stimulated, result in the brain being fooled that you are, in effect, somewhere else such as three feet behind and to your left. Consequently, the rest of the brain tries to reconcile the fact [[VoodooShark by freaking out even more]]. Of course, the setup for that experiment was an attempt to trick the mind into thinking it had control of another body that it could actually see, so YMMV.
** A researcher working in the CIA has seen this phenomenon, and found it to be from the ventilation fan which made his eyeballs resonate, giving false images.
** This can also be a side effect of migraines, along with [[AuraVision other visual anomalies]].
** There's also the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Man_factor#cite_note-3 Third Man Factor,]] where people under extreme stress or profound isolation perceive (or hallucinate, depending on your interpretation) the presence of a being to keep them going in the face of despair. Not your typical Shadow People encounter, but possibly a similar effect.

** While Fanon has more or less refuted this, turning the character into a ShadowArchetype, in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' the Water Temple's sub-boss is Link's Living Shadow.

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Birdman}}'' villain Murko had a RingOfPower that could bring people's shadows to life to do his bidding. He is defeated when he blocks out the sun in an attempt to weaken Birdman (Birdman is solar powered). While it did weaken Birdman, it also meant there were no shadows for him to animate.

** So-called "shadow beings" are fairly common hallucinations reported by people suffering from [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis sleep paralysis]] nightmares. [[SleepParalysisCreature Frightened witnesses interpret these entities as demons, ghosts, or spirits approaching them while they sleep.]]