Viclore

Continuing our discussion about unexplained sights in the US. Previous post here: “Nope, I don’t like that”: Encounters with Not Deer

Vic:
So we talked about the Not Deer, what was next on the list of three?

Ren:
So I had the Shadow People and the Night Riders.

Vic:
Let’s go on to shadow people.

Ren:
So. Shadow people are a Native American folklore from the region of San Francisco and the Bay Area. Basically, the short and long of it is they’re watchers. They watch you. That’s what they do. They are not hostile, they’re not harmful. They just watch people. They’re tall shadowy figures with very large eyes. Generally reflective. Might have experienced only one of them, and basically, I didn’t even know they were a thing at the time.

I was out in the Presidio, which is the Northwest section of San Francisco. The bit that connects to the Golden Gate Bridge, it’s a forested area in San Francisco. I was out there doing some battery swapping on the electric bikes on the night shift, and I go to swap a battery on- someone had parked a bike in, like, a side alley road in the forested section of the Presidio. So I had to go down a bunch of different twisted roads into the housing area in the Presidio at like, was it 2am or 3am I don’t know, it was really fucking late. And, you know, I go to get out to swap the battery on this bike, because whoever parked there is going to undoubtedly try to use that bike in the morning to go to work or whatever, because that’s why they rode it there.

I go swap a battery. I finished swapping the battery, and I’m looking out like, because, you know, you get down, you swap the battery, and then look up, and there were two reflective discs in the distance. And I had, my helmet light on, because I was wearing it like, so I can see in the dark when I’m doing work. And I looked out, and I’m like, huh, those must be like, someone’s like, reflective mirrors around their house for when they need to see around the corner, make sure no one’s coming out. And then the they blinked at me and moved. And I’m like, cool, fuck that shit. And I got in my van and left, and I’m like, cool. I’m not doing the rest of the Presidio tonight.

I posted in a local group chat for the Bay Area, specifically furry group chat, because that was what I was in. I’m like, I just saw these things like, “that’s fucking weird, that’s creepy”. And someone’s like, “Oh yeah, you saw a Shadow Person!” I’m like, a fucking what? Oh, you know, Shadow Person. It’s a local Native American legend. And I’m like, is that a bad thing? And they’re like, no, they’re harmless. They just watch people. It’s creepy, but they don’t do anything harmful.

There was a difference between the Not Deer and learning about them beforehand and then encountering them, and seeing something and being like, “What the fuck is that?” And then having other people be like, “Oh yeah, it’s a Shadow Person. Don’t worry. They’re not harmful at all.”

Vic:
So what time of year was it you saw the Shadow Person?

Ren:
That would have been summer.

Vic:
Roughly what year?

Ren:
2019

Vic:
Okay. So you said it was sort of humanoid?

Ren:
Yeah. Tall, skinny humanoid. You can’t really see their faces, they just have very large reflective eyes.

Vic:
When you say tall, do you mean human tall, or bigger?

Ren:
Like two meters to two and a half meters. Big.

Vic:
And how big are the eyes?

Ren:
I would say that, you know, like those comical, like cartoonish, big, round glasses that you see in shows. [mimes the size of them] You know, like the really fucking big ones that take up, like, a significant portion of your face. Like that.

Vic:
Okay, and it didn’t react to your presence at all?

Ren:
I mean, it watched me. And then when I was like, trying to figure out where the fuck it was, it blinked and moved. And then I was like, I’m not sticking around, at which point I got back in the fucking car and left. So I don’t know if it did anything else after that.

Vic:
But generally, they’re not aggressive?

Ren:
No. They literally just watch people.

Vic:
Is there any theories on why they watch people?

Ren:
I don’t know, I didn’t really get into the Native American myths about it. All I know is that they’re something to do with spirits of the area, and they just observe people.

Vic:
So are they quite commonly seen?

Ren:
I wouldn’t know if common is the word, but enough that people know about them. It’s just one of those things of like, you know- it’s often used to explain why people at night, especially people people who work at night or out at night, feel like they’re being watched. It’s yeah, you are being watched.

Vic:
So were there any vibes to it, like, did you feel like it was just benign? Did you feel like it had any malice?

Ren:
Again, my thought process at the time wasn’t that. It was just, you know, oh, what the fuck is that? No that must be a light, a mirror or something, and then it blinks and moves, and I’m like, nope, nope, nope, not dealing with that.

Vic:
So did it feel quite similar to seeing the Not Deer?

Ren:
The Not Deer was more hostile, like this was just a “I did not want to stick around and find out what the fuck was going on”. And because a tall, mysterious shape that blinks and then moves at you at night could be something else. It could be an actual predator, because we get coyotes out there.

Vic:
Hopefully not that tall

Ren:

Yeah, like, I wasn’t thinking that that was a coyote. It didn’t seem like a coyote. But, you know, I know enough that when there is something potentially dangerous in the area you get out of there.

Vic:
No, that’s understandable.

Ren:
The Not Deer is different. Because with the shadow person I was observing it and then seeing it move and being like that does not relate to anything I know. With a Not Deer, you have to observe it for like a hot second or two to realize that it’s not a deer, at which point there’s the fear response of, “Oh, fuck”. That is not the thing I thought it was.

Vic:
Did seeing the watcher have any lasting impact on how you worked?

Ren:
I never saw any of them ever again, but apparently they’re like- again, they’re common enough that people know about them, but most people don’t see them multiple times. It’s kind of like if you see one, congrats. Well done. It just meant that when I was in the Presidio, I was on the lookout for them, but I never saw them again.

Vic:
Did your night shift colleagues ever mention them?

Ren:
Two other people said they had seen something similar in the Presidio before.

Vic:
So potentially it lives there?

Ren:
I mean, the Bay Area, the island that is Alcatraz used to be a very important island to the Native American people before it was taken from them, so the area does have a lot of importance to Native American people.

Next part: The Night Riders of the San Francisco BART