The Shadow Man

Stephen Dee Richards - ink sketch

As soon as Danielle and Randy Pracht, and their family, move into a new home in rural Norman, Nebraska, their daughters, Rhiannon and Rylee, begin to sense a dark and unsettling force on the property and see terrifying ghostly figures. In the main house, Danielle and her daughters also hear children’s laughter at night and what sounds like music from a Native American flute, but the sounds seem to come from nowhere. Rhiannon is inexplicably drawn to an old storage house on the property that still holds long-forgotten furniture and taxidermy animals from the farm’s previous owners, and she gets a chill the moment she steps inside. As she wanders through this creepy space, she suddenly catches sight of a dark shadowy man standing near an old stove. Then one night, the most terrifying incident occurs. Rhiannon feels herself strapped to her bed and physically attacked: “It felt like claws dragged down my back!” When Danielle sees red scratch marks appear on her daughter’s back, it becomes frighteningly clear that their new dream house is haunted. Randy and Danielle are horrified to think that their children are in danger and they have no idea how to protect them. The family goes to war with the malevolent spirit -which they believe is the ghost of a psychotic serial killer from the 1800s.

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14 Comments

  1. M

    This is for sure sleep paralysis. One of the biggest causes of sleep paralysis is stress and lack of sleep. Also sleeping in a new place makes it more frequent. Combined with a bunch of other coincidences. The scratches is the hardest to explain.

    Reply

  2. Donna

    Would love to see the team from Paranormal Quest visit the house and see what they find…spooky……love paranormal stuff

    Reply

  3. Nick

    EMF Readers measure electromagnetic fields. Five gets you ten these ghost hunters are using a K-II meter which is the commonly used by ghost hunters. It is also wildly inaccurate, partially because it’s not a shielded device. It is prone to false positives as well.

    The power in the shack might have been off, but it could have been set off by cell phones and any other equipment these grifters brought into the room with them.

    Anyone who tells you an EMF meter can detects ghosts is either a fraud or an idiot.

    Reply

  4. Darcy F

    It’s fine to say you don’t believe in ghosts. It’s not fine to be a d*ck about it and make assumptions about people you don’t know anything about. If you want to bring up the subject of mental health, let’s discuss the effects of cyberbullying.

    Reply

  5. MG

    Brownie: “That was the least believable ‘haunting’ that I have ever heard.”
    Agreed. I believe in ghosts, and they are much more interesting to me than UFO’s. Yet with most ghost stories I call b.s. more often than I am willing to believe it.
    RJ: ” they say there was no electricity at the shed. But then they say the fire was cause by a 100 year old wire?”
    Exactly. Then two or three of the kids entered “spiritual” related careers. Um…. This one reeks.

    Reply

  6. mp

    people can be so mean, you never seen a billon dollars, but you know its real. if you do not agree or believe the story that’s fine, just don’t read the blog. but don’t disrespect someone who shares their story.

    Reply

  7. bruh

    People still believe in ghosts? After all we’ve learned about mental health? Just sounds like your daughter didn’t wanna live there cause you forcefully removed her from the place she was familiar with.

    Reply

  8. Timothy

    I agree with Nathan Smedley above, though for different reasons.
    Let’s apply a little parapsychology logic here; who was traumatized by the murder of the two children?
    It definitely wasn’t the serial killer, as they generally only show remorse when they are up for review before the Parole Board.
    It’s a well documented fact among mammals that the female will go to excessive lengths when she feels that her children are threatened.
    What you’ve got here is a distraught mom who was probably exhibiting a homicidal intent in regards to the defense of her children, who’s life was apparently cut short before she could carry out that intent, leaving her figuratively ‘stuck’ that way – which is how she comes back – and it is probably she who is telling the story to anyone who would hear, of how things went from wonderful to absolute hell, and it was probably she who scattered the bones of the perpetrator of the murders all across the town.
    Think about it, how else would you get even with the man who murdered your children?
    Either that, or she took possession of someone else in the town to do so, like a derelict or someone with mental health issues, or an animal.
    Doesn’t mean that the mom ghost didn’t do it herself; we’re talking primal, elemental force here, anger, pain and rage, and an unsatiated desire to protect her children and/or possibly bring harm to the man who murdered them.
    Of course the priest is going to identify her presence as ‘the evil one’, no doubt due to the reoccurring trends in patriarchal theology, and anyone familiar with certain trends in regards to clergy sex offenders who prey on children knows that some of them harbor absolutely no qualms what-so-ever in regards to coming between a mother and her child, and that a conspiracy along those lines exists. Figure, that Adam killed his first wife Lilith, and Cain was his father’s son – though there is no mention in scripture or oral tradition in regards to whether Adam and Lilith had any kids or not – if they did, I would wager that they likely met the same fate as their mother. If you are Christian, stick with Jesus, as the more you come to understand his anger, the more enlightened one will likely become. .
    Calling this somewhat of a serial haunting.
    The scratches on the calf? That’s something that maybe a wildcat would do, or any mother cat protecting her young, or perhaps the family cat who may have identified with the mother’s rage. Many times scratches tend to be a primal, instinctive thing, like when a mare bites a stallion on the rear to get his attention and let him know that she’s fertile. Talking basic mammal instinctive behavior here, as shared among females of many different species; as well a common form of non-verbal communication.
    We are talking about a hypothetical mother ghost who may or may not have passed under extreme trauma, with her primal instincts triggered, in regards to the defense of her children, and any reference to the actual killer may have been a sort of charade played out by the mother ghost as an attempt to relate her trauma and explain her anger. The tugs on the clothing during the cleansing attempt may have been the ghosts of the children tugging at their mother’s presence, which they apparently perceived within some of the individuals present during the cleansing – it’s all a matter of perspective with this sort of thing, in regards to what one sees, what the entity(ies) perceive, and what some entity is trying to show to one – a situation which often leads to even more frustration on the part of the deceased entity who is trying to relate their account which would explain both their presence, behavior and condition, and cannot seem to make any connections. .
    The other wild card in this account is the child who shares the same name as the witch Rhiannon, who has been popularized by pop-culture and certain rock-n-roll songs written about her, which might have something to do with why she was singled out and attacked, just sayin’ a LOT going on here. . . . . . .
    Another great story though, glad y’all are back!
    Used to watch all the time with my old girlfriend, back in the 1990s, and I found this podcast by accident!

    Reply

  9. Sleeping_gorilla

    Unsolved Mysteries was a series about true crime. This show is using the music and likeness of the original show to tell fake ghost hunting stories.

    What’s going on here?

    Reply

    • Hellionkitty

      Pretty sure I saw episodes about alien abductions on the old tv show when I was a kid that freaked me out. It wasn’t all true crime buddy. Plus there’s plenty of podcasts focusing on all true crime.

      Reply

    • KG

      The original show definitely had stories of hauntings. My fave was a haunted ship with invisible children splashing in a pool – remember it like it was yesterday.

      Reply

  10. Nathan Smedley

    https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Jones_House

    What is going on here. This is the same story of another Unsolved Mysteries (see link), many identical parts (shaken bed, scratches, child seeing mother’s dead father) but with different names and dates? Is the podcast making up stories off of old episodes. That is lame and deceptive.

    Reply

  11. Brownie

    That was the least believable “haunting” that I have ever heard.

    Reply

  12. RJ

    When they are talking about the emf reading, they say there was no electricity at the shed. But then they say the fire was cause by a 100 year old wire?

    Reply

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