Did the Shadow People Originate in Old Time Radio?

(Repost from July 12, 2011 over at my OldTimeRadioDiner blog, no longer active. I started that back when I thought I could keep two going at the same time.)

If you've spent much time listening to Coast to Coast AM with George Noory (I listen when I can)[1], you know that the Shadow People have often been discussed.

There's not much on Wikipedia, which I turned to first for some historical context (>) but with a little Googling there's a wealth of speculation and personal accounts.

Interestingly, this wonderful OTR episode (link below) of Hall of Fantasy from 1953 incorporates many aspects of what I understand to be the nature of encounters with Shadow People, though in this treatment they are decidedly sinister.

Is the 1953 story a reflection of growing American paranoia? Real events? The seed of a modern collective myth?

Film historians often site the political uncertainties of the Cold War era and post-nuclear Japan as sources for Godzilla, giant creepy crawlies and invaders from Mars. This radio play could be the fictional matrix of a modern neurosis.

If someone knows of an earlier documented reference, feel free to comment or contact me. You can find me a couple tabs over, right here > 


Click to Listen to The Shadow People from 1953 (archive.org) >

Learn more about Hall of Fantasy at the Digital Deli >

c0

[1]
2013-06-23: I used to, not much anymore. With two young children, I have to sleep when they sleep. I use late evenings to read a little or listen to audio books. Mornings I write.

c0