Shadow Figure

The Shadow Figure as seen in 'Gmod Ghost'. Arguably the first recorded 'sighting' of the entity

The Shadow Figure (more frequently and customarily known as the Shadow Man) is arguably one of the most common and widespread Garry's Mod myths. It appears in multiple ARGs, as well as memes or parodies.

Details

The Shadow Figure is a pitch black, shadow-like entity with the capability of disappearing at will and teleporting across the map. Its objective is unknown, but it seems to spend most of its time stalking the player. There are multiple versions of the Shadow Figure and usually the only difference between them is a different NPC chosen to imitate the figure. Faking an encounter with the figure is easy to perform, such as by spawning a Dr. Kleiner NPC and coloring him pitch black with the Color tool.

rp_downtown_v2 Shadow Figure

The video Gmod Ghost is possibly one of the first mentions of paranormal activity involving Shadow Figuresin Garry's Mod. In the video, the player roams around the map in search of the "ghost". It is seen breaking windows and deleting the players car all while the player is attempting to find it. The map would later become infamous because of this myth and a multitude of other stories.

Multiple people would jokingly or falsely comment on the maps workshop page about finding this mysterious shadow figure in game.

Usage in ARGs

• The Shadow Figure shows itself in 'graveyard creepy secret room tutorial'
• The Shadow Figure as shown in 'recording'

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Shadow Figures are incredibly common in ARGs, and have appeared in videos from Classic GM Videos, garrysmod9 reuploads Jack don, and many more. The figure is typically shown stalking the player for unknown reasons and it commonly has a strong connection to the dark room.

The entity in gmod9fan's ARG can be considered a shadow figure, despite formerly possessing a ragdoll vessel form (see Cheaple).

Legacy

The spike in popularity of the myth caused players to create fake encounters with the Shadow Figure, which made the concept largely overused and thus disliked despite being so widespread. Lately, even parodies of it are beginning to become hated.

Parodies

The Shadow Figure myth concept led to the creation of many parodies and memes, usually displaying the shadow figure being killed in some way or another. Popular examples are shown below:

• a gmod arg but the player has had enough of the shadow man's crap
• Alternate universe where the player actually did care there was a black figure
• Gmod ARGs but what would probably actually happen

'Haunted' Maps

• Entity in the 'Haunted' RP_Downtown_V2 Map
• Entity in the 'Haunted' GM_Construct Map

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A couple of "haunted maps" featuring the Shadow Figure have been made. Those maps contain scripted events which give off the illusion of being haunted. A great example is gm_construct 13 beta, which is known for the eeriness that surrounds it. It features many unique entities, including Semper, custom monsters and obviously the Shadow Figure.