I'm here seeking some volunteers, but I'll get into that after I explain what brings me here. If you actually have the patience to read this entire thing, you're even more likely to have what I'm looking for anyways...
 
 I've had two sleep paralysis attacks. During the first, I was repeatedly wrestled back down into sleep by a black-sleeved man's arm coming out of what seemed to be my bed, while I tried desperately to move my numb body. It was morning, and light in my room. During the second attack I was paralysed and lung-strangled for about 40 seconds by a man in black who I had seen seconds before from the shoulders down in my nightmare, but was now no longer visible. I am convinced he could have killed me the second time if he'd wanted to, but I think, as many seem to, that these figures want us afraid, not dead.
 
 I've been in way over my head for several years. When I was a teenager, I was a little reckless with my meditative techniques, and paid for it. Because the internet exists, we are the first people in history to be able to get a free PDF of things that only monks, archaeologists, and Harvard professors were once able to access. We're definitely the first to be able to gather and cross-reference these sources so easily. Fifteen years ago, during (what I now know) was a particularly dangerous exercise, I saw a flash-image of myself as a puppet, being stabbed in the back with scissors, and I was physically, almost electrically, jolted back to awareness. At first nothing (besides the mildest of scarring for life) happened, but over the next five years, nausea and a crushing tension started emanating from the “stab wound”. The physical pain came with an increasingly unstoppable grief. The combination of symptoms resulted in severe panic attacks.
 
 Things have gotten weird externally, too, though mostly for those around me...My now-ex-boyfriend came to live with me a couple of years ago, and kept experiencing pressure on the bed, like someone sitting down next to him when no one was in the room, and once even experienced an inexplicable wind storm in the house. A normally quiet dog I had been dogsitting suddenly lost its mind, barking for minutes in terror at the quietest empty space in my house. The dog had been looking up at something that must have stood about six or seven feet tall (and stood about ten feet behind my left shoulder). A few months later, I was standing in front of my mom in an isolated section of a restaurant as we got ready to leave. She jumped suddenly, because she'd heard a loud “pssst!” right behind her. This sound was also about ten feet behind my left shoulder. Electronics have been turning themselves on around me, every few days for the last couple of years, and my parents' new car gives them a warning almost every time I'm sitting in the passenger seat for more than fifteen minutes straight, a warning that hasn't happened to anyone else yet.
 
 This isn't even a fraction of what I've experienced, but it was the pain that really got to me. By the time I had figured out how to cope through the health portion of my condition, the nausea, pain, heavy pressure like 50lbs resting on my upper torso all the time, and the stress panic from the whole thing...had put me out of both work and my fourth year of university, and on a permanent disability.
 
 Being fairly physically active didn't help with the tension. I could also often, strangely, manage to cope all the way to the doors of the building, an hour's journey by foot and public transit, before fleeing back home again with severe flu symptoms, strange attitudes, and sometimes even memory gaps.
 
 I have been obsessed with the neurophysiological possibilities of the other beings for a while now...I'm an unusual kind of nerdy, and have trouble letting intense realities go unexplained (especially when they screw around with my fourth year of university)...Whatever it is, it's smarter than us.
 
 Theoretically, what we see as something dark at the end of our beds might be created by someone lighting up the neural networks in our brains, to create a kind of temporary synesthesia...a sense-swapping confusion...between, for example, the emotions, and the visual, or even emotion, sound, and touch-based brain regions. This explains why multiple people see some shadows, while only individuals see others. Targeting and reception may be involved. (Actual poltergeist-like ability, I can only guess at this point, could be created by an ability to tamper with small-scale atmospheric pressure electrically).
 
 In any case, if you feel a strong emotion, an invisible someone may be able to turn that emotion into a picture or sensation by tampering with the brain's electrical signal before you can perceive it. Fear can then take various semi-human forms, and some bullies seem to have favourite uniforms, judging by hundreds of these accounts. A real bully seems to get some benefit from the feedback loop of fear or pain it creates when it becomes sensual reality to you.
 
 The possibility of being non-physical doesn't necessarily make the creatures less real, but explains why they may differ vaguely in appearance, and why even painful attacks don't (usually) leave marks. I'm convinced these creatures almost all have above-human intelligence. (Interestingly, if you work with archetypes, inner figures resembling the hat man, shadow people, and even the black-eyed children may approach you, bearing similar predatory hungers and inhuman attitudes to the outer versions, even if you've never heard of the phenomena before). Based on what I've seen, something that eats fear is likely not actually assaulting you unless it decides to farm you for it.
 
 It kept getting worse for a while. My ambitious personality stubbornly rebelled against being stuck at home, and I forced myself to take a part-time volunteer job to try to get back on my feet. This attempt also failed when, in addition to fleeing at the doors, I inexplicably gained the medically documented ability to hear 4000 Hz at -5 decibels (a falling leaf creates 10 decibel sound). This causes most high pitched clicks, pops, and snaps to sound like someone striking a microphone roughly, and certain kitchen noises to sound like car crashes. The sound problem began causing its own brand of tension and nausea too.
 
 I felt like I was being driven into my home and locked under guard there, only to be punished severely for leaving. Earplugs can't keep it out. If they did, I'm afraid I'd be locked in by something new, and even more severe. Will I lose a limb next time I don't obey and stay home? I can't shake the feeling that I'm “supposed to” be trapped at home, and I'd really like to know why, so I can stop the symptoms and have a life again.
 
 Since my crash, I've poured the majority of my endless quiet time and suddenly-directionless drive into learning improved concentration techniques, defences, and healing techniques, to try and get my life back. Chinese, Shamanic, Yogic, Jungian. If it worked, I tried it for hours straight, until I knew what “too much” of an advanced meditation did (DON'T do this!! I was absolutely desperate, and had already tried several doctors at that point! It hurts you BADLY is what it does...).
 
 I mixed and matched. I'm like a lab rat riddled with holes, but I know what works, what doesn't, and why, now. When I feel a menacing presence, I can make it go away, by feeling out what it wants and responding appropriately. I have learned how to dispel the effects of the grief assault almost entirely. When I have a nightmare, I can find and open my eyes within five seconds of becoming afraid, (and believe that I should be able to figure out the same mechanism for someone's whole body as a contingency plan for sleep paralysis). I've cured my once-lifelong problems with migraines and neck pain...Gained the nifty but ultimately unhelpful ability to convert emotion into backup singing harmonies (it came with the 4000 Hz)...But the scissor wound pain still isn't leaving, and neither is the extreme 4000 Hz...as well as whoever is following me and pelting me with metaphorical rocks every time I try to leave my house.
 
 Whether the presence is here to eat from my wound or whether it created it is unclear, but it feels different in intensity from the everyday archetypal creatures I'm used to working with. Besides feeling different, its presence seems closely associated with my inability to keep even previously-cured symptoms from being replaced by new and even more troubling ones. I actually preferred the migraines to 4000 Hz.
 
 I'm here to get the scissors out of my back. And yours. I'm here to put together a team of extremely brave individuals looking for change, willing to go on an exploratory mission. During this mission, we will figure out exactly what is making some of these beings so aggressive towards us, and work out at least a few simple ways to deal with their attacks and residual effects that anyone can use.
 
 I don't mean to ignore that there are clearly some kind and well-meaning shadows. I simply want to see what we can do about the ones ruining people's lives. Bullies and pain-farmers are my main focus. If you have a gentle shadow, it might be willing to inform us on what is happening with the less friendly ones, so don't hesitate to apply for the expedition. We simply won't encourage your friend to leave after talking with it, as simple as that.
 
 I don't have direct access to shadows very often, but you guys do. You don't have techniques, but I do. Maybe a hundred possible ways to get this right. We can solve this thing together. That's why I'm here.
 
 As for candidates...I'll be accepting mature, consenting adults only. I can't risk minors, and parents of the minors who see shadows likely won't have the natural ability to help out much. The more contact you have (and are willing to have) with your shadow attackers the better. Curiosity is better than desperation, as they can use desperation. Familiarity with meditation is a huge bonus. Free time to spend on meditation is a must, or there's no point. It's harmful to encourage an ability very far without focal control. Respect for the phenomena is vital, no matter who you are or what you believe. The shadows clearly have their own various motives, and how they act on these motives impacts our lives, so there's no use getting upset with each other over the semantics of who or what they are until we know more. The main thing is not treating them like a game, or they may treat you like one back. I'm open to several possibilities as to what they are. Regardless, if anything does something life-altering to us on its own, it's important to address it.
 
 Candidates should be curious and constructive rather than vengeful. Contact should be as peaceful as possible. If you run in ahead of us with mental weapons flaring, I can't guarantee what will happen to you. I don't know how they may defend themselves against a perceived threat, as it's not like we try to scare them back very often. Be up front with me about what you want, because intention might matter a lot.
 
 I will not accept heart attack or stroke risks. I'd rather not take people with severe breathing disorders, either. This could get dicey, so serious health cases or otherwise gentle balances of existence should wait for the cure-cure. Ask if you're not sure. Mental disorders are negotiable, but must be mentioned, as they can affect how the technique works. I'm thinking that in many cases, you've likely just had unusual phenomena diagnosed as something scientific by a standard branch of medicine that doesn't believe in unusual phenomena as a first course of action.
 
 As these creatures demonstrate possible electrical properties, I'll also require anyone I accept to be extra careful about which appliances they leave plugged in by themselves when going out, or to bed. This might actually be a good idea for all of us. The fewer things plugged in, the better. Think about it...televisions, radios, cameras, lights, phones, skin tingles, maybe brain activity...Non-physical beings seem to be able to work with anything that has a charge, so don't leave a finicky antique lamp, slow-cooker, or floor heater plugged in while you're away, particularly if you're scared that a shadow means you harm. The same goes for fire hazards in bad places that can be moved by a slight breeze. No need to be paranoid or anything. Just don't take unnecessary risks and leave greeting cards and matches lying around heaters.
 
 As we may encounter the unexpected, and some of these beings seem to transfer from person to person, I'll only be accepting a handful of people for the expedition to begin with. I don't want eighty people's shadows visiting my house one night as a group, should I tremendously miscalculate my situation and put a target on my head. The shadows might be more intelligent than people, but even archetypes (some also believe them to be jinn or aliens) are way more intelligent than people, when you coax them to open up.
 
 I want to be slow and cautious. Therefore, I'll only accept a small group of people to begin with, which will also give me way more time and energy to devote to researching individual or unique problems as well (besides avoiding certain unlikely consequences of digging too deep for myself). Spaces may open later if someone gets cold feet, (though I highly suggest you think hard before beginning, and only start if you're willing to see it through, as even a small amount of this technique used in shadow country might be memorable, and have lasting effects!! All questions are welcome before you apply for the first expedition).
 
 I almost have a cure, but not quite. Just a hundred hopeful ways of reaching one...so my five or so chosen volunteers will be proceeding at their own risk. A reckless attitude won't be accepted. The shadows are smart, after all. You'll be asked not to share my techniques with anyone outside of the group for a few reasons. For one, so you aren't risking spreading big public meditative side-effects (Fixing two careful people's side effects the moment they appear, versus two hundred untrained word-of-mouth practitioners using a strictly-twenty-minute technique for four hours a day for a whole year without supervision, is quite a difference...Don't inflict your friends and loved ones with the same unnecessary pioneering mistakes that put me here in the first place). We also don't want to draw needless attention to our work before it's finished. If we put out a cure that stops working after four weeks, before a real one can be found, everyone will be afraid to listen to us about the real one. Only we'll be cured, and the method will die with us. What works for one person may not work for another, so we'll need to assess what works most universally before finishing the project. Slow and steady.
 
 You'll also need to promise not to overuse certain techniques, as they can cause VERY unusual side-effects. I'll offer only my longest-self-tested and found-to-be-safest techniques, but they still have daily limits. We'll approach the shadows with these techniques until we know who they are, and have a flawlessly powerful meditative defence prepared for the bullies, simple and safe enough that a five-year-old could use it, as some may need to.
 
 Until then, for all intents and purposes, you might as well be playing the Wizard of Oz edition of Jumanji once we get started, so you're going to have to convince me to take you on the first expedition, if anyone suitable is even brave enough to go, and understands the value in what I have to say.
 
 You know my story now, anyways...And were patient enough to read (skim, or scroll down through) the whole thing...For those of you brave enough to enter the creature's lair after all I've told you,Let us unite in our curse and make it a power...
 
 Send me an email letting me know why you'd make a good volunteer and I'll let you know if you've been chosen for the first expedition. It may be some weeks before the first group has been established. Expedition One must be as well-suited to the task as possible to begin with, as our earliest contact is also going to be the most risky. If you aren't chosen, don't worry, there will likely be a second expedition once we're on to something. If you've “got a bad feeling about it”, please don't apply, at least not yet.
 
 Contact me with questions, or to apply for the first expedition at:
 Scissorback85@hotmail.com
 
 Wishing all the best to my fellow seekers,
 
 Jessie (Scissorback)