Haunted Highway – Darkman of Standing Rock and Blackstar Shadow Man – S01E02

The show may be low budget, but it’s sort of growing on me.

Darkman of Standing Rock

First up, we have Jael and Devin heading out to investigate the Darkman, which is a apparition that appears and usually foretells of bad of dangerous events. Devin even goes so far as to call it the Grim Reaper. Does it’s appearance mean someone is going to die? According to Native American lore, the answer is yes.

Jael and Devin manage to speak with many Native Americans and not only do they believe in the power of the Darkman and fear seeing it, but many claim that it has made an appearance and shortly thereafter, a family member has died.

With this information and their equipment, they head out onto the plains to see if they can capture a glimpse of it. They borrow a couple of horses and head out into the night. As they get set up, the horses get spooked and take off. They don’t just run, but completely leave Jael and Devin for dead. There’s a lot of tension between the two after this since they’re stuck out there. But they once things calm down and they get a fire set up, Jael says she saw the fire flare up and then go out. When they review the evidence the fire does appear to "burst" and there is an outline of some sort of figure. Are we just seeing things on the camera or is something walking through the fire? They also feel they captured a pair of glowing red eyes. As we know, animal eyes, and human eyes are well, appear red when you capture them on camera. Is this a trick of light or something more? Did the Darkman make an appearance out there or was it just the wind and the animals of the plains?

Blackstar Shadow Man

The Shadow Man has been blamed for the disappearance of hikers in the Silverado, CA area. There are claims of a link between a massacred village and the appearance of the Shadow Man. Personally, the claims aren’t as tangible as I was expecting. We don’t have the usual story of someone being grabbed, or scratched or even drug along the ground. You supposedly can only see these figures out of the corner of your eye, which makes it a little suspect in my book. But anyway…

Jack and Dana head out into the wood for their investigation. Dana is freaked out by just about everything out there. She’s even startled by Jack setting up equipment. When it comes to being blindfolded and sitting at the base of a tree, it only takes a couple of minutes before she’s coming unglued.

At the end of the investigation, Jack even admits they barely got any sleep because of all the animals and walking around they heard. Part of the evidence is the 360 rig capturing what looks like a shadow running from one side to the other, even across Dana herself, causing her previous moments of hysterics. Is that a trick of light or really something moving out there? When it comes time to truly ask if there is really something out there, Jack has to go with the evidence and his gut and say that people are mistaking animals, the wind and light reflections as something more than they area. He is hard pressed to say there is any evidence to support the Shadow Man. He did capture a couple of interesting things, but what exactly are they? Is that the Shadow Man running through Dana and her having a genuine reaction, or is that the shadow from the trees, the wind or limbs moving in the moonlight? When you’re out in the wood on your own is your imagination just getting the better of you?

Other Articles of Interest:

• Haunted Highway – Island of Lost Souls – S02E01
• Haunted Highway – Manchac Swamp and Moonville Tunnel – S02E02
• Haunted Highway – Lake Murray Beast and The Donner Party – S02E04
• Haunted Highway – El Dorado Hell Hounds and Georgia Skinstealer – S01E04
• Haunted Highway – Utah Skinwalker and Ozark Howler – S01E03
• Haunted Highway – Bear Lake Beast and Vergas Hairy Man – S01E01
• Haunted Highway – Beast of Bray Road and Tonopah Mine – S02E03
• Haunted Highway – Black Angel and Arizona Domes – S02E06
• Haunted Highway – Louisiana Swamp Woman and Pioneer Cemetery – S01E05
• Haunted Highway – Bridge of Doom and Shades of Death Road S02E05