Shadow men aren't always evil. Our family's guardian has shown himself to me as a shadowman on several occasions, I can remember seeing him during childhood and he has shown himself to me as an adult a couple of times when there is something wrong - mostly with the children (he wakes me when something is wrong with them).
Recently I have had a shadow experience that at the time scared the cr*p out of me. I woke with a strange feeling and saw a shadow that seemed to be growing on the wall opposite the end of the bed, I knew that there was a fan there covered with a jacket that accounted for the shadow, but nothing accounted for the fact that it seemed to be growing nor for the feeling I had. I was so shaky, I started praying and the shadow shrank back, the terrible feeling left but not the shakiness. I didn't sleep for a couple of hours after that.