I've been seeing shadows in the bathroom mirror for about two months that aren't actually in the room. At first I thought it was just tiredness, but my partner noticed it last week too. Is this something paranormal or is there a logical explanation I'm missing?
Does your mirror have glass that's a bit old or has that haze that won't come off properly? Here's what nobody mentions: old mirrors or ones with defects in the glass create distortions that your brain interprets as shapes, especially with side lighting. Plus, if the mirror is mounted badly or tilted a bit, the refraction changes quite a lot from one side to the other. Before you think something weird is going on, touch the glass from behind (if you can), check if it has air bubbles inside or spots where it looks cloudy. That kind of thing makes what you see in the reflection and what you see in the actual room not match up at all.
Don't jump to paranormal explanations without checking the obvious stuff first! Mirrors reflect light in weird ways depending on the angle, the lighting, and even visual fatigue (our eyes play tricks on us when we're tired or the light changes). Check if there are new light sources in the bathroom, if the mirror is slightly misaligned, or if there are objects casting shadows from angles you don't normally notice. If you both see it, it's probably something physical related to how light bounces in that specific space, not anything weird!
Before looking for weird explanations, try changing the bathroom lighting or the angle you're looking at the mirror from - sometimes a reflection coming in through a window or light bouncing around creates the illusion of a shadow that doesn't actually exist in the real space. What you see in the reflection doesn't have to match exactly what's behind you because mirrors distort depending on how the room is lit and where you're looking from. A super simple trick: position yourself in different spots in front of the mirror at different times of day and pay attention to whether those shadows always show up in the same point in the reflection or if they change. If they're always in the same place on the mirror but you don't see them in the room, it's almost definitely an optical effect caused by how the light hits the glass.
The first thing I'd do is record a video in the bathroom with your phone while you're seeing those shadows, then watch the recording later without staring directly at the mirror - sometimes your brain fills in patterns that the camera doesn't pick up, and that gives you the real clue about what's going on. In the meantime, try turning the bathroom completely dark and shine a flashlight from different angles; old mirrors or ones with deteriorated glass create phantom reflections when light comes in from certain angles, especially if the glass has delaminated layers. Has the mirror been stuck to the wall for years without being checked, or have you noticed the frame has moisture on it?
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