A figure standing in the doorway
What do people report about a shadow figure in a doorway?
The second most reported position, and it behaves differently from the foot-of-the-bed variant in ways worth separating.
Doorway reports more often involve movement: the figure leaning in, appearing then gone, or passing across the opening. They are also more often described from a lit hallway, which gives a silhouette rather than a shape in darkness.
A number of accounts describe the figure being taller than the doorway or filling it entirely. Impossible scale is a common feature of hypnopompic imagery generally, and its appearance here is one of the details that makes a purely external explanation hard to sustain.
What the reports agree on
The silhouette quality makes these accounts unusually consistent in outline while varying in everything else, which is what you would expect from many people describing the same conditions.
Where they differ, and what to be careful of
Doorway reports are the ones most likely to have an ordinary explanation: a coat, a doorframe, someone in the house. Worth ruling out before treating one as archive material.
Worth recording if this was yours
Was there light behind it? Did it move? Is there anything in that doorway when I am awake?
Dream interpretation is subjective. Nothing here is a diagnosis, a prediction, or medical advice.
Sources and reviewed references
No sources are attached to this page yet. It has not been through editorial review. How we review material