Black Figures

The Black Figures were the main antagonists of the Are You Afraid of the Dark? episode "The Tale of the Super Specs". Weeds and his girlfriend Marybeth buy special glasses called Super Specs from Mr. Sardo's Magic Shop. Weeds accidentally casts a spell on the Super Specs, and everytime Marybeth puts the glasses on, she sees faceless black humanoids and an hooded woman dressed in black pointing her. She tries to get rid of the Super Specs, but they always return. When Mr. Sardo explains her that the glasses opened a window to another dimension where the black figures live, she asks him to help her and Weeds to close the window. Sardo casts a spell and the creatures apparently vanish, but then an entity informs Sardo, Marybeth and Weeds that two universes can't exist on the same plain, and that balance must be restored. Then, in Marybeth's house, two alter-egos of Weeds and Marybeth are informed by the woman dressed in black that the black figures were trying to get rid of our universe, too, and they did. The real Weeds, Marybeth, Sardo and presumably the rest of our universe are trapped in darkness. It's unknown what happened to them.

The Black Figures from this episode are very similar to the Shadow People from folklore, that are also told by some to live in a parallel universe.