Multiple Shadows In Room At Night And Other Phenomena

My name is Joe, I hope my first name will be sufficient. I am a 33 year old man living in Massachusetts in my own home. Along with me is my son, age 8, and my girlfriend and her three children, ages 9, 7, and 4. The children are with us a little more than half the time, as we both share custody with our respective ex's. They have only recently moved in the past few weeks, while my son as been with me since birth. I also have three dogs, all of which are very well trained, but protective of the family and property should someone attempt to come around when we are not home.

First, I have lived in this home for 9 years, some of the time I was married but the majority of the time I've been single. For as long as I have lived there, I have seen multiple black shadows moving around my room at night. These shadows range from human-sized to massive, blob-like shapes covering an entire quarter of the ceiling, usually in a corner over my bed. They move in such an odd way, seemingly gliding and swirling, akin to a lava lamp.

For the most part they tend to move around my bed, either settling directly over me near the ceiling or coalescing, standing at the side or foot of my bed. On a few occasions I have had them come so close as to block out my vision completely, and I had to back up to realize that it was literally "face to face". I say that in quotations because I HAVE NEVER seen a face or any detail. They are rarely in human shape, even if they are the size of an average man, it looks more like a mist or funnel cloud than a human form.

I have always felt uneasy, but never genuinely threatened. I am not the only person to witness these shadows, and at the time I am always awake, clear headed and typically blink several times and rub my eyes to ensure I am seeing what I am seeing and it's not just a trick of the eyes in a nearly pitch black room. I do believe in the paranormal, but I would consider myself a healthy sceptic. My first instinct isn't "it's a ghost" or "it's a demon". That being said, recently in my home these shadows have appeared more often than not, and I have had other things occur that I cannot readily explain.

I have, within the last few months, heard what sounds like footsteps when I am alone in the house and the dogs are all sleeping or in my line of sight. The dogs do react to the footsteps, but rarely bark, more of a perked ear and investigative look rather than a show of force.

I have been woken up to what sounds like conversation in my living room. Thinking I left the television on prior to going to bed I get up to turn it off only to have it go completely silent when I get close to the living room and the television is off.

Lastly, this past week, a glass dish was drying on my drying rack among other dishes. It had been washed close to 4 hours before, and had sat in room temperature the rest of the time. I would say "broke" but that's not accurate; "exploded" would be a better term for it. This occurred at approximately 2:30am, and I was in the living room, while my girlfriend was in the bedroom. The "POP" of the glass was enough to wake her on the opposite side of the house and was enough to scare the living crap out of me. No other dishes moved, no other dishes were affected, and there were shards of glass literally 15 feet away from the drying rack. It does not sit near a window, nor a vent for temperature fluctuations. I am at a complete loss of what caused it to shatter so violently.

Anybody with any kind of insight into what is occurring in my home out there I ask to please share what you know; I am open to any suggestions to explain the phenomena. Thank you all, and my you find peace, happiness and love in your lives.