Yesterday I was playing a new character, level 1, in Riverwood. (Been away from the game for about a year, dl 3 or 4 updates).

As I'm coming out of the place next to the Riverwood Trader, looking NW towards the river, I see a small dark shadow dart from right to left along the path in front of me. It was sudden but I turned my head in time and followed it and saw it go up into the air and disappear into the upper floor of the Riverwood Trader.... Husband was watching and saw it too. I dashed over there and found nothing....

WTF? Has anyone else seen anything like this? For the first time in my life I'm like, "I KNOW what I SAW"....

I would cut back on the...Colovian brandy!

It was probably just the area loading.

Riiiight...

So a good idea would be to replace that copy of Skyrim with the Legendary edition and replace that Console/Computer just to be safe. don't need haunted electronics

When DB assassins are after you, don't they do the same "zig zag" sneak-run towards you?

Uh-oh...

that's not a comforting form of Help Tgl lol

Dude, you might want to consider laying off the skooma.

Huh? I am just trying to answer the OP.

There's no such thing as the Dark Brotherhood, they don't have assassins...those are stories they tell naughty children to make them behave! Now Draugr, on the other dessicated hand that's touching you on your right shoulder right now...

I saw a mudcrab the other day

Seriously now, I've seen npcs glitch out and go flying instead of walking to their destination. Your case might've been something like that.

That would be understandable, if it was a for'shadow'ing of an attack, but I've never seen it before.

My guess is that it might have been the shadow from that Hawk who has a nest just outside of Riverwood. I have recently begun playing with shadows enabled for the first time in over a year and I can get startled sometimes when I see shadows of birds passing by overhead.

I think the Ebony Warrior started stalking you.

Try hanging out to see if it happens again, then try your best to follow said shadowy figure. But most likely it's what Pseron Wyrd said.....

But it's still worth checking into, just hang out in Riverwood and see if it happens again. If you can I would like to see a screen shot or two, then I can make a better educated guess as to what it is.

In agreement with Pseron and Carrots. Can't tell you how startled I was (Or was it shellshocked) by the time I got to Solitude after a great number of battles with dragons and would jump when the shadows of birds flying by overhead crossed my view. "Oh hell, not again!"

*Looks up to see a hawk circling*

"Whew!"

It STILL gets me sometimes.

I third the shadow-from-bird thing. I know there's a hawk near Riverwood, usually see him/her/it across the bridge, near that pine tree. That doesn't mean, however, that its AI flight path doesn't take it over Riverwood.

Ah must be why I don't really experience this phenomenon, I always blast that little bugger out of the sky, because as peeps stated makes you scared witless thinking a Dragon is about to land on top of Riverwood.

My bet would go to the hawk that flies over Riverwood on a regular basis as others already said.

It's my apparition haunting you. My power grows with each loyal slave in my possession. Soon I will break free of Valdar, and Skyrim will be cast in my dark benevolence.

I was in Riften once coming out of the jarl's place, and a guard was, how can I put it, being thrown across the screen and through the Riften wall, like he was in the swimming animation and in mid-air.

Maybe that's what you saw. A strange glitchy flying man

My name is Mulder and I'm from the department of paranormal research and oddities at the College in Windhelm. Come by my office, it's in a little crappy basemant pantry. I would like to hear more about your...um, experience. I WANT TO BELIEVE you. Just ask for spooky and they'll show you where my office is. Special Agent Spooky Mulder!

oh yah.. its probably related to this...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stay_Alive

nothing to worry about... >: D