I will personally assume they are HP 2 until confirmed otherwise by the devs. Ate they listed as HP 1 in both the chart and the long description?
Yes they are.
So am I to understand that if I have the Fear the Shadows talent, and I alone encounter 4 minion groups, I could potentially spend my action every turn for four turns, and assuming I'm successful, end the encounter with all four minion groups fleeing away in every direction by my shear awesomeness?
I must have this. Think of the narrative potential...
You could do that, I suppose. There is a bit of GM discretion called out in the description, but doing it your way would be between GM and player.