The Ominous Man

Author’s note: In the March 2 “From the Shadows,” I wrote about a 2006 encounter between Kalie Ulriksen of Saskatchewan, Canada, and a man she wasn’t sure was human. The individual radiated evil and danger. After reading Ulriksen’s story, a Southern California man recalled his similar dangerous encounter.

The woman was intriguing. As Tim Davis sat the bar of the Miwuk Indian’s Black Oak Casino in Tuolomne, Calif., in 2009, he turned toward the pretty lady who sat next to him, smiled and flirted.

“I had been having a few drinks and hitting on a woman sitting next to me for about an hour,” he said. “We were hitting it off wonderfully.”

Then the air around them changed; it grew heavy, ominous.

“I felt something coming. That’s the best I can describe it,” Davis said. “The sort of uneasy feeling I always have when there is something about to happen that can possibly
injure me, kill me, or ruin my life in some manner.”

Davis stopped and looked around him. Older people smoked cigarettes and cranked slot machine arms behind him. A live band played from a stage on the other side of the bar. Life in the casino seemed as normal as casino life can be.

“Nothing struck me as odd,” he said. “I turn back to my bantering partner and continue the conversation.”

The person on the other side of Davis paid for his drinks and left. The seat didn’t stay empty long.

“Suddenly, a man sits down next to me,” Davis said. His uneasy feeling grew unnerving. “I glance over and have an overwhelming feeling of danger and evil coming off this man.”

The man was a giant.

“He was wearing flannel, appeared to have just come out of the woods,” Davis said. “He stood easily 6’8” and was built like a linebacker. Easily one of the most dangerous men I have ever encountered.”

It wasn’t the man’s size Davis felt as dangerous. It was something else.

“I’m certainly not small and have nephews and brother-in-laws 6’5” to 6’7”,” Davis said. “But they do not exude this sort of danger vibe.”

Davis turned back toward the woman he had been hitting it off with. She was getting up to leave.

“The woman I have been chatting with takes one look at the man gets up and walks away,” he said. But not Davis. “Being slightly buzzed I stay there to finish up my drink.”

He wished he hadn’t.

“With no prompting the man turns and looks at me and says the name of the town I am from,” Davis said. “The town has about 20,000 people and is a bedroom community about 400 miles away from my current location.”

This statement took Davis aback; he had never met this man. Then things became stranger.

“We chat for a couple minutes and he then says, ‘you are all right Tim,’ using my name which I had not given him,” Davis said. “The comment had the feeling of a decision on his part. Like he had decided not to kill me.”

A few minutes later, Davis stands up, excuses himself, and leaves the bar.

“I go see if I can find the woman I had been chatting with,” he said. “I find her across the casino at a slot machine and ask her why she just got up and left.”

The woman looks Davis full in the eyes and says, “Didn’t you get the, ‘I will kill you and stuff you in a van’ vibe from that guy?”

Yes, he had.

Who are these people? The ones who wander amongst us, radiating terror through no means other than their mere presence? Are they human, or something else?

Got a scary story? Ever played with a Ouija board, heard voices, seen a ghost, UFO or a creature you couldn’t identify? Let Jason know about it: Jason Offutt, P.O. Box 501, Maryville, Mo., 64468, or jasonoffutt@hotmail.com. Your story might make an upcoming installment of “From the Shadows.”

Jason’s newest book on the paranormal, “Paranormal Missouri: Show Me Your Monsters,” is available at Jason’s blog, from-the-shadows.blogspot.com.