The Cowboy has followed Cody Lilly for years, a black, human-shaped figure, featureless except for a hat – a fedora with a wide brim.
“We called him the Cowboy because he kind of looked like the Marlboro man,” Lilly said.
The Cowboy stepped into Lilly’s life his sophomore year of high school in Clarinda, Iowa, and visited almost nightly for two years, pacing about his room, waiting for something. What, Lilly didn’t know. Then the visits stopped.
Until 2011.
“My girlfriend that is now my fiancée is in Kansas City and I’m in Omaha. I was crashing with friends here,” he said. “My car started acting up, I’m in the process of looking for a job, finding an apartment, buying an engagement ring. I had a lot of stuff on my plate, which might have brought on what happened.”
What happened was the Cowboy.
“I’m sitting in my car on the phone with my mom,” Lilly said. “I’m a horrible man because I don’t know much about cars, but my mom does.”
As Lilly described the car’s behavior to his mother, he noticed a movement in the corner of his right eye. Lilly turned toward the passenger side window and saw it – the shadow man that once tormented him in the night. The Cowboy.
“It was full on. A shadow person in an old fedora,” Lilly said. “It was standing there. It leaned over like it’s bending to look at me.”
As Lilly stared in horror, the Cowboy reached out it’s arm and knocked on the car window.
“It knocked two times,” Lilly said. “After it knocked it dissolved in my vision. It just showed up, knocked on my window and was gone.”
Lilly wonders if the Cowboy wanted to let him know it was still around.
“It’s been quite some time that I saw him,” he said. “I’m just kind of thinking he just showed up. I was feeling stressed out and I think he showed up just to feed on that.”
The first time Lilly saw the Cowboy was almost eight years ago when he moved into his older brother’s basement bedroom.
“The room we stayed in was kind of long and there was a lot of room between the dresser and the bed,” he said. “When it showed up it just appeared by the dresser. It had red eyes. It was darker than the darkness around it and it would just pace back and forth. Those red eyes were on me all the time. Then it would just dissipate.”
He later discovered his brother had seen the red-eyed shadow entity as well, but the thing never approached him either.
“Our Cowboy, he never really came any closer than that,” Lilly said. “He just paced and watched.”
Lilly said he believes the shadow man was there for another reason – it hungered.
“It was feeding,” Lilly said, convinced the Cowboy was absorbing energy from his emotions. “The first time I saw it I was completely incapacitated by how scared I was of it.”
At first the nighttime visitations paralyzed Lilly with fear, but something eventually changed.
“The first times I saw it I stayed awake all night scared to the point I would not move,” he said. “When I realized it didn’t do anything I didn’t get scared, I got interested in it.”
Lilly got relaxed enough around the Cowboy, one night he spoke to it.
“I said, ‘hey, I don’t care if you’re here, but if you’re going to do something to me, do it to me in my sleep because I don’t want to lose any more sleep over this,’” Lilly said. “He stopped coming so often after that.”
Lilly and his brother aren’t the only people to see the Cowboy. During a New Year’s party at the house, they used Lilly’s bedroom as the coatroom.
“One of my brother’s friends was over. He went in to put his coat in the room and he came back out with it, pallid white,” Lilly said. “He said, ‘there is someone in your room.’ He wouldn’t say anything else. He just left. We think he saw it, too.”
Other odd things happened to Lilly in that house over the years, but he only places one at the feet of the Cowboy.
“Mom sleeps with a box fan. Every once in a while she’d hear the music of Glenn Miller through her box fan,” Lilly said. “Oddly enough, Clarinda is home to Glenn Miller.”
A few years later, as Lilly attended Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Mo., about 45 miles south of Clarinda, he heard the music, too.
“The one time I saw the Cowboy in Maryville, I heard Glenn Miller coming from my box fan,” he said. “I looked up and there he was.”
Although Lilly grew comfortable with the Cowboy, the daylight sighting in Omaha brought the terror back.
“I got scared again,” Lilly said. “I had never heard one make noise. I was pretty shaken up about the thing. It had this feeling of anxiety and tiredness, like it was feeding off my emotions. Maybe it was letting me know it found me again. Maybe it’s been looking for me, which is kind of creepy.”
Even though the thought of a phantom lurking in the shadows of his life is a disturbing one, it has also piqued Lilly’s curiosity.
“(Shadow beings) have never tried to hurt me,” he said. “I kind of want to see more of them so I can maybe figure something out about them. So I can figure out what they want and why they’re here. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or bad thing.”
Regardless, Lilly is leaving Omaha. He wonders if the Cowboy will follow him.
“I’m moving to Kansas City,” he said. “I’ve kind of had weird stuff happen to me no matter where I’ve been. I’ll see what happens to me once I get down there.”
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.
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8 comments:
I like the story very Intresting. My brother had a very similar figure who always followed him. The figure was exactly as what was discribe. It always stared at him. Another one of my brothers prayed one day with him and it disappeared. A few months later my brother was murdered. I was told about a shadow figure before my brothers experience with a good friend of mine. He would tell me its shape was like the grim reaper. he was also murdered. From my experiences from what ive learned when your constently seeing these figures the ending was death. I believe they are helpers to another realm.
Vpaz caldwell, id
Excellent account! Once again, showing that the Shadow phenomena is NOT necessarily Evil in nature or intent.
I still think they're trying to convey a message. Or maybe they're just there as some sort of protection in stressful times.
The Glen Miller music would indicate to me, that the war years were the time of this being's passing.
u got a demon following you.they attach themselve to people,places and things.check your posessions(everything)for possibilities.
the boss of this "cowboy" is a deceiver and a manslayer.
more info
www.jw.org
these depraved spirits cut off from the reason of the true god,have been thrown out of heaven(not outerspace=heavens)
and r now confined to the earth,with their leader satan,having great anger,knowing he has a short time to be free.
soon arrmegeddon will strike(gods day of anger)which will selectivly kill all those who oppress their fellow man and those true christians.
watch the great day of jehovah on you tube
Interesting to read your story. When I was young (about 7 yrs old) I would see a shadow man that looked allot like a cowboy pass by my room. It was always at night when I was laying down in my bed. This happened for a couple years and then stopped. When I was 17 though, the shadow cowboy reappeared.It was only one time but I was laying in bed and rolled over and saw the shadow man in the cowboy hat standing in my room. I was filled with fear and rolled over so I couldn't see him. I talked to my own brother and found out that he had seen the same cowboy in his room and even saw the shadow man shooting a gun.
I have always thought of the shadow man I saw to have been a ghost stuck here on earth. I haven't had an encounter with the shadow man since i was 17 but I still get the feeling of his presence and the feeling of being watched when I am in my room. I don't know if he is evil or not but he leaves me alone.
It's nice to know I'm not crazy though and that others see shadow people.
Interesting to read your story. When I was young (about 7 yrs old) I would see a shadow man that looked allot like a cowboy pass by my room. It was always at night when I was laying down in my bed. This happened for a couple years and then stopped. When I was 17 though, the shadow cowboy reappeared.It was only one time but I was laying in bed and rolled over and saw the shadow man in the cowboy hat standing in my room. I was filled with fear and rolled over so I couldn't see him. I talked to my own brother and found out that he had seen the same cowboy in his room and even saw the shadow man shooting a gun.
I have always thought of the shadow man I saw to have been a ghost stuck here on earth. I haven't had an encounter with the shadow man since i was 17 but I still get the feeling of his presence and the feeling of being watched when I am in my room. I don't know if he is evil or not but he leaves me alone.
It's nice to know I'm not crazy though and that others see shadow people.
Your story is so familiar with my own. I have been seeing the shadow cowboy for years (13yrs). Im always in a state of panic and fear when he is around. His red eyes freak me out and they are always watching. He doesn't seem to want to have anything to do with anyone around me though, which is a good thing. Sometimes I talk to him to ease the tension and when I do I usually address him as my mysterious shadow.
I had often wondered why this cowboy has never left me so I got advice from a indian medicine man.. what I was told is that I am what is called a sensitive with a bright aura and the shadows are drawn to it. The cowboy is a very strong entity. Sometimes I even feel a cold touch on my cheek when I am laying in bed or sitting alone reading a book. Almost feels like brushing fingers or a kiss. who ever he is, even though I am still scared of him, makes me feel lonely when he isn't around. For whatever reasons whether they be good or bad when an entity follows you for so long they somehow become part of you....
Have you ever heard the story of Jesus?
Don't be deceived!
These are evil spirits of the enemy.
They are here to diminish the testimony of Christ, as well the torment people.
The only way to get rid of these things is to call upon the name of Jesus!
The only way!
Next time you see that thing, use the name of Jesus!
I guarantee you, it's because Jesus is the only real God
He is the only one that can save
I've seen this before I was about 8 or 9 yrs old it was fairly tall and had red eyes a trench coat and fedora hat all it did was look at me as I was using the computer which was in my mom and dads room it was on my dads side of the bed and walked very slow to the end of the room by the bathroom which then it slowly turned and disappeared it stayed for a minute which was enough to get a fairly good look it had red eyes and trench coat like I said earlier and a fedora hat however my mom was with me in the room and my dad was watching television out in the living room he seen it outside the window he said and I haven't seen it since
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