Haunted Cosmos - The Detroit Demon: Shadow Entities and Demonic Oppression - Graveyard Shift

Episode Date: July 15, 2026

A listener of the show joins us to discuss his childhood experiences of being tormented by a shadow entity in his family's home. Was this just a material entity or was it something beyond that? How can we fight against spiritual attacks as Christians?New Haunted Cosmos shirt available for a limited time! - Get it here!Love Haunted Cosmos? Get access to our exclusive show, The Dusty Tome, early ad-free access to main episodes and monthly Livestreams, by becoming a patron of the show: https://www.patreon.com/c/HauntedCosmosThis episode is sponsored by: Indigo Sundries Soap Company - Go to http://indigosundriessoap.com and use code HAUNTEDCOSMOS for 10% off your whole order!Stonecrop Wealth Advisors! Go to this link to check out their special offers to Haunted Cosmos listeners today. https://stonecropadvisors.com/hauntedcosmosTalk to Josh at Volenté Creative to get help you with your branding and marketing: https://volentecreative.com/ncpBuy the Haunted Cosmos book: https://www.newchristendompress.com/cosmos PS: It's also available as an audiobook!Support the show

This episode is brought to you by Indigo Sundry Soap Company. Clean soap, cleaner body. I see this man step out of the laundry room. Like, I don't recognize them, but it looks like a person. And I just go, like, what do you want? And I get a voice back from that corner saying, him. And I know in my mind for some reason that it meant my little brother based off of what I sign like these tree.

Well, welcome back, everybody, to another installment of the Graveyard Shift. I'm Brian Sovey, one of your hosts, joined as always by the enigmatic, mysterious, tall, dark, handsome Ben Garrett's, so I have the listeners. Ah, man, thank you. Hey, it's good to be here. Yeah. And joined by the listener. That's right.

That's right. We've been having a lot of fun on this graveyard shift. We also have, because it's the graveyard shift. It's the graveyard shift. We also have a third special host today. We do. Do you mind? It's not Hugh Jackman.

It's not Hugh Jackman. Praise God. But it could be. No, no, absolutely not. It is Josh. Josh, welcome to the show. Hey, thanks for having me. Yeah, we're so glad you could make it. We are really glad to have Josh here with us, and he has a story for us that is going to knock your ears off. But before that, we have an icebreaker question. So we can all get to know Josh, and the listener can get to know Josh. And that icebreaker question is as follows. Josh Lewis, what is your favorite country in the world? and it can't be America and why? Oh, man.

Probably, I guess, South Africa, because I lived there for a little bit doing English as a second language. Yeah. Wow, that's awesome. That's really cool. I said wow, like, but I was actually wow. But it is cool.

Yeah, South Africa. South Africa, yeah. I have always wanted to go to South Africa. I obviously never have, but that's a good vote of confidence. That is. Yeah, that is. Okay, so here's what we're going to do. Everyone knows the rules. Graveyard shift.

I like to do that like the Dave Portnoy pizza thing. Everyone knows the rules. Brian has never heard the story before. He has no idea. So it's going to be totally fresh for him. I read the story, but I've since forgotten about it. So it's kind of going to be fresh for me as well. And we are going to try to stay out of your way, Josh.

And you can tell the story and then we can talk about it. So whenever you're ready, take it away. Take your time and we'll have some fun. Why is it that most soaps and cleaning products, ironically don't contain clean ingredients. Indigo Sundry's soap company is helping families stay clean and healthy by starting with the most important step in cleanliness. Soap. Their cold-pressed soap bars, including clay bars and tallobars,

are made from all natural ingredients that don't have any harmful chemicals. And they smell great. Visit indigosundrysoap.com and order today. And hey, subscribe for regular shipments and get 10% off every time. You must begin a perilous journey to find treasure in the mountains. Along the way, be weary of demons, vampires, and ghosts. They will lead you astray and corrupt the wealth you seek. You'll be assigned a personal guide, Stonecropp wealth advisors.

They will help you find the treasure and fight against the corruption. Are you acting like you're in a movie trailer again? This is supposed to be a simple ad to tell people to use Stonecropped wealth advisors to invest in faith-based portfolios instead of pagan companies. Visit Stonecroft Advisors.com slash Hawnin Cosmos to get the deep. out of your portfolio today. Investment advisory services offer through stone crop wealth advisors LLC, a registered investment advisor with the U.S. Security Exchange Commission. Okay, cool. Yeah, feel free to ask questions if something feels like it's, I'm making sense

here. I'm missing something, but I'll go ahead and talk. So, yeah, I grew up in the East Detroit area. We lived in one part of East Detroit, and then when I was three, my parents moved myself and my baby brother to new house, which is where this is going to take place. I grew up in a family of six total, three younger brothers, all separated by like two years, two years and then four years. So a full house with six people. So when we moved into this house, it was just myself and my baby brother, he was upstairs. my parents gave me my own room in the basement.

And so really early on, I felt definitely uncomfortable in the room in the basement. But, I mean, I know you could chalk it up to like, well, kids are scared of everything. Kids are scared of the dark or whatever. But I'd say I don't exactly know when I started being, like, shadows and stuff, but early, like with around the three to four years old range. That night, there was enough, like, a nightlight in my room and, like, a window in my, in the

for the basement. So light would come in and I could see. So, like, just because something was dark didn't mean I couldn't, like, see. But very early on, above my bed, I would see the shadow kind of, like, moving, almost, like, buzzing and stuff like that. And that, started off really early on and it was freaky and I felt like I was watching it and for some reason it was watching me but I couldn't I can't exactly explain why I knew that but I know I brought up like oh there's you know there's something scary down there and stuff like that to my parents but you know again it's like a kid saying that right so don't face a out of the dark and that kind of thing.

So that was going on for years. At some point, my bed, I got a new bed, moved to the other side of the room that faced my doorway. So like a, and they had like a sliding door. And then when I was seven, I decided that I wanted a third younger brother. So I started praying for a younger brother and my parents, you know, were like, well, you know, God doesn't always answer prayer, well, you know, that kind of thing. And, like, you know, at seven, I didn't exactly have the best understanding of how exactly I ended up with younger brothers. So, but, you know, God ended up answering my prayer regardless.

And so on the day after my eighth birthday, my third brother was born. So I'm eight years and a day older than him. So praise God for that answering prayer. And he rocks. So about, I'd say within a week of him coming home from the hospital, being like a newborn child, so I'm eight years old. I have one night just this awful, real nightmare. It started off with me thinking I woke up, get out of bed, go upstairs,

start the day and stuff. And it all seemed like I was going throughout my day. And until this small person was... in the house. And like it seemed like it was supposed to be a kid. Like it was like kid's size, but it, there was something

off about it. And then it started doing, I don't know how graphic we want to get on my show, but it started doing violent stuff to family members in my house. And then did violent stuff to my now

brand new baby brother and his grip. And that That freaked me out, and I'd start all awake. And then I was still not awake. It was like it kind of started all over again. And it was super surreal. So this happened three times, pretty much the same thing. And keep in mind, throughout from ages three to eight,

I've been regularly seeing these shadow things in my room and stuff. So I finally actually wake up and I see it in the corner of my room because now I'm in a different spot in my room where it normally used to float above my bed. It's still in the same spot hanging around the ceiling and kind of like, I don't know, it feels like it's doing this, like kind of just like reaching and buzzing and stuff on my ceiling. And I know that that is evil, but I'm also like, I know this is also why I'm having this dream. And I had a, I don't know what my demonology understanding was exactly, but I, you know, believed in God and was a Christian by that. And new angels and demons are a thing. So I know that this is evil. And I may be against better judgment, but it was just like fed up and free.

out with this dream that I've had like three times it's been ongoing and I just go like what do you want and I get a voice back from that corner saying and I know in my mind for some reason that it meant my little brother based off of what I saw in like these dreams and what that small being was doing in my dreams to him the next more morning in real life, no dreams or anything, my parents had to bring that little brother to the hospital to the ICU because he had a respiratory failure. And he was in the hospital for a month after that. They had him in one of those like glass, like one of those like glass things. They couldn't have people like, you know, like actually interacting with him for like safety of like, not infecting him with anything.

So, praise God, he's like alive. He's all good now and stuff. But like, yeah, so I had this experience of like this shadow thing. Gave me these weird, like, dreams and visions. And like, I'm sort of voice back telling me that it's for him. And then I, the next day I see him in the hospital. And I didn't, I'm pretty sure I didn't tell my parents because there was just something in me I ended up saying, like, if I bring this up, like, it's my fault or it'll make this worse.

Something worse might happen. So I just kind of like apt it to myself for somewhere in that range of reasons. And then, yeah, like that kind of stuff was just ongoing from that on. Like the, you know, it wasn't like it, I don't want to say normal because obviously that's not normal. But the regular in my life until we moved out of that house in my 20s was seeing shadows. And like a couple other key ones to mention was like one night I woke up. And it is similar to what people call like sleep paralysis. Like the door had broken off of the hinges in that room.

So I could always just see out from my bed. If I was laying there, I could see out into the basement. And there was this shadow figure kind of like in the door frame just blocking it. And I was like staring at it and it was staring at me. And like, I mean, it was like backlit from like the moonlight and stuff. And like it just felt like it was taking up base. and we just had this stare down for, I don't know how long, and all of a sudden it just quietly walked away.

Wow. Another one was, like, they, yeah, go ahead. No, and that one, so every time you're seeing this shadow figure or like that mass, like that undulating mass that you were talking about, those were you were awake? Yeah, yeah, I'm fully awake. Like, it's happening, like, sometimes from when I get in my room until, like, the early morning, like, it'd be in there.

Wow. So when you heard that voice. Yeah. Like, that voice, you were awake. You were, like, fully. Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. It was, like, done dreaming. Like, yeah. It was like a voice. Yeah. Yeah. Wow.

Wow. Yeah. So, I mean, yeah, these things were wake me up. try to thought. Yeah. No, that's great to keep it clear. These things would wake me up all the time, though. I mean, it was like, you've probably heard of like the witching hour between three and four. Yeah. I mean, like, I mean, from elementary school to my 20s, three to four a.m., stuff in this, like, basement living space would go, like, flying across the room and, like, crashed into the wall. Like, I mean, we had, like, a pantry with, like, cans of beans, which I don't know.

they're probably what a pound and a half for like a can of ambles or something. I mean, these things would go like flying off a shelf. Toys I had when I was a kid that were battery operated would cycle through their little pew-pue noises, like, you know, if I had spaceships and stuff. And I remember eventually I was just like, I need to get some sleep because, I mean, like, the only time I felt like I was getting like sleep was just out of exhaustion at times from like because I'd be woken up by stuff. And or like I wouldn't be able to sleep because there's things in the corner watching me or whatever.

And so, so I took the batteries out of some of those toys that would like go off in the night. And I remember after I took the batteries out of them, the next night, they still went off. Like, I mean, these things with like lights and noises, like they still sort of going off. And I was like, that's it. So I boxed up the toys, put them in the garage and never played with them again, just because it was like, I mean, these things are keeping me up. But it didn't fix it. It didn't fix the problem because then it just came to like bags would get thrown around. Cans would knock off the shelves, that kind of stuff.

Another one full on like middle of the day. I was playing video games in that basement area. I should mention they lived in our laundry room which was like across the hall from my room and they

like if you crossed through this like path you can just feel this like existential dread and like my siblings have all like that the same thing like they corroborated you know, my feeling into adulthood of like, yeah, that spot was just like awful, right? So I was playing games on the TV.

It's like 2 in the afternoon or something. And then all of a sudden I see this man step out of the laundry room. Like I don't recognize them, but it looks like a person. And like, I mean, so much like a person that I thought somebody was like in the basement. like living in the basement or something. And then like we have this stair down, much like with, I did with like the shadow figure. And then it just walks back in the laundry room.

I bolted up the stairs after we were done with the stair down. And I spent the rest of the day up there, right? But like, because, yeah, it was like, I'm not going to go check and see where if it's in there still. And then bedtime comes around and you're like, All right. Guess I'll go down with my friends. Guess I'm back down there. Yeah, exactly. And yeah, I mean, that's how it felt every time it was bedtime.

It's like, I don't have to go back down there. Because, like, in the daytime, until that point, I wouldn't even say I always felt terrified. But, yeah, I mean, the monsters come out at night, right? And it's like, it definitely felt that way a lot of the time. But, yeah, I mean, in general, the regular was being woken up by the stuff. Laundry Day was my least favorite day of the week because I had to go

in there and like turn my back to this like dark spot in the room and it just like, I don't know something like my youngest brother and I like have, you know, talked later on and it's like yeah, that spot in the room was just

like something awful. And like passing that to like go to the restroom or anything like we just like or like we just like hold it until somebody in the upstairs bathroom was done, like, sometimes, because it was like, we just didn't want to be near it. Does your outdated website give your visitors sleep paralysis? What?

Is that a thing? Are you haunted by that logo your uncle's pet werewolf made? Brian, what are you talking about? If you're ready to level up your brand and website, you need to talk to Josh at Valenti Creative. What's up, guys? Josh, my guy. What the heck? How did you just appear?

Head to Valentecreative.com slash NCP to talk with Josh about your brand and website. Oh, this is an ad that we're doing right now? Wait, wait, how did he teleport into this room? Ben, I wish I could tell you, but this is an ad. You have to go to valentecreative.com slash NCP and reach out today. That's crazy. Oh, yeah. Kind of the siding that you had or the encounter that you had during the day when you're playing video games.

Yeah. Because a lot of the times you hear stories, like this and it's like, oh, I was playing the video game and out of the corner of my eye, I saw like a shadow figure and then I looked and it was gone. Yeah. And the crazy thing with this one is you, you looked and it was like, y'all had a stare down. And then the thing just walked back into the, like it didn't like vanish or dematerialized. Just walked back into the laundry.

Yeah, it walked back in. Exactly. That in the voice thing with your brother, it reminds me a lot of the Sally house. Yeah. When, you know, they have their baby, I'm pretty sure it's a baby boy that they have. Baby boy. And all of a sudden, the kind of the attacks on the father just ramp up to 11. You can hear an interview with him even.

Yeah. And he's a grown man. And he's still like affected by it. He remembers it. And how, yeah, it was like, well, what's going to happen next? What's going to happen next? And you can, you know, the subtext is that because of some of what happened and where it happened in the house, it was almost like it was going for the child and it was going for the baby and the father and the mother are like helpless against this thing.

It's crazy how there's that connection with with you and it almost seems localized though. And so this shadow like this haunted beehive shadow thing is is buzzing around your room and then, you know, telling you that it wants your brother. Yeah. Yeah. That's real. That's messed up. And then that he has this big medical episode. it reminds me, and not a mild thing, like we're not talking, oh, he got croup.

Yeah. But a month-long hospitalization, it just reminds me that so often we oversimplify things and we materialize things, you know, through our materialist lens, we think, yeah, we should pray for the sick. If someone's sick, James says, call for the elders, anoint them with the oil, pray for them. Yeah, of course. But sickness is just sickness.

But it's not. Like in scripture, sickness can just be sickness, but sickness can also be physical ailments of the body can be related to spiritual attack. We see, you know, even the old atheist trope that, oh, demon possession is just schizophrenia. It's just epilepsy. It's just, but here we see an example,

a perfect example of the spiritual war is a war against the whole person. Yeah. Body and soul, not just like this spiritual cordoned off, It can be terrifying, but the effect should always be. So trust in the Lord, shelter in the Lord, pray to the Lord, cast your cares on him, because he is greater than them all. But be aware of the battle.

There's even this trope. I feel like it kind of connects, you know, like we're supposed to fear the Lord. But the fear that we have for the Lord, Gouge talks about this a lot, is it's not a slavish fear where we're afraid of a tyrant. and what a tyrant might do to us if we upset it. But it's a filial fear. It's the fear that a loved and loving son has for his loving and loved father. Yeah.

You know, but the fear aspect, you know, if you have a tyrant rise to power in a state and that tyrant is ruling by fear, it may really rule. And that tyrant has, you know, he may have genuine power over the people. And so some of it's like, well, of course, it's not only a battle on the soul, but also on the body. Because think of how much fear may be inspired in Josh as an eight-year-old. If he is being told by this thing, I want him. I want your brother. And then he takes it.

And the brother's gone or the brother is like horribly injured or something like that. And now you have this young boy being like, what kind of power is that? that. And it's not even like, and I want that kind of power. It's a, I'm afraid of that power and what it may do to me. So I'm going to do whatever it says. Like how it can, how it can use the body to totally corrupt the soul and vice versa is really, really interesting. How is your brother doing today? Oh, great. I mean, he's, he is married, uh, has his own house and, uh, loving life. His, his, he's healthy physically. Um, yeah, I mean, he's a, he's a follower of Christ. Good. Good.

Yeah, that's my charge of her Sunday. Yeah, so he was, so the attack was futile. The Lord conquered, but still, scary. Yeah, absolutely. Praise God for that. Wow, man. Well, Josh, thank you so much for sharing that. It was really fascinating and frankly, scary.

But praise God that everything ended up the way that it did. And I'm really glad that your family is in a good place and you have your brother. thank you so much for taking your time to come on the show and sharing that with us. I know that it was edifying for us. If you all like Graveyard Shift content, then definitely keep tuning in, like and subscribe to Hanna Cosmos. And you can also go over to Patreon if you would like to check that out. And there's more content like this that you can find there, even exclusive content

to patrons and other content that's early and ad-free. So if you want to go take a look at that, do it and see if you like it. But that's going to be us signing off for this episode of The Graveyard Shift. I have been Ben. He has been Brian. And you have all gotten to meet and enjoy Josh's stories, even if enjoy is maybe not quite the right word. But we're very glad that you're here. This is us signing off.

We'll see you next time. Want more haunted cosmos? Then make your way over to Patreon, where you can get early access to our content, as well as exclusive content in regular dusty tombs and monthly live streams with Brian and myself. So go to patreon.com slash haunted cosmos and sign up now.