Could these things be related?

There are several phenomena that, to me, seem interwoven somehow and makes me wonder if there is some sort of universal dark force or power at work. So, tell me what you think...don't the following seem a little too similar to be conicidental?:

1 - Shadow People
2 - Black Eyed Beings
3 - The "Man in the Hat" apparition
4 - The "Old Man In Dreams" (If you're unfamiliar with this one, just do some research on dream/nightmare websites: This is the man lots of people report seeing in dreams, often wearing a hat and/or suit. He's usually "seen" in the dreams walking down some sort of rural country road and strikes subtle fear into people.)

Opinions? Also, has anyone else dreamed of the old man on the country roads?

They do seem to all cause an unsubstantiated fear in people.

Perhaps they are interwoven somehow, though I doubt that we'll ever know if they are or not.

You might be on to something here, Sandcastles.

While I've never encountered any of these things, I do recall my mother telling me that she has seen a man in a hat atleast twice in her life, Once when she was a young girl maybe 8 or 9 and once again shortly after she married my dad, still at a young age of 18.

In the first occurence she said the man was leaning under a lamp post watching her and her siblings play until my Aunt (her older sister) ushered all the children inside, the man wasnt see again.

The second time, my parents were laying in bed with my father laying on his side facing away from my mother watching TV, My mother was reading and noticed the figure of a man standing at the foot of the bed, she couldnt make out the man's face or features just to say he was wearing a large brimmed hat, my mother tried to wake up my father (who was not a force to be reckoned with) to no avail. After several times of screaming my father's name and shaking him from what I understand to be rather hard, my mother turned back and the man was no longer there, my father woke up and brushed off the incident as he typically did with most things he didnt witness..

I personally have never seen this man, and to this day I dont believe my mother has seen him since..