"Hat" Man

I've been interested in the paranormal since I was a child and I think that this figure is central to that. I've seen a number of theories on him, but none of them seem to be the same as the one that I've experienced. So, I would like to ask those of you who have had experiences with this specific type of entity to let me know what you've either found out about it or, at least, to tell us about those experiences.

My experiences started some time when I was a child. I don't recall an exact encounter that started it all, but I was terrified to go to sleep with any part of my body exposed. I would make sure that my arms and legs were firmly under the covered, going so far as to almost roll the blankets under myself so I they wouldn't come out in my sleep. Oddly enough, I never worried about my head though. Now, the reason that I didn't want any limb exposed was that I was convinced that a man in a long coat and a wide hat would come into my room at night and cut those limbs off if he could see them. Yes, this would be an odd thing for a 3 or 4 year old to think, but I did.

As I grew older, the visitations changed. I began to see the figure at night, when I would be suddenly awakened to find the figure standing in my doorway. Sometimes he would just turn and fade into the darkness of our living room. Other times, he would come into the room, at which time I would cover my head and close my eyes, hoping he would go away. I did have a sleeping disorder as a child, which may or may not be connected. I was a sleepwalker. I would wake up at night and find myself in different parts of my home or even outside from time to time. Luckily, I never was seriously injured during these times, but it always freaked me out. I thought, maybe the hat man is leading me somewhere or trying to take me away.

By the time I reached my 20s, he began to appear less regularly. When he did, though, it would become a confrontation. I actually began challenging him. I "wasn't a kid anymore" and I chose not to be frightened of him anymore. There was one time when I was living in a flat and he appeared. The odd thing was the way that he appeared this time. I awoke to what I thought was a noise outside of my window. I sat up in bed and looked around for my flashlight to take a look. As I was doing this, I saw something come in through an open window. I seemed to be a hat and, then he appeared. He actually spoke this time. It said "It's time to go" and reached for me. I threw a glass that I had sitting on my nightstand and the figure vanished. I finally got to sleep after cleaning up the glass and closing the window.

The last time I saw him was about five years ago. My wife had awakened to go to the bathroom and her movement woke me up. She turned to me as she opened to bedroom door as I had sat up in bed. I saw him in the hallway right behind her as he reached out to her. I launched myself at him, knocking my wife back into the room. She never saw him by the way. I do recall that as I passed through the figure, I felt an intense cold. It was as if I had stepped outside during a cold winter night.

Since that day, I haven't encountered him again.

You mentioned sleepwalking. Maybe something to do with it. Do you have sleep apnea? A friend of mine suffers from it. It sometimes causes him to wake up in a panic from a dream and not "disconnect" from it, he explained.

Originally posted by KEMIK
You mentioned sleepwalking. Maybe something to do with it. Do you have sleep apnea? A friend of mine suffers from it. It sometimes causes him to wake up in a panic from a dream and not "disconnect" from it, he explained.

I've never been diagnosed with it but I have seen some studies that link sleepwalking to the same part of the brain that causes night terrors. I have wondered if that might be an explanation. I thought that this figure was just something that I had seen until I did a search on the internet for Hat man one day and found hundreds of mentions, including some art work that was very evocative of what I had seen all my life. Maybe the figure is some iconic subconscious construct?

reply to post by soontide


Post some links if you can. I'm interested.

I've had an experience with the hat man. I always called him the "Shadow Man" though. I was somewhere between 6-9 years old. I was wide awake, playing in the living room. When I looked to the hallway, I saw a figure cloaked in shadow going from the toy room across the hall into my room. Then he peeked out at me. I could see a hand on the door frame, the brim of his hat, and a boot, then he went into my room and I didn't see him again. I couldn't see any features of his face at all. I saw a hat, a trench coat, and boots. The hands and face were the same shade of black that the clothes were.
That experience scared me so much that I refused to sleep downstairs. Now my room is upstairs and I still don't like going down there alone. That was the only time I saw him though.

I also called him the shadow man. When I was very young I would also cover up in bed all limbs but I never really thought why... Anyway when I was a kid (in 2 different houses) I would wake in the night (call it sleepwalking I dunno) and walk calmly and aware but also afraid to the hallway.
There standing facing me was the shadow man. Sometimes with a had and sometimes not. With a blue glow of light from behind. He would then reach out at me and push me out of my body and I would fall back and see myself standing there then at the last second before my head reached the ground level I would snap back into my body. (or did i fall and he pulled me back?) Anyway, after that I would calmly walk back to bed and thats that... over and over and over...for years, and then.. it stopped.

There what something else (maybe unrelated maybe not) - the small greysmokey humoid forms that came outta the closets!) When I was also very young. anyway ciao 4 now ...RDDS

Sorry it took me so long to get back to this thread. Work and all....

Anyway, I have some links that I've come across that really caused my hair to stand on end when I found them. My internet search started when I heard Heidi Hollis on Coast to Coast one night a few years ago.

Heidi Hollis inverview bits

I had no idea that this figure was seen by anyone else but me. so, I went to her site and saw the image she had up for the hat man. It was exactly the same image I had seen for years.

Shadow People site

I then did a good old google search and found a number of posts on various message boards that talked about this figure.

I've never had sleep paralysis when encountering this figure so I don't think its related to the "old hag" syndrome but it does have some interesting parallels to it. I always felt terrified of this figure until I began to react violently to it. Eventually, I seem to have driven it away.

My 5 year old son runs into our bedroom nearly every night crying that a man in a hat is standing in the corner of his room. I've tried to convince him that he was just dreaming and to use his invincibility blanket to protect himself

But after reading the OP I kinda got the chills because I have never heard of the hat man before.

my brother suffered from experiences with the hat man.
there is 11 years difference between us and it used to scare the living crap out of me hearing him wake up screaming at someone in the middle of the night i could never see. i have yet to encounter him, but i wait for the day i do to try to get some answers, if i can.

Originally posted by Tartarspoon
My 5 year old son runs into our bedroom nearly every night crying that a man in a hat is standing in the corner of his room. I've tried to convince him that he was just dreaming and to use his invincibility blanket to protect himself

But after reading the OP I kinda got the chills because I have never heard of the hat man before.

I'm sorry to hear this but there is good news. I lived through it and I can say that I've never actually been harmed just really scared. The blanket thing seemed to work for me for quite a while too.

From all the paranormal encounteres I've read, the hatman usually isn't a good one, though some have red glowing eyes and those are worst. other encounters like this would be a shadowy apparition of a monk looking ghosts. the hatman usually is about 6ft tall and has a treanchcoat on.

From what I see here, and on the link narrative, does it look like HAT MAN
is mostly appearing to children? Also, the link's author indicated she is associating it with "the dark side". I wonder what in the world it could be, and what is compelling it's seeming attachment to children?

I wonder if it could be one of those "energy sucker" thingies?

reply to post by ladyinwaiting


My son is 5 years old, and describes the "Man" as being dark with his head looking down at the ground. The "Man" doesn't move or make any noises...just stands there.

reply to post by Tartarspoon


Have you thought about placing a little cam in his room? Maybe even without his knowledge. I think I might want to investigate a little further.
No body has complained about this entity harming anyone, but still I would want to know.

Wow. How strange - i used to do the same thing when i was little. I'd turn the light off, run to my bed and cover every part of me because i was afraid of something scary coming up from under my bed and grabbing me... i was constantly yelling for my dad because i was convinced that there was a boogeyman under my bed.. but i've never seen anything - that i remember. I find it so unbelievably frustrating that i can hardly remember anything from my childhood years - i have no idea why.

I was going to mark on the similarity with the "hat man" entity on the tv show Ghost Whisperer, and then i went to the shadow people site the OP posted and it actually mentioned that very issue in a little detail.

Very interesting..