"The Mysterious Hat Man" (Part One)

 Hello and welcome to the playhouse!


Tonight's topic is "The Shadow Man" or "The Hat Man"...

This is a growing phenomena that has many people around the net talking! So many people claim to have witnessed this strange being, and there are dozens of sites about it.


Below is some information copied from a site called "The Shadows" as well as many tales of the shadow man. (Sorry for the way the stories are bordered though-I really couldn't help that, since it's copied.) Thanks for understanding! :)

"It's taken some time for me to finally address a clearer picture of what the thing I've coined to be called "The Hat Man" and what he's about. 

Each time I took a step towards even researching this topic, people close to me would start having odd dreams or terribly bad luck come their way.  I was also in the process of writing about more positive experiences like holy encounters with Jesus, so to take a look into something less than positive just didn't seem right for some time.

I don't think it's ever a good idea to deflect from the positive, but in order to see the light better, sometimes one needs to understand why the dark can be so dominating at times.

So, who is the Hat Man? 

Seems this Hat Man is indeed related to the "dark side" as the Shadow People are even with similar agendas, but he can come at precise times in a person's life...or not. 

The Hat Man’s gear consists of what can be described as him wearing a long-black trench coat, three-piece suit, white collared shirt, and a flat rimmed gaucho hat.  Some have even reported seeing a gold watch hanging on his side on a chain.  Some people describe seeing red eyes, others see solid black eyes if they see any eyes at all under the shadow of his hat. 

He's described as being pale, tall, thin and may or may not have a noticeable goatee and thin moustache.  He may grin, tip his hat, or stare undeniably at a person at length or briefly. 

He appears in most any location, but most commonly is reported in people's bedrooms as they sleep at night.  A feeling comes over the person where they wake up to find him watching them nearby. 

Shadow People like to choke, scare, absorb fear and cause it.  This Hat Man can do and will do these same things, but is mostly known for and seen as an observer who appears and quickly leaves.  Sometimes the timing is significant, while other times it can leave you scratching your head about why he came at all.

If there is anything of importance I'd like to say about a person seeing this Hat Man, is that it is a worldwide phenomenon.  Him showing up doesn't necessarily mean you are about to die or someone close to you will. " 


And now for some personal accounts from people around the web...


Copied from "From The Shadows":

Encounters With The Hat Man

George was about 10 years old when a friend’s mother spoke of a vision she’d had. A man with a tall black hat and trench coat approached her in the darkness.

“She referred to him as ‘Death,’” George said. “That was his name for whatever he represented. It wasn’t good.”

The image that story implanted in George’s head manifested itself into his life a few years later.

“I had my own vision of this same man,” George said. “He was pure evil with a very cold deep look in his eyes. I had to rebuke him in the name of Jesus to go away. It was very frightening.”

But it wasn’t until George’s family moved from Alaska to Texas that he discovered he wasn’t the only member of his family who had seen this entity.

“Years later, my mom started to tell me of a vision that had woken her up in the middle of the night of a man standing at the foot of her bed,” he said. “I was in shock. It was so chilling we were talking about the same old man.”

But George had never told his mother of his encounter and he doesn’t want to have another one.

“I haven’t seen him since that one time in Alaska,” George said. “I wonder, what does it mean? Who is this man many people see? Whoever he is he is pure evil and nothing good. Maybe he’s a worker for Satan to test us.”

George and his mother had seen an entity many have dubbed The Hat Man. This being is generally a shadow-black, slightly out-of-proportion, sometimes two-dimensional entity that often wears a trench coat, cape, or long out-of-date suit, and can appear and vanish without a trace.

This usually-threatening entity has been labeled a ghost, a Shadow Person or a demon – such as this explanation from an anonymous reader of “From The Shadows.”

“The men of darkness – or men of old, or men of perdition – do not reveal themselves. They are revealed by another to warn those that they come to discourage of their presence,” Anonymous wrote. “They have no fear of men. They only fear the One that has the power to send them to the abyss before the time. They flee at the mention of the Name that is above all names.”

Denise lounged on the sofa in her grandmother’s house one day when she was 17 and saw something at the window.

“I didn’t care about that because I did think it was just an impression,” she said. But it wasn’t. “I got up and went to the kitchen to drink water and was coming back, and I had the clear impression of a man in the window with a very long hat and a long coat. It was possible even to see the contour of his face, but it was not a human face, (it was) a horrendous one with a bad smile.”

Then the image vanished quickly enough Denise doubted she had seen it – until she spoke with her grandmother and aunt who were chatting in the next room.

“I told my aunt what I saw, it was black, like a shadow, well-defined contours outside of the window,” she said. “It was like he was trying to hear something, you know?”

Both women looked at Denise, terror painting their faces.

“She asked me to describe it,” Denise said. “Both said to me they saw the very same thing.”

Delta Elise, now in her 50s, was 11 or 12 and living in Austin, Texas, when she met the Hat Man.

“I came home after being out running around in the neighborhood with my friends,” she said. “I went to bed very tired and since I was the oldest girl, I got the bigger side of the bedroom with my own bed which faced the window with the curtains.”

As she lie there, looking at the curtains, the curtains moved.

“The top right hand side of the curtains moved aside as if someone was moving it with their hand,” she said. “And then there appeared to me a very tall man in a long black cape or trench coat with what I call a witch’s hat with the top cut off just standing there. Even though his appearance was dark and I couldn’t really see any eyes, I knew it was staring right at me.”

Delta Elise pulled the covers over her eyes and eventually fell asleep, but woke up shaking in fear.

“The house we lived in was definitely haunted but this was the scariest part of living there,” she said. “I always see Shadow People. It never stops and I always feel a presence in my back seat. I also always feel something touching me or calling my name.”

Copyright 2009 by Jason Offutt

Anonymous said...

My sister and I saw the hat man several times as children in West Virginia. The description of the curtain moving gave me chills, it is so very reminiscent of my experience.

Anonymous said...

I saw him 2 years ago, out of the corner of my eyes. He moved from one room of our house and went into a room we use as a spare room. We found out later that our cat had leukemia. Sometimes I think these entities are forerunners for disaster and death. 

Anonymous said...

My retired mother and father moved to small town in western Montana, located in the Flathead Valley back in the early 1990's, that her father used to live in before he passed away. My mother and father’s health was not real great at the time, as my father was suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer’s and my mother had her own health issues (both have since passed away, my father in 1992 and my mother in 1996). One night at around 3am, she awoke in the darkened living room where she had fallen asleep in the couch watching TV, having shut the TV off before falling asleep a few hours earlier. She was startled and frightened when she awoke to see a man dressed in a black suit, wearing a black derby style hat, with no visible face standing next to the couch starring down at her. Paralyzed in terror and disbelief, she gazed back thinking she was dreaming or imagining this figure. She said this went on for a minute or two before the figure eventually vanished. She was still shaken when she told me the story the next day. Very creepy, I hope to never have such an experience. She was a braver women than me, I would have been out of there!

Anonymous said...

I saw this man. I was up late one night, when I heard what sounded like footsteps on the outside deck. I opened the curtains slightly to look, this was hard because I was terrified. What I saw was a tall man in large trench coat and hat standing on the neighbor's roof. He was standing very tall, and his coat was flapping in the wind. He appeared to be staring back at me. I shut my eyes and opened them several time and he was still there. However, I ran and woke my sister to come and witness this man, but although I could clearly see him she could not. 

Anonymous said...

Very good analysis. What I saw 20 years ago was very similiar. The hat was more of a bowler but a bit taller, maybe a classic derby. The brim was bowler like. The room was completely black because I had the sliding glass door thickly blanketed to keep the cold out while I waited on the central heater to be repaired. There were red LED numbers glowing on the clock next to the bed. I went to sleep at 11:30 pm and work up in fear at 12:30 pm, something I never do. Standing/floating at the foot of my bed was a 6'2"+ outline like a caped man in a derby. Broad shoulders and no discernable neck. Arm like apendeges were probably there because the outline seemed to have a bit of seperation showing along the main trunk down where the hands would be, like the arms were tight against the body but the hands were not. But there was no outline of hands, just black stubs. Theighs down would have been to low to show over the end of the bed. It emitted red bands of light in all directions from it's outline. Otherwise it was completely black and featureless like a 2 diminsional surface. I assume it was drawing in the red light from the clock and re-emiting it. It emitted the bands throughout the room, not just the area around the clock which was aimed at the nearby wall. The bands were exactly that, bands or shafts starting at the outline and going out in every direction. Ready to die, I reached over and turned on the lamp and as quick as I did, the horses sleeping in a pasture 30 feet from the sliding glass door which was right behind the shadow reared and whinnied in terror and gallopped across the pasture. I also heard what sounded like a baby wail in persuit of the horses or from the same direction as the horses ran. (That wail was what has me confused as to what I had encountered.) With the light on, there was no sign of the shadow thing. Two days later I questioned my neighbors about if they heard the horses and I had to tell my story, on their insistence. Their jaws hung open and they told me their story. Their 2-3 year old son had been seeing the same thing in his room and had been insisting on sleeping in their room for a month. They had not seen the shadow themselves but went to their priest for help who gave them a vial of water from the baptismal font in their church. They walked through their house sprinkling the water the day I saw the shadow. They had started at one end of their house and sprinkled and prayed walking toward my house. I assume it chased the shadow into my house. I think it exited through the sliding glass door when I switched on the light and scared the heck out of those horses. They never slept in that spot again even though it was thei main nighttime spot. It was a very choice location with deep, soft St Augustine and a old, large pine tree to keep the night dew off of them. I slept with a night light on for the next few years. I don't ever want to see it again. I assume it was evil since it woke me in a fear state. I live in Texas. 

Anonymous said...

I saw the "hat man" about 10 years ago. I was sleeping and woke up paralyzed. I could only move my eyes. He was standing at my bedroom door. He looked totally black and all I could see was the outline of his body. He reminded me of how the actor, Humphrey Bogart, used to dress in his old movies, wearing a trench coat and hat. I fell back to sleep. I had the overpowering need to go back to sleep even though I was terrified. Other scary things also happend in my home over the years. I found out that the 90 year old man who lived there before me committed suicide (or was possibly murdered) in the home. He was the only other owner of the home. My granddaughter refused to sleep in the room where he was found dead because she said she saw short white men -- and I do mean white -- as in the color of snow. My daughter would hear footsteps running across the attic or the roof. She even called the police, who found nothing, of course. The radio would turn on by itself and items would be moved from one location to another overnight while we were all sleeping. I finally sold the home and moved. 

Anonymous said...

Two stories: I personally saw this entity, or whatever you call it, when I was ten. My parents and I were driving near So. Thomaston, ME and it was standing in a field near a dilapidated barn. Big hat, standing still - black figure with a cape. I could "feel" it looking at me. It was broad daylight. No one else saw it. Later in years, a roommate in college also explained to me that when he was around the same age saw a grey Hat Man in his neighborhood near dusk. He and some friends all saw it in between the wooded lots of the houses. They ran and it chased. When he got home he ran up to his bedroom. Once he got the nerve he looked outside. The figure was standing in the street staring straight up at him under a street light. His friends said they saw it go after him as they fled. The roommate felt a menace to it. I didn't really... just acknowledged it but didn't feel any sort of brooding. 

Anonymous said...

As a child, I remember my parents and siblings often telling stories of a house we lived in that they say was "Haunted". Doors slammed, objects moved and fell, voices in rooms and laughter, footsteps etc...However none frightens me as much as my mother's "late night" encounter with a Man in black, big hat, trench coat, very tall, dark presence. He was standing over my baby bassinet, near the foot of her bed,staring at me as I slept.I was only 2mos.old. Though she knew my Dad was working "out of town" not due home for days Mom said Dad's name anyway thinking it must be him, when the dark man looked up she realized he had no face.In fear for our lives now, she grabbed the alarm clock off the nightstand and threw it as hard as she could at him! It went right through him as he vanished in a split second. The clock hit the wall with a crash! It woke my siblings who ran in to see what was the matter. No one slept that night but instead huddled together in the downstairs living room waited for morning. What's weird is that I can still see his silhouette in my mind,even more I shudder to this day feeling his dark presence near me then, an infant. There is no doubt in my mind that" this entity" has truly bad intentions for humans. 

 (And from "The Supernatural World")

"The Dark Man, The Shadow Man or The Hat Man has been part of my mother's and my lives for as far back as I can remember... 

I first sensed him in my mother's bedroom when I was a child. 

Here, I describe the various appearances of 'The Shadow Man' over a number of years and I will attempt to describe his characteristics and behaviors:

Rose Street, Liverpool - This is the 3 bedroom brick house in Sydney's outer western suburbs where I grew up in the late 60s and 70s. From the outside it looked just like another ordinary Neta display home. But once inside, one could sense this 'dark' all pervading atmosphere of dread that seemed to permeate the rooms as presence. It was only after I called my first writing Fear of the Home and when I read a book by William Hope Hodgison that gave a graphic description of a 'terrible house of silence' that I realised how afraid of this place both I (and my younger brothers) had been.

While I deeply loved my childhood house, there was this tangible heavy psychic atmosphere that was felt by visitors. Firstly, the house was built directly over the main underground sewerage pipe for the area that cut straight through the center of the lounge-room. My parents received a discount on the land as a result. In addition this the domestic violence that occurred created an interactive web of negative emotions, fear, powerlessness and despair. All family members suffered from vivid reoccurring nightmares yelling out from their sleep, often with bedclothes found strewn around the room. My nightmares ceased 25 years after leaving the house.

When 'The Shadow Man' first manifested, it was primarily around my mother. My two younger brother's sensed it, but it was only my mother and I who ever experienced him physically. My mother is prone to hynogogic episodes. Some of them had involved a dark creepy male presence who visited her in her bedroom. This occurred after she had switched off the light and often while she was still awake. She would feel 'him' pressing down on the end of her bed as if the mattress was being pushed down by an invisible force, or him pressing on her legs through the bedclothes.

Reilly Street, Liverpool: When I was 18 years old I was staying at my mother's townhouse. I was lying on my back trying to get to sleep, but I couldn't because I always felt unsafe. 

So feeling restless, I had turned over onto my stomach and lay awake. Then I felt something tugging at the bedclothes while slowly working its way up my back and around to the back of my shoulders. 

I froze, terrified and hardly believing what was happening. While time seemed to stand still along with my breathing, the experience may have only been 10 seconds in duration. 

The minute it stopped, I sat up and I seemed to hear a shriek disappear into a space in the center of the room. I jumped up and ran from the room. It had felt like something was 'tucking me into bed'. 

This single event changed the way I thought about ghosts forever. I was fully awake. The tugging of the clothes was physical. It was not a hallucination. I slept in my mother's room for 2 weeks.

Several years later, I was questioning my mother on the creepy presence that she had felt at Rose Street. I also talked about the experience of being tucked in. 

I said, "Do you remember the time that something tried to tuck me into bed at the townhouse?" 

She said, "Oh yeah, the thing that pulls the sheets up around your neck." I said, "What do you mean? Did it happen to you?" She said, "Yeah, several times." She had not told me this before. 

I said, "Like what did it do?" She said, "Oh nothing much. It just tugs the bedclothes up around your neck." I said, ".. Thanks for telling me!" 

It only happened to me the once. Apparently, it had happened to her a number of times."

These are just a few of hundreds of stories like this.

Stay tuned to this blog, for more tales of the mysterious hat man!

And in the meantime...

You may wanna sleep with the lights on!