I'd long known about shadow people, I can even say I might have seen one several years ago (at least seventeen years ago). In broad daylight. I looked up, out the window, and for the briefest moment it appeared that a slender shadowy man was standing on our porch. Of course there's a lot of other explanations for seeing such things; optical illusions, vibration of the liquid in the eye, pareidolia, sleep paralysis, lack of sleep, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, etc. But a friend of mine suggested that I and other friends might be seeing his late grandfather, a supposedly powerful witch who he believed had become a shadow man when he died. This has never been confirmed, but it's an interesting concept.
I'm not sure if it was before or after that that I first heard of 'The Hat Man', but it was definitely after I'd learned about shadow people. He's supposed to be a stark black entity in a top hat that supposedly stalks and intimidates children and teens for reasons not yet known. Other shadow people seemed largely unconcerned with humans, sometimes wandering past them on parade at night, appearing in the derelict halls of old asylums, or occasionally pranking them in the wilderness of California. But the Hat Man was different, he actively sought out youngsters, to intimidate them. I remember Jason on Ghost Hunters saying something about how lots of kids were seeing him, and how much that bothered him, though I've been unable to locate the actual episode. (Ghost Hunters was good early on, they actively debunked stuff and were reluctant to say the remaining unexplained activity was ghosts. After that, the changing make-up of the team and subsequent shows coupled with accusations of hoaxing and scamming is what becomes 'interesting'.)
But over time I came to notice something, there didn't seem to be one hat man. There were hat men, some wore top hats, or wide brim hats, some wore bowlers, or as I've recently learned, fedoras. Some hat men appeared as the outline of a man in a suit, while others appeared to wear a long coat. Their physical forms were different too, some were exceptionally skinny, some had long spindly fingers like slenderman's, and some had white faces like masks contrasting the uniform black of the rest of their bodies (like No-Face from spirited away). Sometimes their eyes were as dark as their bodies, other times they glowed red. There was also a split in nature, while many were frighten and intimidated by them, other people seemed to derive peace and calm from their presence.
So naturally, I set out to get an idea of what traits seemed most common and just how many Hat Men there might be. And let me tell you, I did not know how deep that rabbit hole goes. I explored a bit on The Hatman Project blog (which unfortunately hasn't seen any action in four years), reviewed a few videos (many of which seem to have something like confirmation bias and only collected hat man accounts that match their aesthetic), and reached out on reddit (where there is a whole subreddit specifically dedicated to The Hat Man, and on chats like discord.
And what I found was interesting. First off, so many articles and videos blame hat man on sleep paralysis, but it seems like about half of encounters happen when the reporter was wide awake. So, it would seem something more is going on there.
And secondly, for those that had seen hat men and other shadow people (including some hooded shadow people), the accounts were as varied as the people that had see him; as though hat men and shadow people in general represented a diverse population similar to the diversity in a human population. AngelFox1's hat man carried a fancy cane and had a long nose. Mjainwitch's had eyes light firefly light, while others have reported black eyes, red eyes, and yellow cat-like eyes.
Some people like SpringIsCancelled, even reported seeing multiple hat man entities who were distinct in height and mannerism. Others have reported hat men alongside other shadow people, almost always in a position of authority or dominance. This is paralleled by many alien abduction/contact encounters, where a tall alien will seem to be in charge of several smaller aliens. It's worth noting aliens are another common sleep paralysis subject, along with hags, ghosts, and demons. Though many who have seen hat men report seeing them during the day while wide awake (despite the top result on google for 'The Hat Man' being about sleep paralysis).
The theories are pretty varied as well, from classical demons to insectoid aliens. Demons makes sense to a certain degree, incorporeal creatures that exist to torment the living or lure them to sin, thus they are dressed to impress and a dark reflection of how we understand angels as beings of light. Other spiritual entities they’ve been theorized to be include loa (intermediaries between man and god similar to angels, but with domains and often acting as patrons - see the wikipedia link in Further Reading/Viewing & Resources below for more), djinn, and human souls. All three of which would account for there being multiple hat men, as well as the fact that some seem to exude evil, while others seem benign, a possible flaw in the demon theory. Well, except for those that claim he seemed benign at first, but now they know better.
Another theory claims they may be death or servants of death, or at least a way we envision death. Similarly, a video piece by Quartz News suggests they may be a reflection of modern horror, such as Freddy Kruger. This fits well for sleep paralysis accounts, which is what the video focused on, but not so well with daytime accounts.
And
what of the idea that they could be extraterrestrials,
extra-dimensional, or time travelers? Well, as a simple thought
experiment, it's hard to see why aliens (from space or another
dimension) would feel the need to come all the way to Earth just to
spy on us in our bedrooms. Why is this more plausible for time
travelers in my mind? Probably because they have a vested interest in
specific ancestors and some protocol of non-contact that they're
obviously not very good at following. But given how humans treat
observing animals, I have doubts extraterrestrial and
extra-dimensional beings would worry too much about if we see them.
Plus it accounts for the eyes sometimes being insect or
cat/reptile-like, and the few cases where UFOs were seen in close
proximity to hat men, if you subscribe to the whole idea of UFOs
being alien craft in the first place.
There's also the
option, which 1divinehamm3r reminded me of, that it doesn't have to
be exclusively any of the above. Maybe there is a mixture of
different entities that account for the differences in appearance and
behavior, the way viceroy butterflies look like monarchs and catsears
flowers look like dandelions. And maybe for a few people it really is
just all in their heads, which can be both a comforting and
discomforting thought. But whatever it is, if you experienced it,
your experience is valid. So if you've seen a hat man or shadow
person and would like to share, I'm interested in hearing your story.
Further Reading/Viewing & Resources:
“Hat
Man nightmares and sleep paralysis are happening around the world”
Quartz News
(Uploaded
2019-03-15)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYbA6Tjux24
“Loa”
Wikipedia
(Last
Modified 2020-06-04)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loa
“San
Antonio's Shadowy Hat Man Spooks Residents” San Antonio Current
(Last
Modified 2012-09-14)
https://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2012/09/14/san-antonios-shadowy-hat-man-spooks-residents
“Shadow
Person” Wikipedia
(Last Modified
2020-06-29)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_person
“The Hat Man” Reddit
r/HatMan
The Hatman Project [Blog]
(Last Modified 2016-02-15)
http://thehatmanproject.com/
“The Untold Truth Of
Ghost Hunters” Grunge
(Uploaded
2020-01-13)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-W76FrnHBw
“Why is Jason Hawes Not
on ‘Ghost Hunters’?” TheCinemaholic
(Last Modified
2020-04-07)
https://www.thecinemaholic.com/jason-hawes-ghost-hunters/
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