He’s known to haunt people from their bed – an always-watching presence standing in the corner of the room.
The Hat Man, who is gaining notoriety through TikTok, is a mysterious shadowy entity, witnessed during both the night and the day.
According to witnesses, he comes dressed in a trench coat and a wide-brimmed hat – but has no discernible face or eyes.
Now, experts reveal the truth behind this terrifying spectre, who may have influenced one of Hollywood’s most famous villains.
Jane Teresa Anderson, a dream analyst and neurobiologist based in Tasmania, Australia, says the Hat Man is usually seen as a ‘mysterious and featureless man’.
And the paranormal figure is most often seen during the bizarre state of consciousness between wakefulness and sleep.
‘The figure is generally dark and shadowy, with no discernible features,’ Anderson told the Daily Mail.
‘It may represent a person’s deepest, darkest, shadowy fears.’
Experts reveal the truth behind the ghost-like entity, which is commonly seen during the state between wakefulness and sleep
The Hat Man is commonly witnessed during ‘sleep paralysis’ – a state during waking up or falling asleep where we are conscious but cannot move.
‘When we sleep, our motor muscles are prevented from moving – a physiological state called atonia,’ Anderson told the Daily Mail.
‘It protects us from getting up and acting out our dreams and keeps us safely tucked up in bed.
‘But if you start to wake up before your body moves out of atonia, you may experience an in-limbo state, half awake (yet also half dreaming) and unable to move.
‘Although sleep paralysis only lasts a few seconds, the terrifying experience feels so real that you feel doomed.’
Sleep paralysis comes with distressing hallucinations of a terrifying figure holding us down – such as a ghost, a gremlin, the Grim Reaper, or the Hat Man.
‘The evil entity people see during sleep paralysis often depends on their culture, on what they expect to see,’ said Anderson.
‘In many ways, he is the obvious choice for modern day dreamers to conjure up.’
Those who witness Hat Man might be familiar with the Freddy Krueger (pictured), the hat-wearing antagonist of the classic horror film ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’, who murders his victims in their dreams
Anderson and several other experts point to Freddy Krueger, the hat-wearing antagonist of the classic horror film ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’, who murders his victims in their dreams.
According to Dr Baland Jalal, a neuroscientist at Harvard University’s department of psychology, the character was influenced by stories of shadowy sleep-paralysis figures.
But our ‘brains use cultural imagery to give shape to these sensations’, he said – meaning the film in turn has probably influenced sleep paralysis visions.
Dr Alice Vernon, sleep disorder researcher at Aberystwyth University and author of ‘Ghosted’, agrees that ‘popular culture influences what we see’ during sleep paralysis.
‘When we’re told a scary story or watch a horror film, we lie in bed thinking about it, hoping not to encounter the monster,’ Dr Vernon told the Daily Mail.
‘So when we suffer with sleep paralysis, it’s the first scary thing our brain thinks of to explain the frightening situation.’
The academic – who has looked at hundreds of sleep paralysis anecdotes spanning about 400 years – thinks we can track trends of popular sleep paralysis demons throughout history.
‘People first saw witches, hags and incubi because that was a key part of folklore in the early modern period,’ Dr Vernon added.
‘The Nightmare’ by Swiss artist Henry Fuseli (1781) is thought to be a depiction of sleep paralysis in a young woman perceived as a demonic visitation. What form the demon takes can depend on our deepest darkest fears, which may be influenced by contemporary culture
‘Then in the Victorian era people saw vampires, ghosts and skeletons because of memento mori and funeral culture as well as the growing prevalence of ghost and horror stories.
‘Now people often report horror-movie-style monsters and villains, as well as interpreting sleep paralysis as an alien abduction and seeing aliens in place of hags.’
Dr Brian Sharpless, clinical psychologist and author of ‘Sleep Paralysis: Historical, Psychological, and Medical Perspectives’, thinks Hat Man is a more common vision than people might realise.
‘When I conducted a study of sleep paralysis using a sample of young undergraduates, we asked them what they “saw” during episodes,’ he told the Daily Mail.
‘We had expected the “classic” descriptions of demons, witches, and especially extraterrestrials. However, we were surprised to learn that the most common figures “seen” were shadow people like the Hat Man.’
Dr Sharpless – who is also author of ‘Monsters of the Couch’ which looks at psychological disorders behind famous horror movies – thinks his findings ‘may represent a cultural shift’.
‘It’s possible that younger people in the West may find demons and ghosts as less realistic figures during these strange bedtime experiences,’ he said.
‘Perhaps shadow people – who are sometimes thought of as time travellers or interdimensional beings – might be viewed as more realistic and “plausible”.’
The Hat Man may be witnessed during sleep paralysis if we have fears of a shadowy figure during wakefulness (file photo)
Teresa Campillo-Ferrer, researcher of consciousness at Pompeu Fabra University in Spain, thinks what we experience during sleep paralysis is not necessarily ‘unreal’.
‘[It is] possibly a different kind of reality, one that could be shaped more by emotions and internal constructs than by physical objects,’ she told the Daily Mail.
‘In this context, cultural influences may play a role as well.
‘Similar to how many people independently dream of their teeth falling out, the “Hat Man” may potentially represent a certain emotion or cultural construct that expresses itself through these visions.’
The Hat Man is not only witnessed during the night when we’re trying to sleep though.
Texas resident Stacy Alejos described witnessing the Hat Man while awake, beyond her house, when she was a girl, as quoted by the San Antonio Current.
‘As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Stacy could clearly make out the outline of a humanoid figure standing behind the white picket fence that surrounded her yard,’ the report said.
‘As Stacy watched fearfully, the being began to sidle in a strange sideways motion, all the while keeping its outstretched arms on the top fence post.
‘When she noticed the audible crunching of dried leaves beneath the entity’s feet, Stacy was quite sure that she was not dreaming, nor imagining things.
‘Understandably terrified, the young girl dove underneath her sheets, quaking in fear until morning.’
Ultimately, our brains have evolved to sense something or someone present even when it’s not, according to Dr Jalal.
‘Humans are hardwired to err on the side of detecting a “someone” rather than “no one” – an adaptive survival advantage,’ he told the Daily Mail.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .