Sometime between the ages of 6–8 (year ‘05-‘07), I had my only experience with the Hat Man. I was sleeping on the top bunk while my brother slept on the bottom. We had a lamp in our room for a night light. One night, between midnight and 4am, I woke up and found myself frozen, unable to move. I was facing my computer and could only look around with my eyes, my breathing remaining steady. When I looked over at the lamp, I noticed that it appeared to be off, but the room was still softly lit. Feeling uneasy, I tried to get up and turn the lamp back on.
But as I was attempting to move, he walked into my room. I immediately felt overwhelmed with fear, and despite my efforts, I was unable to scream. He was completely black, and it seemed like a black fog was rolling off of him. He wore a fedora or wide-brimmed hat and a long trench coat, with the collar pulled up high enough to conceal his face from either side. Even though I couldn‘t see his face directly, I knew he was looking at me. He didn’t seem to acknowledge me at first and instead, inspected my computer desk for a moment. Then, he reached behind it and seemingly unplugged the power cable. I blinked, and he was now facing me with the cable in his hand, reaching up as if to choke me with it. At that moment, a high-pitched ringing noise filled the room. It intensified as the wires got closer to my neck. I tried to scream, but no sound came out. Finally, with all my strength, I managed to jump out of bed and scream as loudly as I could. The Hat Man disappeared, and the lamp turned back on. I looked over at the cables and my brother, but they seemed to be undisturbed.
I was so terrified that I couldn’t move and ended up hiding under my blankets until I eventually fell back to sleep. When I woke up the next day, I had no recollection of any dreams, just a few seconds of blackness before I woke up. I was too scared to tell anyone about my experience and had a difficult time sleeping for months afterward. I’ve never come across many others with similar stories, especially involving the Hat Man attacking or trying to attack them. I wanted to share my experience here.