I’ve mentioned this figure to people before, but not until today did I realize that my hat man is more common than I’d realized. I saw hat man during college, in the mid 90’s, in my apartment. I woke myself up speaking to a voice I’d heard. The sound was like a person who’s had throat cancer speaking through that device on their throats–very mechanical and definitely not really human. So it spoke to me, although I don’t know what it said, and as I stated I’d awoken myself talking to it, saying, “I can’t talk to you now, I’m sleeping.” Only then did I open my eyes and see him. He was at the far corner of my bedroom, by the door. He was completely black, human shaped, and had on a hat. I’ve always thought of it as a “bowler” bat, kind a Charlie Chaplinesque. I looked at it for only 1 or 2 seconds, rolled over, and literally hoped that it wasn’t really there and that I would just fall back asleep. I didn’t feel dread or fear, but I wasn’t super excited to have him there, by any means. I’ve not seen anything remotely like it since.
— Belle