After doing my own research (albeit this is about 20 years later; I’m 29 now) I decided to look up this ‘Hat Man’ to see if anyone else may have seen him. And man is this some creepy stuff. I couldn’t believe how much this figure has appeared around the world.
My story is similar to many others. This stems from a childhood experience that I had when I was around 9 years old living in Pawcatuck, Connecticut. Those who know me know that I am a level headed realist, and rarely let something get the better of me. BUT this little memory has stayed with me all my life. I’m also a screenwriter and wanted to pen a film on the subject. So, I’m not without a strong imagination, but I know I didn’t imagine this.
When I was 9 I was sleeping over at my grandparents house in my mother’s old room where she stayed when she was a kid. I woke one night to see a black figure in a trenchcoat and brimmed hat (like the shadow of a cowboy) standing in the doorway. Needless to say it scared the crap out of me and stayed with me ever since. After that night I asked my grandmother if she or my uncle came up stairs last night to check on me. They said no. Another instance (during the same month) I saw the same figure at sundown standing on the street looking up at me to the window of my mother’s old bedroom.
Years later, around my 21st birthday I had told my mother of the experience of seeing a shadow man. She immediately said “What did you say?” And come to find out my mother had seen the exact same shadow figure staring at her in her old bedroom when she was much younger also. Needless to say, that also creped me out. Up until today I hadn’t thought about doing any research (thinking only that I could weave a horror story around it, because I had wanted to for years now) But here it is. A phenomenon in itself. Fantastic and incredibly creepy. As an adult I have yet to see him again.
— Robert C. Cowley