I saw the hat man about a year and a half ago. It was February or so, I went to bed after a particularly tiring weekend, and had just fallen asleep, it seemed like. Suddenly, through my sleep, I felt as if someone else was in the room with me. Irrationally, I thought it was my mom, even though that made no sense to me. She would have no reason to come into my room in the middle of the night, especially because she had already gone to sleep before I went to my room. I opened my eyes because the presence was disturbing enough to wake me up, and the firs thing I saw was a dark shape next to my bed, arm extended, pressing down on my throat. I couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t move. I also had a sense of horrendous terror the entire time this was happening, even though it realistically probably only lasted for about 10-15 seconds. I tried to scream but I just couldn’t, no sounds came out. I remember the man so well, he was standing on the side of my bed where there is a window, so I could see his silhouette against the light coming in from outside. I don’t remember if he was wearing a fedora or not, but the most vivid thing I remember is the strangling feeling I had. I snapped out of it and really woke up, and of course there was nothing there and no sign that anyone had been (my dog was asleep on the floor and he FREAKS out if someone enters the room at night, so I knew it had to have been a dream). Very scary experience, I couldn’t sleep the rest of the night.
–Elle Drizzle