A few years ago I was suffering from severe lucid nightmares almost 3 times a week. I guess I had it pretty bad because I can’t remember many nights when I didn’t hear/see/feel something. I constantly felt like I was being watched and sometimes during the day I would avoid my room altogether cause that’s where I felt it the worst.
Anyways, There is one time when I had two episodes in one night. But for some reason, these episodes were different than normal. they felt so much more real than the rest. I was having a sleepover at my house and my friends had already fallen asleep while I was still struggling to get some rest. Then right as I thought I was going to sleep I had the urge to open my eyes and so I did and standing in front of me was a young girl looking out my window. I didn’t recognize her but she looked like she was 8 or 9. Now normally I feel uncontrollable fear when I see things but this time I felt this odd comfort.. like she was on my side. It was so weird but I just remember watching her and hoping she didn’t leave then eventually falling back asleep. What might have been a few hours later I woke up to the sound of rustling from the other side of my room.
I thought maybe it was one of my friends looking for something so I slowly sat up and looked towards my closet where the noise was coming from, but instead of one of my friends, I saw this tall shadowy man with a wide brimmed hat, standing with his back to me looking through my closet. His head almost touched the ceiling and he was wearing this weird coat and I got this overwhelming sense of dread. And that’s when the fear kicked in. Something told me to hide or wake up my friend but I couldn’t move so I just sat there and watched him. He was just standing there rummaging through my closet looking for something but and I had this gut feeling that he was not frantic upset or anything. More…. Playful. I don’t know but it felt evil for sure and I was so scared he was going to turn around and see me so I slid back under the covers and hid (still hearing him walking around in my room) until I fell asleep.
The next morning I forgot all about it and I haven’t really thought of it much until yesterday I heard about “the hat man” via a sleep paralysis podcast I was listening to and so I researched him and it freaks me out that I’m not the only one who’s seen him. Like this guy is real?!!?!
Now the reason I mentioned me seeing the girl earlier that night as well is because I have this weird feeling that they’re somehow connected. I don’t know how, maybe he was looking for her or maybe it’s just a coincidence but both encounters still creep me out today. I really hope I don’t see either one of them again.