I had no idea, until recently, that the hat man was a phenomenon outside of my own experience. I have never before or since suffered from sleep paralysis night terrors or even nightmares. I encountered him only one time. It was mid March 2006 in Perugia Italy. My wife and I were on a “babymoon”, one final trip before the birth of our first child. We stayed on the 3rd or 4th floor of a nice hotel near the historic city center.
After a long day I slept soundly until I felt like someone was in the room with us and opened my eyes to see a man at the foot of the bed walking towards our balcony. He was about 6ft tall and wore a suit with a fedora hat. I could easily make out features and he appeared to be in his late 50s. I instantly became enraged and tried to get up as I asked “Who the F**k are you?”. To my surprise I was unable to move but he clearly heard me and turned towards me.
I am not a man who scares or is intimidated easily but I will never forget the look on his face and especially his eyes. They were full of rage and hate and blacker than black. Like two black holes. As he approached I felt genuine fear and helplessness. Then I heard a female speak to my left where my wife was laying. She spoke something that sounded akin to Latin. He stopped Instantly as though obeying an order and his expression then changed to more of an annoyed look. Glared at me for just a second and then turned and walked out to the balcony.
I regained my ability to move and asked my wife what she just said to him and she said it wasn’t her but was so relieved because she was finally able to move as well. Unbeknownst to me there was a huge shadow figure that was towering over her and reaching for her until the woman spoke. She didn’t see the hat man and I didn’t see the shadow figure but we both heard the woman. Whoever she was and whatever she said stopped him in his tracks.
My wife has suffered from night terrors and has had these shadow figures torment her since she was about 10yo. I suspect that I was just interrupting and wasn’t targeted by the hat man. He was targeting my wife. Who the disembodied voice came from? I have no idea but I’m grateful.