This is the story about my encounter with the Hat Man. A story burned to my memory, one that I can never forget.
Three years ago I was living at my aunt’s house in Ashland, Oregon. I was 16. I was asleep on the living room couch when I awoke to a loud gunshot noise coming from the front door. I couldn’t move anything but my eyes. I heard slow, loud, heavy footsteps. I watched as a tall figure stepped around the corner and turned to walk toward me. He was very bulky, with broad shoulders, trench coat, a very wide brimmed hat, and something of a sword slung over his shoulder. There was no face, no head, not even eyes, only black smoke or black vapor in place of the head, torso, and legs. The black vapor was rising from his entire being, though some parts seemed semi-physical (like the trench coat, boots, hat, etc). I could do nothing but watch in terror as he walked slowly toward me. I tried desperately to scream, but I could barely whimper.
He stood over me for a few moments, staring down at my face, then he knelt down beside my head and said in an unnaturally deep, dark voice “There is nowhere you can go, nowhere you can hide that I won’t find you. No matter where you are, I will come for you. I will find you.” When he finished what he said, he faded and disappeared. About fifteen seconds after he left, I started to regain control over my body.
I told some of my closest friends, I told Wiccan priestesses, I told many psychics, researched over and over in books about the Astral plane, ghosts etc., though nothing seemed to support what I saw. My life has never been the same since the encounter. I felt isolated, I sometimes considered that I might have schizophrenia, but I will never forget the intense terror I felt, I will never forget what he looked like.
The Hat Man is exactly what I saw. I don’t know what this thing is, or why it’s here, interacting with us, but I know now that I’m not crazy, I’m not the only one who has seen it.
I just wish I knew what this thing wanted with me…
— Forrest Sanford