The Hat Man
About 28 years ago I saw this figure staring me down!
The first weekend in this new year I lectured in Colorado for the Colorado State MUFON group. It was a fun yet detailed lecture covering; Cattle Mutilations, my 37th Parallel Theory, and updates on Roswell. At the end of the lecture doing Q&A, I was asked what was the scariest thing I had ever experienced. Now I’ve gone out at night by myself investigating UFO sightings numerous times, I’ve gone up in the mountains in Colorado by myself searching for Bigfoot, I’ve done some ghost investigations by myself looking for spirits, and I’ve even seen and communicated with UFOs; But the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced?
Well, that would be “Hat Man.”
For years I’ve never talked about this and originally thought what I saw was just my imagination, until one day while attending a lecture on ghost investigations in Colorado, the presenter started showing drawn images of different types of spirits people have seen. The last image he showed, was what I saw years before, and it was then I realized what I saw was real. The presenter, and I apologize because I forgot his name, showed a drawing of a shadow figure. He said, “Some people have seen this guy, and we don’t know who he is, but they call him, “The Hat Man”.
If you Google search Hat Man, you’ll get the following:
Appearance: A tall, dark, featureless silhouette with a distinctive wide-brimmed hat (fedora, top hat) and often a long coat or cape.
Behavior: Usually stands still, observing from corners or doorways; sometimes described with glowing red eyes or no face at all.
Experience: Accompanied by overwhelming feelings of fear, dread, and helplessness.
The scientific thought behind Hat Man is a common hallucination during sleep paralysis where the mind blends nightmares with the waking consciousness potentially influenced by cultural stories.
When I saw Hat Man, there was no sleep paralysis and I had never seen or heard of this individual before in my life, so there was no chance of being influenced by cultural stories. Matter of fact I had wrote the sighting off as if I imagined it. The excuse science gives as blending nightmares with the waking consciousness can only work if you blend that nightmare with something you have seen in a book or in the media. That theory falls flat if you’ve never heard of this individual and then one day, he just shows up.
So, what is the origin of Hat Man? Well for hundreds of years people have seen shadowy figures while being in between awake and asleep. Kind of the meditation phase. A couple of years back my daughter Ashley and I investigated a strange animal death just outside of Cripple Creek, Colorado, and the witness and his neighbor both reported seeing Shadow Figures around the time of the animals deaths. Also, while investigating the Marley Woods in Missouri, a rancher had told me he had seen Shadow People. Matter of fact a lot of my UFO investigations from time-to-time, witnesses claim to have seen a shadow-type figure.
During the 2nd Century the Greek physician Soranus of Ephesus described some of his patients experiencing demonic attacks like shadowy figures attacking them while they sleep. In those days these shadowy figures were considered demons or even the devil himself trying to inflict pain and suffering. In present times some believe the Hat Man is an interdimensional extraterrestrial being. Some also believe Hat Man is associated with MIB sightings or maybe the MIB themselves.
My thought on the MIB’s is that they’re human, just paranormal investigators working for the government wanting to know what you may know about specific sightings. I’ve been contacted by these investigators twice in my career not in person but by my private cellular phone. They were very polite and asked specific questions about some of my investigations and what I learned. I told them everything I knew and had learned and they were quite pleased. Both times they thanked me for speaking with them.
But the Hat Man? Spirit? Demon? Interdimensional Being?
I lean towards interdimensional being and this is why.
I saw the Hat Man years ago, before the year 2000. This is when everyone started talking about this guy and some were actually taking drugs to try and see him. I saw him in the late 1990’s while going through Remote Viewing training. Into the third month of my training while trying to Remote View, I saw this guy starring me down while standing in the doorway.
I was in the last phase of my training trying to Remote View to a certain place, when I looked up and saw him. He was silently watching me, never moving, just staring at me. I couldn’t make out any detailed facial features just outlines. I could see it was a man wearing a large brim hat and long duster. His arms were at his side as he stood motionless staring at me. I didn’t say a word; we just watched each other for a bit. I was trying to process what was happening while my heart was racing and my breathing accelerated. Not knowing what was going to happen next, I stayed motionless. A few seconds later he just vanished.
I never tried to Remote View again. I was venturing into a place where I really didn’t have the proper training. Thinking I could just master Remote Viewing was wrong.
I’ve heard stories from Remote Viewers talking about trying to Remote View aliens, and while remote viewing them and looking at them, the aliens looked back at them. They knew they’re being remote viewed. I think what happened to me is, I stepped into a dimensional realm, a realm we don’t fully understand but modern-day science says it exists. I was fully aware of my surroundings, I experienced no sleep paralysis, I could have moved anytime I wanted to but chose to stay motionless to see what may come next.
In my opinion my Remote Viewing training took me into another dimension parallel to ours. The figure I was seeing was the product of me venturing into his domain. Could it have been a demon, a spirit, or dimensional being? I don’t know but either way I believe all three are dimensional beings. He wasn’t demonic and made no actions towards me, just stood there looking at me as if he was saying, “Ok you went there, now what?”
It always puzzled me why he was dressed the way he was. It definitely wasn’t a product of my imagination because others have described him the same way. A mysterious looking shadow cowboy type figure staring you down before guns are drawn. I still wonder who he is. Why do so many people see him the exact same way? A Guardian Angel or the Grim Reaper, either way I wasn’t ready for what I saw.
I have no problem with Aliens, Bigfoot and Ghosts, because I understand these topics, but to cross paths with something totally different that no one understands just speculates, is kinda of scary. Being analytical in thinking, I always look for some type of science behind my investigations, but to see something that may fall into the Magical Realm? Well, that’s beyond my reasoning and time to contact Harry Potter.
Since my sighting over 28 years ago, I never forgot it or tried to forget it. It’s either a blessing or a curse, but either way I learned besides intelligent physical life existing outside of our planet, there is also non-physical intelligent life living outside of our dimension.
To encounter Aliens, Bigfoot or Ghosts is phenomenal, to understand them is even better. But see something that doesn’t make sense, well I guess that’s just the definition of, Paranormal.
Chuck Zukowski
Blog Post References:
- chillinkristen.medium.com
https://chillinkristen.medium.com/the-hat-man-is-a-shadow-person-who-will-keep-you-up-all-night-62c462d9eb0d - homespunhaints.com
https://homespunhaints.com/the-hat-man
Category: The Z-Files
