Episode 32 The Hat Man

Sabryna and Joey from Ghost and Gavel take a little bit of a different take on The Hat Man. Who is he? Why does he appear? Most podcast cover those things but we take that and add a psychological view on The Hat Man as well.

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Source: 
Beyondhaunted.com
Medium.com
Monster.fandom.com
Google.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome to Ghost and Gavel with Joey and Sabrina. On this week's episode, we are on episode number 32. That's a good accomplishment already, right there.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Just doing a little house cleaning, you guys. Don't forget to add us on our socials, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. We are doing a little bit better about keeping up with that. But we are still figuring out time management with it. So, um, because again, guys, please remember that we are doing this on our own. We also don't forget that we have Patreon. You do not have to pay. You there is a free option to listen to us on Patreon, but we do have a couple tiers on there ready to go. Also, um don't forget to rate us on whatever podcast listening platform you are on. And if you have any of your own personal stories, we do have our email, ghostandgavel at gmail.com. So again, like Joey said, we are on episode number 32, and today we are going to be talking about the Hat Man, which actually at the end I have my own personal story for. So again, today we are discussing a paranormal entity, the Hat Man. And again, I do have my own personal account encounter that I will be sharing about the Hat Man. But as for now, let's talk about who he is and how he is associated with the paranormal. I know there are a lot of different podcasts that speak on the Hat Man, such as one of my favorites and one that I highly recommend, Two Girls, One Ghost, and even one that Joey has recommended, and that's why we drink. However, I found some interesting twists to this lore and other reasons I wanted to refocus on this phenomenon. So who or what is the hat man? He is a widely reported paranormal entity that has been described as a tall, shadowy figure that wears a wide-brimmed hat, such as a fedora and a trench coat as well. Most described him as featureless a featureless silhouette, although some have reported seeing him with red eyes or a faint outline of him wearing period clothing. Honestly, I think it would have scared the shit out of me more if I would have seen red eyes on this when it came to my encounter.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

Just because you mentioned a fedora, I used to actually have a fedora hat a long time ago.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Um, do you still have it available?

unknown 3:36

No.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

We are going to have to get you a new one then because I have to see this. I I have to see this. Just don't do it in the middle of the night, like wake me up in the middle of the night standing in the corner with a fedora on because uh I might shit myself in bed right then and there. Unlike some phantoms that are said to be seen, the Hat Man is typically described as being passive, standing completely still in a doorway, the corner of a room, or at the foot of the bed. Now, for me, the only time I recall seeing anything in my room specifically was a time that I described in their first episode of our own personal encounters. Um, the Hat Man for me was a little bit different of a scenario, which was by seeing him on the side of the road, a less common phenomenon to have seen the Hat Man, but it has been reported being seen on the side of the road at times. A lot of times the Hat Man is described to be seen and associated with sleep paralysis. Something I can say I have never personally experienced and I am thankful for because honestly, the encounters I have heard of sleep paralysis uh sounds pretty scary. Sleep paralysis isleep paralysis is when you are awake and aware, but you cannot move, you cannot speak, anything like that. I've had some experiences that have felt similar to what people describe as sleep paralysis. Um, but it was also different in some ways, so I don't want to say that I've necessarily experienced it. But that's a story for another episode. So where I said I wanted, oh, the picture of you in a fedora. We are going to have to post that with this episode. Joey in a fedora. Oh, you guys don't even know. Well, you guys do know. We uh we do post videos on our on our social medias, but huh. He is definitely my type. Let me just say that. We'll keep it there, we'll keep it PG today. Hmm.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

I told you I used that Victoria.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

Okay. So like I said, I wanted to take things a little different compared to the way other uh podcasts describes um the hat man. And we're gonna go into some scientific explanations because you know, yes, I am a believer of the paranormal and different paranormal paranormal phenomena. Um but of course there are other explanations that people have, and I am no, I am not a person to doubt what others believe. And I do know there are skeptics and things of that sort, so we will definitely lean along that side and play devil's advocates. Some say that about sleep paralysis leads to seeing the figure and can be caused by the abuse of antihistamines like Benadryl, which is something that I didn't know. Some even refer to him as the Benadryl hat man.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

Some the Benadryl hat man.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Yes, because because like I said, like some um re uh some say that they experience it more when they've taken things like Benadryl at night to help with allergies while sleeping. And no, we are not gonna be taking Benadryl to see if we experience the hat man, Joey. That Benadryl is for legitimate allergies, okay?

SPEAKER_01 8:48

Hey, my allergies have been acting up.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

Well, if you wake up with sleep paralysis and you're seeing shit, then don't blame it on me. Some scientists say the hypervulnerable panic state of sleep paralysis leaves the brain to make attempts to make sense of immobility by manifesting a threatening humanoid figure. Well, I guess because sleep paralysis is so closely linked to this entity, we might as well dive into exactly what that is as well. Witnesses report feeling an overwhelmed sense of dread, a crushing pressure on their chest, and terrifying inability to move or speak. Medical professionals describe sleep paralysis and sightings of the hat man to neurological disconnect. During sleep paralysis, it is said that the brain wakes up while the body remains in REM Antonia or a state where the muscles are temporarily paralyzed to prevent us from acting out our dreams. So essentially, um, oh what is it called? Uh night tears when people actually act out their dreams and start like hitting in their sleep and stuff like that. Now I have experienced that. Sorry guys, it was a long night last night. So, like I said, the hat man is a shadowy figure typically in a trench coat and hat. However, like uh unlike other ghosts or entities, it is said he is not apparent, he does not have an apparent reaction to people around them. He does absolutely nothing but stand there for seconds or even sometimes minutes and may move slightly, but does not enter or act before vanishing. Many claim that he feeds off terror, which may, you know, explain the reason he appears during sleep paralysis because it's, you know, a terrifying thing for most people. And many paranormal researchers believe the entity just studies and observes the people around them. At the moment, even though the sight of the hat man can be terrifying, it is not believed that this is a dangerous entity. While sightings of this dark, shadowy figure dates back through history, it wasn't until the early 2000s that archives of the phenomenon could be found online, which kind of self-explanatory because, you know, let's look at when computers and online and the internet and all of that really became popularized, you know, late nineties, early 2000s. Then it was in 2008 that a dedicated project was actually launched in the paranormal research world around the Hat Man. Medium.com quotes Dr. Garber Mate when they speak about how different cultures view those who have visions or experience things like the hat man. Dr. Garber says people with visions may become prophets or shamans. And ours, you're most likely to be deemed in an hour society is what he means. You're more likely to be deemed insane, which we know how that works. One wonders how Joan the Ark or Medieval saint and composer of sacred music Hildegard would fare at the hands of a contemporary mental health system. Oman and Hildegard were famed for their hallucinations of the divine instructions from God. The legend of the Hat Man has long evolved as people have called in to share their stories, not only on with paranormal researchers, but to radio and TV stations, as well as spreading it over the internet. The phenomenon blurs the lines between sleep, fear, the supernatural, addiction, and mental illness. Some describe him as dark, some yeah, some describe him as dark, but a lot also describe him as a guardian. Honestly, when I experienced him, it was startling, but I can't say that it was either good or bad because it was a very quick experience.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

What did you just say? I said, damn, so he gave you a quickie.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

Listen, he didn't even get near me, okay? So let's not talk about quickies here. A quickie visit, a vision, yes. But not quickie in the rated R sense.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

I wasn't making it like that.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

Upon further research, the Hat Man is also described as an old hag or old hag syndrome, and the shadowy figures appear in folklore worldwide. Newfoundland and Atlantic Coast describe it as old hag pressing on the chest. American South call it hag riding during the night. Come on, I know you want to go rated R. We going hag riding? Now definitely not now. I doubt our listeners want a piece of that. A supernatural being that rides sleepers. Again, all of this sounds so wrong. I it's been a little bit since I've typed this out, and now I I'm realizing just how bad some of this sounds. Japan, it is referred to as can Keneshabari. I probably just butchered that. Or the experience of waking and mobilized with a present near a presence nearby. Apparently the hat detail is a more modern twist, and it is said in earlier stories the visitor was a witch, demon, or faceless weight. The twentieth century accounts mention of the hat man, of the hat specifically increased, and it was said to be silhouettes of undertakers, railroadmen, or stern authority figure figures. It was in the nineteen nineties and early two thousands with the popularization of email lists, message boards, and late night radio, came a collection of shadow people stories. The Hat Man emerged as a distinct subtype. With online communities and social media growing, people had kept silent for so long, began to recognize a match and their own experience and began reporting on it more and more, which kind of reminds me what's it called? Creepypasta or whatever. That website where just like creepy things kind of emerge. I think it's called creepypasta. So like there's this dream state of the back rooms, which was said to have started there, but um a lot of people are actually emerging with it being a dreamlike state. We may have to actually cover that one because dreams intrigue me too, and what the way our brain works in dreams. Which did you know that when you dream, no matter the person you dream of, like it is never a person that you have not actually seen in real life, even if you don't recognize them, it could be a person that you've just passed briefly on the streets. So everybody in your dream is somebody that you have seen at some point in real life.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Yeah, when so it's almost like a deja vu moment if it actually happens.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

Exactly, yeah, kind of. I I found that kind of interesting. So a little fun fact from Sabrina here. Okay, so going on, citing patterns that have been recognized, suburbs and small towns occurring between 2 and 4 a.m. or also known to be times around what we know as the witching hour. Here the scene is described as the sleeper awakens, sees a man-shaped shadow in the doorways, the brim of the hat is obvious, the figure stands, then drifts backwards into a hallway. Apartments and college housing. Sleeper the sleeper awakes to a heavy silence, can't move, feels the presence to the side of the bed, the hat man leans in slightly as if peering, and the now aware person then thins out and disappears into the corner. So I and that's this is something I didn't know about the hat man either, is that like different areas like suburbs, apartments, and like I'm about to describe, you know, roadside or outdoors, childhood bedrooms experience all experience them in different ways. So roadside or outdoors, this is actually how again I experience the hat man. Drivers describe spotting a brim silhouette on the shoulder or ridge of line of the road. When headlights sweep over it, the figure looks too black to be a normal shadow and vanishes without footsteps or dust. Childhood bedrooms. Now adults tell stories recalling a recurring visitor during the ages between six and twelve, always in the same spot and most often at the foot of the bed, sometimes accompanied by clicking, scratching, or what is described as a sudden drop of natural sound in the room. Psychological interpretations say hats like Fedora's read as old world authority figures, fathers, policemen. For this one, I imagine like old investigation movies and the detectives spying around the corner type of thing. In Specter Gadget is one. Yeah, that's almost kind of what it reminds me of. Undertakers or stern teachers and a faceless judge. But yeah, it reminds me of like the old-timey like investigator movies where detectives are kind of peering around the corner and just like the brim of the hat comes over enough where you can just barely see the eyes peering underneath. But of course, like the figure that we're describing, in most cases, you don't see the eyes as a faceless figure. Archetype of the watcher or the shadow self, clothed in cultural power, the mind chooses a shape that communicates someone has power over you without details. Clarity in the fact that a wide brim is one of the easiest silhouettes to recognize at night. Once culture primes the people's mind to expect the hat, more people will see one. Yeah, towards the start. It just a wide brimmed is what I said. Sorry, I had to go back and look exactly the words I use. Wide brim. Clarity in the fact that the wide brim is one of the easy Oh, I've already read that. Paranormal interpretations are ones that see the hat man as a genuine entity. These people tend to split into a few different beliefs. The omen, he will appear around families with illness, loss, or a major upheaval, not one that isn't necessarily the cause, but a sign or signal of an omen. The parasite, the entity feeds off fear, returns during vulnerable periods, and may be drawn to households with ongoing stress or trauma. The guardian, which is actually the minority, a watcher who prevents something worse, standing between the sleeper and other shadow forms or entities. The traveler, an interdimensional or psychic visitor that notices heightened sensitivities, such as children, insomniacs, or people with that are higher to um experiences and just simply simply observes. So, like I said, just a little different take on um, you know, what we typically hear about the hat man. I went into more psychological um descriptions and how science sees the hat man. But all I have now at this moment is my personal encounter of him. Um so I was actually, and this is I know is gonna sound so I don't want to say old school, but teenage behavior. I was on a moped with a friend, and we were driving down kind of a back road, but you could see um like runways for an airport, but during the night, like there it wasn't typical for planes to be landing. And um we go to go around this curve, and I spot this man standing on the side of the road, and I wouldn't even describe it as a fedora. The way I described it when we got home was almost an Abraham look Abraham Lincoln looking hat, but with a trench coat on, and it was abnormally tall. Like, you know, if I would have actually been able to stop and look at this man, I would have said at least six foot five, six foot seven. And I even had to do a double take myself. So, like after we passed the figure, I turned around because I was on the back. I was not the driver of the moped, don't worry. You know, obviously, if I was the driver, I wouldn't have been stupid enough to turn around and double check. But after we passed, I turned around to look and see if that man was still standing on the side of the road because, like I said, it was a startling experience. And by the time we had passed and I turned around, he was already gone. And then um we kept driving. We didn't even have maybe another two minutes of driving before we made it home. And when we got home, all I said to the person I was riding with, I looked at him and I said, Did you see what I saw on I I don't even remember the name of the road at this time, but I was like, Did you see what I saw on this road? And he looked back at me and he said, Did you see a shadow? He said, I want to say it was a shadow, but it was darker than a shadow. Like it was darker than the most dark that I could imagine. And like I said, there were what runways around, but they didn't even like the it they weren't used at night, so the lights weren't on for the time being. It was a dark road. And that's what he said. He was like, it was darker than dark. Like I couldn't even say that it was a shadow. And I said, Yeah, I was like, but what did you like? What exactly did you see? He said, it almost looked like it, it almost looked like Abraham Lincoln standing on the side of the road. Like he had a big, tall hat. You could see the brim, but he was in a like a gothic looking trench coat. I said, that's exactly what I saw. I just wanted to make sure like I'm not going insane. Like I wanted to make sure you saw what I saw. And uh he was like, Yeah, I saw that. And I was like, but did you notice or like did you feel me turn around after we had passed that? And he was like, Yeah, I felt you move, but I didn't know you had turned around. I said, I turned around to look and make sure that like I wasn't going crazy and just seeing things, and by the time I turned around, he was already gone, like he wasn't even there anymore, just like poof, gone like a gone in the wind. But that's the only experience I have had with a hat man. Have you experienced anything similar, Joey? Shadow figures, hat man.

SPEAKER_01 31:28

Yeah, but my wife's uh personal stories.

SPEAKER_00 31:32

Oh, you put it in our first episode of the personal stories. Alright, guys, so that's all I really had. It's kind of a short episode um when it comes to the Hat Man, but um that's all I had for the Hat Man. You guys let us know if you have experienced, you know, dark, shadowy figures or the oh my gosh, yes.

SPEAKER_01 32:03

See, I see why I said Pete Panther.

SPEAKER_00 32:06

Yeah. But if any of you have had your own personal experiences with shadow figures, the hat man himself, anything like that, let us know. Send us an email, reach out to us on our the email is gonna be the best way. We will notice uh first um if you have a personal encounter through email, but you can also reach out to us on um our social medias. We do check that regularly as well. Um, and just keep an eye out for different episodes coming out. If you guys have a suggestion for something you want us to research and cover, let us know and we will be happy to do that. I've already got ideas for upcoming episodes, so um I would be if you guys have something more interesting that really draws me in, I'd be more than happy to push off a couple things to do something that really intrigues me. But otherwise, everybody stay spooky because spooky season here is year round as always, and have a great week.

SPEAKER_01 33:24

Bye.