The Hat Man — The Ghoul Times

January 25th, 2024

Morning

You wake up in the night, suddenly aware you are not alone. You look to one corner of your room; nothing. You look towards the door and see him: a man, or, rather, a shadow of a man in a hat, a vague silhouette. You cannot move. You cannot scream. It is just you, the dark, and the Hat Man.

This is, no doubt, a tale you’ve heard before. After all, tales of shadow people and the Hat Man abound in the internet's dark corners and our collective lore. Have you, however, really delved into those inky depths? Have you dared to look closer? Who is he? What does he want? Is he even really there? Maybe you’ve been too afraid to ask.

Have no fear, dear reader, that’s what we do here. Read on, then, if you wish to discover the Hat Man’s shadowy nature.

Normally, we would begin with a cursory history of the subject or maybe some list of facts. In this case, however, that would not be, strictly speaking, possible. Sometimes folklore springs up from distant events or some odd phenomena. In this case, it would seem that there is no such beginning. It was conceived in mystery, and in mystery it remains.

The Benadryl Challenge

There are some areas of inquiry that shed more light on him than others. One of these areas takes the form of a TikTok challenge and a Subreddit thread involving large overdoses of Benadryl.

If you’ve spent enough time on any social media platform, especially TikTok and Reddit, you will have, no doubt, come across ridiculous challenges. Perhaps it’s boredom, perhaps morbid curiosity, or maybe it’s one-upmanship that is to blame for things such as the Tide Pod challenge and The Benadryl Challenge. These types of trends involve people, often young adults and adolescents, consuming some dangerous substance or other. It goes without saying that one should never do this, but I suppose common sense isn’t so common.

The Benadryl Challenge consists of people consuming huge doses (overdoses really) of DPH or Diphenhydramine, the main active ingredient in the drug. These individuals do so in the hopes of experiencing a hallucinatory trip. There are various dosages and supposed effects of said dosages in the r/dph subreddit.

The Reddit user u/thehol lays it all out in one particularly lengthy “DPH Guide 2.0”. In this thread, he describes what DPH is and its effects on the body. What, at least to me, was the most interesting section of this post was his explanation of the levels of overdoses and what people experience.

Where the Hatman comes in is the level known as Eiriel. This is generally accomplished through ingesting an often fatal dose of Benadryl. I will not lay out the exact dosage here as I do not wish this to be a guide to harming oneself. The information is out there, however, it is strongly recommended NEVER to consume this much DPH.

Eiriel is a state of pure delirium. U/thehol recommends a “trip-sitter”, or someone who is there as a type of life guard whilst one is in the altered state. It is said to be a purely negative state of mind. Hallucinations are often described as hellish nightmares. This is the realm of the Hat Man.

It is a state in which experiencers will wander around for hours encountering strangers and having conversations with police and family about the dangers of what they’re doing only to realize they have been standing in one spot talking to no one at all.

This state can last anywhere from 6-10 hours, according to u/thehol. In trips where the Hat Man is present, he is often accompanied by other vague shadow people. He is often described as merely observing and casting a sense of dread over the experience.

It seems prudent to lay out the exact dangers of this level of DPH overdose. The dangers are possible strokes, probably death, seizures, and heart attack. After the trip wears off, many are left with genuine PTSD from the experience and are never the same. Do not do this. Some commenters even went as far as saying that even if one is suicidal, do not use this method as it is painful and horrible.

Not Always a Hallucination

Drug-fueled hallucinations are one thing, but what about those who experience The Hat Man dead sober?

You see, Benadryl Challenges comprise but a fraction of the sightings of this ethereal being. Many others see him whilst coming out of a deep sleep. Some see him wide awake. Some see him in their bedroom, and a few have even allegedly seen him out and about.

The same sense of dread and foreboding accompany his visage. Some report the same way he stands and watches. Others claim to have been attacked. Some have been spoken to if their stories are to be believed. One thing is for sure, this phenomenon is not local to the United States. Encounters and sightings of The Hat man can be found in any hemisphere, and on every continent.

Sightings even go back into antiquity. More on that later.

The creator of the website www.thehatmanproject.com, Timothy M. Brown describes a personal encounter that is worth the read. He describes the event happening while he was an adolescent and occurring at 2 am. The usual setting is there: late night, dosing off and on, etc. He does mention having an ongoing paranoia and fear of intruders at the time. Perhaps this fed into it?

He described his vision as a human-like shape in the hallway outside the room they were sleeping in. It was like a shadow only much much darker. We know the other details far too well: a wide-brimmed hat and a long trench coat. He goes on to say it ducked into his great-grandmother’s room for a brief time; again, observing.

After a time, Mr. Brown went to confront this stranger. However, when he reached the area where they assumed the figure would be, it was gone. It had completely vanished! The story goes on to say that both Timothy’s Grandmother and Great-Grandmother had had experiences similar to theirs.

There is a large collection of other reports by others on Timothy’s website. It is highly encouraged to head over and give it a read.

Science and Shadow People

Shadow Person.
Photo credit: Tumblr user @myhauntedsalem

While the Hat Man may be the singular most recognizable form, shadow people take many forms and are quite prolific in folklore.

Now I’m not overly fond of AI, however, I believe Google’s AI overview when it comes to shadow people puts it quite succinctly.

“Shadow people, also known as shadow figures or black masses, are the perception of a shadow as a living, humanoid figure.” I believe that sums it up nicely. Moving on to a more reputable source, science.org has an interesting piece on the subject.

It suggests, according to data accumulated in 2006, that shadow people may be images produced due to the stimulation of the left temporal junction of the brain (TPJ). It goes on to say that because shadow people are often (though not nearly exclusively) seen by those suffering from schizophrenia and other psychotic conditions, this study could tie at least some of the sightings to these disorders and offer a more physical explanation.

Neurologist Olaf Blanke was conducting a study trying to find the source of epileptic seizures of a 23-year-old epileptic woman. When stimulating the TPJ with a mild electric current, the patient informed Blanke she was feeling the presence of someone behind her. She described a shadow person to a tee. The shadow figure mimicked her actions as if it were a reflection.

Blanke noted that such delusions are also common in schizophrenic patients. These patients often mistake their bodies for someone else’s. This leads them to the feeling of being followed, watched, and controlled by others. As a side note, many people who claim to have been abducted by aliens feel similarly.

Blanke went on, in the article, to say that this may help to explain how the brain perceives the self. In order to perceive the body, the brain uses sensory data, like visual and other cues (such as body spatial position). The TPJ often puts this information together. This may explain why a disruption of this region would produce the shadow phenomenon.

Previously in this piece, I have hinted at several possible explanations. So let us go through them together, shall we?

Demons

If you ask some religious people, particularly those of the charismatic persuasion of Christianity, shadow people are demons. Shadow people are not simply hallucinations brought on by the stimulation of electrical impulses in a region of the brain. They are not people from another dimension. They aren’t even ghosts or spirits.

This theory suggests that shadow people are malignant and evil beings. So then why would one be cursed with seeing these dark beings? According to an article by Mike Signorelli, a pastor of the V1 Church in New York City, you may be seeing these creatures due to some form of trauma.

In the article, he says, “Oftentimes I’ll ask people, “When did you start to see shadow people? When did you see apparitions and figures?” And it almost always coincides with the divorce of their parents, with sexual trauma, molestation, or other traumatic events that occurred. Sometimes it starts when people do experimental drug usage.”

So then, if shadow people are demons who show up to further torment or feed off the suffering of humans, what is the way to get them to go away? Faith in Jesus Christ and conversion to Christianity, as well as facing and dealing with your trauma. He then goes on to list a series of videos about casting out demons.

There is something to be said in lore about demons feeding off negativity and trauma in people. This is often a trope explored in horror movies and books. I have heard people explain in many a TV show about the paranormal that once they stopped giving in to their darker emotions and sought help, the experiences went away, including shadow people.

However, does this equate to causation, or is this merely correlation? It’s an interesting question to be sure. It would seem the answer would depend on your spiritual ideology. Even so, if the Hat Man and shadow people, in general, are of a more paranormal caste, does this mean they are evil beings bent on your demise?

Ghosts

How about we continue with arguably the most obvious theory?

Shadow people are ghosts! They are the earthbound spirits of the dearly departed. Whether they stick around due to some unfinished business, they have become trapped on this mortal plain, or they are simply the psychic echoes of former lives, shadow people are spooks! At least that’s what this theory purports.

The website Hunted Rooms breaks it down thus:

“If they are spirits or ghosts, one theory suggests that these shadows represent human spirits that are simply lost on this plane. They don’t look the same as other spirits with facial features and clothing that we can recognise [sic] because they haven’t yet embraced their state of being, leaving them with an absence of the light that most spirits encounter upon moving onto the next plane after death. This absence of light means that we see them as shadow. This theory suggests that these shadow ghosts are trapped because they cannot move on – so although they may feel sad and heavy, they’re not necessarily an evil or demonic spirit. Another theory? We see them as shadow simply because of the way our eyes perceive whatever light spectrum that these shadowy figures exist within.”

Interdimensional Beings

There is, of course, an altogether otherworldly theory to end our speculation with. This is the theory that these silhouetted entities are simply us. Or, rather, they are humans from an alternate dimension. They are living their lives the same as us, only they are intersecting our reality. Perhaps they even can see us sometimes and believe we are the shadow people, which of course, to them, would be correct.

The theory of the multiverse is not a new one. According to an article on the website “New Scientist” by Rowan Harper, It was first postulated by Doctor Hugh Everett III, an American physicist, while having a sherry in a student hall at Princeton in 1954. The idea struck him that quantum effects cause the universe to split constantly. (Hooper)

It is a deeply involved scientific and philosophic theory spanning multiple disciplines. Long story short: we aren’t the only us. Possibly stacked on top of each other like pancakes, are multiple, perhaps infinite, versions of our universe. Each version is unique with its own rules. In some of those universes, there may very well be versions of us.

If this is true, then it could be, according to this version of shadow people, that these universes can get a little too close to each other. There’s a version of this in folklore, the “veil getting thin,” if you will. Also, supposing this is true, maybe when the veil gets a little too thin, we can observe those in the alternate world and vice versa.

It is possible that these ghostly figures we see in the corners of our eyes are just silhouettes seen through a curtain. Maybe they are completely oblivious to us entirely and we are worried over nothing. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Regardless of the truth, many believe them to be omens of doom or malevolent spirits bent on our destruction. The Hat Man is merely the most famous of these phenomena. It is certainly odd that so many, in so many different mental states, have seen the same figure.

It is a quandary worth pondering. Are the shadows in the night our dearly departed? Are they demons sent from hell? Are they versions of our other selves seen across universes? Or are they simply ethereal and ultimately as insubstantial as the stuff of which they are made?

Sources:

u/thehol: https://www.reddit.com/r/DPH/comments/ebc1u8/dph_guide_20_featuring_dph_dose_calculator/

Timothy M . Brown: www.thehatmanproject.com

SeedButter: https://youtu.be/CPVQ9Lph07Y?si=ICzSeLkq3WGncqSI

The Paranormal Scholar: https://youtu.be/G8AR9WmpVTA?si=hBuJuoJZ_wE98BCE

Klee, M. (2022, November 2). How the ‘Hat Man’ Went From Benadryl Joke to TikTok Horror Villain. Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/hat-man-benadryl-tiktok-monster-1234620397/

Illuminating the shadow people. (2006, September 6). Science. Retrieved November 5, 2024, from https://www.science.org/content/article/illuminating-shadow-people

Signorelli, M. (2022, June 28). The truth behind shadow People, explained. Mike Signorelli. https://mikesignorelli.com/the-truth-behind-shadow-people-explained/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAoae5BhCNARIsADVLzZfvlQZhx9teneJfuq8ig3v_2MNYZpRAcLWERLc1g2IqK_LagWmJgdEaAu8xEALw_wcB

Haunted Rooms. (2023, May 3). Shadow People 101 – What Are They, What Do they Look Like? Haunted Rooms®. https://www.hauntedrooms.co.uk/what-are-shadow-people

Hooper, R. (2014, September 24). Hugh Everett: The man who gave us the multiverse. New Scientist. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26261-hugh-everett-the-man-who-gave-us-the-multiverse/

The Hat Man (and Other Shadows)