The date was February 8th, 1993 and a man named Gary Sudbrink was on leave from the US Air Force in San Antonio. Gary was staying with his parents in Long Island, New York. He had booked a flight under a guise because he hadn’t notified his commanders that he was leaving the base, which would have caused him to use some of his leave. Instead, he was taking a long weekend at his parents’ home.

If you are a horror and science fiction fan, you are most likely familiar with Howard Phillip Lovecraft. His singular brand of proto-horror-meets-science fiction was a breakthrough in the genre (if largely unappreciated at the time). He created the Cthulhu mythos and so doing, spawned a whole universe of horror fiction.

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 you see him: a man, or, rather, a shadow of a man in a hat, a vague silhouette. You cannot move. you cannot scream. It’s just you, the dark, and the Hat Man.

You’re looking at a picture of a vaguely familiar place. This could be a park, a playground, maybe your high school, or an office building. You know you have been there before. But there’s something not quite right.