Video From PBS Explores Why People with Sleep Paralysis See The Shadowy Hat Man

Here’s a fascinating video from the PBS YouTube channel Storied that explores why people who experience sleep paralysis see the shadow Hat Man.

I experienced sleep paralysis a bit when I was a kid, and I just recently had an experience for the first time since then, and it was pretty damn terrifying. But, I’ve never seen the Hat Man. I’ve seen a shadowy figure with red burning eyes and a monstrous woman in white, but never the Hat Man.

The video comes with the following note: “Countless people claim to have seen the Hat Man—a shadowy figure in a wide-brimmed hat—while experiencing sleep paralysis, bringing on an overwhelming sense of dread.

“Why do so many people, throughout time and across different cultures, report the same eerie encounter? Is it a neurological glitch or something more?”

I have no idea why it happens, or what in the hell it means, but it’s always a horrific experience.