Who Is The Hatman? Witnesses Are Sharing Stories Of Eerie Encounters
The Hatman is a supernatural being responsible for the first Men in Black sightings, usually seen after someone has witnessed a UFO, though it appears throughout history.
Before you read this article, make sure you are in a well-lit area, because it is about to get creepy. Urban legends and strange stories of the supernatural have existed throughout history, dating back to the pre-written word when our ancestors would huddle by the fire to keep nocturnal terrors at bay. In today’s modern world, tales of the supernatural range from alien encounters to unexplainable beings lurking in the shadows, but there’s one particular encounter that combines both phenomena: The Hatman.
On Twitter, user @orthodago decided to start collecting stories of The Hatman, an alleged demonic entity that is tied to UFO sightings, and has been seen by people around the world. The Hatman is often described as a tall man, clad entirely in black, sometimes with visible facial features and other times as a swirling, black mist. Due to his appearance, reported sights of “Men in Black” are now being attributed to the rising awareness of The Hatman.
What makes reported encounters with The Hatman different from other supernatural sightings, is that the entity is able to interact with the physical world. Multiple reports comment on how objects were picked up and moved around, with one person sharing a story of seeing the strange being move objects on a dresser, and then waking up to find foreign coins were left behind. This is a significant difference between other encounters, such as with the Moth Man, Jersey Devil, and the Shadow Man (considered to be the entity that influenced the creation of Slender Man).
The most famous sighting comes from Aaron Rodgers, Quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, made after the star player experimented with ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic, while visiting Peru in 2020 and again in 2022. Rodgers claims that following his first usage of ayahuasca, he has seen The Hatman following him, describing a typical encounter as ““He will sometimes appear in the distance, usually veiled by darkness, holding the corpse of a dead rabbit and sometimes a blade.”
In addition, Aaron Rodgers is known by his teammates to have a fear of being alone in the locker room. The former Jeopardy! host claims that once the lights would flicker on and off when he was alone, scaring him so much he ran to his car. What Rodgers describes (and is well documented at Mysterious Universe) is matched by other reported sightings, a palpable aura of sheer terror, even if The Hatman is doing nothing, his mere presence is unnerving to humans. @orthodago credits Rodgers sharing his experience, as the reason he decided to start cataloging information on the demonic entity.
@orthodago cites a testimony from a ufologist, Albert Bender, author of the book Flying Saucers and the Three Men, as an example of The Hatman appearing in a group of three. According to Bender, in 1953 the former Air Force officer was approached by three men dressed in black that communicated with him telepathically, handing him a strange metal disk in the process. This sighting was the basis for the “Men in Black,” with a second reported encounter of Bender’s claiming that the beings told him they “captured humans and used their bodies as disguises”.
Connections between The Hat Man and UFO sightings exist, with Albert Bender, and also with Aaron Rodgers. Both men claim to have witnessed UFOs, Bender while flying military planes, and Rodgers saw one in New Jersey. One of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history claimed to have seen a large orange light in the night sky, moving rapidly left to right, one of his teammates and their brother were also present to see the UFO. Of note, Rodgers heard a warning siren from a nearby nuclear plant just before seeing the UFO, and through multiple sightings, there’s a common thread of nuclear power plants with UFOs.
Why UFO appearances seem to increase around nuclear power plants is unknown, but even when drawing a connection to pilots that have seen UFOs, aircraft carriers usually have a small nuclear power plant onboard. Nuclear power attracts UFOs, UFO sightings attract the attention of The Hatman (or Hatmen if unlucky enough to see them as a group).
Going away from the UFO connections, there is another strong theory behind sightings of The Hatman, one that has been documented throughout history as “sleep paralysis.” Sufferers report a heavy feeling, as if something was sitting on their chest and restricting their breathing, with sightings of shadowy insects, or again, a large shadowy figure looming over them. Deaths from this have been cataloged as “sudden unexpected/unexplained nocturnal death syndrome”, or SUNDS.
The Hatman, as the source of the famous “Men in Black” sightings, is a strange, potentially demonic follow-up to UFO sightings. Then again, the same being is also seen by sleep paralysis sufferers. Finally, users on Twitter presented a third theory, The Hatman is a demonic Dark Watcher.
Famous specters that haunt the mountains of California, the Dark Watchers first appear in writings of the Spanish Conquistadors in the 1700’s. Those that have spotted these beings claim they are silently observing, and don’t make moves to intervene, but anyone that approaches them is likely to vanish forever. There is a definite similarity between the Dark Watchers and The Hatman as tall, dark, quiet observers.
So who is The Hatman? Each of the three theories could be correct, none could be correct, and the whole thing could just be an illusion. As with all things dark and supernatural, no matter what the reality is, it’s fun to theorize that there is much more to our world.
