Chey’s Lounge

Have you seen this man in your dreams? You probably haven’t. I’m pretty sure this was a hoax. I love the idea behind it though. http://www.thisman.org is still active though. I have to respect whoever is paying for that. Someone is, right? I’m pretty sure I haven’t written about the Hat Man yet, right? He’s been on my mind ever since Melania Trump basically dressed like the shadow figure I’d see in my dreams as a child. 

I was definitely a kid who was afraid of ghosts, closets, sometimes the dark, etc. I had a lot of nightmares as a child. I was also able to fly in my sleep though, so you win some, you lose some. I had a few different recurring nightmares. One major theme was someone trying to get inside while I was home alone. Sometimes I’d dream I was outside in the front yard and people would pull up, get out of their car, and approach me. I couldn’t scream and I ran in slow motion in my dreams. I almost started feeling like I couldn’t run in real life either sometimes because the dreams would feel so real that the feelings would carry over. I don’t think that’s entirely uncommon though. I’d hate the feeling of trying to keep the door closed, meanwhile in hindsight, they could just break a window and get in that way if they’re really committed. Dreams don’t make sense. 

Another common theme was interactions with what I now refer to as the Hat Man. Why? Well, I want to talk about something else first, so you’ll have to wait to find out. So, the Hat Man. He mostly lurked in a room upstairs in my house. There was a door directly to the right of the staircase. Well, sometimes there was a door, other times the door was broken off the hinges and there was just a sheet. The stairs are just wooden, no carpet, a lot of open space. There are a few wood pieces that act as support/structure between the stairs and the railing. They’re the kind of stairs that make you think a monster is going to grab your ankles through the slots. 

Like with the potential kidnapping dreams, I couldn’t scream when the Hat Man was around. I wanted to. He wanted to take me. The Hat Man wore a wide-brimmed hat and was a completely black entity. He’s shaped like a man and gives off the vibe he is dressed nicely; however, I couldn’t tell you why because there really were no distinguishing features besides the hat. A mere shadow void of matter, yet able to interact with the physical world. 

He never left the room he was in when he was grabbing me. His arms and fingers would stretch to grab me. Even when I was awake, I would hate running past the staircase at night. Notice I did say running. I usually ran past the stairs at night, even during the day sometimes when I was feeling extra spooked. In my dreams, the Hat Man would grab me as I was passing the stairs. I only remember the struggle of being grabbed, not what happened if/after he got me upstairs. His arms elongated to grab me, usually by the legs. He’d pull me up the stairs and I would try my best to grab onto something on the stairs to try to stop him from taking me into that room to the right of the staircase. Most of the time in these dreams, one or two of my parents would be mere feet away, but they’d always be looking the other way. I’d try to scream and nothing would come out. No one, not even those closest to me, was going to save me. 

Over time, the Hat Man dreams stopped. I haven’t seen him in years. I’m not trying to invite him to visit either. Here’s the thing: over 15 years ago, I told my best friend since birth at the time about those dreams, and she was like, “ The Hat Man?” I was like, what do you mean…?

She was interested in the creepy, the weird, the gory. She loved horror films as a child. She was a harsh critic quite early on. She turned to the internet to look for something that could really scare her once movies became too predictable. It wasn’t surprising that she would know about this. 

Once we had this epiphany, she showed me what was out there. “Holy shit.” It was him. It was surreal to see that this figure who terrorized my childhood wasn’t just a figment in my imagination. If nothing else, it was at least a figment in numerous people’s imaginations. While unnerving, the feeling of camaraderie with random people on the internet that could technically be lying about having a shared experience assuaged the eeriness of it all. Learning this wasn’t just a childhood nightmare, but a phenomenon experienced by people around the world opened up a world of possibilities that I still haven’t fully explored. 

There’s so much out there. It’s literally so overwhelming to think about how much I don’t know. While I don’t love the current state of our society, I can’t deny that I am a bit thankful to be in it and know so much more than the people who came before me. I’m excited for the people who will come after. There’s so much to find out. I want to know it all. It’s physically impossible to know it all, I can’t help but wish though. I want to know what is real, what is fake, what is exaggerated, and what is downplayed. I keep saying that I can feel there’s more out there. I wish I knew how to access this information I crave. Who knows, maybe I’m longing for something that doesn’t exist. The Hat Man is just one of those little things that makes me wonder what else is out there?

Bonus content: I posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, about how Melania’s one outfit, the one that’s currently being mocked in Southpark, reminded me of these nightmares. Let’s just say people found it extremely disrespectful and felt I need help. It’s so sad that they were right about me needing help. Who’s gonna help though? No one, so deal with m, bitches.

Honestly, this one gives me similar vibes too, but not Nearly as severe.