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The original was posted on /r/paranormalencounters by /u/Puzzled-Slide-186 on 2025-07-10 00:13:33+00:00.

When I was a kid, between the ages of 4-6 my mother had left my dad. My mother, myself and my disabled sister (9-11) had nowhere to go so we ended up living with my grandma for awhile. I don’t exactly remember how long we were there but that doesn’t matter. I do not recall what room my sister stayed in either which I feel is very odd. My mother and I ended up sleeping on a blow up mattress in the dining room. I very vividly remember every single night my mother would hide me under the blankets because of the “shadow man”. I had only actually SEEN this shadow once on accident because the blanket I was hiding under was thin enough to see through. This shadow was abnormally tall and had a top hat. I could not see any facial features and when he spoke he sounded like a basic man maybe a bit of a lower voice but nothing crazy. He would tell my mother, “if I ever find a child, I will take them” and my mother would promise him that there were no children and he would leave. This was a nightly occurrence. My mother and I never spoke about the shadow man while we were living there and we moved out before I was 10 years old. I mentioned this experience a handful of times when I was in my teens and my mother would completely deny it and tell me I was likely dreaming. I recently came across another person who encountered “The Hat Man” and my jaw was on the floor because of this shadows description. I’m wondering if there are any others who have encountered this shadow…. And did you ever speak with it or hear it speak?