There’s a new kind of villain in James Tynion IV and Letizia Cadonici’s Department of Truth #32, but this one doesn’t come from a shady government office or have a badge. He doesn’t even exist beyond the realm of a hallucinatory, drug-induced dream state.
Cloaked in shadows (is he wearing the shadows?), the Hatman’s office is actually your own bedroom in the middle of the night. His visits are often not desired (although some people do try to “contact” him), and the experiences are usually terrifying. All it takes to meet him is a dangerous amount of antihistamines or cold medicine.
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There are numerous subReddits dedicated to the topics of Hatman and the drugs used to induce a visit from him. While some contactees report seeing him on low or safe doses of over-the-counter medicines, there are challenges to increase the doses, some of which have ended in the loss of life. These challenges gained new traction in 2020 through TikTok.
The first reported mentions of Hatman come from the early 2000s, but the concept of being visited by an evil being at night has always been with us. The 1781 Henry Fuseli painting The Nightmare depicts a demon sitting atop a woman while she sleeps, which reflects stories of succubi and incubi, literal horny demons who have sex with men and women while they sleep.
The Hatman is classified by some as a shadow person, a sort of dreamstate cryptid-ghost-demon. Shadow people are, as the name implies, shadows that appear to be humanoid in nature. They’re seen at night, often during a state between waking and sleeping. A person’s body can be terrifyingly paralyzed, unable to move but fully alert, as a nightmare-like vision plays out before them. (I’ve experienced this once; pinned down by a snarling wolf as a headless man stood at the foot of my bed and whispered, “This is what has become of the voices in your head.” I also once thought I saw a shadow person walking next to me, but this was likely caused by lighting and exhaustion.)
Within the world of The Department of Truth, things and people that aren’t real can be brought into being through belief, which is the perfect space for the Hatman and the shadow people. There are many online who claim the Hatman still lingers long after their sleep paralysis or drug-induced stupor has ended. These are likely just fabulist tales, but they can also be signs of a neurological or psychiatric disorder. Some psychiatric disorders can be triggered by meth addiction and other drugs. Crystal meth is the primary drug associated with these because the lack of sleep and overuse of our brains’ pattern detection can fuel wild ideas and mild hallucinations that persist.
You might not realize it, but Hatman isn’t the first time a sleep paralysis demon has appeared in horror entertainment. Nightmare on Elm Street was based very, very slightly on actual events. That particular sleep demon was linked to cultural beliefs and only affected Laotian refugees:
An Associated Press story from December 1981 reported that “[a]n unexplained affliction is killing Laotian refugees at an extremely high rate, striking its victims quickly and without warning while they sleep … ” There were reports of 38 such cases occurring between July 1977 and October 1981.”
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In researching this topic, I came across an interesting collection of stories and “encounters” that one man has been gathering on his website, The Hatman Project. While the site seems to lean slightly toward the idea that Hatman is real, there’s also a sense of folklorist compilation.
Any challenge or internet game that asks users to ingest deadly amounts of any drug, legal or not, should be avoided. If you or someone you know is experiencing thoughts of self-harm, please dial 988 on your phone. If you think you or a loved one may have consumed a lethal dose of any drug, please dial 911 immediately.
AIPT Science is co-presented by AIPT and the New York City Skeptics.
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