Have YOU seen the Hat Man? Experts say what's behind the creepy entity

"'When we sleep, our motor muscles are prevented from moving - a physiological state called atonia,' Anderson told the Daily Mail. 'It protects us from getting up and acting out our dreams and keeps us safely tucked up in bed. 'But if you start to wake up before your body moves out of atonia, you may experience an in-limbo state, half awake (yet also half dreaming) and unable to move. 'Although sleep paralysis only lasts a few seconds, the terrifying experience feels so real that you feel doomed.'"

"'The figure is generally dark and shadowy, with no discernible features,' Anderson told the Daily Mail. 'It may represent a person's deepest, darkest, shadowy fears.'"

"'The evil entity people see during sleep paralysis often depends on their culture, on what they expect to see,' said Anderson. 'In many ways, he is the obvious choice for modern day dreamers to conjure up.'"

The Hat Man appears as a trench-coated, wide-brimmed, faceless shadow often seen standing at the edge of a bed. Sightings occur during both night and day but are most common in the liminal state between wakefulness and sleep. Sleep paralysis involves physiological atonia that prevents movement while consciousness returns, producing a half-awake, half-dreaming state and vivid, terrifying hallucinations. Hallucinations commonly involve threatening figures that press down or stand over a sleeper. The specific form of the entity is often influenced by cultural expectations and personal fears, and the image has spread widely on social media.

Read at Mail Online