Table of Contents

• Have You Seen This Man?

• This Week in Weirdness

• Lore and Legends: The Night Hags

• Reader Story: The Boy in My Dreams

Have You Seen This Man?

In 2008, a website titled ThisMan.org appeared on the internet. It featured the above composite sketch of a nondescript man with thick eyebrows, a receding hairline, and thin lips. The website claimed that in January 2006, a New York psychiatrist's patient sketched the man's face, claiming he would often appear in her dreams, offering advice on her personal life. Soon after, another patient recognized the same face, despite never having met the man in real life. The psychiatrist shared the portrait with his colleagues, and within months, four more patients reported seeing the same man in their dreams. Dubbed "This Man," he was reportedly dreamt of by over 8,000 people worldwide, from cities like Los Angeles, Berlin, São Paulo, Tehran, Beijing, Rome, and more.

The website detailed various dream accounts: some described the man urging dreamers to “go North,” while others recounted romantic or even violent encounters. Theories about his identity ranged from Jungian archetypes or divine manifestations to dream manipulation or government mind control. The site invited visitors to share their experiences and theories, and encouraged them to spread awareness by printing and posting flyers available on the website.

This Man received significant global attention garnering over 2 million views and 10,000 emails with accounts, theories, and photos of those who look like him. However, in 2009 it was revealed that the website was hosted by the same company that hosted another site, guerrigliamarketing.it, a fake advertising agency that “designed subversive hoaxes.” Shortly after, in 2010 Andrea Natella, an Italian sociologist and marketer, admitted to creating the entire phenomenon as an experiment. Natella used the strange image, based on a photo of his father, to test the power of the internet in creating and spreading urban legends.

While This Man was a deliberate fabrication, the project struck a nerve as it mirrored legitimate mysteries surrounding dreams. The phenomenon highlighted how suggestible the human mind can be. Once individuals saw the image and read about others' experiences, they were more likely to recall or even fabricate similar dream encounters, a concept known as the “dream imitation theory” .

But dreams are also home to genuine strangeness. Many people report seeing unknown figures in dreams, only to meet them in real life later, experiences some interpret as precognition. Others speak of supernatural elements: shadowy entities during sleep paralysis, recurring figures that seem to carry messages, or beings that appear to “feed” on emotion or fear. These experiences often defy scientific explanation and blur the boundary between the psychological and the paranormal.

In essence, while This Man was a hoax, it served as a fascinating case study on the power of suggestion, the spread of urban legends, and the mysteries of the human psyche. The project showed how easily a manufactured myth could take root in the collective consciousness, but it also stirred deeper questions. For many, it wasn’t just about a face in a dream, it was a reminder that dreams might not just be random noise, but reflections of something deeper, something unknown.

This Week in Weirdness

• We may soon be using AI to talk to dolphins

• A “leaf shaped” UFO was spotted in Texas

• A pair of small humanoid figures were caught on camera in Mexico

• Another instance of the “sky quake” phenomena has been reported by residents of Scotland’s Hebrides Islands

• A British man is trying to solve the mystery of why crows keep leaving cooked drumsticks in his bird bath

Lore and Legends: The Night Hags

Across cultures and centuries, tales of nightmarish entities that strike in the dark hours have endured with unsettling consistency. Known commonly as “Night Hags,” these figures are often blamed for terrifying experiences where a person wakes but cannot move, with a heavy weight on their chest and a looming, presence watching or pressing down on them. Though the names and features of these beings vary around the world, they point to a common thread in the human experience: the intersection of folklore, fear, and sleep. Among the most prominent of these legends are the Mare of Scandinavian folklore and the Batibat of the Philippines, both chilling expressions of what modern science now recognizes as sleep paralysis.

In Norse and Scandinavian traditions, the Night Hag appears as the Mare (or Mara), a malevolent spirit that targets sleeping people. The very word “nightmare” is derived from this folkloric figure. Descriptions of the Mare vary, but she is often portrayed as a shadowy or pale woman who slips into bedrooms through cracks or keyholes to torment her victims. Rather than attacking in a conventional sense, the Mare sits on the chest of the sleeper, stealing their breath and inducing terrifying dreams.

People believed the Mare's visitations could be caused by curses, grudges, or spiritual imbalance. To ward her off, some would sleep with iron tools nearby, block keyholes, or place protective charms under their pillows. The legend of the Mare became deeply ingrained in Scandinavian cultural consciousness, a supernatural explanation for nighttime terrors and the suffocating feeling of being awake yet trapped in one’s body.

Half a world away in the Philippines, the Ilocano people tell stories of the Batibat, a vengeful, tree-dwelling spirit. According to folklore, Batibats live in old trees, and when these trees are cut down and used for building homes, the displaced spirits follow. At night, the Batibat appears as a large, heavy, and often grotesque female figure that sits on the chest of sleeping individuals, preventing them from breathing.

Victims of the Batibat's wrath experience a sensation almost identical to that described in Scandinavian tales: immobility, choking pressure, and a looming sense of doom. Elders often warned children never to sleep on a full stomach, as the Batibat was believed to be more likely to strike in such a state. The Batibat legend reflects a strong animistic tradition, spirits residing in natural objects, and serves as both a spiritual warning and a folkloric lens for understanding mysterious sleep phenomena.

Today, we understand many of these tales as cultural interpretations of sleep paralysis, a sleep disorder where the mind wakes while the body remains in a state of muscle atonia. During an episode, people often feel unable to move or speak and may experience vivid hallucinations, including shadowy figures, a crushing sensation on the chest, or the sense of a malevolent presence in the room.

Despite scientific explanations, the emotional intensity and consistency of these experiences give them a powerful foothold in human storytelling. Whether it’s the Mare, the Batibat, or another Night Hag of legend, these figures reflect a deep-seated human need to explain the unexplainable. Sleep paralysis may be biological in origin, but the fear it induces continues to inspire mythologies around the world, reminding us that even in our most private, unconscious moments, we are never quite free from the stories we carry.

Reader Story: The Boy in My Dreams

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