Men in the Land of Sleep Paralysis

Fashion designer Frank Capra was so fascinated by the style of men in the mid nineteen thirties that he decided to create his own brand of men’s clothing with the same dark, mysterious, yet charming persona that he had as a photographer. The Hat Man, as he called himself, has a very recognizable face-lift, complete with sideburns, and a style that are either low-key or very visible. He has been portrayed in many different ways, mostly as the grimacing, disheveled older man who works in a men’s reformatory, but the real Capra was far more reserved. Many critics have reported that his designs were too “caveat” and that no one could really identify him as the original creator, but it seems most likely that the original concept came from Capra himself, although there are many other possible sources of inspiration, as well.

Originally, the Hat Man was a character in a short story written by none other than surrealist writer, Art Nouveau, called The Night Cafe. The story follows a silent, nameless” Hat Man “who works in a Men’s Resto, apparently having lost his memory, and working the graveyard shift. The only glimpse we have of the Hat Man is when a customer slips into a trance, seemingly dazed and confused, after slipping into the men’s restroom. He then stumbles out of the establishment, into the darkness, where he lives with two shadow people – a wealthy fellow who like to sleep in a giant hole in the ground (the Hat Man), and two teenage girls (one of them the mother of one of the characters in the book, named Ariel).

It is this memory that gives rise to the central plot of the story – the fact that the apparently dead Hat Man is, in fact, still alive, and luring people into his underground home. These people include two high school students who stumble across the Hat Man’s hideout, where they discover the mystery behind his memory loss, and his ability to induce sleep paralysis on others. While some people might suggest that the story line sounds too odd to be believable – and indeed, the writing style is a little strange at times – I think it would be a mistake to dismiss the book as a scam; in fact, I think it might even be a good read for those who have a problem with the unexplained, the out of the ordinary, or the unexplained in life. Whether the book is just a scam or a legitimate Men’s Fiction thriller remains to be seen.