Millions Watched a 'Serial Killer' Stalk the UK and Ireland Dressed as the Cat in the Hat. Police Say He Never Existed.

The first images surfaced around Wexford, Ireland on August 18: a figure in a red-and-white striped top hat, styled to look like it was caught on a Ring doorbell camera, lurking outside a house at night. Within three weeks, one version of the video had racked up 15 million views. Police in two countries have now had to say, publicly and repeatedly, that none of it is real.

The trend — some outlets have nicknamed it the "Cat in the Hat serial killer" — shows the Dr. Seuss character from the 2003 Mike Myers film lurking outside homes, schools, and darkened streets, often edited to resemble genuine home-security footage. Sightings were rumored in Sheffield, Glasgow, and Dublin, spreading well beyond its original Wexford footprint.

Police forces across the UK and Ireland, including Gardaí in Wexford, have confirmed the images and videos are AI-generated — not real footage of a real person. Officers have urged people to cross-reference anything they see against verified police channels before sharing it further, and to treat any suggestion of meeting an unknown person in an isolated location as an actual danger signal, separate from the hoax itself.

Debunked doesn't mean harmless. Fox 5 and other outlets reported the trend prompted specific safety warnings for schools. Security officials in Tennessee and Kentucky opened their own investigations into related posts, and in Grand Junction, Colorado, a high school student was arrested and briefly held on suspicion of interference with school staff and harassment over a post connected to the trend before being released to his parents.

Reporting traces the trend's origin to two things converging: an earlier meme cycle nicknamed "Dark Cat in the Hat," and the real, unrelated news that Mike Myers' actual screen-worn costume from the 2003 film was being auctioned by Propstore — a coincidence that likely helped seed the idea that the character was somehow "back."

IF Daily could not confirm a broadcast news video specifically covering this hoax at publication time; this account draws on reporting from Quartz, PetaPixel, Fox 5 New York, and ABC News, cited below.