Ananova:

A website about a mysterious man that thousands of people around the world claim to have seen in their dreams has become an online sensation.

The thisman.org site claims the picture was drawn by a woman, who says she repeatedly saw his face as she slept, for her psychiatrist in 2006.

She said she had never met him before in real life, but was able to picture him vividly, reports The Sun.

Her psychiatrist kept the pencilled picture on his desk and when another patient saw it, he too claimed the man had often appeared in his dreams.

The baffled doctor, it says, then sent off the picture to some colleagues who showed it to their patients - many of whom also recognised the strange face.

The picture was posted on the web - and within just two weeks has become one of the most visited sites online.

Thousands have now claimed to have seen the stranger in the night - however, critics claim it is all an elaborate hoax.