Strange figure in the corner of my room

I don’t usually post, but I wanted to share this and see if anyone has had a similar experience.
This happened when I was around five years old. My parents were divorced, and my dad had moved to a bad neighborhood. My older brother and I did not have our own rooms, so we slept in the living room on folding beds.
One night I woke up and saw something in the corner of the room. I could tell it was a man, but it was too dark to see any details.
I was very afraid of the dark as a child, and my parents had spent a lot of time helping me rationalize that fear. They would say things like “it’s just a sweater,” “it’s just a shadow,” or “it’s just the house settling.” Because of that, my first thought was not that it was a monster. I thought my dad might be doing some kind of strange prank or testing me. I do not know why, since he never did anything like that. If that was the case, I did not want to give him the satisfaction of a reaction, so I pretended nothing was wrong and tried to go back to sleep.
I could not, because I was scared. When I looked toward the corner again, the figure was still there. I knew something was standing there, but I did not want to believe it, so I did the safest thing my child brain could think of and hid under the blanket.
Several times during the night I peeked out, trying to convince myself that there was nothing there. Each time, the man was still standing quietly in the corner.
The reason I mention the neighborhood is because there were halfway houses in the area, which meant convicted child predators lived nearby. There had been some very serious and sad incidents close to where we lived. Because of this, my friends and I learned early about dangerous people, and we had strict rules about where and how we were allowed to play.
When the figure did not move and just stood there, my thoughts slowly shifted from thinking it was my dad to thinking it was some kind of predator who was there to take my brother. I do not know why that idea felt right, but it did.
There was a door to the living room that was closed, and it made a lot of noise when it was opened. Because of that, I knew I would hear it if the figure left the room. I stayed hidden under the blanket but made a small opening so I could see my brother, in case I needed to help him. I tried to stay as quiet as possible so I would hear the door if it opened. From time to time, I looked toward the corner to see if the figure was still there.
As it started to get lighter outside, I could finally see what was standing in the corner. It was a man, but he did not look human. He had pale gray, leathery skin, sharp teeth that formed a grin, and eyes that stared directly at me. This really scared me, and I decided not to look again until it was completely light outside. I stayed awake under the blanket, waiting to hear the door open.
I never heard the door, but in the morning the figure was gone. The corner was completely empty. There was no furniture and nothing that could have created a strange shape or shadow.
I have only told this story to one friend before. She thought it was a vampire, but I do not believe in things like that. I do not think it was a ghost, a shadow person, or a demon. I have also experienced nightmares and sleep paralysis, and this was not that.
I have a strong feeling that it was not a person, but I would not jump to a paranormal explanation either. I am mostly curious if anyone else has experienced something similar?