Does your child have an imaginary friend? Don't be ashamed to admit it -- nearly half of kids do, and scientists long ago decided that it might actually be good for our kids in the long run. But if you're a little freaked out by it, well, you're not alone.
It's not always clear whether kids are making up imaginary friends because they're so creative or if there's some spooky supernatural stuff going on in their house. Don't believe in ghosts? Maybe this will change your mind ... parents have confessed some of the creepiest things kids have said about their imaginary friends, and some of it is bound to keep you up at night!
1. My son, from the age of 3, always tells me about the "creeper man" who lives in my mom and dad's bedroom. He brings it up after he visits them. I made the mistake once of asking what he looks like. My son said, "Oh, he doesn't have a face."
2. "Mr. Gordy said there's money in the garden." And there was.
3. My youngest son was 4 years old when he had an "imaginary friend" named Sissy. He would tell me that she could only play at night time, which was why he was always playing in his room at night. He said that she would wake him up to play. He also told me that she told him her daddy had choked her and that was the reason that only he could see her. I know that when I would hear him up playing at night and I would go into his room, I would get goosebumps all over my body and the hair on my arms and back of my neck would stand up. It got to the point that I started making him sleep in my bed with me because she started scaring him rather than playing with him.
4. Once my son asked his imaginary friend, "Can you please make me some grits and eggs too?" which is really creepy because my grandma made that right before she passed. So I asked who he was talking to. He said, "Grandma Julie" -- freaked me out!
5. [My son said] that Peter doesn't like me. And if I ever say that my son can't play with him again, Peter said he'll hurt me. He told me Peter died in a fire in his truck and that Peter said fire is "real pretty, and I should be in it."
6. When my daughter was 3, she had an imaginary friend named Kelly who lived in her closet. Kelly sat in a little rocking chair while she slept, played with her, etc., typical imaginary friend s--t. Anyway, fast forward two years later, the wife and I are watching the new Amityville (the one with Ryan Reynolds), and our daughter walks out right when dead girl goes all black-eyed. Far from being disturbed, she said, "That looks like Kelly." "Kelly who?" we say. "You know, the dead girl that lived in my closet."
7. My little brother's imaginary friend, Roger, lived under our coffee table. Roger had a wife and nine kids. Roger and his family lived peacefully alongside us for three years. One day, my little brother announced that Roger wouldn't be around anymore, since he shot and killed him and his whole family. I don't know if he remembers any of this, but his genuine lack of remorse was very disturbing.
8. When my brother was little, he acted like he had angels talking to him every second. One day my mom overheard him say, "I can't kill him! He's my only dad!"
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9. [My daughter] once woke me up around 3 a.m. to show me a scratch on her arm. She was about 3. When I asked what happened, she said the crazy kitty did it. We did not have a cat! I spent hours searching closets to make sure a stray or something hadn't gotten in.
10. When I was little, I told my dad, "My friend said her daddy tied her up in the basement and hit her and hit her until she died, and now she's here! Her daddy is here too, but he doesn't like playing with her as much as I do." I found out several years later that a little girl had been murdered by her father, who then hung himself in the attic.
11. My son has insisted he had a sister named Rosie since he was about 2. He said she was as old as him. I asked him to tell me more about Rosie, and he said, "She's my sister but she didn't come with me." It freaks me out because I had a miscarriage three months before I got pregnant with him.
12. [My child said her imaginary friend] died. She was struck by lightning and bled to death on the living room floor.
13. [My child] had two that would always show up together, "S" and "C". C stopped coming around for a week or two, so I asked where C was. "Oh, he died. He went into the woods with S and only S came back out."
14. When my mom was younger, she had an imaginary friend named Shaggy. When she was finished with Shaggy, she "chopped him up and put him in the fridge."
15. My daughter used to tell me about a man who came into her room every night and put the sign of the cross on her forehead. I thought it was just a dream. Then my mother-in-law sent over some family photos. My daughter looked right at the picture of my husband's father (who has been dead for 16 years) and said, "That's the man who comes into my room at night!" My husband later told me his father would always do the sign of the cross on his forehead when he was young.
Does your child have an imaginary friend? What's the creepiest thing they've ever said about them?
Image via Maciej Chojnacki/Flickr