I used to be afraid of the dark, and consequently thought all window blinds were monsters. Therefore, their only weakness was turning the horn that hung from the left side of their face, and for that you had to approach with the utmost caution.

Anon

My mum told me that the sock monster took odd socks away. I thought it was a real two legged monster made out of socks with a big sock for a head (shaped like a horse's head) and that it lived in the cupboard above the boiler. The scary part was that it had no eyes or mouth...

Stephen

My 3-yr-old brother's friend once told him that the "king alligator" lived in people's walls. There was a little hole in the bathroom wall made from the doorknob (it was near the toilet). So one day we hear him screaming and crying while on the toilet. I ended up spending the next 239482734 of his bathroom trips sitting outside the bathroom door while he cried, telling him there was no such thing as the "king alligator" and that he didn't live in our bathroom wall.

Rose

when i was younger, a friend of mine told a horror story of a doll that came alive and killed people with her huge abnormal purple finger. so for a while after that, i used to believe that my porcelian cabbage patch doll that my grandmother made me was that same doll in the horror story, so at night i would sleep with the covers over my head so she wouldn't see me and kill me.

Monica

you know after you look in a bright light, and you close your eyes or blink how you can still see the glare that remains in your vision? I used to think that those were monsters, and could only be seen if you blinked enough.
I feared them.

trevor

When I was little, like 5, I used to believe that a flat paper thin man lived between the back of the couch and the wall. I was terrified of this man and claimed he was wearing a tophat and carried a cane.

Jamie

I had to face the door when i went to sleep incase har hars walked past (and came in) they had pointy snout things (look like evil wombles except they thinner). And i had to sleep curled up in a ball incase the witches got my feet if i spread out. And there was a gap between my bed and bedside table i didn't like that either (trolls).

alice

At the mall in my hometown, there were occasionally doors along blank walls and someone told me that monsters lived behind them, and that if you stayed in the mall until after dark, the monsters would come out and accuse you of shoplifting so they could have an excuse to eat you.

misslicorice

I use to think that mummies were wrapped in toilet paper.

Glowworm

I believed when I was going to bed that dinosaurs roamed the streets, peeking in the windows with one huge eye to check everyone was sleeping. I don't know what would happen if you weren't sleeping, I was always sure to at least feign sleep.

Jeska

As a child, I never slept by myself in my own room. I had to call my mother to sleep with me or I went to her room.

Why?

I had a phobia that Batman would appear at the foot of my bed at night.

Batgirl =] New Jersey

When I was a kid, my mom's friends used to tell me that there was a monster in the basement and I was to never ever go down there. I visualized this huge, purple, muppet-type creature covered in fur with yellow fangs and ginormous claws. I was never afraid of anything ever as a child, but I was absolutely petrified to go into that basement. I must have been about 5 and I still remember how real that belief was! Now I'm pretty sure that the grown-ups were smoking weed down there!

Beebs

When I was younger I used to lie in bed and hear thudding sounds. I heard them every night when I was trying to sleep and was convinced king kong was outside lumbering about looking to eat me.

It was only when I was older, that I realised the thudding sound was actually my heart beating!

Ian

I used to believe that when I went to sleep, I'd have to cover my ears with my blanket, or else the monsters under my bed would eat them. I still do that to this day!

Bubbles

Instead of having a security blanket as a child, I had a pillow. And I was convinced that every night there was some creatures that would come into my room and try to steal it. So every night I would put this pillow between my knees and have a vice grip on it. If I found it on the floor in the morning I was convinced that the creatures had tried to take it from me

Morgan

When I was about 7, my brother told me the Joker (from Batman) was going to get me. He said that if I shined a green light anywhere, the Joker would come out and "get me". I guess he meant "kill" instead of "get" me, but I still don't know. Anyways, one evening we had my dad's side of the family over for dinner, and my cousins, brother and I went into the basement and my brother got his colored flashlight, put it on green and started shining it everywhere with the lights off. I was so scared that I ran upstairs and refused to go in the basement for weeks on end.

Lili

When I was little I used to think that all the monsters hid in my parents' bedroom. Turned out that my mom and dad just snored really loud.

Anon

When I was five or six my next-door neighbors had a small wooden bridge across the creek that ran into the woods adjacent to their backyard. I knew that an evil being lived under the bridge in the dark. I envisioned the being as generally human-shaped, about two feet tall, very stocky, hairy, and ugly -- similar to trolls, ogres, or hobs I've seen pictured in books. I knew it waited under the bridge to catch and eat children who crossed. Whenever I had to cross the bridge alone I would stare at it to make sure nothing was moving, then I would run across the bridge as fast as I could so I wouldn't get caught. I didn't tell any of my friends or my family because I was afraid they would make fun of me for being scared.

Jon

When I was young, a neighbor kid told me that the seeds on the inside of persimmons were goblin eggs and if you opened one up the seeds would grow into goblins that would hide in your bedroom! I concentrated all year to not run over them with my bike.

Dawn

When I was growing up, all four of us believed our old house haunted by various monsters. My brothers' solution was never to be in the dark, ever. But I, the big sister, was way smarter and more sophisticated. I knew the monsters followed me up the stairs to my room, but I also knew they could only attack me if they could see the whites of my eyes. My solution: Keep the hall, stairs and my room as dark as possible and never, ever, look back! Must have worked, I was never eaten by monsters.

Fara Shimbo