at home: under my bed

I used to believe…

When my sister and I were little, we called every area that was dark and scary "Crocodile Creek" after seeing Peter Pan, especially the area between our beds. I have to have my feet and hands on the mattress to this day, or at least have them wrapped in a sheet to protect them from the crocodile and/or Captain Hook.

I used to believe…

When I was about 6 years old, I got the idea that something resided under my bed. I never knew exactly what I thought it was, some kinda monster/ghost/zombie thing . . .
Anyway, I used to sleep with my hands under the pillow and I got it in my head that by doing so, I was exposing my hands to whatever it was under my bed. I trained myself to sleep with my hands by my side.

I used to believe that there was a person under my bed, waiting to kill me, so I always yelled "COME OUT BAD GUY!" Before I went to bed. I still do sometimes. =)

I used to believe…

When I was young I always kept carefull watch when I went to bed, because "the monsters" could get to you if you weren't looking. If I wanted to sleep on my side I had to build a baricade of stuffed animals to protect my back.

I used to believe…

My uncle used to tell me the shoe-box under his bed had smurfs (cartoon characters) living in it. Unfortunatly he couldn't show me because they would disappear in the light. I spent hours whispering to them so they wouldn't get lonely. [I never did look in the box, OR find out what was in it!]

I used to believe that rats were under my bed and only came out at night and you couldn't see them in daytime I was so scared at night. I have to idea why I thought that.

I used to believe that if i turned the light off, and spent too much time dawdling to get to my bed, or if i spent too much time under my bed, spiders would come and rip my legs off (this was AFTER i'd watched the movie Arachnophobia)

I'd jump off my bed a good 3 feet to the floor out of reach of anything under there. Y'know, just in case. I think I got over it when I started storing books under there -- you can't be scared of a place when you know what's down there.

I used to believe that there was a poop monster under my bed and whenever I woke up with a bad taste in my mouth I thought that the monster poop in my mouth when I was sleeping.

I used to believe that the Boogey Man lived under my bed and would chop of any part of my body that hung over the side of the bed at night. I always made sure everything, toes, fingertips and hair, were safely ON the bed before I went to sleep.

I used to sleep on the top bunk of a bunk bed when I was about 5 or 6. After seeing the "children’s" film ET I convinced myself that he was on the bottom bunk and if I ever looked down he would be there staring back.

It scared the crap out of me and never watched the film for years, which made it worse cos I couldn't remember what he looked like, so I imagined him as this really scary monster. I finally plucked up the courage to watch the film when I was 16!
I’m still not that keen on him!

I used to believe…

When I was about 6, I saw JAWS at the drive-in. Well, actually I spent most of it hiding in the back seat of the car telling my aunt and her boyfriend, "Tell me when the scary part's over!" When I got home and was getting ready for bed, I was very careful where I stepped, because I was afraid part of the floor would suddenly open up like a trap door and there would be a shark in a tank of water down there.

I used to believe…

When I was about 6 my stepmom told me that if I held my head under the bed sheets for more than 10 seconds I would suffocate and die. Needless to say when my siblings and I played and they put my head under anything I would scream with fear. I still don't like my head to be covered with anything to this day, I am 31!

I used to believe…

When i was around 6 or 7, me and my sisters believed that at night, evil monsters would come and hurt us. So, we used to arrange pillows and bolsters and blankets around the perimeter of the bed, believing that it prevented monsters from coming in.

I used to believe Cookie Monster was underneath my bed. When I got a little older I thought one of the monsters from the Little Monsters movie (with Howie Mandel) was under there and would kidnap my brother.

I used to believe…

When I was very young, I was a horror movie fanatic with my father. My favorite movie was Gremlins, but they scared me a little. At night I refused to let my toes hang over the end of the bed or pop out from under the blanket because I was terrified that the gremlins from the movie would bite my toes off. To this day I don't expose my toes when I'm sleeping or let them hang over the bed, and I'm 20!

I never used to believe in monsters however i believe that all these kids that believe in monsters under the bed are telling the truth as why do they all report the same occurence a monster that will grab their feet or arms its gotta be more than coincidense also i actually saw the monster under my bed and i have an excellent ability to recall in detail events that happened to me when i was younger than 4 anyways i looked under the bed and saw a dark shape sort of furry but had brilliant white eyes and a large cheshire cat grin whith white teeth just lying under the bed grinning at me strangely i wasnt too afraid i also saw small figures standing on the windowsill behind the curtain and i can recall everything down to the placement of furniture and the colour of the walls and to this day and im 21 i still run and jump into bed and tuck the blanket under my body even though i cant rationalise it i get a real feeling of terror and of being watched every night

I used to believe…

When I was about 5, there was a commercial for a program about undersea life that often aired when I was watching. It showed a big, red octopus that both terrified and fascinated me. Somehow, I became convinced that the octopus lived in my bed and that sleeping curled up in a little ball was the only way I could prevent the octopus from eating my feet.