make-believe: monsters

At the age of 3 I believed in the "doorknob people". I could see an evil, grinning "face" in the doorknob at night with the way the light reflected off the knob & surrounding area and I thought they were watching me. I thought they would come "get" me at night when I was sleeping, but there were two ways to keep them away. (1) If you pretended to be dead, they'd leave you alone. (2) If you made use of --*ahem*-- autoerotic practices (naturally I didn't have a word for this at age 3!!) it would form a protective shield around you that they could not break through. I used both methods routinely at that age. ;-)

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.

I used to believe that the dinasaurs aren't really extinct, that we are all really dinosaurs, but we're just asleep and having this incredibly realistic dream that we're people.

When I was five, my dad tried to convince me that not only did the boogie man live in the air vents in our ceiling, but that he had two servants named Frita [a Hispanic woman with a fruit bowl on her head, similar to the Chiquita banana woman] and Mr. Peebles [a very nondescript man wearing a trench coat and a bowler hat]. Frita, I guess, was sort of the boogie man's mistress and they both worked for him.

When I was 7 I saw a special on the Sasquatch. I still believe and nothing frightens me more. I refuse to watch tv specials about Sasquatch (Big Foot) anymore, they give me bad dreams. Just thinking about it now will give me bad dreams. I'm so glad I shared.

I used to believe in the big bad wolf. It was a very real fear for me.
At Easter and Christmas this terror was magnified tenfold.

You see, I could always hear this evil, hairy wolf with his sharp teeth,
enter my home, rustle around and had visions of him laying in wait
to eat both the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.

I spent many years worth of holidays, cowaring under the blankets,
attempting to rouse mom and dad from their slumber to save the
day.

Being struck mute due to the terror of the situation at hand,
this was NEVER accomplished. That and the simple fact there was
no chance of me leaving the safe haven of my bed to make the
break for their room. :)

I used to think that the only way to get rid of the monsters at night was to imagine them away. I would imagine them leaving my house and going down the road, and if I lost track of the route I had to start over. When I figured they were far enough away, I could stop.

I always believed that gremlins lived in the bushes near my porch. I had gremlins under my bed and in the closet too but the bush gremlins were the worst. I would run up the walk and jump onto the porch from as far away as I could so the gremlins wouldn't reach out and grab me.

When we were kids, we believed in a "BogeyMan", who hid in dark spaces (Like under the bed, at bedtime, leding to some fantastic acrobatics to get safely into bed, after turning out the room light switch)

Well, nowadays, I believe the "Hannibal Lector" stories to be about a "BogeyMan" for the Late Teens.
This character essentially says: "If you don't get out there, take the world's challenges on, & _MAKE_ something of yourself, then you're a passive "LOSER", due to be exploited by someone who's going to cheat you out of MORE than just your money ..."
<Quote> "There is no room for self-pity at my table, Clarice ..."

I had bad dreams about monsters coming up to my window and shriking at me, trying to get in. I was always looking out my window before bed just to make sure, and some times I was just trying to scare myself into thining the monsters were coming and that I should hide under my bed that way they'll noticed I'm not home and they'll go scare some one else.

Around the Summer campfire the counselors told us that an "animal/man" was loose in the woods.
Shortly after we fell asleep on the night we slept under the stars, from back in the woods I could hear the "animal/man" screaming,
"I want one kid, just one kid".
The counselors ran to protect us and even started wrestling in the shadows with what truly looked like an "animal/man." They chased it away from our campsite and assured us we would be ok the rest of the night.

Later that night I was awaken by a "growling sound". I was paralyzied with fear knowing that the "animal man" was just a few feet away. I took what seemed like an eternity to realize that the kid next to me was just snoring.

When I returned next summer to the camp I found out that "Animal/man was a camp counselor in a wolf-suit.

When I was very young, I used to think that two small white Japanese women statuettes, perched on a shelf in my parents' bedroom, could come to life and be dangerous. I referred to them as the "Achoo Statues." (don't know why)

When I was young (6? 7, maybe?), my friends and I were convinced that spirits (good and bad) could become trapped within the grain of wood in furniture and paneling. I truly believed that an evil spirit named Willy resided in the dimly lit back corner of the wood-paneled dining room in my house. I would have nightmares about Willy coming out of the woodwork (literally), grabbing me in my bed, and then trying to drag me into the dining room and into the wall with him. The dining room was safe in the daytime (thanks to the two large windows that brightened it up significantly) or even at night as long as an adult was there, but I was probably 12 before I could bring myself to go into the dining room by myself after dark, even if the overhead light was on in the room.

I had a friend who had a realy big garden (Well it was big to me at that time). We would always go out to the garden to pick strawberries but there was a hole in the ground next to the strawberries covered with wood. We used to believe there was a wolf there that was mad. We thought that it was mad because it didn't have any friends.

When I was young, I used to believe that if I slept will ALL my stuffed animals on the bed with me (and I had a lot!) that no monster would be able to get me because they would just think I was another stuffed animal.

Also, a little later on, when I was old enough to stay home alone while mom and dad went out, I thought if I tured on every light in the house, that would keep anything from getting me!

when I was 6, I stay over night in my uncle's house in a small village. his house is surrounded by forest.I really scared that night and couldn't close my eyes because i heard a voice like furry-giant- monster dragging a chair all around the house. I thought It was Bigfoot came into my uncle house!! but the truth was.... that's my uncle snorring!! ;p