Your Invisible Childhood Friend

[Loose Leaf Tea]

In a recent UK edition of the Fortean Times there was an article discussing "imaginary" invisible friends that some children play with and consider all too real. The author of the piece felt that there was more going on than mere imagination and related stories of parents witnessing objects being moved as if by the unseen playmate. The author also discovered commonalties between the invented characters and grouped them into various types: animals, elementals, sages and animate objects. The other common factor was the peculiar fact that in nearly every case of invisible friendship the child gave his pal a double-barrelled repetitive name; for example my son named his invisible animal friend Gum-Gum.

I find this an intriguing (and creepy) subject and have been asking around. To my surprise those who admitted to having had a childhood pal did indeed state that its name was one of those double-barrelled repetitives.
So I was wondering, merely out of idle curiosity, whether any of you Paracasters ever had an invisible friend in childhood and if so what was its name and what did it look like?

(In the interests of fairness and mutual disclosure let me tell you that I had two invisible friends and they both lived in my stomach! One was called "Big Thing" and the other was called "Little Thing". I never did get to see them!)

 

[dusty]

Hi Loose leaf,

I never had an invisible friend but my brother used to have a reccuring nightmare when he was very small where he used to meet up with this thing he called the
Nasty Googa.

This character was a bit like a Koala only more orange in colour I think. I remember one time when he asked me to help him fight off this annoying little brat I took one of those retractable plastic commando knives to bed. Dont know if I was any help,
you'd have to ask him. Hey John if your reading this do tell.

Mark

 

[leftystrat]

Hiya, Loose.

It is generally accepted that children have much more on the ball than adults, sensewise. A psychologist friend told me there were actual studies proving this.

At some point the child loses these abilities. It could be from adults telling him `that isn't real' or perhaps because they need to shut that sort of thing down to focus and get on with the business of growing up. Or something else, I dunno... I prefer quadrupeds.

True story:
My brother had his first child a few years back. Unfortunately his mother-in-law passed away before the baby was born.

One day my brother is in the baby's room, trying to entertain him, and he pulls a picture of the M-I-L down to show him. The baby immediately lights up like xmas and starts smiling. He knew who that was.

Flash forward four years:
My wife very quickly achieved Favored Aunt Status<tm> with the child. He got excited even when she called on the phone.

One day he asks her where the little girl is.

Huh?

The little girl.

Your cousin?

No, the little girl.

What little girl?

Your little girl.

---

My wife has multiple personality disorder. The nephew `saw' one of the personalities, a little girl, and wanted to play. My wife NEVER switched around the nephew - he had never physically seen her. But he `saw' the little girl somehow.

---

Never tell a child (or a schizophrenic) he's not seeing something.....

 

[Loose Leaf Tea]

Interesting stories, gents. Thanks to you both. (Not sure I'd have the heart to knife an orange Koala, though!)

It can be disconcerting for an adult to be around a child when its imaginary pal is visiting. I remember hearing my son talking to his "friend" Gum-Gum one day and asking him where this character was. My son pointed and said, in an isn't-it-obvious sort of way,
"He's standing right behind you!"
(A shiver from me as I stared into blank space.)

At the risk of elevating this subject out of the realm of natural psychological development, I did wonder whether the reported cases of objects being moved by the child's friend had more to do with an entity already being present in the house. But then I remembered that cases involving poltergeists always(?) centre around children entering puberty. So now I don't know what to think.

I also remember my sister being alarmed when her daughter, after she had just started to talk, shared experiences that she had had, "when I was that other lady."
Perhaps Childhood Past life memories deserve a thread of their own!

 

[PamiP]

My daughter had an invisible friend that came to visit her through our pantry door. I put up with this invisible family member for a while. One night, I heard what sounded like my daughter falling in the tub while bathing. I was just in the hallway outside the door retrieving a towel when the episode occurred. She started screaming that the friend was trying to harm her! Anyway, after I calmed my daughter down and dried her off, we escorted the friend to the pantry door. I explained to the friend that she couldn't play at my house anymore because I couldn't have her hurting my daughter. The friend never returned. It was a very weird experience for me and for my daughter as well. Was it imagination? Was it a poltergueist or demon of some sort? I've never been able to come to a conclusion.

 

[truthseeker]

Never personally had an invisible friend, but I do remember having a very active imagination as I'm sure a lot of kids do. I think my kids are still too young to communicate about any invisible friends, but I will keep an open ear.

We did have a couple of weird occurences where the kids would wake up screaming in the middle of the night - roughly 2 or 3 AM - and some electronic toys in their room would all of a sudden become active. I was actually pretty freaked out by that.

Anybody else had this experience?

 

[leftystrat]

I explained to the friend that she couldn't play at my house anymore because I couldn't have her hurting my daughter. The friend never returned. It was a very weird experience for me and for my daughter as well. Was it imagination? Was it a poltergueist or demon of some sort? I've never been able to come to a conclusion.

I have no answers for you other than that you performed wonderfully in a potentially nasty situation. Grace under fire.

 

[ddd999]

I never had imaginary friend/s as a child… but my 3 year old have one. His name is Calum, he’s only a baby and lives in our house. We “play” and talk to him sometimes… The whole concept creeps the poops out of me.

 

[Jose Collado]

I never had an invisible friend but I did have some freaky ass experiences growing up which included an extended period of time where I was harassed whilst in bed by something that would tug on my ears. I also remember watching something crawl up my wall and grabbed it thinking it was a shadow but felt more like a crab. That one was possible me being half asleep but the ear tugging would occur whilst I was awake. It would even follow me to my mothers room where I'd beg to let me sleep in her room. I'd often wake up to the sound of drums and they'd get louder if I ignored them.

The major spooky thing (I'm not entirely on topic ) was a doll my sister owned. I used to have nightmares about this doll coming to life for years. I was so scared of that doll that you couldn't leave me alone in the room with it. One night I had a dream that I made friends with the doll and I never had the nightmares again. Oddly enough, I believe the time I stopped having the nightmares was the same time my dad buried some of our junk belongings in a sewer trap under concrete. That's exactly where that doll was put.

I'm not an advocate of the whole imaginary friend links to alleged spirits but kids to experience some strange things.

Isn't it strange how many children will have their own version of the boogeyman? My nephew and niece had one and they're 15 years apart. Neither had the "boogeyman" instilled by mentioning it or supporting the notion. They simply suddenly had one.

 

[owlman]

Since I was very tiny , I used to hear a humming, or buzzing sound like a giant wasp or bee in my bedroom. I'd cry out to my parents, and of course there was nothing there.
Soon after, a little figure would be seen peering over the window in my bedroom door waving its arms back and forth. Very weird. Apparently I called this thing Burmee. I guess it could be Bur Mee . Either way, night time terrified me as a child, but I still used to talk to Burmee behind the couch during the day.
I've often wondered if this had anything to do with the abduction phenomenon, but have no desire to be regressed for fear of unraveling some deep buried fears.

 

[Experiencer7]

I have no memory of an invisible friend. But some time ago., as I was helping clean up my deceased grandparents' house., I happened upon a stack of old coloring books, (mine., from yr 4 to 7). On the borders of many pages there were drawings of winged beings, (some humanoid, some animal) following a child as he went about daily activities. They were my drawings. But until I saw them., I had no recollection of them. I do remember an incident shortly after my father's death. I was 6 or 7yr. Someone grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me up onto a curb just as a truck sped by. I turned to face this person. But they weren't there. Scared the crap out of me. I think I must have told my mom. But that sort of thing always freaked her out. So, nothing else was said.

 

[ALPHA ROMEO UNIFORM]

I have no memory of an invisible friend. But some time ago., as I was helping clean up my deceased grandparents' house., I happened upon a stack of old coloring books, (mine., from yr 4 to 7). On the borders of many pages there were drawings of winged beings, (some humanoid, some animal) following a child as he went about daily activities. They were my drawings. But until I saw them., I had no recollection of them. I do remember an incident shortly after my father's death. I was 6 or 7yr. Someone grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me up onto a curb just as a truck sped by. I turned to face this person. But they weren't there. Scared the crap out of me. I think I must have told my mom. But that sort of thing always freaked her out. So, nothing else was said.

Yes this seems to happen quite often as my own children have experinced contact with some type of biengs . 1. Ghosts (Nasty), 2. Fairies in orbs 3. Et taking them to the moon.