Imaginary Friends...

[Starscream_UK]

I thought I'd start something like this as I've currently been dealing with my 4-yr old daughter's imaginary friend and all the issues that come along with that. Here goes:

My daughter has had an imaginary friend for about 8 months now - it was never anything spooky or bizarre to begin with until I heard her arguing in her room one day. Initially I suspected that her 8-yr old brother had come into her room and was playing with her things; however upon reaching her room I realised he was in his room playing with his toys. When I asked her who she was arguing with she said it was her invisible friend who she played with called Ellie. They were arguing over why her friend sat in the corner of her brother's room at night and watched him sleep.

At this point I got slightly creeped out as her brother had been suffering from rather vivid and extreme nightmares that generally ended up with him screaming "make it go away" in what was clearly a lucid dreaming state. In the morning he would have no memory of the encounter. Now at this stage, I asked my daughter to describe her friend to me; she said that she had no "proper" face and just two red eyes, but that her friend wasn't going to be playing with her anymore because Grandad David and Baby Cthulhu had made her go away.

This was the point that really made my blood run cold. My daughter has never met my father - the eponymous Grandad David - as he died 22 years ago, yet she has been able to identify him in photos from about 15 months old. She became besotted with my Baby Cthulhu plushy from about the age of 3 months old and according to her, he keeps away any bad dreams she has.

I have no rational explanation for this - my son's nightmares stopped and my daughter has never referenced her imaginary friend ever again...I've gathered quite a few tales like this over the last few years but I never expected it would actually happen to me.

 

[lovetoread]

That is so awesome.

I wish my chitlins had some when they were young, but it was not to be.

 

[Starscream_UK]

I've been compiling stories from people I know (both in real life and the cyber-world) and my own experience seems to be pretty "normal"...if that's possible! I may share some...

 

[parodyluvr75]

If she's seen photo of him at 15 months, she heard his name. She may of overheard her brother's nightmares or he might have told her about them, even if he said he didn't remember. Children observe and retain more than you think. It doesn't sound occult, it just sounds like a healthy imagination.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Its common in my family. It can be fun.

As a psychologist this is what I think.

The imaginary friends are projections of what I call the archaic child who is distinct and separate from the executive coping child who comes along in the years before school begins. The archaic child deals with imagination and remains there forever. The older child projects her or him to let the parents know the child is under new management.

My theory isn't in any books.

 

[shewantsmore]

It still sounds very scary, but the mind is a strange place no matter what age you are

 

[Starscream_UK]

Oh she's by far and away the brightest of all three of my kids but she discusses things at times that simply don't make sense in a conventional manner. She asked me about when I would take her to look for UFOs/Bigfoot/Nessie like my Dad did with me - this is something she's never known about because it was something that happened when I was a kid and we've never discussed it with her (simply because I never wanted to freak her out). She told me that Grandad David told her we did it and if she asked nicely, he was sure that I'd take her to where we saw strange lights in the sky (the Gentleshaw Common flap of 1985/6).

My son's lucid dreaming has been an issue since he was able to crawl. He once walked into our bedroom in the middle of the night, look up at the sky and say to my wife and myself in a flat, dead pan voice "They're coming. From the sky." before he collapsed on the floor. He was 3 days away from being 3 years old when this happened. He had no recollection of the incident after and I ended up taking him to A&E thinking there was something wrong with him.

Applying a Fortean perspective to this, once we've eliminated every rational explanation, you find yourself with a series of questions that only result in yet more questions rather than any answers.

If we still lived in our old house (which was haunted) then I could kind of understand it...

 

[shewantsmore]

That would so freak me out ,scared are they ok or worried too.you think like past down memory

 

[Starscream_UK]

Its common in my family. It can be fun.

As a psychologist this is what I think.

The imaginary friends are projections of what I call the archaic child who is distinct and separate from the executive coping child who comes along in the years before school begins. The archaic child deals with imagination and remains there forever. The older child projects her or him to let the parents know the child is under new management.

My theory isn't in any books.

Perfectly sound and competent theory - I'd ascribe that to my son as he's getting older, he's always been more structured in his approach to things. My daughter is much more a of free-thinker in that respect. As much as you try to discount external stimuli as well, there are things at times that defy a rational explanation without venturing into more fringe elements of science.

Will drag out what I've got...bear with me...

 

[Sean]

Its common in my family. It can be fun.

As a psychologist this is what I think.

The imaginary friends are projections of what I call the archaic child who is distinct and separate from the executive coping child who comes along in the years before school begins. The archaic child deals with imagination and remains there forever. The older child projects her or him to let the parents know the child is under new management.

My theory isn't in any books.

http://www.elsewhere.org/journal/pomo/

 

[Starscream_UK]

That would so freak me out ,scared are they ok or worried too.you think like past down memory

No clue - however there's a case of form and history with this...

About a year after my Dad died I was going for a promotion at work. All the usual stresses were present and so as I'm driving home I ranted about how I wish there was a way of knowing the outcome to avoid the pressure of it all. I also ranted about not knowing when the new Bad Religion album would be out (it was 1995 and internet access was patchy at best!).

That night I dreamt I was sitting across from my Dad in the living room and he told me three events would occur prior to my interview. Now, all three of these events can be derived from my subconscious mind so I do not ascribe any paranormal significance to them (particularly as the third event would involve me shaking hands with a new member of staff who had joined our team since his death & say to me "may the force be with you").

The spooky part was that he said that I should wake up and go downstairs to put MTV on - then I would know when the new Bad Religion album would be out. I woke, went downstairs and put the TV on - sure enough there was Kurt Loader announcing when the Gray Race would be released in the UK.

Go figure!

 

[Starscream_UK]

Here's a few of the responses I've received that I'm currently collating...

Enjoy.

LITTLE GIRL GHOST

“When my daughter was three 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 shit. Anyway, fast forward two years later, the wife and I are watching the new Amityville Horror (the one with Ryan Renolds) and our daughter walks out right when the 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.'”

A BOY IN THE TREE

“My folks’ farm surrounds a cemetery, and my dad and my niece were walking down there. My niece (4) looks up and says, ‘What’s that boy doing up in that tree?’ There was no boy, but she insisted there was and could describe him.”

THAT’S THE MAN

“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.”

TRACY

“When my niece was about 4 she had an imaginary friend, which I don’t remember the name of. She would blame things she did on this imaginary friend but also talked about how this friend would watch Scooby Doo with her. One day I thought, ‘Why don’t I find out more about this friend?’ So I asked her to tell me about her friend. And she said, ‘She’s a she and she’s dead.’ And I said, ‘Does she have a job?’ And she said, ‘She does what my daddy does!’ Which is that her imaginary friend was a cop. So then I said, ‘Where is your imaginary friend a police woman at?’ And she said, ‘Right next I to where my daddy is a policeman.’ But then she said, ‘I met her when I was in my mummy’s belly. She touched it when I was inside.’

A few months before my niece was born my cousin Tracy had died. She was hit by a train. She loved watching Scooby Doo and had a ton of memorabilia. She was also a cop. She was a cop in the town that is right next to the one my brother-in-law is a cop in, my niece’s ‘daddy.’ My niece’s imaginary friend was my dead cousin. There is no other way she could have known all that at the age of 4.”

 

[removed9556]

 

[Starscream_UK]

You seem to have ascribed this perfectly ordinary childhood phenomenon to the supernatural.

Oh no - not at all - these were the more creepy responses I received from my requests for accounts and equate to less than 10% of the responses. The vast majority are clearly just expressions of a child utilising an imaginary friend to excuse "naughty" behaviour, which is what you'd expect.

For example, a parent contacted me with an account of a child saying their imaginary friend kept breaking their older siblings toys - they set up a nanny-cam and filmed them doing it lol. Another said their imaginary friend told them to eat all the sweets from the jar in the kitchen, thus making them sick. Perfectly normal behaviour from kids in the 3-5 age range.

It's like working back on the Aircrash Investigation Desk again...oh happy days!

 

[Choirg1rl]

I'm enthralled with this thread. I have always been fascinated by stories like this, and in particular, stories about children with past life memories. In fact, a great deal of research has been done on the subject and it's very compelling to read about it. I am a thinking person who is very much inclined to rely on empirical evidence, but there are some situations in which it seems deliberately obtuse to ignore the possibility of an explanation beyond the scope of our experience, because it is just as logical, if not more so, than other more conventional explanations.

 

[Lancecastor]

http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/158/327/i-dont-care-what-you-say-ancient-fucking-aliens.jpg