under my bed

A babysitter once told me that once I was in bed I had to have the covers cover every inch of me, because at 9pm the skin monster would come and eat anything that was exposed. I did this until I was 12. And habitually, still do it.

Catherine

As a child, I used to believe that if I wasn't completely covered all the way up to my neck with the blanket, little men in big russian hats with clevers would decend on me and chop up my body. And take them back to a big fat king who turned the body parts into gold. I have no idea where this idea came from, but it had me tightly under the covers for many years.

Jamie

When I was small I utterly convinced myself that the only way I was safe from the monsters under my bed (or in my closet) was to hold on tightly to the "magic silky" edging on my blanket.

Imagine my terror when I went to bed to find out that Mom had replaced my usual blanket with one that no longer had the "magic silky" edging.....I thought she wanted to get rid of me!

Anon

I used to believe flying tarantualls were under my bed at night, and if i closed my eyes they would come out, and if i opened my eyes they dissperaed, but if i closed my eyes while i was under a blanket, they didn't know, and wouldn't come out the, i could take the blanket off and go to sleep!

Jonathan S.

I used to believe that their was a disembodied arm (up to the elbow) that used to live in the gap between my and my twin sisters beds.

I thought that if i slept with my arms up outside my covers it would come and tickle me under my arms and wouldn't stop. I imagined it used to move in see-sawing motion....oh it's just too horrible

Vix

When I was really young I believed that Snuffleuphagus (from Sesame Street) lived under my bed. He was benevolent and kept me safe from marauding monsters.

Unfortunately when I was 5 we moved to Australia and 'Snuffy' didn't come with us.

Molly

I used to believe the dustballs that collected under the bed would roll together at night until they formed one big fuzzy monster and could lean over the bed and eat me. Sometimes they'd roll out from under the bed in a sneak attack when I walked past and I'd run from the room. Nowadays I know it was just the breeze of my passing by. I think this might have come from Mom trying to get me to clean under my bed.

T.R.

When I was little, I wouldn't let my blankets hang down from my bed because I thought mice lived under my bed and would crawl up my blankets into my bed. Call me crazy, but in my mind, they were even dressed like the mice in Cinderella. I also made my dad check my closet everynight because I swore there were rats living in there.

Amber D.

I was a pretty smart child and realized, of course, that lions were too big to fit under my bed. Because of this, I used to believe that alligators and crocodiles were under my bed at night.

amnesiac

When I was 5-9 I used to think that if you were in bed at night and you got out of bed a wolf would come and eat your legs. You were only safe once you got out of your room. It was actually pretty creepy cuz my room was always dark so you couldnt see the floor-just darkness. So if I had to go to the bathroom at night, I would gather up my courage and make a dash for the door, trying to touch the floor as little as possible. (Sometimes I would wait over 30 mins in bed to get the courage to get out.

RW

I used to believe that there was a square of quicksand on the floor at the end of my bed. So every morning, I would go to the end of my bed and then jump off making sure to get over it safely.

Anon

I used to believe if you looked under your bed the fuzzy green eyeball monster would take your eyes out and replace them with cottonballs then lock you up for life in a miniature car.

I think you shouldn't look down there.

Chicken Chick

I had a horrible fear of vomit when I was little (sadly, 20 years later, I still do) and I HATED sleeping on the top bunk because I was afraid there was going to be burritos filled with vomit sitting on the rungs of the ladder, and if for whatever reason I had to get down before morning, I was going to have to dodge them with my feet.

Don't ask me where I came up with that as a kid, but I just knew the vomit burritos were waiting for me. I didn't even dare to look!

Scary Dream

I used to lie perfectly still when trying to get to sleep when I was about five. This was because I believed that all of the creatures that lived in my matress would feed off any dead skin that I managed to slough off in the night.

Alas, the belief is actually true - my parents let me watch a TV programme about dust mites, which do live off shed skin... but had merely failed to point out that they aren't huge... it was just that the pictures were taken with an electron microscope. So actually, I suppose I believed that dust mites were the size of, say, a comon domestic cat.

CultKim

I used to believe that there were various monsters that came out at night - and each monster was only after one particular body part. The "ear monster" for example would only eat ears. To this day I cover my ears when I sleep. I also decided that the monsters could only see like an inch in front of themselves so that if I stayed very still and under the covers they would never spot me. It all worked. I still have all of my parts.

Mona

I had alligators and cartoon lions under my bed.

ruth

When I was little,I slept with my bed against the wall and never let my arms hang over the other side because I thought the Hamburgler (from the Mcdonald's commercials) was under the bed.I used to keep the closet door closed for the same reason.

Anon

this is a little weird, but i used to think that there was a guy under my bed with a sword and that he might shiskabob me through the mattress in the middle of the night. so, to improve my chances, i slept on my side instead of flat on my back

skot

i belived one time that there was a spider under my bed, after i heard something rummaging through the papers. i ran from my bed, put my favourite teams football jersey on, and went back to bed in the thought that if im going to die, it best be in my teams colors.

stevie

i was about 7 and a friend told me that her grandad was dead and he was under her parents bed. i would not go near my parents bed because i thought my dead grandad would be under there

hmmm...not quite