An intruder in the house

Last night my husband and I were slipping off into dreamland when we heard a weird noise. I looked at my husband with that “did you hear that?” look. He’d heard it too, and was sitting up in bed. We listened intently for a moment, and the noise came again. It was kind of a shuffling noise, with a piteous little cry that was starting off soft but was getting louder and louder. And it was coming from Hambet’s bed. My dh got up and asked him what was wrong; Hambet tearfully informed us, “There’s a ghost under my bed!”
Well, we had the little chat about no-such-thing-as-ghosts; Hambet drifted off to sleep during the chat and was slid, unprotesting, back into his own bed later in the evening. Hambet has told us about monsters before — in a general way — but this is the first time we’ve had any news of ghosts and any supernatural problems at bedtime. So I’ll be paying extra attention to where he might be getting this from.
I hope we can get this ghost out of the house soon; I am not interested in getting into chasing ghosts, monsters, and assorted paranormal brethren every night. Maybe I can just squish it like a bug, since it must be very tiny to be able to fit under a junior bed.

8 comments

  1. Hmm, are you of the opinion that there’s no such thing as ghosts? I thought that was kind of unsettled in the Catholic world. Or are you just figuring Hambet only knows Casper and his less friendly bedsheet kinds of ghosts so you don’t need to get into that other kind of ghost with him to solve the under-bed problem?

  2. I made the kids monster spray. a really niftily spray bottle filled with water. I told them to say the Rosary when they are scared, and the one we all know, monsters cannot get you when you are under the covers. I really have no idea if any of the more gimmicky things work, but they make it fun.

  3. I am agnostic on the subject of “are there ghosts” so I shall retain the broad mental reservation of “there are no ghosts of the type that hide under the bed and provide little boys with yet another excuse to try to delay bedtime and wiggle back into the parental bed.” My thought is Hambet is too young to get into any serious discussion of what happens after death, much less ghosts, as I don’t think he even understands the word “die” yet. I suspect he only knows “bedsheet” ghosts.
    As for “monster spray”, Hambet + spray bottles = trouble! We’ve been working on, “Jesus says you don’t have to be afraid of anything” so perhaps that will help. If we have trouble tonight I will also remind him that he knows how to ask his Guardian Angel and St Michael for help, and that they will protect him.
    The thing is that I want to show him I take his little feelings seriously, but I don’t want to feed into this fantasy and reinforce the idea that there are ghosts to be afraid of.

  4. As for “monster spray”, Hambet + spray bottles = trouble!
    Yeah, this was with Rosey Posey because it has not been an issue with after they had siblings to sleep with. It was more fun to decorate a spray bottle, I do not think she really believed in monster spray as much as she liked the art project.

  6. Monster squirt bottles? Monster-proof covers? What on Earth are you people doing? Doesn’t teaching your children the truth count for something any more?
    You leave your shoes by the side of your bed, heels touching and toes a few inches apart (more if they’re bigger shoes). That’s what keeps monsters away.
    Squirt bottles. Sheesh.

  7. well…monster covers still work for me…ask my dh who cannot stand that I need to be under the covers in the middle of summer to keep monsters away…

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