Children and Their Imaginary Friends

A friend was telling me a little story about one of their children who seems to have developed an imaginary friend. I have heard many stories similar to his and have always heard that it is a common thing for a child to create an imaginary friend but I have never had an imaginary friend nor have I known anyone else who did when I was growing up.

Some children get really into the 'imaginary friend' thing. Their friend has to have a place to sit at dinner or in front of the TV. They have very involved conversations with their friend and relay messages, thoughts, requests and ideas from their imaginary friend to their parents.

I have often wondered about the possibility that a child's imaginary friend might be some sort of spiritual creature like a ghost or even a demon or maybe some other interdimensional entity. I don't know, but it is difficult to accept that all cases are no more than a child's imagination.

There have been cases where a child told their parents things about the past that they couldn't possibly have known on their own. They claimed to have been told these things by their friend who no one else seems to hear or see.

What could explain all this? Yes, I am sure that in many cases an imaginary friend is nothing more than that and in many of these the child does realize they are playing pretend. But there are those exceptional cases where there seems to be so much more than meets the eye.

What do you think? Is it possible that an imaginary friend could be a ghost or some sort of spirit? Have you or anyone you know ever had an imaginary friend they truly believed was real and alive?

More Pages About Imaginary Friends

Imaginary Friend or Ghost? A huge collection of Imaginary Friend stories and experiences and an examination of the question Imaginary Friend or Ghost?

Imaginary Friend Wikipedia Imaginary friends are fictional characters created for improvisational role-playing. They often have elaborate personalities and behaviors. They seem real but are ultimately unreal to their creators, as shown by studies.