You know there used to be a thread that was full of these little rituals, but I can't find it and my internet connecxtion is slow enoug so that I can type what I have to say and move on by the time it is finnished searching for the post I want and opening it. Stupid modem.

ANYWAY I was thinking the other night that the reason I used to cram so much stuff under my bed was because monsots couldn't come and get me if all that stuff was in the way. That is why I was never afraid of monsters under the bed. It was also why I kept all my stuff on the floor so that if something came into my room at night they would have to navigate my maze of booby traps in order to get to me. Oddly enough this idea is still one I maintain to this very day. A lot of new people have come to the bord since that other thread I can't find was started. What did you do to protechet you from the monstors. Or better yet what dose some of your charecters do. I am always looking for stuff for NPC's.

On that note another thing I used to to to scare monsters away was to have a stuffed animal that was scaryer than the monsters. Yes that's right I STILL own the My Pet Monster Stuffed animal, and even though his hard plastic noses caused me to wake up with burises all over I loved him cause he protected me.

Used to always keep a pen knife under my pillow, it was a special one that I got in Switzerland, my parents got it as a souvenir.

As for others, worked in a nursery school for a while, so there're quite a few.

Knew one kid in a very Christian family who used to open his Bible whenever he was in trouble. The interesting thing is that he couldn't read, he just saw his parents opening it and looking at it whenever they were unhappy and it made them feel better.

Lots of kids would wear specific pieces of jewelry which made them feel better.

One I used to know put on his father's shoes and coat to scare off the monsters, because 'They're scared of daddies'.

Flicking the light on and off several times before going to bed.

Sleeping on the floor when it got particularly scary, or even in parents room.

Getting three glasses of water whenever you're thirsty at night, and only drinking one.

Few others as well, I wrote them down because I was planning to write a book about them but never got round to it. Those are the ones I remember offhand.

I had a few that I can remember:

Bathroom
The bathroom mirror doors had to be ajar about an inch, both equal. I remember one represented good and the other evil - I didn't know which was which, so I had to keep them even to stay on the safe side.

My digital watch would protect me from monsters while in the shower - it has a laser beam and would float around shooting them.

The toilet seat had to be down while showering, stop things crawling out.

If I thought something was outside the shower I had to check, because when you dismissed things like that they got you. Ended up checking every 10 seconds or so.

You were safe if you had either soap or a facecloth in your hand.

Sleeping
Had to read the Lord's Prayer every night and concentrate on each word, or have to start over again from scratch. This included mentioning every stuffed toy I owned (no favouritism).

The bed was a WWII bomber (I was obsessed by war) and there was a takeoff ritual every night, stuffed toys as navigator, gunner, etc.

And obvious stuff: curtains completely closed, door open, wardrobe door closed.

On reflection, most of those sound pretty fucked up! I think I turned out normalish... :)