Loco & Speed - The Not So Imaginary Friends

In the house we rented previously we had a few unusual guests from time to time, mostly after our son was born. My wife and I would often catch glimpses of them as they moved around the house but we never felt any negativity from them, in fact, I got the distinct feeling of family popping in to see the new addition, so I left them alone.

Sometimes things would go missing from where you put them, I would ask politely for it to be put back when they are done with it and the items were always returned to the spot they vanished from. I'm pretty sure a lot of you will know what I mean.

However when our son, Connor (he's 4 now going on 40 and has an amazing imagination), started to walk and talk, he would often speak about his "friends" Loco (who he blamed for everything) & Speed (he calls anything that goes fast Speed). Loco was apparently a little brown haired boy and Speed apparently looked like Connor. As he is an only child, we took them to be imaginary as most kids have imaginary friends at his age.

Just after we made the decision to get our very own place, I was putting him to bed one night and he told me that he and his friends are very sad that we are moving away. I thought he was referring to his crèche friends, so I explained that we are only moving to a new house but he would be in the same crèche. He said, "No, not my school friends, my home friends".

I asked him which friends he was talking about and he said that Speed was very sad because Loco is being nasty and says that he can't come with us. I told him not to worry, because even though friends can be far apart, they can still be friends and that he mustn't be sad.

After I tucked him in, I went to the kitchen to start the tedious task of clearing out the cupboards. About 10 minutes later I heard some noises from his room (sometimes he will lie in his bed and play with a toy when he's not tired) so I called out that it was not play time and that he should go to sleep. The noise stopped.

He called back that he wasn't playing, Loco is. So I went to check and he was still lying as I had left him, all tucked in. I played along with him and made a show of trying to usher Loco out of his room. He started laughing hysterically. I asked him why he was laughing and he said, "Because, Daddy, Loco is not by you", so I asked him where Loco was, to which he replied, "He's behind you making funny faces." I turned around, put my hands on my hips, put on my best "Daddy voice", and said, "Come come, it's not play time now, it's time for bed" and again, ushered Loco towards the door.

"He's going now daddy."

Two nights later, my wife was away on a business trip, my son was asleep, and I was packing some boxes in the lounge. After about 2 or 3 hours, I gave up on the packing, put something on the TV and must've nodded off. I got woken up by what, at first, I thought was my son putting his hand on my arm. I very clearly heard his voice say, "Come come, it's time for bed." It took me a second to realize that the face I saw in front of mine was not my son. It looked very similar, but distorted slightly. I got a bit of a shock, rubbed my eyes, and when I took my hands away, it was gone.

I dare say that it freaked me out a little bit. I ran to my son's bedroom and he was still fast asleep.

When my wife returned the next day, I told her about it. She's not a complete skeptic, but she also believes that our minds can play tricks on us especially when we are tired or stressed. With the upcoming move, we were both but I started to suspect that Loco and Speed weren't that imaginary after all.

Cut to the night before the move. My wife was asleep next to me, I was scrolling through my phone (as one does when you can't sleep) and I swear I heard the sound his little feet made when running down the passage towards our room, and then abruptly stop. I was expecting to see the usual sleepy little face appear around the door and ask to sleep in our bed, so I waited, and waited, and waited for what must have been about 5 minutes. I was just about to get up and check if he hadn't fallen asleep on the floor or something to that effect, when my wife suddenly wakes, reaches out as if to pick him up onto the bed, and realize that there was no-one there. She turned to me, eyes wide, and asks where our son is. I told her I'd check. I got up, walked to his room (he wasn't in the passage), saw he was still in his bed and walked back to our room. By this time she was wide awake. I told her that he was still in his bed and asked her if she had had a bad dream. She said no, but she could swear that she had felt his hand on her arm and heard his voice say, "Come come, wake up mommy."

We chatted about it for a while, checked on him a few times and eventually went back to sleep.

On the second evening that we were in the new house, we were unpacking dishes in the kitchen; our son was playing in his new room upstairs, when we hear a door slam shut. We both called out but got no reply. I was halfway up the stairs, when I hear the door open and our son came running out of his room, tears streaming down his face. I took the last 3 or 4 steps in one bound, grabbed him thinking he may be hurt, and asked him what was wrong.

After he calmed down he said that Loco didn't like the new house and was being nasty and had scared him and slammed his door. I said to him that I thought Loco couldn't come with us to the new house. He said, no, only Speed didn't come but Loco did.

Now I may not be a mamma bear, but don't mess with my boy. I barged into his room and put it very bluntly to this Loco that he is NOT to scare Connor and that I think it is time for him to go back to where he came from. Connor said that Loco was gone.

The next night, we were playing a game in the lounge, Connor likes to build "Forts" (which is basically just him throwing a blanket over his head) when all of a sudden he stops, looks past me at the stairs, gets a frightened look on his face and throws the blanket over his head. I ducked under the blanket and asked him what was wrong. He said that Loco was on the stairs and he was angry at me for telling him to go away. I pulled the blanket off my head and turned to look at the stairs but didn't see anything. I did however feel a bit of tension from that area. I ducked under the blanket again and told him that I couldn't see Loco. He looked again and said that he was still there. Apparently Loco had changed and was now tall and thin with long fingers and sharp teeth and he was angry.

I told him that Loco couldn't hurt us because I wouldn't let him. I got up and told Connor to follow me. We went to my "special" cupboard and the two of us began cleansing the house (I made him part of it so as to give him confidence, although it was mostly lost on him).

When we were done, I asked him if Loco was still in the house and he said no. Since then he has not seen or heard from Loco again.

Now I realize that this could all be attributed to an over active imagination on his part and the stress of moving and all that comes with it on ours but I am interested to hear what you all think. I find it strange that I never once got a negative feeling when in the old house or the new. The only time I felt anything, and it was only briefly, was when he said that Loco was on the stairs.