Imaginary Friends

In a recently published study, researchers at the Universities of Washington and Oregon have reported finding that two-thirds of children invent imaginary friends. I, of course, never had an imaginary friend as a child. That ten-foot-tall rabbit who lived in my closet was very real.

Psychology

Posted on Wed Dec 08, 2004


Comments

Two-thirds? Wow... Just more evidence that I was a strange kid. I never had any imaginary friends, even though I was lonely and unsociable enough that I would have been the ideal type to create some.
Posted by John  on  Wed Dec 08, 2004  at  08:26 PM
i had one named max... I either forgot about him or got bored with him...
Posted by Jacob  on  Wed Dec 08, 2004  at  09:40 PM
My cousin had an imaginary friend named Bob the Robot. I never had imaginary friends, per se, because any personality I made up I knew wasn't real (and I still have plenty of those).
Posted by James D  on  Wed Dec 08, 2004  at  11:43 PM
i never had imaginary friends, im pretty sure i used to try and invent them to seem more normal but alas to no avail
Posted by joeodd  on  Thu Dec 09, 2004  at  06:37 AM
I never had one. I did give all of my toys their own 'voice'. My mom said I would have whole conversations between Barbie, Ken, the Convertable, Raggedy Anne, & every now & again a G.I. Joe. Each figure had a different voice. According to my mom they mostly argued about who was going to be my best friend.
Posted by Maegan  on  Thu Dec 09, 2004  at  08:12 AM
It seems as if the 1/3 of children who didn't have imaginary friends are the only ones posting comments on the weblog.

(How many johns are there on museumofhoaxes?)
Posted by John  on  Thu Dec 09, 2004  at  03:41 PM
Do imaginary girlfriends count?
Posted by Charybdis  on  Thu Dec 09, 2004  at  03:43 PM
I had a couple of imagianery mates. Didnt do much, just told my real friends about how popular I was outside of school.
Posted by amy  on  Thu Dec 09, 2004  at  04:22 PM
That doesn't scare me, Paul. My imaginary rabbit friend protects me from all evildoers.
Posted by The Curator  in  San Diego  on  Thu Dec 09, 2004  at  07:02 PM
Well me and my friends had pretty elaborate fantasies in grade 6 (which is pretty old for that, I know.) Some stuff involving the silo beside the school, a necklace of hawaiian beads, ring-around-the-rosie and an imaginary (at least I thought so) friend who was a ghost (he got killed in a car accident with his mom) After a while we ran out of ideas.
Posted by Ariel  on  Fri Dec 10, 2004  at  06:23 PM
There has also been a study that some children who have imaginary friends may have had a twin in the womb that died off early, and it may be the imprint or spirit of that twin sibling they are responding to. In fact, a freind of mine was pregnant with twins and lost one early, and her daughter had an imaginary friend that she would report on daily, until the friend was in an accident and died. Who knows, maybe the time just came for the 'twin' to go, so that is how their imaginary play ended.
Posted by catlady  on  Wed Dec 15, 2004  at  12:14 AM
I had a imaginary friend Named bumbo (stupid yet satisfying) anyhu, he looked just like me (only better looking) and always better than me.... NOW I KNOW WHY I STOPPED TALKING TO HIM!
Posted by Hamor  on  Tue Jan 18, 2005  at  06:24 PM
Although I had a little brother as a companion and therefore had no need for an imaginary friend, here's a strange one: my ex-girlfriend was an only child, but she told me that, growing up, she had an imaginary friend that randomly showed up in the woods behind her home. Turns out the kid looked exactly like me, and possessed my personality. I guess I believed her. It was a neat story anyway...
Posted by Ethan Lee  on  Wed Apr 27, 2005  at  12:49 AM
I had a whole group of imaginary friends. cindy, bob, and joe. (this was a few years ago) . They prtected me from the evil skeleton in my closet.(He was scary...)
Posted by Cat  on  Fri Sep 02, 2005  at  05:51 AM
i had a imagnary bird who would attac my neighbors... but sadly joe the imagnary cat ate him up.
Posted by aggs  on  Fri Sep 23, 2005  at  01:06 PM
Do you realise that there are only around twenty replies to this, and all you have to do to find it is type 'bob the imaginary friend' into a search engine? I find this unnerving. then again, I find the fact that my school lacks the knowledge to figure out that the reason no one buys the chocolate milk is because it tastes like crap. That is all. for now. More later. TTFN!
Posted by Cat (yes, tis me again)  on  Fri Sep 23, 2005  at  01:07 PM
BUH-bye! X)
Posted by Cat  on  Fri Sep 23, 2005  at  01:09 PM
I never had an imaginary friend, i wanted 1, and dat doesnt mean i have no friend, it just loks really kool
Having a friend that is always there 4 u
Posted by Pplz used to call mi confetti  on  Fri Oct 14, 2005  at  04:00 AM
can some1 say how to make 1
PLZ, i want 1, even thou i am a bit old
*Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa*
lol, im 13, just kidding
but really, i want a friend dat wil always b dere 4 me

P.s, pplz = people, and they did really used to call me confetti, but i was fine with it
Posted by Pplz used to call mi confetti  on  Fri Oct 14, 2005  at  04:03 AM
i am doing some reserch and i can't seem to fined any thing about imaginary friends,
it is hard when you have to find research on them and you never had one
😡
Posted by hayley  on  Tue Jan 17, 2006  at  11:39 AM
i have a 11 year old douchter that has a imaginary friendis this normal?
Posted by hayley  on  Tue Jan 17, 2006  at  04:14 PM
My imaginary friend tells me to burn things.
Posted by Pro  on  Tue Jan 17, 2006  at  06:39 PM
:red: boo!
Posted by sam  on  Tue Jan 31, 2006  at  06:18 PM
I have an imaginary friend named Olaf. He is my Hubby now. 😛
Posted by Mwoopa  on  Sat Feb 04, 2006  at  05:10 PM
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