When friends get together, they usually talk about their careers, love lives or even how little Johnny is doing at school.

But not me and my friends. We discuss creepy things that’d scare the pants off any normal human being. We even eat ice cream while we do it.

And I know this sounds – well, crazy – but my friend is about 1000% certain that her son’s imaginary friend is real. She was confused at first, but she thinks he’s been talking to a kid named Clara who died nine years ago.

Umm, do you want to fetch the holy water, or shall I?

Okay, let’s start from the beginning.

My friend, Rachel, her husband, Andrew and their two sons, Oliver and Max moved into a wonderful Sydney home earlier this year. It’s located in a safe area, it’s spacious and the neighbours even feed them banana bread occasionally.

What more could they possibly ask for? Well, I don’t know. Maybe that their house not be haunted, for a start.

Yes, probably better if their house wasn't haunted. (Image via iStock)

Over coffee last week, Rachel revealed that four-year-old Oliver began talking about a girl named ‘Clara’ a few weeks after the family moved into their new home.

“We thought nothing of it,” Rachel said. “Kids have imaginary friends all the time. I’ve heard that some people think they’re actually ghosts and that kids are more open-minded, which is why they can see them. But to be honest, I thought that was stupid.”

And so Rachel and Andrew merely chalked Clara’s existence up to a case of overactive childhood imagination.

But then one night Oliver’s six-year-old brother, Max asked his mother why she hadn’t set a place at the table for ‘Clara – Oliver’s friend – the one with the dark hair.’

“It was a bit eerie,” Rachel said. “I remember thinking ‘what the actual f*ck?’ Max has always been a serious kind of kid. He even knows Santa doesn’t exist. We didn’t tell him, obviously – he just somehow knew. He’s smart. How could he possibly think Clara exists?”

But again, the idea that she was indeed a ghost only fleetingly crossed Rachel and Andrew’s minds. Perhaps it was more believable that two young children could believe in an imaginary human being, rather than the notion that a dead girl was living in their home.

"Rachel and Andrew merely chalked Clara’s existence up to a case of overactive childhood imagination." (Image via iStock.)

Either way, the strange things didn’t stop there.

Oliver talked about Clara constantly. He made Rachel sing to her at night, he stayed awake chatting to her and he even asked his parents to buy her new clothes.

And it continued for months.

“By this time, we were growing tired,” Rachel admitted. “He was relentless. It was like she was his best friend. But how could we tell him to stop talking about her? We had no idea what to say, and we still don’t. He’s a four-year-old kid. We didn’t want to tell him he was lying.”

One night, things escalated and Rachel and Andrew engaged in “a huge fight full of many tantrums and tears”. Andrew wanted to confront their son so that they could put Clara to bed once and for all. However, Rachel was much more apprehensive, as all she wanted to do was protect Oliver.

The pair eventually compromised by deciding to wait it out a few more weeks. If nothing changed, they agreed they would take some kind of action.

But things only got worse.

“It’s like a switch was flipped,” Rachel said. “They were small, explainable things at first, like random blackouts and flashing lights. But then things started breaking. I kid you not, random objects fell off the counter and the computer keyboard started typing random letters. My exercise ball even started bouncing by itself. I also heard strange noises and saw black shadows. I honestly can’t explain it.”

This family may have felt like they were living the start of a horror movie, but these are truly the scariest movies of all time.(WARNING: This list contains lots of horror as well as heaps of spoilers. Post continues after gallery)

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