Is your child's imaginary friend really a 'ghost'?

If your child has an imaginary friend they may have a connection to the spirit world, according to psychic Denise Litchfield.

“I know from plenty of anecdotal evidence and personally as well, that usually if you’re a child and you have an imaginary friend a lot of them aren’t actually imaginary, they are from [a] spirit.”

Litchfield, who’s well known as a ghost-whisperer, doesn’t like to describe them as ghosts because of the word’s negative connotations.

“Usually it’s a relative,” she says.

“It’s usually someone that has come back from [a] spirit that they know or is a relative because –  why wouldn’t you? They’re watching over the child.”

“It’s never some random freaky thing.”

Denise Litchfield says she helped a spirit “move on” from this house. Image supplied.

The Sydney based psychic says children haven’t been clouded with a “rational mind” and are much more likely to be able to see dead people.

“Often [a] spirit does look like a shadow, you can’t quite see them, they are a little bit misty,” she says.

“They just look like shadow people and a lot of people describe them…Remember it is a child’s mind and so we see what we think looks like a monster or a shadow.”

One sceptical father tells me his son had an imaginary friend for about eight months, named Kolya, and he loved everything his son, Simon*, did.

“As for seeing ghosts, I err more on the side of scepticism,” says the father-of-one.

“I’d say it’s more a developmental thing where they start to see themselves as a person distinct from others, and working through that by means of an imaginary friend is a good way to start creating and understanding differences in people.”

Another parent, Tegan Gilchrist, says her two-year-old son, Atticus, has an imaginary pet.

“His friend’s name is ‘Sniffles’, he is a red puppy dog who sleeps in a cave in our bathroom,” she says.

“They do all sorts of things together. Sometimes Sniffles is in our car on the way to day-care getting a pat.”

Sniffles has been around for about three months and Atticus’ mother plays along.

“We were quite excited because we thought it was fairly imaginative play for someone who was just two-years-old.  It appears more like them trying to reconcile things going on in their lives.”

Denise says her dog used to help her with her work. Image supplied. 

Ghost-whisperer Denise Litchfield also had her own imaginary friend –  but it was in the form of a white teddy bear who she says would speak to her.

“I was so attached to it. It used to comfort me and talk to me and you project so much love into it that no wonder a spirit would want to jump in there and be the recipient of all those gorgeous loving cuddles.”

The ghost-whisper, who has helped remove unwanted guests from homes in Sydney, says there’s no need to afraid of ghosts – especially around children.

“You don’t get spirits that hang around kids to disturb them,” she says.

“I believe children are completely protected in their own way. It’s almost like they have their own guardian angels around them,” she says.

“I know there are people looking out for them on the other side that just won’t let that happen.”

*Simon’s name has been changed.

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