Like many small children, I had imaginary friends. I remember meeting the first one when I was four. She was under my bed and I bade her to come out and play with me. Her name sounded like Toothica (sounds odd, huh?). She lived in a parallel universe and sometimes other "people" would come over and play with us. I only went to her "land" once, at night as I was falling asleep. There were kings and queens and I was ageless in that land. When I was older and read the Narnia tales, it reminded me of my time there. I wasn't a child in that land. I remember pretending she was around long after she actually left. I think now that she must have lived on the astral plane. Perhaps she was one of those beings called a "fairy" by earlier cultures.

When I was in Jr. High, a southern Baptist friend of mine scared me with tales of Satanism and predictions of doom when Ozzie Osborne was coming to play at a local coliseum. I was so frightened that I slept with the Bible under my pillow. I kept this up for years. I never experienced any demons or evil spirits, but...