"Calm down, what happened?" I asked to Anthony, the only witness to the incident.

"There!" the young man pointed at the kitchen door. "It went out that way! It went under the door."

I walked to the door. "Here?" I pointed to the slit between the floor and door itself.

He nodded.

I knelt down. I looked closer at the doggy door.
I ran my finger along the top. Dusty.
But the rest was clean as if it had been used.
I smiled. "Thanks, Anthony."
I stood up.
I asked his parents. "You have a dog?"

"It's been a while," the dad told me.

I nodded. I smiled.

"What do you think it was?"

I shrugged. "A stray wandered in. Anthony scared it out."

The mom cocked her head.

"You said you keep the garage door open a fair bit, right?"

"Yeah."

"Let me do some research. I'll get back to you in a couple of days.
In the meantime, I wouldn't be worried. Keep your doors locked.
Here's my card, call anytime, no matter what, ok?"

They nodded, smiling. "Ok. Thanks again, Sebastian."

I winked.

So.
Here's the question.
What medium-dog-sized creature can squeeze itself into less than 1" vertical space?

The private line rang at 6:30AM today. Anthony saw another monster; this time, it tried to bite him. And like last time it escaped from under the door. Mom was blow drying her hair and never heard a thing, until she hear Anthony screaming from his bedroom.

I arrived. Mom was holding Anthony at her side. "It's OK, honey, we'll get rid of the monster." Anybody could have detected the venom in her voice. Dad's eye rolling was also quite obvious. And telling.

So. I announced, "I think I know what's going on here."

Anthony's monster has been verified and validated by Mom, even though she never saw it. And if Anthony has seen it once and everybody tells him he saw a monster, invariably, he's going to see it again. Especially when he wants attention. Or when he wants his parents to stop fighting. Reinforcing this monster culture is not healthy for the young Anthony. Taking verbal jabs at the Dad isn't going to help either.

I pulled them to the side. "Anything going on in Anthony's life that might cause him to crave extra attention, to be nervous, stressed, or otherwise anxious?"

Mom stared daggers at me.

Dad sighed. "We were fighting. We're getting separated."

She snapped up straight. "Darren! This is NOT any of his business."

"It is and stop wasting his time with your games."

"Both of you. Stop." I cleared my throat. "You all do what you gotta do in regards to your marriage, but be mindful of the affects on Anthony. Don't use him to attack each other. Don't try to turn him against the other."

She didn't like that one bit. Struck a nerve? Or totally missed the mark? "Get out of my house!"

Struck a nerve. Definitely.

"Oh, it's your house now?" the dad protested with venom.

I put up my hand "j-j-j-j!" I gave them another card. "Call this number, attend at least five sessions, and I'll refund your payments to me for services rendered. I'll refund in full."

Money talks. It's usually the loudest voice in the room.

So. I was talking it over with Peter, my business partner and co-investigator. We got down to the business of finding an explanation.

I had searched the grimoires all along my library shelf, poked around online, and called a few monster hunters I know. Nothing specifically squeezing through small spaces, but a lot of candidates. Even went so far as to consider that maybe the thing can pass through solid matter (apport), but even for Anthony's imagination that's not rational, so he decided it passed under the door, which is somehow more rational.

Then there is the explanation that Anthony's imagination took over as a result of psychological stresses and forces that triggered the episodes as a sort of defense mechanism and a way to take control of a situation over which he has no control.

As usual I'll give them a call back in a few months to see how things are going.

If your preference is Sebastian, then let it be so.

Unfortunately there was nothing left behind whatsoever.
Physical descriptions from Anthony were not helpful. All I
got from him was an approximate size and shape: a medium
sized dog.

The kitchen experience may have actually happened.
But once attention was paid to the boy, and once his
experience was unquestioningly validated, and once he
saw his parents stop fighting and come together, then
another fight means another sighting.

In either case, the monster isn't quadrupedal but
it does have four legs: Anthony's parents. They're the
problem; they're the monster in this case. They're ruining
that boy's future as they fight against each other. I hope
that this experience illuminates as much to them.

With any luck they'll get their act together.

And that that boy doesn't get mauled by a monster. Don't forget that rational explanations aren't always the correct explanations.

Or at least not the entire explanation.

Yah...they have rats.....or a stray dog that likes their kitchen.

Not sure about the psychic vampire, do they normally manifest an image when they feed? I haven't run into any personally so wouldn't know for sure. The kid being a power is somewhat more plausable, stress and the energy his parents are throwing around while fighting could trigger either second sight or ectoplasmic forms, kind of his own dark desires being made real.

Shadow hounds? Last I heard those hung out mostly in New England area, and usually around crossroads.

Good luck guys.

Here's a scary thought....

What if its not the kid that is generating it....what if it is the parents?

All the negativity could spwan something.....the more negativity...the stronger it gets...and the bigger and more dangerous it becomes.

What if it is manipulating the parents now in order to feed....

What if it sees the kid a s a threat now and decides to "feed" on the kid?

Like I said..just a thought?

If they have to call him before his follow up, then I'd really push for looking into it more.

Sounds like a shade of the sort brought forth by ambitious magicians to me, anyone check to see who in the family may work magics? Or perhaps an enemy of the family with such an inclination?

Mr. Caliburn, your theory on the family murder cases is corect far too often for my liking. The Kami feed upon mankind, most content to accept whatever energies and emotions are offered to them at household shrines and various temples. There are those however, who have been severed from their sustenance - often in their desperation they do whatever they can to remind us they are there. The more they are ignored, the more malicious their attempts to get attention become. Once a lost Kami kills a person in it's hunger and rage, it realizes that it gets a large meal by devouring the life force as it escapes the victim. It is at this point that the Kami becomes dangerous, using it's abilities to cause the deaths of those around it - all in the name of feeding. Often such a Kami was once the spirit of one of the families ancestors, causing them to bring pain and sorrow to their own defendants. This is when it is (was?) customary to seek the aid of a Shinto priest, in order to either placate the angry Kami and convince it to assume once again it's role of protector, or failing that to render the maddened spirit harmless by whatever means is necessary.

If she was being honest on the survey I gave them,
the mom played Ouija as a teen. She dabbled in Tarot in college.
She claims to have seen a ghost and absolutely believes in
psychic powers and the supernatural.

What's insubstantial about it? They agreed to marriage counseling and attended the first session on Friday. No more "monsters" reported. It's pretty clear the boy conjured up the monster in attempts to bring the uncontrollable under control. It's pretty common thing for children to make things up in such situations. In severe and prolonged cases it leads to Dissociative Disorders and the like. I'm happy we got this one nipped before it got out of hand.

Hopefully that's the end of it. There are demons that feed on negative energy, and who can escape using any means necessary. If this was a demon, and the counseling helps, then this still *should* be nipped.

Either way, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

The kitchen light wasn't pink.
And there were no happy thoughts.

That does not make any sense.
You mean with your mind or you just bought the wrong colors of cellophane?

Have there been any new developments?