Is having an imaginary friend as a child actually real, or is it just an invention of hollywood?

Hallucinations no but a vivid imagination and impressionable mind yes. I was a big scenario creator!

I don’t think all children have imaginary friends, but it does happen, and to varying degrees. When I was little, I used to pretend that someone lived in a little space in the wall where a piece of baseboard would come loose and there was a gap. I knew it was pretend. On the other hand, my oldest son swore there was a “white man” who would visit him in his room for a while. It passed. None of my other kids did things like that.

I did, actually. From what I’m told, I had an imaginary friend who I called “Magalyn”, and she had green hair and wings that changed colours. I don’t remember believing in her (I was very young when I started telling stories about her), but I fondly remember playing-pretend “with” her.

My brother had one.
He was the middle child. I wonder if there are any studies about which child you are and having an imaginary friend?

I was the oldest. Mom said I had an imaginary friend named Mackwards. That’s what Mom said. I don’t remember.

I had one, his name was notme, the only time he was ever mentioned was if anything around the house got broke during the rough & tumble that three brothers of a similar age tend to have as younguns.
I remember vividly blaming my imaginary mate when my mam asked which one of us caused the damage, “not me” came the cry, from all of us funnily enough.

My mom told me that I did have one, but I’d change the name on the daily.
I wasn’t a very social child, so I guess this was normal?—haha.

Youngest of four here. The imaginary friend’s name was Julie. She kept me company when the older siblings were at school and Mom was doing mom things.

Another friend was Whistle, but he was real. He would visit me in the evenings while I was taking a bath. He would whistle and I would talk, but we understood each other perfectly. Years later, my brother confessed that he would slip into the bathroom and hide behind the tile wall between the toilet and the tub and become Whistle.

That is cool, @Pied_Pfeffer!

Welcome to Fluther @FeelTheBern!

Oh, I could tell you the truth of it, but you’d reject it out right…....soooooo…..

you ever stopped having one?

Always wondered the same thing. My sister and I never had any and I can’t think of any friends that did, either.

No I had Atari. I did play chess against what I thought was my split personality .

For years I thought I was the only one with imaginary friends. I had many of them as a child. We often played together when there was no one to play with me. Mostly we acted out scenes from movies and cartoon, and my make-up ones. Once I tried to introduce them to my real friends they laughed and ridiculed me for “not growing up”. We were all 5 at that time.

I didn’t have hallucinations but I had loads of loads on imaginary friends because I have a vivid imagination. All the kids on my street had imaginary friends too.

My sister had an imaginary friend. She would talk to her and about her. I don’t know when she started perceiving her friend to be there, why it happened or when it stopped. I do believe in her mind, her friend was real.

I was first born, four years older than my sister was. Between the ages of five and seven, I had a cadre of three imaginary friends. One of them was a friendly snake that walked on its tail. I was the leader and we fought fires and criminals. When my family moved to another state my imaginary friends did not come with us, and I missed them.

Among young children, the dividing line between real and imaginary is not very well defined. Think of the comfort some children get in hanging onto their teddy bears.

Gosh. There was a bugs bunny cartoon when Bugs threw a black “hole” on the ground and jumped into it. I asked Mom to make me one. She did, out of black material. I put it on the floor of the living room and stared at it in terror. It was real to me.

@LostinParadise I’ve had my favorite stuffed bear for 25 years now. He was very much alive to me. Think of The Velveteen Rabbit and that’s Fatso for me. I even used to feed him as the dark stains on his mouth prove. Lol So maybe I do have to slightly change my answer since he was 100% alive to me. Even now, I have trouble thinking about him like just a stuffed animal. We went through too much together. :D

The scientific view of the world, even among adults, does not come naturally. When the Greek philosopher Thales declared that the world was not run by the gods but by scientific law, this was regarded as a radical idea. Isn’t the animistic belief in a world of spirits akin to having imaginary friends?