Since the dawn of time, magic has permeated the world. Before the world as lived now, there was a world full of magical creatures, spells, wizards and witches. Slowly though, the magical world died away due to a loss of belief and passion for the magical realm. Nevertheless, magic still permeates every part of our world today: from the changing of the seasons, to the laughing of newborn babies, to the dark creatures of the deep forests, to the sparkling of lovers' eyes, to the roots of bedtime stories and, most importantly, to the root of every child's dreaded fear of going to sleep at night because of the monster living in its closet.
Parents might think they created that myth to keep the children at bay and in their beds at night, but the parents got the idea from their own repressed memories of hearing the creaking and jostling in their closets during the deepest, darkest moments of night. The real origin of closet monsters lies within the parent of our world, magic. Our life today is full of magical creatures. However, because of our nearsightedness, phasing, and faithlessness, our eyes and hearts cannot see what really surrounds all life.
Take the mysterious creature of Big Foot, for example. Ever wonder why he is sighted all over the world? The creatures (for there are more than one) "Big Foot" are descendants of the great mountain giants that have lived in the forests of the world since the beginning when the trees talked amongst themselves. Butterflies were not always mute to the ears of human folk either. They were once great faeries who ruled the air. The disbelief and destroying nature of the human race slowly forced the faeries to withdraw themselves from all life into what we now see as just beautiful colorful moths. (My dearest dream is to see the faeries unleash themselves again and take the sky. I have read it is a sight not to miss.) The world we live in today is not so unmagical as everyone believes. In reality, magic is what makes this world go round. We would see it if we took a step back and looked hard enough.
Within this magical world, the creatures now known as closet monsters started their lives of fear. These monsters do exist. The slow creaking in your closet at night is real. The loud banging, the glimpses of fearful things when your closet door is cracked open: these are not just extremely great uses of the imagination. Way back when the world was vibrantly awake with faeries, trolls, witches, broomstick flying wizards, giants and unicorns (which are now horses: silent dull creatures) there was a creature feared amongst all: the Bogart. Bogarts lived in the dark recesses of logs, underneath rickety old bridges, abandoned homes, wardrobes, and chests. Those who found one were soon face to face with what they feared the most. Bogarts, to protect themselves, change shapes and become the worst fear of whomever faces them. Bogarts live off of and relish fear. Some magical creatures in the early days could battle them with simple spells, but as magic dwindled into near existence, so did knowledge of how to get rid of these creatures (which is dreadfully sad because the true way of victoriously getting rid of a Bogart is hard, true laughter).
As the world grew smaller and smaller with technology and urbanization, the Bogarts' living quarters diminished to closets and sometimes the space between beds and floorboards. Eyes and ears do not usually see and hear magic today because of the chaos and trivial distractions, but in the dead of night, when one's imagination is on fire, the locked magic hearing parts of our ears unlock and you hear it all.
Since the dawn of time, magic has permeated our world. We've just been too daft, dull, and busy to see it.
**Thanks for J.K. Rowling's The Prisoner of Azkaban for instigating the idea.
