6yo too scared to be on his own and it's driving me mad

I would buy a galaxy light projector for night times and find ways to relax him.

He seems to have developed separation anxiety so look into ways to deal with that.

Watch Harry and the Hendersons, tell him that's what Sasquatch is 😄 x

My girl is 6 and has intense emotions sometimes so I get you :)
We had a monster fear last year or the year before. We made some monster spray, put some signs on her door to say no monsters/aliens allowed but fairy's and cousins are 😂 then I told her no monsters are allowed in the house. I won't let them, and it was hey did sneak past me I'd punch it on the nose. Very elaborate but it eventually worked!
We also have a Yoto box that doubles up as a nightlight for bed time. I hope it fixes soon!

someone at school told him a scary story about a statue in a basement that kept moving when he didn’t look at it

That sounds like the Weeping Angels from Doctor Who. They were scary.

If you want silly friendly Sasquatch books - this one is sweet - it’s a bit young for him but still fun. And the Sasquatch is a big friendly goof

www.amazon.co.uk/Dressed-Sasquatch-Hazy-Press-Monster/dp/0996578730

The oldest trick in the book is of course to get him to imagine the Sasquatch on the loo …might lighten the mood too

We had this - it was DS2 who is generally my most anxious child .

We put some of his favourite toys to guard the under the bed area which helped .

He also went through a phase of not wanting to be on a different level to me though I can’t remember what solved it really - I think it just gradually improved .

I would be alert to the anxiety though - it’s been a real issue with DS2 though the pandemic hasn’t helped

Occasionally my grandchildren say things about “monsters” etc and about feeling afraid. I tell them there’s nothing like that in my house because I’m in charge here and I absolutely do not allow it.

I remember as a child having very strong impressions of a terrifying ‘presence’ in my home. I also suffered from awful nightmares, almost every night.

Since I became a Christian and became involved in deliverance ministry I understand what the source of these were and I forbid anything of that nature to enter my home.

That makes sense to me. I’m terrified of daddy long legs, which is ridiculous and totally irrational. I’ve told myself that plenty of times. It makes no difference at all.

If all else fails, OP, I’d try to cope with it at least for a while - bearing in mind there will come a day when he won’t want you around … my DSs are 24 and 16.

When DS1 was afraid of 'monsters' at night we got him a can of 'Monster Spray'. It was basically air freshener, but was labeled and marketed as Monster Spray.

We sprayed it in his room at bedtime, it worked for him. I supposed you'd have to spritz the whole house, though.

Also, I'm in the US and there was a family movie called "Harry and the Hendersons" about a family and their encounter with a Sasquatch. I don't know if it would help him to see a 'non-threatening' Sasquatch, but if it's streaming watch it first and decide if it might help him get over his fear.

Could you do similar? Tell him to imagine the Sasquatch shrinking until it was small enough to kick it in the bin and pour some baked beans on it or something??

Mine wasn’t ever this scared of imaginary things so this may not work, but someone at school told him a scary story about a statue in a basement that kept moving when he didn’t look at it and it was keeping him awake.
We tackled it with humour. I told him to imagine the statue shrinking so it was absolutely tiny and then kicking it out of the window (trying to make it jokey) then we started talking about all the things we could do to it now it was tiny. We talking about flushing it down the toilet ‘with all the wee and poo’ and all sorts of other stuff. By the end of it, we were both in absolutely stitches and it never bothered him again

I don't know if you remember "momo" a few years ago? It was supposed to be all over the internet - a weird face picture/sculpture thing based on a famous picture.

It was talked about at school. I bet my ds was about 6 at the time. He was utterly terrified to the point I had to go to bed with him to get him to sleep. Turned out I was just about the only parent in the class who hadn't told their child about it.

I persuaded him to have a look at a picture on my phone (so a small picture, not on an iPad or laptop). Took the heat out of things in seconds. Nowhere near as bad as what he was imagining.

The anticipation/fear of something all the kids in his class were worrying about was truly awful for him but he was ok after that x

I think it's very common in kids of that age, my daughter was like this for a couple of years (luckily she shared a room with her sister) and nothing I said or did made it any better, I just had to let her grow out of it unfortunately. She's now a teenager and doesn't like being in the same room as anyone for very long 😂

The exposure therapy is gold standard for addressing anxiety, its best to scaffold into it.

So you are in a room doing something and he has to stay in the doorway with the door open for 5 mins before he can come in the room for cuddles and praise, then 10 mins, then 15 mins…its a good time for him to practice his reading or sums. Then he goes back to 5 mins but he has to be in the other room, but you can be in view, then up the time. Then go to in the next door room but out of sight, and up the times. Then try door closed with you chatting to each other, then door closed without chatting. Etc etc

The more you practice the easier it will get

A lot of fear is of the unknown. I agree exposure will help. Let him learn more about it. That sightings have all been in North America/Canada but no one has ever proved it’s real. Scientists believe it’s people being mistaken or just making it up.

Has he seen Monsters Inc? Scary monsters turn out to be not at all scary, and are more frightened of children.

Or perhaps a binge-watching session of Scooby Doo - all the monsters turn out to be evil real estate developers in masks...

DD (10yo) has had same last 6m (at least) very smart girl (imho) her room across from her... getting better... obvs freaked out it being something 'darker' but can't imagine when that might have occurred, spent dozens of hours thinking about it, taken here to GP and other consultations and honestly (and i give a sh!t obvs) think is an age thing, poss in her case hormonal so maybe not same for a 6yo.... Good luck, i hope (and expect) it will pass (albeit i am no expert, just a parent of 3....)

Bit out there but how about getting him to dress up as it? I bet he’d find it fun and it might just re-wire his brain to see that it’s just pretend and a bit of fun.

Maybe ‘Kill” the susquach
Give your son the power to kill it so no longer exists in his imagination in the house?

It’s frustrating but remember you’re the adult, he’s 6 and can’t regulate his emotions and feelings like you. Just humour him, reassuring him until he’s ready.

I grew up in an old house, I fully believe now at 49yo it was haunted. I was scared at times. I actually made myself ill because I was too scared to go upstairs to the toilet on my own. I spent years as a child with uti’s and kidney infections because I’d hold my self if no one would come upstairs with me.

All my DDs have gone through clingy phases, I just reassured them they were allowed to feel the way they did and it was ok Daddy and I are always here and each phase passed.

Always dismiss scary school stories with humour turn them into something funny and they become less scary.

We had a similar issue with my DS. We had no success trying to convince him that the Monster was not real. Emotions such as fear are stronger than rational arguments. That's true for adults as well as children. What worked for us was convincing DS that our large cat had fought the monster and killed it. For the next few weeks we let DS have the cat in his bedroom at night for protection. I'm not sure if that helps.

It might be a really silly idea but we watched Harry & the Henderson’s with the kids the other day.. Harry is a Sasquatch but he’s daft and funny and quite cute really. Maybe if you watched it together, being able to laugh at it might help detract from the scariness of the idea he has in his mind?

My mum had similar with my brother.

Between them they designed a 'friendly monster' which my mum drew. If he was ever in danger his friendly monster would come to protect him.

I have no idea if it would work with your DC.