My 5-Year-Old Daughter Asked Why ‘Mr. Tom’ Only Comes at Night When I’m Asleep – I Don’t Know Any Toms, So I Set Up a Camera in Her Room and Waited

My five-year-old gives names to everything. Her stuffed rabbit is Gerald, her favorite blanket is Princess Cloud, and—apparently—the man who comes to see her at night is called “Mr. Tom.”
The problem was, I didn’t know anyone named Tom.

So I installed a camera in her bedroom.
What I saw on that footage made the air leave my lungs.

It all began the way most frightening things do—casually, in the middle of an ordinary moment. A random Wednesday morning over cereal.

Ellie sat at the kitchen table eating a bowl of Cheerios with the intense concentration she applies to everything she does. Without even looking up, she said, “Mr. Tom thinks you work too much, Mommy.”