Safe Under Blankets

"Why do we feel safe under blankets? It's not like a murderer will come in thinking 'I'm gonna ki...ah, damn! She's under a blanket!'"

— Internet Meme

Whether you're a little kid afraid of the monsters under your bed or a thunderstorm outside, or an adult trying to ignore someone, you'll find yourself throwing a blanket over your head in a vain effort to make the problem go away.

For some reason, people do seem to feel safer underneath a blanket. There are even several scientific theories as to why people do this. Some think it's an attempt to "swaddle" oneself like in infancy, or even to "crawl back into the womb".

They may or may not be hiding under a Security Blanket.

Not to be confused with Comforting Comforter.

Compare Ostrich Head Hiding, the stereotype of ostriches burying their heads in the sand when frightened. See also No Object Permanence.

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Examples:

Comic Strips

• Calvin and Hobbes have been known to do this.
  • One occasion had his parents go out for an evening and decide to leave him by himself, so, naturally, he and Hobbes get a scary movie. When his folks come home, they find him upstairs hiding under the covers and the room booby-trapped.
  • Another time they hear a monster under the bed. It claims to be alone, so Calvin thinks he and Hobbes can take it, but then they hear the monster arguing with others and they pull the covers over and yell for Mom.
• The Far Side had a strip for a snorkel allowing a child to breathe comfortably while hiding under the blankets (showing the kid doing just that while hiding from a dragon and a werewolf).

Fan Works

• A Certain Magical Friendship: In Context_SHIFT: "Assault on the City of Science - magicians_AND_espers": Fluttershy wants this, when the day needs saving:
  Unlike the others, Fluttershy hadn't moved from her spot in the park. She couldn't – if she tried, she was sure that she would just dive back down the hole to Humansville and hide under her covers, hoping desperately for someone much braver than her to save the day.
• Sorrowful and Immaculate Hearts series: Discussed during a Seinfeldian Conversation in "Gone Fishing". Clark claims that it's because ghosts can't pass through bedlinen, as evidenced by all those ghosts you see trapped under bedsheets.

Films — Animation

• In Turning Red, Mei hides under her blanket after panickedly running home from school. Unfortunately, since she does so while in her giant red panda form, it isn't big enough to cover her completely.

Films — Live-Action

• Don't Listen: One night, when Eric gets scared by the voices in the house, he hides under the bed sheets.
• Home Alone: Subverted then played straight. After the thieves come the first night, we see the bed in the master bedroom in the morning with a child-sized lump on it. Then the camera pans down to show Kevin under the bed. He then decides he's not going to be afraid and marches outside... where he runs into Old Man Marley. Kevin runs screaming back into the house, into the bed, and pulls the covers over his head. He stays there, refusing to move, even when a police officer comes by to check on him.
• Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom: At the end of the movie, Maisie tries to escape from the Indoraptor by hiding under her blankets. It doesn't work.
• The Wasteland (2021): At the start of the movie, Diego is hiding under his blankets, peeking out occasionally for anything that spooks him.

Literature

• A Series of Unfortunate Events: During the "What Shall we Do, Lemony Snicket?" Q&A section of one of the early books, one submitter is scared of noises in their closet and their username is Blanket Over My Head.
• Robert Sheckley's short story "Ghost V" serves as a "What Do They Fear?" Episode for his recurring troubleshooter characters Arnold and Gregor and sees them visit a planet whose atmosphere contains an unknown agent turning people's subconscious imagings into unreasonably realistic hallucinations. The protagonists only realize this as they are returning to Earth in their contaminated spaceship, and so must spend the trip defeating the monsters of their shared childhood by recalling the various creatures' Weaksauce Weaknesses. Unfortunately, the final monster has none. In order to outlast it, the duo eventually remembers the ultimate "universal law" of their childhood, that no monster can find you under a blanket, and simply hide in their bunks for the rest of the trip.
• Weaponized in Discworld against bogeymen (the traditional "bump in the night" monster): because putting yourself under a blanket causes them to go away, putting one under a blanket (or even a square of fabric) gives them an existential crisis.
• Were Going On A Bear Hunt ends with the family getting into bed and hiding under the covers after fleeing from the bear, then deciding that they're never going on a bear hunt again.

Live-Action TV

• Doctor Who: Played with in "Listen". A tense sequence involves a small figure hiding under a blanket, which might be a frightened boy or it might be the thing he's frightened of.
• WandaVision: In "Breaking the Fourth Wall" we first see Wanda lying in bed, recovering from Halloween, and then hiding under the comforter as the boys come charging in.

Podcasts

• The Magnus Archives episode 86 "Tucked In". The victim of the episode goes to look for an old friend but finds him dead and rotten- with his body under a blanket like he was hiding there. Soon the victim starts seeing a foul-smelling, shadowy creature sneaking around his room at night, that only stops moving when he hides under his blankets. The blankets don't save him, though.

Video Games

• The Sims 4 has a "Scared" mood when Sims can hide under their covers. This usually happens during a lightning storm. If autonomy is turned on, Sims will often try to do this without the player's prompting.

Webcomics

• Irrational Fears discusses our instinctual fears about monsters under the bed, and the corresponding instinctual feeling of safety under a blanket.
  […] it can't get you so long as you're completely underneath the blanket. If no skin is exposed, you might asphyxiate, but you're safe.
• Milk And Mocha occasionally shows the duo hiding under blankets, typically when watching scary movies or, more heartbreakingly, when the latter is overwhelmed by news about the ongoing pandemic.

Web Video

• This short horror film features a scared woman hiding under a blanket.
• Unwanted Houseguest: The entire Under the Covers album is filmed from this perspective.

Western Animation

• Rugrats (1991):
  • In the episode "Grandpa's Date", Tommy and Chuckie realize they were put to bed early by Grandpa Lou. When Tommy suggests they find out what's going on, Chuckie refuses to entertain the idea and pulls his blanket over his head.
  • In "Let There Be Light", Chuckie is afraid of the dark and hides under his blanket... but then, he realizes that it's dark under there, too.
  • In "Under Chuckie's Bed", Chuckie starts sleeping in a regular bed after Chas takes his old crib away. Angelica tells Chuckie a scary story about a boy who was eaten under his bed, saying that the safest place from monsters is under the covers. Chuckie wraps himself under them at the climax, and Tommy has to coax him to come out.
• A Charlie Brown Christmas: When Charlie Brown announces that Sally will be playing Linus' wife in the Christmas pageant, Linus immediately throws his blanket over his head when Sally gets too close.
• TaleSpin: At the end of "For a Fuel Dollars More", Baloo is recovering in the hospital after Rebecca's last great idea literally blew up (albeit with some help from him). When she starts going on about another crazy scheme, he moans and pulls his blanket up over his head.
• Mickey Mouse: In "The Scariest Story Ever", Mickey tells a scary story about a witch that bakes children into pies, which terrifies his and Donald's nephews, as well as Donald and Goofy, and makes them all run upstairs and hide under the covers. When Mickey thinks he sees the witch from his story at his door (actually Minnie in costume), he goes up and joins them.
• In The Simpsons episode "Homer Goes to College", Homer's wacky hijinks leave him completely unprepared for the final exam, until he comes up with a plan:
  Homer: I've been working on a plan. During the exam, I'll hide under some coats, and hope that somehow everything will work out.
• In a Robot Chicken sketch, a couple of monsters sarcastically lament that they can't get a kid under the covers... and then bust out the baseball bats.

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