How a pharmacist's prescription for 'Monster Spray' helped a Prince George boy brave the dark

Monsters under the bed are no match for a Prince George boy, who found the antidote to his fears thanks to a local pharmacist's crafty concoction.

Worried about what lurks in the nighttime, seven-year-old Jakob has been sneaking into his parents' bed lately, and his mother, Heather Garfield, knew she had to do something to ease his anxiety.

"He's been having some trouble with fears at night and what lies in the darkness, what's outside his bedroom, what's under his bed," she told CBC's Radio West's Sarah Penton.

Years ago, Garfield's older son had some of the same fears at bedtime. He came up with a "monster spray" to spritz around his room at night to keep the monsters away, she said.

But Jakob wasn't going to blindly believe in any old home remedy.

"He's a little too smart for his own good sometimes," Garfield said. "So I had to make it quite official."

She headed down to the Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacy with a strange request: a bottle of monster spray. Or at least something that looks like it.

"She told me that she had one kind of weird request," pharmacy manager Jepal Patel said. 

"I wanted to help her ... I really loved her idea."

Minutes later, Garfield left with Jakob's new secret weapon: a spray bottle complete with an official pharmacy label including Jakob's name and instructions for use.

"Spray around bedroom at night before bedtime and repeat if needed."

The ingredients for monster spray? Well, that's top secret, but water is one of them.

'If monster spray is real that means monsters are real'

Garfield added a bit of lavender oil for extra protection against monsters and handed Jakob the bottle. She posted a photo of the bottle and the story behind it in her local Facebook group, where it's been shared thousands of times.

Some parents say they've borrowed the idea for their own children.

As for how well it worked, Garfield said she found Jakob at her bed the first night.

"He looks at me and says, 'Mom I think it's just water,'" Garfield said.

It took a bit of convincing, but Garfield managed to get Jakob to go back to sleep, and understand that with his special spray, he'd be safe.

"He said, 'Well mommy, if monster spray is real that means monsters are real."

But maybe now, at least, they'll stay under the bed.