Nationality: American

Age: 22

Occupation: Student 

Residence: Orange County, CA, USA

Date: 04/02/2025 

Language: English

Description: 

When I was in preschool, my teacher told me this story about the belly button snatcher. Basically, she told me there was this boy, right? And he goes to bed one night, and his mom says, you have to pull the sheets up all the way up to your chest, so you sleep well. And he says, I don’t want to do that, I don’t want to do that. So he pulls the sheets all the way down, so his whole belly is exposed. And his mom’s saying you have to pull your sheets up otherwise. The belly button snatcher’s going to come. He says there’s no such thing as the belly button snatcher. That’s stupid mom! You know, because he’s like a young boy. And so she says, okay, well, good night. And so he goes to sleep and the sheets are down by his feet because he refused to pull him up over his belly button. And he wakes up the next morning and he goes…and he drinks some orange juice. His mom makes him a nice breakfast, so he has some cereal, some orange juice, and he’s drinking the orange juice, and his shirt gets all wet. And he’s like, what’s going on? And he lifts up his shirt, and there’s a hole! And the orange juice is coming out of his belly button. And he’s eating his cereal, and there’s a hole! So cereal’s coming out of his belly button. And it’s getting all over his lap. And he’s like, what’s going on? So he gets up and he goes and takes a bath to try to clean himself off. And he gets in the bath, he starts filling up like a balloon. Because all the water is going in its belly button. So, he gets out the bath, and he drains out his belly button, and he goes Mom! Mom! I don’t have a belly button anymore. And she goes, the belly button snatcher came! He snatched your belly button. And I don’t know how it ends. And I don’t know if he ever got his belly button back. But it was basically, she scolded him for not having the blanket all the way up above his belly button.

Subject’s opinion:

Subject:  I don’t know if it was like a thing where it’s supposed to be…You’re supposed to keep warm at night, or you’re supposed to protect yourself at night? 

Interviewer:  That sounds like it. You’re supposed to keep warm because you get sick. 

Subject: Right? Yeah, but it is literally…I’ve spent, like, a good three years at that age, really paranoid about the belly button snatcher. Like, I couldn’t go to sleep. I would be sweating in bed, but I couldn’t go to sleep unless I had the sheets all the way up because I was so nervous. It’s like the same thing as when they tell you not to stick your foot over the side of the bed, because, like, someone’s gonna eat it or something.

Analysis: 

Based on the subject’s interpretation, the belly button snatcher is both an urban legend and a cautionary tale. While the subject denies the truth value of the tale in the present, her past belief in the story indicates a successful spread and reinforcement of a certain way of behavior that parents expect in their children. The story features key traits of a classic tale, utilizing only two characters and the repeated depiction of how losing a belly button negatively affects the boy character. This pushes the listeners, who are usually children, towards the belief that it’s dangerous to sleep without a blanket. It’s a classic example of a legend informing common beliefs that kids carry into adulthood.