Many moons ago, after a game of hide and seek, one of the neighborhood kids told us that whenever you said the phrase, you were supposed to say a little mantra afterward, because it wasn't just calling the other kids out of hiding. It was also telling the monsters they could come out.

Some of use laughed and told her that was dumb.

But later that day, I couldn't help wondering, and I'm sure some of the others did too, "what if she was right?"
I was a scaredy-cat, so from then on, I always said the mantra under my breath anyway, just to keep the monsters from coming.
I thought I was a real hero.