Young children can often complain about monsters in the night keeping them awake, but for one unlucky American youngster their fears about uninvited visitors came true.

When putting the child to bed at their home in the city of Great Bend, Kansas, a babysitter was told by the kid there was a “monster” hiding in the room.

To reassure them there was nothing to worry about, she looked under the bed, but came “face to face” with a man hiding there, Barton County Sheriff’s Office said.

“An altercation ensued with the babysitter and one child was knocked over in the struggle. The suspect then fled the scene before deputies arrived,” said the sheriff’s office.

The 27-year-old man then fled the home before being found and arrested by law enforcement officers in the same neighbourhood on Tuesday.

Authorities say the man, identified as Martin Villalobos Junior, once lived at the property and had a protection from abuse order to stay away from the home.

He faces charges including aggravated kidnapping aggravated and child endangerment.

He is being held in a jail on a $US500,000 ($794,000) bond.