When I was a kid, I remember reading a weird story in a small collection of strange/horror stories for children. This wasn’t a typical “Tales for the Midnight” hour collection of campfire yarns, but was more like a normal adult anthology of horror stories, just marketed to children.
The basic point of the story was that a girl comes to babysit these two kids. Things go normal, but when it’s time for them to go to bed, they each do a weird little ritual before they can enter their bedroom - a sort of twirl and spin w/ arm movements. I specifically remember that the story said “they looked like two little Michael Jacksons” to the babysitter. Anyway, they make the babysitter do it too, and she sort of plays along. Then, some robbers (?) break into the house, and come after the babysitter and kids - but when they get to the entrance of the room, they’re killed. It turns out that there’s some sort of malevolent presence that guards the room, and the little ritual was essential for anyone who entered the room to avoid being killed by it.
I figure it’s a long shot, but did anyone ever read this or does anyone know what it was called?