Things that terrified you as a child

I was afraid of that Hitchcock tv show "The Jar," (name wrong?) and of some movie where a kid hides under the bed while his family is murdered by an ax-wielding maniac. I conflated it with The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, and for years thought that was a horror film, lol.

My parents said I was afraid of Chaka Kahn whenever she appeared in a music video.

Putting my feet on the floor at night in my room. Scared of something reaching out from under the bed and grabbing my ankles.

Large Marge. I was obsessed with this movie, but when this came on I had to leave the room. It took years for me to see it all the way through.

There was a closet in my grandparent's house that I was terrified of when I was little unfortunately my abusive uncle found out and threw me into it.

Thanks for the laugh, OP.

The theme from Unsolved Mysteries.

I had a roommate from India and his wife and little daughter came to stay. Whenever the daughter did something bad, they would say the witch in the room above was going to come down and get her. I can't imagine being constantly told that as a child! They said it was a frequently used child-rearing tactic in India.

This scared me and I was 14 at the time

Coolio’s music video for Gangsta’s Paradise. The eerie music and dark music video and his crazy eyes and hair make it slightly uncomfortable for me as an adult still....

the little retarded boy with no skin my older siblings told me about that lived in our attic. They would frequently lock me in there.

That "Magic" commercial got so many complaints that it was pulled off the air after about a week.

Bette Davis as Baby Jane scared the bejeezus out of me as a kid. I remember flipping through the TV Guide and seeing an ad for the movie; I hurled it across the room and never picked it up again.

Best personal one though: bears.

When I was younger my family would travel to our family reunion every summer. It would take place at our family’s rural property in the middle of nowhere off a long dirt road. Nobody’s cellular service worked in those days.

Somehow as a kid I was always comfortable playing around all day through the night—until one year I heard his cousin telling my father a story. When they were younger and playing around on the property, very much like I was, a bear wandered out of the woods and onto the lawn. They ran inside, ain’t called animal control, which trapped the bear etc.

The very notion that we were literally in the middle of the woods and the very real possibility of seeing animals out there suddenly struck me. I must have been like 7/8 years old. Every year after that I would cry when it got dark because I was TERRIFIED of encountering a bear especially at night.

I went camping for the very first time this past summer!

the "laughing lady" at Euclid Beach in Cleveland Ohio

old people

Kiss

Joe Cocker. He used to sing like he was having an epileptic fit. Us kids would run from the room when he was on The Smothers Brothers or something.

Whenever the Abominable Snowman on Rudolph appeared, I would suddenly have to go help my mom frost cookies.

V, the birth of the twins.

Driving over a large bridge in a car.

On road trip vacations with my family, if I saw that we were approaching a toll bridge, I would freak out and lie on the floor of the back seat in the fetal position until my father told me we had successfully passed to the other side.

I was always afraid the bridge would collapse and our car would plunge into the water below.

The Gene Carroll Show, on WEWS Cleveland, was a local variety program. There was a semi-regular performer – a blind guitarist.

She scared the fuck out of me as a kid.

A bloody tree stump, with a hatchet stuck in it, behind my grandparents' barn. My brother and I, with our cousins, used to dare each other to touch the hatchet.

One Sunday when I was 8 or 9, I learned what it was about. Grandma took me out there with her, snagged a rooster by its legs, and chopped its head off with the hatchet, on the tree stump. Then another. I didn't eat dinner that day.

R20 Hi Brick. How's the cast from The Middle doing?

The Polly Klaas murder. Abducted from the bedroom. I was around the same age and this was all over the news in California when it happened, and the thought of being kidnapped from your own room at night -- scary stuff as a kid.

The flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz.

Data from Star Trek TNG.

*shudder*

The narrative at the beginning of Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds (1978) terrified me as a kid, whenever my older brother played the record.

A stern substitute teacher who looked like Dorothy Zbornak with a deeper voice and a mustache.

The bit on Sesame Street where Bert and Ernie are archeologists. I would rub screaming from the room when the statue came to life. So creepy, even now!

This episode terrified me as a child. Here’s a very short clip from “Eye of the Beholder”, from the original Twilight Zone series. (1960)

I loved "Karma Chameleon" as a little kid, but...

Boy George looking like this. Seriously.

Smallpox

My great uncle had a collection of steer horns on his walls, and when I was less than ten years old, I hated being in the living room where they were, because I equated them with evil (Satan/Demons/etc.).

Now? I have a hand painted deer skull on my own living room wall.

Hexas from Ferngully. Honestly, Hexas is the scariest villain ever created in a kids movie. He scared the shit out of me.

Sorry it's spelt Hexxus. Spelling correction for my above post. ☝️

Waking up blind, like Laura Ingalls.

This Little fuck

The opening of "Highway Patrol".

That damn clown in Poltergeist terrified me. I had nightmares about it for months. I would also lie in my bed in the dark terrified because I knew it was in the wardrobe and was going to get me.

Nightmares for years

Scorpions.

R8, I had some friends years ago who, when in public, if one of their children misbehaved or was too rambunctious, they would say, "You better behave or that man over there will get you." It still makes me laugh.

Being caught out for my obsession with men.

Kinsey would have had a field day with me.

This

Finding the book Helter Skelter hidden in my moms dresser drawer. I was around 7 or 8 years old. It had the pages in the middle of the book showing all the gory photos. Charles Manson scared the shit out of me. But it did develop my love for True Crime.

R31 , I knew an overweight girl , that looked just like this in high School .

The character "Hambone" on The Sandy Becker Show scared the living hell out of me. If a commercial came on for the show, I would run screaming from the living room.

....and here's his theme song. Still gives me the willies.

Falling into a coffin and getting sealed inside. My grandmother came from a big family, 14 brothers and sisters, so wakes and/or funerals were not rare. Going through the receiving line was torture, always having my eyes on that wide open casket, usually I never made it to the front.

Going to the cemetery wasn't at all frightening, since the casket was already sealed. Staring at the open grave? No problem at all.

[quote] There was a closet in my grandparent's house that I was terrified of when I was little unfortunately my abusive uncle found out and threw me into it.

He was probably just trying to teach you proper punctuation. It didn’t work.

Clowns, Brussel Sprouts, Dark Shadows.

Fire trucks.

Even though I was obsessed with them, I was frightened by them. Especially the air horns. Even if they were sitting in the Fire Department garage and dormant, I wouldn’t get near them. The front always looked like a scary face to me.

Quicksand

Also, there was a book of opposites (Golden Book, maybe?) and the gigantic ocean liner scared the crap out of me - it took up the entire two pages ad my heart would race as I would turn the page...

The vampire kids from “Salem’s Lot” and the videoclip to “Paradise by the Dashboard Light”.

The approach to closing time and closing time in department stores.

I always thought I would get stuck in there and get turned into a mannequin.

The child catcher from Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang scared the crap out of me.

That’s so interesting, r55. No, I’m not being sarcastic.

I wonder where that thought was put into your head.

The opening segment to The Outer Limits scared the crap out of me as a child.

Every September during elementary school, all the kids gathered in the cafeteria to watch this film.

I dreaded it and had nightmares afterward. Only as an adult did I learn that the footage at the end is real film of the dead. The real life crime happened two counties over from mine.

Senor Wences and his box.

R57 I've got a feeling there might have been a movie or Twilight Zone episode where someone was turned into a mannequin?

All of those Ancient Prophecy shows in the 90s. Shit about Edgar Casey (spelling?) and Nostradamus and the end of times. Scared me and my brother soo bad as kids. My mom would have to console us that the world wasn’t ending.

Also -

Unsolved Mysteries. Just the intro and Stack’s voice was enough to make me change the channel. Spooky!

R55 There was also the possibility of the mannequins coming alive after closing time!

This is easy. The Exorcist. I didn't even see the movie but whenever I heard Tubular Bells or see an advert I would freak. Then Newsweek had a cover with a priest and he's holding a cross. They called it something like the Exorcist craze. I read the article and slept with rosary beads under my pillow and wore a scapular.

UFOs scared hell out me too. I'm R64.

The television show V that was a mini-series. I was like 3 and my parents had it on. The lead character, the woman who was the leader, tore her skin off.. I would beg them to tell the babysitter not to watch the show while they were gone.

Gene Simmons in KISS

r54 Oh yeah, I remember that movie. As if zombies are scary enough, they had floating ones.

r55 There was a TZ episode about that entitled "The After Hours." Not so much a human that turned into a mannequin, but just the reverse. Anne Francis is very good in that episode.

[quote] I was terrified of the song In the Year 2525. It was the creepy music and the line about not having teeth or eyes.

If that song is what the future holds, let’s push the button before it’s too late.

my nostrils closing up while i slept, and my tongue swelling up to fill my entire mouth at the same time causing me to suffocate

i'd wake my parents up at 3 am with this concern, and they were frustrated by it

R62 - funny, that kind of stuff has been going on forever. As a kid in 1976, there was a movie with Orson Welles called, "The Late Great Planet Earth", which freaked all us kids out.

Sunday nights, I believe the show was simply called The FBI. At the end of each episode, they would go over the 10 Most Wanted criminals, I’d run out of the room.

R48, I never liked wakes either, especially as a kid, and I went to a fair number of them.

This movie absolutely destroyed me with fear.

In Search Of always gave me the creepies

The flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz

The tornado from The Wizard of Oz (I had a strong fear of all natural disasters, especially tornadoes, and my mother constantly reassured me we were safe from them, we are from Brooklyn NY).

Quicksand

Earthquakes

Tsunamis

Norman Bates

Tales from the Crypt Presents Demon Night

Scenes in The Great Mouse Detective

Scenes in Dumbo

Scenes in Bambi

ESPECIALLY scens in Pinnocchio

When Lampwick becomes a donkey.

Ouija boards and the movie The Others.

The movie "Gremlins" scared the shit out of me when I was a kid.

My sister was terrified of ET who she thought was going to come out of her closet at night.

sharks, thanks to "jaws"

i still see no reason to go into the ocean

Tornados for sure even though I lived in Upstate NY I was terrified of them

[quote] The approach to closing time and closing time in department stores. I always thought I would get stuck in there and get turned into a mannequin.

R55, you need to watch "Dawn of the Dead."

The smell of patchouli bothered me then and it bothers me now.

"Wanna see somethin REALLY scary?"

Pinocchio is actually very scary.

Pinocchio is more scary as an adult than as a child.

Scared the crap out of me as a kid.

vomiting - my brother told me you get dry heaves at the end and he knew someone who died from it

Jaws terrified a generation of kids- we were afraid to go into tubs, pools, lakes and the ocean. I was even afraid that the shark would come out of the toilet to bite me in the ass.

I loved scary books and films, but for some reason, when this trailer came on the television, I would I have to leave before the title, "Suspria" (1977) came on- that font scared the crap out of me:

The Exorcist. Yes, I watched it as a child.

[quote] i still see no reason to go into the ocean

One reason could be to find your missing “shift” key.

Not of This Earth...

JAWS

A psycho 2nd grade teacher who liked to humiliate the class. One kid rang the bell on her desk and she had him come up to the front of the room and ring the bell over and over until he was in tears. She wore a yellow dress. We were all terrified. This looks like her...

Hansel & Gretel getting lured into that house made of candy and then realizing that they might get pushed into the oven & eaten.

Pussy as in cunt.

I have a vivid memory aged 3 or 4 or a woman attempting to push my head into her naked crotch. I kicked and screamed but I still remember it.

R96 If we're going to bring fairy tales into this, I'll submit The Pied Piper.

My grandmother used to tell me fairy tales before bed when visited her. I still remember basically "wow that's fucked up" as a child when she told me The Pied Piper story.

R98, Are you sure you weren't scared of R Kelly? He used to call himself the pied piper. That's so creepy to think about.

R99 Maybe I was frightened of both!!

R100, through the fairy tale, you became scared of R Kelly. It makes perfect sense! Maybe the song "You are not Alone" scares you too? He wrote that 🤮

R58, yes Outer Limits always scared me. One particular episode, where David McCallum went from being an ignorant Welshman to a terrifying man of the future , scared the shit out of me for weeks.

As for real events, the stories about serial killer Dean Corll in Texas terrified me for the longest time.

My brother was a psycho. He would beat me and my older sister up in a rage. He was tortured by high school jocks and his idea of payback was to come home and use the techniques on us. He would grab us by the shoulder and cause horrible pain.

He now has his smiling mug on Facebook looking like a nice old grandpa. I truly hope the memories of his sibling-abuse never leave him and fuck up his dreams.

Sorry to hear that, R103. I have an abusive sibling (sister), too. Nobody ever believed it. But when our mother was in her final months of life, my sister started acting nuts in front of everybody (not just me). Then, she swings to her "sweet" persona and sends me stupid Christmas gifts, like 12 different kinds of jams and jellies for the 12 days of Christmas. Straight to the garbage can.

Honestly, I still feel sad and regretful that we can't have a relationship, but oh well. She has made it that way.

Thanks, R104. I know hating him is like "taking poison and expecting someone else to die," so I don't waste time hating him, but hypocrisy is galling. I don't regret the estrangement at all. It's wonderful never to see his ugly face.

The "Suspense Theatre" opening:

The dark.

Tumbleweeds.

Starting when I was a small child, I've had recurring dreams all my life about climbing up a ladder or steep, treacherous stairway to a little room that I have to climb up into through a trap door in the floor of the room. It's never the same room or ladder or stairs, but always very similar.

When I get into the room, it is smaller than I expected and the walls start to close in and I can't get out and I start to panic until I wake up.

If someone told me they had that dream, I'd think they were dreaming about going up into a uterus, but that doesn't really feel like that's what it is. I have it once or twice a year, and at this point, when it happens, I can be in the dream and recognize it as the recurring dream, but I never recognize it until I'm in the room and feeling claustrophobic. THEN, I remember: oh, yeah, you're back.

I have one other recurring dream that didn't start until I was in my 40s, and it's not as terrifying as the first one, but it always makes me feel massive anxiety. Again, once or twice a year, and I never recognize it until I've gone too far in the dream to back out, and it's the same reaction: oh, it's you, I know you, please leave me alone, now I'll be awake all night.

I was terrified of squirrels and the letter “W”.

Cows and quicksand

I love these little personal memories. We would not have known these about anyone had it not been for the internet. Deep thought.

[Quote] Scared of something reaching out from under the bed and grabbing my ankles.

Lol me too! Know one told me this. I made it up myself and did not tell anyone.

[quote] Know one told me this.

Oh, dear!

portable toilets. all of those piles of shit soaked in piss! all in a tight enclosed space where you couldn't breathe! ugh!

the clown attack in poltergeist generated countless nightmares

Dreamed I was alone in a soybean field. Then hundreds of vaginas emerged from the ground and were closing-in on me. I suddenly awoke with a terror sweat.

The woman with the torch from the Columbia Pictures logo. For some reason I found her eyes to be piercing and felt like she was staring through the screen straight at me.

R1 Yes, it was The Jar. That episode and the one with "Stella, you're such a pretty nurse" scared the crap out of me.

Here's a link to a recent thread about the old Alfred Hitchcock TV show. It's still running on ME TV.

Department store Santa Claus.

Clowns.

R7 SAME!!!

Goddamn Robert Stack and that music.

The sweaty hand and hammer at the end of Dragnet episodes. I ran from the room, covering my ears, every time my parents watched the show to the end.

R46 / R47 I have no idea what or who Hambone is but your posts made me shudder. What a creep...

When I was little we had to live with my grandmother for a while, and I lived in constant fear of being left alone in the house with my teenage uncle ( who was 6,4 and 300lbs by the time he was 15) because he abused me mentally and physically every chance he got, but my mom was too small to really do anything to stop him, and my cunt of a grandmother was always covering for him telling my mom that I was exaggerating and being too sensitive.

The Blob freaked me out. Something that could just slither under a door seemed inescapable.

I was also scared of horror film TV spots - I didn't know why anyone would subject themselves to such things (I love horror films now). A commercial for a thriller "Strange Shadows in an Empty Room" was about the most frightening thing I ever saw. It was purposely edited to appear like a giallo-style film when in fact it was a crummy cop picture.

And I ran out of the room whenever the Wicked Witch was on in "The Wizard of Oz".

Oh wow, r124, I had forgotten about the blob.

Scared the shit out of me too.

Hi R46! Remember me?

Again, I NEVER heard of Hambone and now he scares the shit out of me! What was it -- a kid's show? Please tell me he's dead.

He's under your bed.

The garbage disposal scene in The Incredible Shrinking Woman. That scene was like a nightmare.

The opening to Tales From the Darkside was pretty scary.

Any variation of Freddy Krueger. It didn't matter if he was on TV, a cardboard standee at the video store, or on a poster somewhere, I'd freak out. I used to have horrible nightmares about him.

R126, you kinder-traumatized me all over again! Mommmy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That "crying Indian" pollution PSA had me running out of the room screaming.

I think I was upset by the fact that we polluted his land and now he's just sad.

Decades later I found out that the actor that plays the Indian is not native, but Sicilian and the teardrop was faked with glycerin.

Still disturbs me a bit watching it today.

R133 I totally remember the PSA!

R133 I remember that PSA but didn't know about the Sicilian connection until it was mentioned in an episode of The Sopranos!

I've never seen Hambone, but he looks demented.

I've read somewhere that the reason why a lot of people and children are afraid of clowns is because their painted grinning face approximates a fearful grimace, with wide eyes. We subconsciously translate it to aggressive baring teeth.

lots of dataloungers were running from the room as children

[quote]lots of dataloungers were running from the room as children

Yep, right into the closet...

these