Things that frightened you as a child

[LittleMy]

China clown dolls. My Gran used to bring me them all the time when I was little thinking I would love them, but I couldn’t sleep because I was terrified of them and actually believed they came to life at night. My mum ended up giving them away.

 

[hiya_hun]

I was terrified of Triffids despite never having seen the film 'the day of the triffids'

Also aliens of any form.

 

[BoCs2019]

The woman from Terrorhawks (clue in the title really!) and the monkeys from the wizard of oz.. I still can't wait that film to this day and I'm 38.

 

[Spinidge]

This scene



Plus the monster in the closet in ghost busters, and Dr Doom scene in Roger Rabbit.

I also was terrified of the thin man who was in one of those educational programmes you'd watch at school. My mum had to go in and tell them I was not to watch it anymore.

The Boy from Space was absolutely horrific!! I used to have nightmares about the Thin Man coming to get me!!

The Superman II baddies were pretty terrifying too, especially when they were trapped in that rectangle thing and let loose in space!!

 

[FunkyMonkey]

Ghost watch was bloody terrifying! We rewatched it recently and they kept talking about the glory hole......smirk.

 

[chandlercheesecake]

Julia Roberts on the Notting Hill movie poster

E-fits on Crimewatch

Slugs

Chinchillas

The man on the Goosebumps "Horror at Camp Jellyjam" book cover

 

[whatsnewpussycat]

The child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for me too
Freddie Krueger
The red fiery bird things from Labyrinth still make me shudder

 

[TheDevil'Son]

Salam's Lot, the kid at the window.

 

[Platypusfattypus]

The Childcatcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Utterly terrifying, i used to cry when he came on.

 

[Bae56]

I had an irrational fear about what would happen to me if I didn’t get back to the lounge from the upstairs loo before the flush finished It was literally pull the chain and run/jump down the stairs as fast as I could.

I may or may not still do this from time to time, except running upstairs I mean I'm not confirming anything, just that I may or may not. My kids are going to catch me one day & tell everyone aren't they

 

[WDHR89]

An episode of a long lost CITV British mini-series, titled The Frighteners. The episode was set in Victorian times I believe and centered on a little girl finding fairies at the bottom of her garden. Gradually, the fairies turned evil and the episode ended with the fairy's distorted face superimposed onto the mother (I think!) laughing maniacally. This episode aired in 1997. To this day, I have never been able to find it again, at the time I remember being extremely freaked out!!

The Witches film based on Roald Dahl's novel. We ended up watching it in primary school around Christmas time, where we watched videos as a treat before end of term. It freaked so many kids out, parents complained and it resulted in us being unable to watch PG rated films without parental consent from then on. I was terrified by the witch trying to coax the boy down from the tree house and of course all the scenes involving The Grand High Witch.

I remember seeing the scene from GHOSTWATCH out of context where the possessed voice was coming out of the girl's mouth. I watched it in full years later and it was truly a groundbreaking piece of television. It is understandable why it created so much hysteria at the time.

Lastly, I recall being freaked out by a music video which to this day I have been unable to identify. It was late at night and I think my family had VH1 on the TV. The music video featured a female singer, it was quite a psychedelic video, the song was upbeat. I remember close ups of the singer, she'd do something freaky with her eyes as if she was staring into the TV, then it would freeze frame. I may have confused it with "Groove is in the Heart" but from memory the singer looked different. She was brunette with a bob haircut. I'm guessing the video would have been 80's or early 90's.

 

[indescribe]

The show Thunderbirds. Still does for some reason. I think it’s a mixture of the puppets used and the nature of the show, it’s made in the 50/60s and freaks me out because it’s very isolated as a show in terms of its filming as I imagine the puppets all alone on some island.

 

[Definitelyme]

The TV show Strange But True (in the U.K.) not sure if anyone remembers it but it was mid 90s and on a Friday night about ghost stories. I wasn’t allowed to watch it by my mum but my dad used to let me, I still remember some of the stories now.

i used to love strange but true! Had totally forgotten about it!

I was, and still am, scared of "face at the window". Like looking out a dark window and seeing someone looking back. Still terrifies me now, and I hate going downstairs after my husband is in bed as we don’t have a curtain over our totally glass back door, which you can see from the hall. Terrifying. This episode of Criminal minds about did me in when I saw it. Still scares the crap out of me after seeing it a billion times (right at the end of the clip)

 

[Platypusfattypus]

E-fits on Crimewatch

I as scared of these too and have to admit as a grow woman I still get frightened by them,

 

[JakeM]

The child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang terrified me when younger! Still does now to be honest.

 

[Woodpecker3000]

The x files theme song that was used as an advertisement for their box set or whatever it was, used to literally make me cry

 

[Sosig]

The ITV National Weather segments from the 90’s could be truly terrifying at times. How scary they were depended on the weather for the week.

Windy hat man was not so scary and actually very handsome, but the other two were terrifying.

The frost one was very rare and I never recall seeing him before 10pm at night. I’ll never forget the night he appeared after the news at ten and I jumped out of my bed and ran down to tell my parents.

I can just about remember these as I'm in my 20s, I remember the frosty fella's face and the powergen logo.

I'm howling at "windy hat man"

Why did the 90s/early 00s try to be mystical and gothy so much?

 

[Upintheair83]

The advert when a boy climbs a pylon to get his football and gets electrocuted. I was terrified of pylons for years as a child!

OMG me too! I had a real aversion to them because of that. And then if later progressed to those electricity stations after watching 999 with Michael Burke. I grew out of it eventually but it played on my mind for quite some time as a little girl

They’re on you tube!


Can you believe they actually showed this stuff? Aimed at children?

Haha! I know! I suppose those were the days that children went out and played and explored. They all have their heads down on iPads now

 

[my_escape_from_the_ads]

Omg loving the chance to share my absolute fear of ... empty swimming pools . Also the hull of a ship when it is out of water... you know the great expanse underneath that should be IN THE WATER

 

[Bae56]

The moon I was known for trying to run away from "him" because he was watching me still feel this is justified as the fear was so genuine.