Things that frightened you as a child

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I was terrified of Ronald McDonald, no other clowns just him. I used to have nightmares that he was driving through my bedroom window on a motorbike
My brother had a McDonald's birthday party in the 80's, Ronald McDonald was there, he got a 'tour' of the kitchen, creepy McDonald suggested he took his sister .... now way was I going ... he choose a school friend!!
 
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The crime watch theme tune and the child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
 
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Not being able to touch the bottom of the swimming pool with my feet. Probably why I can't swim properly as was always scared of not being able to touch the floor of the pool. It makes me feel odd just thinking of it.

We had a porcelain doll I hated. Looking back I’ve no idea why I didn’t just tell my mum, because she would’ve moved it
My older sister used to collect clown dolls with soft bodies and pot faces. When she moved out she gave them to me as I liked them. My dad put a shelf up and I displayed them. Didn't bother me but my friend was freaked out by them and I had to either move them or cover them if she came over. She reckoned they were watching her and plotting her demise 😅 i just remembered as she has just sent me a photo on whatsapp of us dicking around in my room and the clowns coveree up in the background. She captioned it "them bleeping clown dolls you had, wanted to burn them all!"
 
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Those crime watch show re-enactments where actors somewhat realistically played a murderer, kidnapper or sex offender worried me when I was ten or so.

I had nightmares for a while where I was being chased and my legs turned to jelly, or I'd trip over and I ended up bound and gagged in some psycho's car trunk being driven to God knows where.
 
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I was scared of anacondas and quicksand. Worried about each of them a lot. Genuinely thought they were going to make life very hard to navigate and that I would almost certainly die as a result of one of them. I’m pleased to say that touch wood so far neither have actually caused me too many problems!
I had a scary quicksand experience when I was eleven years old. The thing I remember most was how cold it was, so I can imagine how others have died from hypothermia if they're not rescued in time.

My brothers and I were exploring along a riverbank one day when I went to get a bit closer to the shore and stepped out onto a sandbar. Suddenly I plunged into the stuff up to my knees. At first I was more annoyed getting my jeans and gym boots wet and dirty when it struck me that I was still sinking. I screamed at my brothers to help and by the time they found me I was up to my hips.

They told me to stop moving, but I was so scared and panicky I couldn't help struggling. At least I stopped sinking by then, but I was pretty much stuck and freezing even though it wasn't that cold a day. I was wearing a poloneck sweater over a T-shirt, but I was freezing from my waist down and my teeth were starting to chatter.

They managed to pull me free after a few minutes where I thought my shoulders would be dislocated and then it was a long cold walk home and straight into a warm shower.
 
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A book they read to us in school called Room 13. The only thing that ever gave me nightmares as a kid.
 
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A book they read to us in school called Room 13. The only thing that ever gave me nightmares as a kid.
You’ve just unlocked a little memory for me haha, I remember reading this in school too 😂
 
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I found this thread last night and had to stop reading it as it was making me anxious! Safe to say many of my fears have already been mentioned.

I was terrified of the game show ‘Bullseye’, if someone got a question wrong, a cartoon bull would appear on screen and moo. I’d be cowering behind the couch!

All the fire safety ads of the 80’s creeped me right out too (they still do!). For some reason, I found the animated ones much more chilling.
 
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Cheesy, schlocky old horror movies ( think 1950s-'60s American B-grade ) with terrible stories, scripts and even worse acting and directing.

...but, some off them managed back then to make me sleep with a torch in my hand.
 
I accidentally caught this film on a foreign TV channel when I was about 6-7. I don't know if they just thought it was suitable for kids as it was an animation but something was definitely lost in translation there as suitable for small eyes 'twas not 😂 I was utterly transfixed and terrified in equal measure. I went to school and told everyone about this strange cartoon where doors and milk bottles melted but I think they all thought I was loopy (I mean, couple that with my banging on about the pink leather wearing dinosaur of Parallel 9 that no one had heard about and you can kind of see their point 😳😏😂).

Literally over a decade later and I found out it was Where the Wind Blows by our beloved Snowman storyteller, Raymond Briggs. I've now got the DVD and, by God, it is harrowing!!! Absolutely love it, though.

 
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I always remember being afraid of looking out of windows when it was dark 🙈 still am tbh 🤣
I have this!! I can’t look. My old house mate made it worse when I walked past our front door and he was stood there shining on his torch under his face. I nearly died
 
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Road signs that are on the pavements. I used to think the information sign would fall down and slice me in half, so wouldn't walk under them. The old television programme 'The Singing Ringing Tree' aimed at kids but it gave me nightmares.
 
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View attachment 257984

Anyone remember this classic from the vaults?
Creepy, Mothercare. So creepy.
Ha, yes! There used to be something similar in pubby-restaurant beer gardens - like Beefeaters and places like that? Didn't there used to often be a big plastic tree in the play area that was part of a slide but it had an old man's face in it or something?
 
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Myra Hindley’s mugshot was another one for me.

I remember when she made a news segment in the mid 90s after having a stroke, and they put that infamous black and white photo on the screen. That peroxide hair and those deep-dark circles under her eyes... I got such a fright.

I still find it hard to look at that photo now.
 
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