Things that frightened you as a child

[Ceelea]

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.

 

[Notfazed]

The slime coming out of the bath tap in one of the ghost buster films. Took me years to feel comfortable having a bath again

 

[Michellellehcim]

I was scared the look in the mirror at night after watching Bloody Mary...

I also had an irrational fear that someone would climb through my bedroom window to kidnap me during the night.

Hearing noises during the night and being petrified it could be a ghost/serial killer.

The idea of being followed to/from school by men driving a white van or a black car. So many kids at my school actually experienced this!

Bloody Mary still terrifies me and I’m 28 now there’s something about a mirror at night time. To this day I won’t have one in my bedroom

 

[101d]

My Mum hahah

 

[ChubClubThug]

I've always had a crazy phobia of ventriloquist dummies, porcelain dolls and the like. I used to be terrified of the dress maker's dummy my mum had in her bedroom.

Even now I look away/shut my eyes if a ventriloquist dummy comes on TV or something.

I'm such a weirdo.

I had a massive collection of those porcelain dolls on top of my wardrobe in the late 80s/early 90s

Then I read a ghost story called 'The Doll' by Terry Tapp.. it was about a doll who used to come to life and bite the little girl who owned her. Her parents didn't believe her and the doll eventually came to life and burned the house down. It scared the hell out of me! I'd be there in the dark, sweating staring at the dolls looking down watching me Weirdly enough I'm still a massive horror fan these days!

 

[Lunamoon22]

When Doom melted in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Absolutely terrifying as a kid.

I’m still traumatised over the public service announcements that we were shown as very young kids at school. Particularly the train safety ones.

Death. I remember having an absolute massive panic attack when I was very young when I realised that one day I could lose everyone I love.

 

[Platypusfattypus]

The field of blood scene in watership down. My primary school always put it on as the film on the last day of school before summer hols. I was traumatised

 

[Lalla]

My mum was very glamorous in the 60s and 70s and had a lot of wigs and hairpieces.

I was terrified of the wigs aged about 2 or 3 and would run off shouting 'wiggy' if I saw one not being worn, apparently however from when I remember it (about age 4/5) it was the polystyrene heads they sat on I was scared of, not the wigs themselves. Something about blank faces.

I was also v scared of Humphreys (no one under 45 will get this, it was a stripy straw that stole your milk. The 70s were weird times ).

My son was pretty fearless but was scared silly by a Dr Who episode - the Empty Child (one where the boy with the gasmask on says 'are you my mummy' a lot). He still can't watch it now. To be fair, it is quite scary...

 

[Pot2PeeIn]

The show Knightmare on ITV in the late 80s early 90s? Having an older brother I didn’t get to turn it off.... it terrified me - the helmet with horns just seemed so unnecessary

 

[NorthernBelle]

Crimewatch used to scare the shit out of me, especially when Nick Ross said at the end ‘dont have nightmares, do sleep well’

 

[HinchythetwattyGrinchy]

My brother always played Abes Oddysee when I was little and I was terrified of it

Also, I have a massive phobia of Windmills / Wind turbines since childhood. I’ve no idea why or how I developed this phobia but I’ve always felt a sudden surge of anxiety / panic looking at one pathetic, I know

 

[Boredofthegram]

I won't tell you of my experience when I was 16 one Christmas eve then

hahaha don’t leave me hanging like that! Tell me!

 

[Carmen 6]

quicksand, spontaneous combustion, being kidnapped, the usual

Quicksand! Yes, still quicksand.

 

[Upintheair83]

Pinhead from the Hellraiser movies

The Candyman

An episode of Strange but True about 2 girls who were possessed by a spirit who’s name was Bill, apparently. They played a hideous recording of the voice of Bill and it was horrible.

flushing the toilet at night. No idea why.

the thought of being chased or abducted.

Pinhead- wasn’t that on the front cover of the VHS? Or have I got that wrong? I remember going into my local video store as a kid and being terrified of that video cover!

 

[bubbadabut]

The Scotch tape skeleton man! 'Re-record, not fade away'.

Max Headroom.

Ronald McDonald.

Ghostwatch. Those of a certain age will never, ever forget!

Doing javelin at school after watching 'that' 999 episode.

Weirdly, I was always freaked out by any kind of old-style music video like Reet Petite, Jive Bunny etc.

Coming from a northern mining village, every summer before the holidays, the 'school bobby' used to come and warn us about the dangers of playing on pit tops, accompanied by the big telly being wheeled in to show us a scary video of a kid falling in and dying.

 

[Tricham]

anyone who grew up in the 90s and watched 'courage the cowardly dog'? That was rather creepy and dark for a cartoon!

 

[openbook1]

I was a crazy child. I found it really difficult to differentiate reality from fiction so I wasn’t really allowed to watch cartoons if they were creepy. I had to go to a psychologist and everything!

- michael Jackson - I thought he was hiding in my wardrobe.. I was so happy when he died
- The theme tune to the X Files
- does anyone remember the Guinness book of records? And they had the 2 hairy brothers who had hair all over their body? That terrified me, I remember drawing them when I had to go see a psychiatrist
- my parents watched a documentary on the Cleveland shooting which the song ‘I don’t like Monday’s’ is based on, I couldn’t listen to that song for years without crying and being freaked out

I’m so glad I grew out of those fears

Oh my. Not laughing at you being scared but what scared you is quite funny. Hysterical that you were happy when MJ died.

 

[Platypusfattypus]

The Scotch tape skeleton man! 'Re-record, not fade away'.

Max Headroom.

Ronald McDonald.

Ghostwatch. Those of a certain age will never, ever forget!

Coming from a northern mining village, every summer before the holidays, the 'school bobby' used to come and warn us about the dangers of playing on pit tops, accompanied by the big telly being wheeled in to show us a scary video of a kid falling in and dying.

Ghostwatch, that's it!!!

 

[SpookyLumberjack]

I must have been a strange kid, loved ghosts, witches and vampires but was terrified of puppets!

Same!

Mr Soft gave me the creeps a bit. I can still hear the song in my head:

 

[Birdyohseven]

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.
Also, the skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts, Jaws/great white sharks (still hate swimming out of my depth) and Daleks

I had that fear - you had to flush, wash and run- if you didn’t get out by the end of the flush something was going to crawl out from under the bath (rather than a board there was a fucking creepy curtain), I’m still a bit weary about flushing toilets now!

I had a reoccurring nightmare when I was 5-9
That giant tomatoes were jumping (they moved like a slow space hopper) down the garden path to kill my dad. I woke up crying so many times!