What Mundane Things Frightened You As a Child?

[AnderbeauJohnson]

Inspired by the 'Totally Mundane Things That Excited You as a Child' thread - what are some silly childhood fears that you look back on as being nonsensical?


I hated the high-jump at school - I couldn't wrap my head around how to get my legs that high and was convinced I'd hurt myself so I would run up to it, then just run a circle round the whole thing and come back to the back of the line. Eventually the PE teachers gave up trying to make me jump.

I was scared of escalators when I was little because I had a book of children's poems and, in one of them, a little girl who had been messing about on an escalator got eaten at the top because she wasn't paying attention. I used to jump off when it got to the top step so that it didn't eat me as well.

 

[Londoncailín]

The identical twins that were on Funhouse. Melanie and Martina.

 

[justheretonamedrop]

Computer screens when switched off. I had one of those big, grey, bulky PC screens in my bedroom as a child with the tower? I would cover it with a blanket every night. Not sure why, but it gave me the fear. Wasn’t my reflection either because the PCs back then had almost like a grey fuzzy screen when off.

 

[Gembo]

Piers (at the seaside, not Morgan!). Was utterly terrified of them. I was ok at the start where I could still see the sand but once you could start seeing the water through the slats I would completely freak out. I remember screaming my head off when my mum tried to make me walk past that part. Still not keen on them now to be honest but I don’t cry on them anymore
Never liked petrol stations either and would cry if I was left alone in the car at one.

 

[Cocobongo]

Flushing the loo!
id have it at full arms length, flush and run. I have no idea why. I just remember being petrified. I’m secretly hoping I’m not alone. Must have grown out of it around my teenage years and haven’t given it a second thought until now

 

[265]

The title sequence to a 70's show "Callan"



Oh and this one, Theme from Randall and Hopkirk (deceased)

 

[AnderbeauJohnson]

Flushing the loo!
id have it at full arms length, flush and run. I have no idea why. I just remember being petrified. I’m secretly hoping I’m not alone. Must have grown out of it around my teenage years and haven’t given it a second thought until now

Oh, same! For me it was because my sister forced me to watch the X Files when I was seven and there was an episode where a man was pulled into a toilet and killed but this lovely looking creature.

 

[Cocobongo]

Oh, same! For me it was because my sister forced me to watch the X Files when I was seven and there was an episode where a man was pulled into a toilet and killed but this lovely looking creature.

I’m 32 and I think I’d mit my pants at that now

 

[Babyyoda88]

I was scared of the book Burglar Bill use to hide it in my mums room and she’d find it and put it back on my bookshelf. I was also terrified of the tree outside my bedroom, when it was windy it would wave and cast shadows in my room that, what I thought, looked like a witch. My dad made up a song about it called the waving tree to stop me from being so scared.

 

[Fofoca]

In my childhood home there was (still is) a woven cat letter holder on the back of the front door. I swear to god it’s eyes would follow me and I just know that if I made eye contact it would suck out my soul. I’m in my late 30s and it still scares the crap out of me. Whenever I visit my parents I can just see it out of the corner of my eye and I know it’s waiting for me to slip up.

I'm also scared of closed wardrobes. I have to sleep with the wardrobe doors open.This stemmed from when I was a child and we had built-in wardrobes put in. Was sleeping (doors shut) and the loudest noise woke me up. It’s pitch black and I know it’s come out of the massive wardrobes. I’m convinced there’s a person inside waiting for me to look inside. I don’t know why I didn’t go get my parents but i just suffered through the night. Told my mum in the morning and she opens the doors - turns out the rail collapsed under the weight of the clothes. There was no one hiding inside. Well....I was not going to risk feeling like that again so from then on the door had to remain open.

Tldr, I’m scared of cat letter holders and wardrobes. As a child and adult.

 

[Kitt]

When a video would finish and go to that grey fuzzy screen I’d yell at my brother to turn it off quick.

Escalators.

Mr Blobby

I was always convinced there was a dinosaur under my bed so at bedtime I’d run full pelt up the stairs and take a running leap onto my bed so the dinosaur couldn’t grab my ankles.

 

[265]

Mr Blobby

The stuff of nightmares.

 

[TicketyTock]

The bin men !

 

[Sunflower91]

I was petrified of the sunbed room at my local swimming pool. It was at the end of the corridor so you’d walk to the changing room getting closer and closer to what felt like a super scary glow. I was also scared of public toilets- some more than others and for weird reasons like the floor tiles or type of toilet.

 

[Twirliegirlies]

A really weird but (probably innocent) man in a long herringbone coat, it was the 70’s and he kinda looked like a photo fit from Police 5, I used to hide or cry every time I saw him.

 

[Milliehaha123]

I was tit scared of Father Christmas. The idea of an old man who was a stranger being in my room didn’t sit right with me at all. My stocking remained firmly outside my door (and my door shut) must have been the dream for my parents.

 

[HowlOwl]

The title sequence to a 70's show "Callan"



Oh and this one, Theme from Randall and Hopkirk (deceased)

Fantastic, and Thriller and Armchair Theatre, also very creepy.

 

[jharpz]

Men with moustaches. Refused to call for my best friend next door until I was about 8 because her dad had a moustache.

 

[Sunnywithachanceofgin]

Running the bath. If my mum ever had the bath running I would hover around it with panic incase it over flowed, absolutely no reason to be panicked...

 

[openbook1]

Loch Ness Monster. "Photos" of it still creep me the duck out.