What Really Scared You As A Child?

Capt'n Midnight · 02-08-2020 11:00am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkyR1-ZbTE8

The producers originally planned to use a stop-motion model created by Ray Harryhausen for the bird. However, due to budgetary limitations ...

... It has been reported that the marionette of the "Giant Claw" monster, made by a model-maker in Mexico City, cost producer Sam Katzman a mere $50.

storker · 02-08-2020 11:14am

RTE used to have a late-night weekend spooky movie slot called Lights Out. I must have been around 12. One night it was The Masque of the Red Death and I pleaded with my parents to be allowed watch it as I was developing an interest in horror. They warned me it might be too much and so it turned out, not far into the movie, when Vincent Price looks in on the sick woman and her red face looks at the camera and screams. That was the end of my viewing and for years afterwards, until well into my teens, I would never lie in bed facing to my left, because I was convinced I would see her face there, staring at me, screaming...

It didn't put me off the genre though.

storker · 02-08-2020 11:32am

Wibbs wrote: »

The earliest fear I can remember is walking as a toddler on a very windy beach in Kerry with my parents and clutching so tightly to my teddy bear, because I was afraid he'd blow away and be lost in the sea. I was terrified and kep holding him tightly in the car as we drove away. I didn't lose him, he's safe and sound in a wardrobe today.

Be honest, he's still in your bed isn't he.

Seriously though, when the stories about the church's treatment of the kids in its care came out, the thing that I thought was particularly cruel and vile, even alongside the beatings and sex abuse, was when the kids' teddy bears etc were taken away from them on arrival. Even if they had otherwise been treated kindly those kids would still have needed their cuddly toys for comfort. It made me think that those people weren't just content to be cnuts; they worked at it.

Sgt Hartman · 02-08-2020 11:48am

I was totally freaked out by the Babooshka video by Kate Bush. Her mad looking eyes in the video terrified me. I even had a nightmare that she appeared in my living room and tried to devour me.

Any time I was misbehaving I was told by my parents or brother that a gypsy named "Con Sheridan" would come and take me away. I was terrified of this "Con Sheridan" character whoever he was.

Baybay · 02-08-2020 12:07pm

A combination of our hallway & front door terrified me as a child.
The hall was T shaped with the bedrooms at one end of the cross bar & kitchen, living room etc at the other. The front door was at the end of the vertical bar.
The porch light was always on at night but not the hall lights so I suppose I could see my reflection in the glass as I passed by. So I used to sprint from my bedroom to the kitchen, barely glimpsing this reflection chasing after me as I ran. TerrIfying.
As an adult, when visiting my parents, I’d force myself to walk down the hallway like a normal person even though part of me still wanted to sprint & I always kept a wary eye on the front door.

EasterSheep · 02-08-2020 1:16pm

being outside alone in the dark always got me

Wibbs · 02-08-2020 2:23pm

Sgt Hartman wrote: »

I was totally freaked out by the Babooshka video by Kate Bush. Her mad looking eyes in the video terrified me. I even had a nightmare that she appeared in my living room and tried to devour me.

I had a similar dream but devour was used in a different context...

Robsweezie · 02-08-2020 3:55pm

my brother used to shove me face first into the corner of our couch so my head squeezed inside the couch. i remember the stale smell and sometimes hitting off crumbs or a coin or two that was in there. he called it ''the hole'. fuelled my claustrophobia.

he wasnt a monster, just a typical dick move trying to get a rise out of me in sibling rivalry. when we fought i used to pray he'd forget all about ''the hole'' and try something else.

Mad_maxx · 02-08-2020 3:56pm

I remember plays being on TV back in the eighties, Kind of thing reserved for sky arts etc today ,im talking about the one's that required sub titles

Anyway, there was always a character with a big dramatic voice, just the whole singing at each other deal

Strange what spooks you as a kid

shesty · 02-08-2020 4:09pm

JupiterKid wrote: »

Did anyone else find the original Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory pretty scary as a young child?

Especially the part when they all went through that tunnel full of very nasty things?

Boy...they really did make disturbing and frightening material for children in the days of yore...

Oh I hate those Willy Wonka films!Also The Wizard of Oz and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.I really hated those as a small child, and still wouldn't be lining up to watch them.

Randy Archer · 02-08-2020 6:28pm

Mother’s wooden spoon and sharks in the tank

Other than that , I was a hard case , ooorrr

Randy Archer · 02-08-2020 6:32pm

the purple tin wrote: »

But certainly not suitable for kids. The first 5 mins alone would give children nightmares.

Nothing compared to the tv shows Oz or the original Prisoner Cell Block H (women’s prison in Australia ) . Now that was scary ****

AudreyHepburn · 02-08-2020 7:07pm

In terms of tv programs when I was a very young child there was a cartoon called the Moomins (anime about these hippo like creatures) and there was a character in it called the Ice Queen that scared the daylights out of me. I’m not actually sure what it was about her but I still get a shiver when I think of it.

I had an actual phobia of dogs as a child ( I have no recollection of it but my granny and mum both say it stems from a trip to the zoo in playschool when I was about three or four where the dogs in pets corner jumped all over me and took my lunch). For years even into my teenage years I couldn’t be in a house with a dog unless the dog was put into the back garden and I even once almost ran off the edge of a cliff to get away from a dog.

It’s an awful fear to have because very few people understand it. Most people love dogs and they don’t understand how pointless saying things like ‘ah he’s harmless’ or ‘don’t worry he’s just being friendly’ is.

It was only really in my late teens that I managed to conquer my fear and I credit our now 15 year old dog whom we got when I was in 6th year with helping me.

I’m now an avid dog lover!

norabattie · 02-08-2020 7:21pm

I remember a tv show/movie ( maybe somebody knows what I'm talking about) where there's something ticking in the wall??? Its meant to have something to do with the end of the world or a bomb or something. I might not be remembering it correctly. Hard to exlain sorry but to this day I can often hear a ticking when I'm lying down at night. It traumatised me for years though.

Also growing up in rural ireland and being so glad my surname wasn't an O or a Mac cos the banshee only targets them apparently.

Freddy Kruger - was obsessed with the movies. Couldn't stop watching them even though they scared me so much.

EmmetSpiceland · 02-08-2020 7:34pm

The green monster thing from ‘Ghoulies’, the one that popped up in the toilet.

raclle · 02-08-2020 9:41pm

shesty wrote: »

Oh I hate those Willy Wonka films!Also The Wizard of Oz and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.I really hated those as a small child, and still wouldn't be lining up to watch them.

I was the same but not because they scared me...i just wasn't into them

Ash.J.Williams · 02-08-2020 9:45pm

frag420 wrote: »

Father Murphy

father casey

KM792 · 03-08-2020 12:04am

When I was growing up in the 90's,goosebumps and are you afraid of the dark were on tv and were pretty scary for kids.

There was one episode of ayaotd where a woman was being hypnotized by her tv coming on while she was sleeping.A bald man was communicating to her while she slept and sending a message about coming to an apartment in her block.

To this day,I can feel uneasy about a tv in a bedroom and wonder if it were to come on in the night,would whatevers on t.v be seeping into my subconscious and affecting me lol.

Sounds mad I know.

Anonposter2020 · 03-08-2020 12:09am

I watched The Blob and The Stuff (I think that's what it was called) as a kid. Could be wrong but it was like a killer yoghurt. Traumatised me. Laugh about it now obviously.

Nesta99 · 03-08-2020 6:14pm

Mentioning blobs, I've just remembered a film scene that really got under the skin as a kid and it was in The Fly where the poor dog was sent first as an experiment and ended up half a blob but still alive and yelping. Didnt bother me when bits of yer man started to fall off as he turned in to the fly! Poor dog! On a slightly related theme the front page of The Sunday World had a pic of the remains of a burnt dog that was supposedly a satanic sacrifice and it sickened me for ages. I used to sneak our own dog in to my room at night after just in case (i was eventually caught when the dog and myself caught fleas though which of us got them first is still the source of slagging).

Galwayguy35 · 03-08-2020 6:31pm

Having to cycle past an old graveyard especially in the evening time.

A tv series called V.

storker · 04-08-2020 9:48am

the purple tin wrote: »

Some of Stephen King's short stories scared me way more than his novels.

"Gramma" and "One For the Road" are great for low-key terror.

rob316 · 04-08-2020 9:50am

The original IT I saw when I was about 7, scared the **** out of me. You'd laugh at it today though

05-08-2020 12:09am

My much older brother was/still is a huge Iron Maiden fan so Eddie was used as a means of scaring the crap outta me as a kid. I'm in my 30's now and still can't look at their album covers :pac:

xvril · 05-08-2020 12:11am

My dad took me to see Jurassic Park when I was like 6.

Slept in beside my mum having panic attacks for 2 years terrified that the dinosaurs had escaped and were going to kill us all hahaha

take everything · 05-08-2020 2:50pm

The exorcist.
Being possessed by the devil.

Not sure how common that one is.

take everything · 05-08-2020 3:16pm

o1s1n wrote: »

That's actually a known thing that a lot of people experienced when kids. I read through a Reddit page on it a while ago, there was variance (for example, this is the first time I've heard of them being clay) but the general feeling and description is very similar. Kind of blew my mind!

I used to get this too. Didn't really think of it being ball shapes but looking back it kind of was. The main take from it was being with these massive objects, but then they could be tiny. There was a roaring sound most of the time too.

Used to have it happen along with experiencing Alice in Wonderland syndrome (which I still occasionally get) where you feel like you're in a tunnel/things are really far away, tends to happen to me when I'm staring at a screen for a long time - it suddenly starts to look really tiny.

https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/aaclee/til_about_alice_in_wonderland_syndrome_common_in/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

I may have had that as a child.
Sounds a bit like depersonalisation/derealization.

I read the Reddit thread and someone mentioned a head expanding/blurring boundaries experience.

Also had the "everything far away" stuff a couple of times.

Can't even saying that's what I had but it was definitely a very odd, ineffable experience.

Bobblehats · 05-08-2020 3:18pm

I remember one night roarin cryin determined there was a werewolf behind the curtain. There wasn’t...

hellsing101 · 05-08-2020 3:35pm

Frogs, still dislike the baxtards. When I was a child I wondered into a nearby field after escaping from the house late one night, field was hopping with frogs and they were jumping all over me and have an irrational fear ever since.

wheeliewin · 05-08-2020 3:39pm

The oompa loompas in Willy Wonka and chocolate factory. They still creep me out.

Nesta99 · 06-08-2020 4:46am

Seeing people die live like Tommy Cooper. Not just at the time but retrospectively it was a bit disturbing certainly in the days before mass social media. Still cringe at the sound of a clash of heads during football matches - the first time, that sound never leaves!

Rubberlegs · 06-08-2020 8:21am

wheeliewin wrote: »

The oompa loompas in Willy Wonka and chocolate factory. They still creep me out.

I was seriously creeped out by them and scared of people with dwarfism in general. The witch with the green face in The Wizard of Oz. I was also terrified of men with long hair.

whisky_galore · 06-08-2020 8:23am

Soviets dropping the bomb.

Ush1 · 06-08-2020 8:44am

The Spitting Image puppets.

Hector Savage · 06-08-2020 9:35am

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

There was a series called “ Children of the Stones” ( we didn’t have multi-channels so must have been on RTÉ) We we’re TERRIFIED of it . Bought it on dvd years later , it was laughable then.

I just looked it up on youtube, was that the one where they kids would go underground to some crypt and some mad goblin creature was there?
used to terrify me!

gladerunner · 06-08-2020 9:47am

https://youtu.be/oY5vxacjDgE

I had recurring nightmares for years after this

TinCanMan · 06-08-2020 11:28am

Jimmy Savile

Laois_Man · 06-08-2020 11:54am

otters

I grew up beside a river and to keep me too afraid to wonder down to the water, everyone used to tell me the otters would chase me, catch me and drag me into the river!

And goats!

partyguinness · 06-08-2020 4:30pm

The film Neverendiing Story.

When the horse died in the quick sand- I have never got over it.

Capt'n Midnight · 06-08-2020 9:01pm

Laois_Man wrote: »

otters

I grew up beside a river and to keep me too afraid to wonder down to the water, everyone used to tell me the otters would chase me, catch me and drag me into the river!

And goats!

According to Chinese Astrology

The Water Goat is an example of the most peaceful and harmless creature in the world

Feenix · 07-08-2020 11:33pm

Wurzel Gummage. The c**t.

Morleystreet · 08-08-2020 12:21am

Happy Haloween Silver Shamrock scared the living day lights out of me.

"It's still running on Chanel 3, stop it, stop it, stop it. "
I was literally praying for them to stop the add.

Aongus Von Bismarck · 08-08-2020 12:30am

The Soviet Union.

Potential-Monke · 08-08-2020 1:13am

The Skull from The Last Unicorn. The sound of his bones and him "drinking"... Used to terrify my in my dreams. Wasn't helped that I suffered from Glandular Fever once a year when I was younger, and during the bouts of hallucination, this coont was always standing above me, touching my arms, laughing. I could feel the roughness of his bones... Even now I shudder at the thought...

copeyhagen · 08-08-2020 1:15am

the thoughts of a flu like pandemic, that the government got complete control over the people and told them what to do, while drip feeding information to keep the public scared of something, that 90% of people dont need to worry about...

that was just me though.

Capt'n Midnight · 08-08-2020 2:50am

Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »

The Soviet Union.

How did that old Intourist slogan go ?

"Visit the Soviet Union, before the Soviet Union visits you"

Hamsterchops · 08-08-2020 9:01am

Doctor Who - Cybermen (1970s type)

Daleks didn't scare me so much, but the Cybermen had me checking under the bed and hiding behind the sofa.

ilovesmybrick · 08-08-2020 2:10pm

Feenix wrote: »

Wurzel Gummage. The c**t.

That bugger scared the bejesus out of me as a kid. I remember seeing a box set in some video shop in Dublin about twelve years ago and almost had 'Nam like flashbacks to hiding behind the couch as a kid whenever that came on!

Tony EH · 10-08-2020 8:43pm

This bastard...

The bane of my single figure childhood. Every nightmare he infected and the only way I could get rid of him was with a loud scream. He became a kind of fixation for kid me, cos I knew that when a dream turned bad, he'd be showing up soon.

Tony EH · 10-08-2020 8:52pm

emo72 wrote: »

Space 1999 dragons domain episode. How the **** did this pass the censor for children's TV. Oh yeah we had to censor out the suggestion of a nipple on TV, but tentacled life force flesh stripping aliens? Yeah that's fine.

https://youtu.be/tvyWfwT5nwU

I remember that. I also remember these buggers...

LOL, Saturday morning with the parents in bed and me on me tobler, watching 'Space 1999', shitting myself.

What Really Scared You As A Child?

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