What Really Scared You As A Child?

expectationlost · 10-08-2020 9:27pm

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

Ghostwatch. Was a little older than a “child” though.

the pipes!

the purple tin · 10-08-2020 10:08pm

The Gorn from Star Trek

Especially when he walks right into the camera. I almost ruined me Y-Fronts :eek:

Wanderer2010 · 10-08-2020 10:30pm

I nicked one of my brothers Stephen King books when I was 11. I was a bright kid so the words and descriptions flowed over me with instant understanding. What I wasn't prepared for was the indelible impression his words would have on me as I read the first 100 pages of Salem's Lot, a novel about vampires living in a modern American small town.

I was full of bravado about all the minor scares up to that point, but the scene where the gravedigger is filling in the grave of a 12 year old boy who was found dead with most of his blood removed, stayed with me forever: the chap was working alone and dusk was rapidly spreading over the empty graveyard. He couldn't shake the feeling someone was watching him from inside the coffin. The feeling grew as strong and as fast as night was creeping in. Unable to bear it anymore, he throws away the dirt of the half filled grave, busts the lock open on the coffin and lifts the lid. And looks directly into the wide-eyed, smiling boy who was indeed watching him all along.

I slammed the book down and fled the room, despite it being the middle of the day! Couldn't sleep with the light off for weeks, was terrified of going to the toilet alone in the night and generally prayed for a time machine where I could revisit a world where I didn't read that chapter. Its a testament to how talented the man is to describe scares so skilfully and vividly but ill never forget how scared it made me!!!

the purple tin · 10-08-2020 10:35pm

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

I nicked one of my brothers Stephen King books when I was 11. I was a bright kid so the words and descriptions flowed over me with instant understanding. What I wasn't prepared for was the indelible impression his words would have on me as I read the first 100 pages of Salem's Lot, a novel about vampires living in a modern American small town.

I was full of bravado about all the minor scares up to that point, but the scene where the gravedigger is filling in the grave of a 12 year old boy who was found dead with most of his blood removed, stayed with me forever: the chap was working alone and dusk was rapidly spreading over the empty graveyard. He couldn't shake the feeling someone was watching him from inside the coffin. The feeling grew as strong and as fast as night was creeping in. Unable to bear it anymore, he throws away the dirt of the half filled grave, busts the lock open on the coffin and lifts the lid. And looks directly into the wide-eyed, smiling boy who was indeed watching him all along.

I slammed the book down and fled the room, despite it being the middle of the day! Couldn't sleep with the light off for weeks, was terrified of going to the toilet alone in the night and generally prayed for a time machine where I could revisit a world where I didn't read that chapter. Its a testament to how talented the man is to describe scares so skilfully and vividly but ill never forget how scared it made me!!!

I found the baby vampire particularly creepy. Also there was a special edition with extra content in it and there is a part where the grumpy school bus driver gets his commupance, really terrifying.

Beanntraigheach · 10-08-2020 11:47pm

Tony EH wrote: »

This bastard...

Looks like:

Leg End Reject · 11-08-2020 12:40am

^^^ uncanny!

bb1234567 · 11-08-2020 1:15am

Jaws really scared me because the shark seemed to just pop up everywhere. The characters kept getting attacked by JAWS who would jump out of any dark hole or behind some rock or weeds it seemed like they were never safe from him lurking. I was terrified that he would jump up through the floorboards of my house and swallow me, my babysitter assured me that I was safe due to the lack of water under my house but still did nothing to comfort me.

Noodles81 · 11-08-2020 1:47am

partyguinness wrote: »

The film Neverendiing Story.

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

Either have I. Cannot watch it, even now.

Tom Dunne · 11-08-2020 8:29am

The TV programme, Garda Patrol.

It convinced me that Ireland of the 80's was full of murderers, miscreants and sheep stealers.

the purple tin · 11-08-2020 9:47am

Beanntraigheach wrote: »

Looks like:

Very apt as Bertie trolled the entire nation

Tzardine · 11-08-2020 9:52am

When I was a kid there was nothing that freaked me out more than the tongue twisters on Bosco.

I used to run out screaming when they came on apparently.

Tig98 · 11-08-2020 9:53am

The night before I started 6th class I watched the first Paranormal Activity movie with my cousin who was was a few years older than me.

Scared **** less doesn't even come near it. I was sleeping with my parents for a month.

Tony EH · 11-08-2020 3:13pm

Beanntraigheach wrote: »

Looks like:

I think the troll had a bank account though.

Tony EH · 11-08-2020 3:17pm

bb1234567 wrote: »

Jaws really scared me because the shark seemed to just pop up everywhere. The characters kept getting attacked by JAWS who would jump out of any dark hole or behind some rock or weeds it seemed like they were never safe from him lurking. I was terrified that he would jump up through the floorboards of my house and swallow me, my babysitter assured me that I was safe due to the lack of water under my house but still did nothing to comfort me.

I used to be terrified to use the toilet at night in case Jaws got me. :pac:

Can you imagine...a 25ft great white hiding in a jacks waiting for a 6 year old to have a pee at 4 in the morning.

He'd be looking at the watch on his flipper, "...any minute now..."

Great white sharks are known for their epic patience.

JupiterKid · 11-08-2020 8:05pm

Tony EH wrote: »

I used to be terrified to use the toilet at night in case Jaws got me. :pac:

Can you imagine...a 25ft great white hiding in a jacks waiting for a 6 year old to have a pee at 4 in the morning.

He'd be looking at the watch on his flipper, "...any minute now..."

Great white sharks are known for their epic patience.

I’ll just leave this image here then so...

:pac: I had Jaws 2 on VHS recorded off the telly as a kid - loved the scary bits!

Tony EH · 11-08-2020 8:39pm

JupiterKid wrote: »

I’ll just leave this image here then so...

Well, they don't bother me any more.

I kinda became a bit fascinated by sharks a little later in life. Very interesting and very misunderstood creatures.

the purple tin · 11-08-2020 10:36pm

Ray Bradbury had a short story about clowns. Whenever a child got lost at the circus they would grab them, take them to their tent and eat them :eek:
It wasn't just a few bad-eggs, according to Mr B all clowns do it!

Another of his books, 'something wicked this way comes' was about a creepy circus and it had a horrible fortune teller/witch in it who was terrifying.

sbs2010 · 11-08-2020 10:41pm

My brother told me if you looked into a mirror at midnight you would see the Devil. Freaked me out for years when it started to get late.

Still get a bit edgy at 11.59

Flaccus · 11-08-2020 10:43pm

A series called 'Space 1999' was one of my favorites as a child in 1975. But the episode 'Dragons Domain' freaked me out.

Go to 25:48
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvyWfwT5nwU

cannotlogin · 11-08-2020 10:53pm

I lack the words to explain this properly but with gaps in it that I could potentially fall through, e.g. cattle grids, those grid usually over the cellar outside a pub, stairs where you could see through the steps etc.

Despite being too big to fail through any of them, they really really terrified me. I was a weird child.

11-08-2020 11:08pm

I was an only child and used to be brought out by my parents to my mother's widowed sister's house in north Wicklow on a Sunday. Mum's sister travelled through India and Africa and had decorative ethnic wooden heads on the mantelpiece. As a young kid I would take these and start playing with them, destructively as young kids do. My teenage cousin, fearing I was going to injure myself, said "that person might bite" and I dropped the African carved head on the floor with a thud and was terrified by the sight of it or any other kind of disembodied human head.

To make things worse, my mother had started up a cottage industry with her sisters of making hats and accessories (1960s) and in her work she often had to bring me, a very young child, with her. The businesses she visited had tons of "disembodied heads" sporting hats and scarves. I was terrified of them and to this day I swear I saw one bear her teeth by drawing back her lips in front of me!

Manach · 11-08-2020 11:13pm

Soviet medium range missiles.

De Bhál · 11-08-2020 11:19pm

Earwigs due to a story my father told us about them.
A lad he worked with who was complaining about a headache for days until he was eventually screaming in pain. He proceeded to chop his head open with an axe. Out flowed earwigs. Killed himself.
My father worked on a farm and this somehow seemed believable to me. Still think of the story and get a shiver when I see one.

Also saw The Omen way too young at a friend's house which frightened the ****e outta me. We couldn't watch it all and I said I was going home. Grew up in the country about 1.5miles away. Probably broke a time trial record that dark night on my rothar.

Schnooks · 11-08-2020 11:28pm

Clowns when I was taken to the circus!

Beanntraigheach · 11-08-2020 11:35pm

Deleted User wrote: »

I was an only child and used to be brought out by my parents to my mother's widowed sister's house in north Wicklow on a Sunday. Mum's sister travelled through India and Africa and had decorative ethnic wooden heads on the mantelpiece. As a young kid I would take these and start playing with them, destructively as young kids do. My teenage cousin, fearing I was going to injure myself, said "that person might bite" and I dropped the African carved head on the floor with a thud and was terrified by the sight of it or any other kind of disembodied human head.

To make things worse, my mother had started up a cottage industry with her sisters of making hats and accessories (1960s) and in her work she often had to bring me, a very young child, with her. The businesses she visited had tons of "disembodied heads" sporting hats and scarves. I was terrified of them and to this day I swear I saw one bear her teeth by drawing back her lips in front of me!

Brings to mind childhood memories of this scene from "Return to Oz":

JupiterKid · 11-08-2020 11:36pm

Manach wrote: »

Soviet medium range missiles.

I had recurring nightmares of nuclear war as a child of 10/11, to such an extent I would wake up screaming in the night and my parents took me to see a child psychologist for therapy sessions. I can’t exactly remember what he did - some type of hypnotherapy I think, but they worked.

Reading up on the Cold War as an adult, it seems that the world was actually dangerously close to all- out nuclear war in the early to mid 1980s.

11-08-2020 11:50pm

Beanntraigheach wrote: »

Brings to mind childhood memories of this scene from "Return to Oz":

That kind of scene was exactly in my mind as a chiseler.

My aunt gave a present of one of the original African heads (which set off the phobia but didn't scare me anything as much as the subsequently seen white mannequin heads in the hat wholesalers) and my father hid it in a drawer seeing as I was so scared of heads. One late winter's night I remember being just about tall enough to open the drawer and let out an almighty scream when I saw the head staring at me!

harr · 11-08-2020 11:52pm

For me it was the dark , well not really the dark more so night time I had a terrible fear around being the only one awake... I have no idea why or how that fear came about. My dad sorted it out when he drove me down to a nearby factory to show me all the night shift workers ..,
Also had a fear of religious statues again no reasoning as to why .. I think I seen a program on tv about knock or something and was bricking it in case I would see an apparition at end of the bed ..

11-08-2020 11:55pm

harr wrote: »

For me it was the dark , well not really the dark more so night time I had a terrible fear around being the only one awake... I have no idea why or how that fear came about. My dad sorted it out when he drove me down to a nearby factory to show me all the night shift workers ..,
Also had a fear of religious statues again no reasoning as to why .. I think I seen a program on tv about knock or something and was bricking it in case I would see an apparition at end of the bed ..

That was a smart idea of your Fad to actually show you people who are awake through the night. I have always felt that as a child too, and indeed I keep the radio on low to this day to remind NK myself the world still has a casting heart outside.

nthclare · 12-08-2020 12:08am

Tony EH wrote: »

I used to be terrified to use the toilet at night in case Jaws got me. :pac:

Can you imagine...a 25ft great white hiding in a jacks waiting for a 6 year old to have a pee at 4 in the morning.

He'd be looking at the watch on his flipper, "...any minute now..."

Great white sharks are known for their epic patience.

I remember thinking Jaw's was going to plough through my sitting room window and take me into the night, my parents weren't too strict about watching Jaw's and horror movies.
Didn't do me much harm to be honest.

.anon. · 12-08-2020 2:26am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C00DStk5nks

YellowBucket · 12-08-2020 2:38am

I used to have nightmares about that Ulysses cartoon. Excellent theme tune but for some reason woven into all my late 80s nightmares lol

Also I somehow managed to be up late, in a room on my own watching Poltergeist on an old TV, which looked way too much like it was a prop in the film.

It took me a while to get over it. I was way too young, but such was cable TV back in the day.

What Really Scared You As A Child?

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