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#1
05-12-2006, 04:03 PM
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Ridiculous TV stuff that spooked you as a kid
In order to differentiate from this thread, here we will discuss not actually terrifying / scary stuff like "Twilight Zone" episodes, but the silly, trivial things that wasn't supposed to be scary, but creeped you out as a kid.
For me, it was the Vegetable Soup segment "Outerscope" about a bunch of neighbor kids (actually puppets) who build a rocketship (called, naturally enough, "Outerscope") out of wooden planks and pilot it into outer space. They visit a whole bunch of allegorical, surreal worlds in which they learn about tolerance, multiculteralism, the value of a good education, and other assorted "valuable lessons" that mid-70s PBS shows specialized in. What was uniquely disturbing about "Outerscope" was that the kids were puppets, but with real human hands. The puppeteers would stick their adult-sized hands out the sides of the kid-sized puppet-bodies. Only their hands, mind you, not their arms. So these puppet-kids had giant hands & wrists jutting from their sides, but no arms. It was like watching a puppet show about kids with thalidomide birth defects. Evidently, I wasn't the only kid who thought these puppets looked very 'wrong', because later 'Outerscope' segments had puppets with regular manniken-like (anatomically appropriate) hands. But the early Outerscope segments just creeped me out so badly that I couldn't stand to be in the room when my brother watched it. 
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#2
05-12-2006, 08:53 PM
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The Giant Spider episode of "Gilligan's Island."
But that could have been because Giant Spiders have given me the willies ever since I saw "The Fly."
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#4
05-12-2006, 09:27 PM
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I was always creeped out anytime the "Techical Difficulties Please Stand By" thing would come up onscreen. I would think, "oh no, the tv people are being attacked by monsters" or something equally kid-like.
It still creeps me out a little, though, cuz what if monsters really are attacking them?!
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#5
05-12-2006, 09:28 PM
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Too funny, I was freaked out by both the Outerscope puppets and the giant spider from Gilligan's Island.
I was especially frightened by the Lady Elaine puppet in the Land of Make Believe on Mr. Rogers. First, it freaked me out because I didn't understand if she was supposed to be a man or a woman. She looked like a man, but her name was Lady Elaine. Apparently I was not very tolerant of a wide range of gender expression when I was a preschooler. Also, I thought she was an alcoholic because her nose was red. Granted, I didn't know what an alcoholic was, but it seemed bad. I think I have puppet issues in general. I also remember being frightened by a puppet version of "Beauty and the Beast" that I saw on TV. The beast was ultra-creepy!
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#6
05-12-2006, 09:34 PM
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Tiny Tim. No explanation needed.
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#7
05-12-2006, 09:34 PM
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The final shot of every episode of The Banana Splits, in which the animated characters transform into static pantings on a wooden fence, has left me with a general sense of unease for almost 35 years.
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#8
05-12-2006, 10:32 PM
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Some kind of horror Afternoon Special (aired in north Georgia during the afternoons in the 70's) that had something walking surreptitiously around the deck of navy ships with green feet and red toenails, that's all I remember now, but totally freaked me out as a punk kid. Ran out of the room a couple of times.
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#11
05-13-2006, 08:06 AM
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#12
05-13-2006, 08:57 AM
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Oh man, was I ever afraid of the Incredible Hulk when I was about four years old. Of course it was my favorite TV show, but every time Dr. Banner got annoyed and started turning into the Hulk, I’d lose it and run out of the room screaming.
Of course then my mom would calm me down, and I’d return to the TV set to watch more. Right, no reason to be afraid, there IS no such thing as the Incredible Hulk. Mom’s right. Except this one time…. We went to Universal Studios in California. They had a show going on where several actors were dressed up like “classic” movie monsters from back in the day. There was a Dracula, a Frankenstein, and a Wolfman all doing their thing up on stage. Slightly unsettling, but my mom and dad were right there, and my mom kept explaining that they weren’t real, they were just regular people dressed up in makeup. I was about 50/50 in believing her, but I sat, ready to flee at any moment. That moment came a few minutes later when the Incredible Goddamn Hulk threw open the doors at the back of the theatre, and came running and screaming down the center isle. Let me tell you, food I had just eaten was hurrying its way through my digestive tract just so it could play a part in the shitting of my pants. I went absolutely and instantly into run for your life mode, because the Hulk was here, and here to do something (I don’t know exactly what) to me. I was gone in an instant. My mom had to chase me down, while laughing hysterically, and didn’t catch me until I was on the far side of the theatre. I still don’t like the Hulk on a certain level, and I’m getting my mom a rock for mother’s day.
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#13
05-13-2006, 09:21 AM
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Just about everything in Gumby and Pokey, including the claymation animation technique itself, creeped me right on out.
Speaking of animation, any of the '60s cartoons that were done with that really cheap animation effect where they superimpose moving lips on a picture of the character. Lastly, George "The Animal" Steele on [i]Studio Wrestling[i]. All that body hair, for one thing.
__________________
I love you, El_Kabong
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#14
05-13-2006, 09:29 AM
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All I'm going to say is that Sid and Marty Krofft have a lot to answer for. Even most of their supposedly friendly characters spooked the hell out of me.
__________________
An American flodnak in Oslo. Do not open cover; no user serviceable parts inside.
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#15
05-13-2006, 12:48 PM
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The Courtship of Eddie's Father.
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#16
05-13-2006, 02:16 PM
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#18
05-13-2006, 02:41 PM
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#19
05-13-2006, 02:41 PM
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On Mr. Dressup, when I was still a toddler, they had a puppet come on sometimes called "Aunt Bird". I hated that puppet. It scared me half out of my wits. I don't remember exactly how my young mind made these stretches of connections, but I remember at some point seeing the cover of one of the Eagles albums (maybe a greatest hits?) in my father's collection, and there was a bird skull on it. Freaked me out. Aunt bird. And then, Aunt Bird needs a counterpart, right? Well, in my wee brain, I somehow thought that "Uncle Albert", from the Paul McCartney song (Wings? I don't know), and I was scared to death of that song. Even today, if I hear that damn "I'm so sorry, Uncle Albert", I get kind of antsy. Aunt Bird. My father would play that song at night when he thought I was sleeping, but I would be wide awake, scared, imagining dozens of Aunt Birds jumping out from under my bed and scaring me to death. Could be where I started being an insomniac.
 Aunt Bird. Christ. Maybe this should go in the trauma thread? Damn Aunt Bird. Another moment that spooked me was watching Davy and Goliath. I used to love the show, for whatever reason, but then one day, Davy was playing around a... well? An abandoned mine? I don't remember, but I knew it wasn't a good idea as soon as Goliath said, "I don't know, Daaaaaaavy." Well, Davy fell in. It would show him laying on the ground, injured, or something, unconcious... it freaked me out. Refused to watch that show again. From that day forward, I was strictly a Barbapapa girl.
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#20
05-13-2006, 02:42 PM
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I had nightmares about a late 1960s cartoon PSA for a character called "Johnny Smoke". It was right when tobacco companies had to start phasing out TV commercials. I believe that Johnny Smoke was a cigarette with a bandanna on it to make him look like a bandit and there were lots of dead cowboys after he went through town.
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#21
05-13-2006, 02:52 PM
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I found her! The comments are mine. Damn scary, even today.
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#22
05-13-2006, 02:54 PM
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#23
05-13-2006, 03:15 PM
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#24
05-13-2006, 03:15 PM
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#25
05-13-2006, 03:16 PM
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#26
05-13-2006, 03:18 PM
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#27
05-13-2006, 03:25 PM
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A marionette show called Terrahawks, whose main baddie was a witch, or some shit. She was all wrinkled up. I hated that show, scared the crap out of me. Maybe it was just the marionettes. Shows you were scared of seemed to go on forever... Maybe because you had to go away and play for a while until something else came on, and as a kid with no sense of time, everytime you checked the tv the scary show was still on.
The scariest movie I saw as a kid was Darby Ogill and the little people, it had a Banshee ghost and a Death caoch, each done with a glowing effect. It had such a strrong effect on me as a lil'un, that fifteen years later watching The Fellowship of The Ring, when Galadriel did her "Queen of Infinite Beauty" transformation, complete with Darby O'Gill-esque glowing, I wanted to run out of the theatre. I sat there with my eyes closed: I was terrified.
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#28
05-13-2006, 03:36 PM
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#29
05-13-2006, 03:53 PM
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I hated the music from Unsolved Mysteries, it really used to scare me, and one episode about a guy that killed his wife and was "Most Wanted" scared me alot.
No, not for the obvious reason, but because the report said the guy had "hammer thumbs". OMIGOD he had hammers for thumbs!
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#30
05-13-2006, 03:56 PM
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Beaker from The Muppets scared the crap outta me. He was just so...not right. And then the Scientist guy with him had no eyes but wore glasses. NO EYES!
*Shudder*
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#31
05-13-2006, 04:01 PM
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The Thunderbirds puppets (and any puppets in that style) creep me out. I never could watch those shows!
I was also terrified of the movie "Opération Beurre de Pinnotes" (The Peanut Butter Solution). I found out my husband hated it too - what the hell prompted people to show that movie to kids?? I remember hiding under a blanket and crying when my parents rented it (again? I remember already knowing I didn't like that movie!) They had popcorn (which, at the time, I hated) and nothing else as snacks, and I felt so scared and lonely and my parents obviously didn't like me! I must have been about 6 at the time. *shudder* I still tease my mom about that childhood torture! And the Magic Cookie in my Grade 1 reader (the one where you learned colours). This stupid claymation type pictures of a grey world, and this ugly grey gingerbread cookie, and she suddenly gets up (wtf??) and runs away from the store, with the store owner running after her. She sees a yellow bird, so she STEALS the yellow for her coat, and the bird flies away all white! Then she does the same thing to other animals.... a green and purple frog turns white because the bitch steals the colours for her pants, and a red (something - I forget the animal - fish, maybe) turns white for her boots, and an orange cat turns white for her hair....arrgh! Terrified me, and we had to read this stupid story for WEEKS until the curriculum decided we knew our colour words enough to move on! My mom is a teacher, and she comes home with that book sometimes when her class is at that point, and I still find it creepy! She doesn't understand, and says no kid has ever told her they had a problem with the cookie. Of course, my teacher didn't know I didn't like it either, because I suffered in silence. I wonder how many more scared students are out there? I'm gonna have nightmares tonight!
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#32
05-13-2006, 04:18 PM
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When I was a kid, "The Thing" (the one with James Arness) just terrified me!
Also "Gort" from "The Day The Earth Stood Still" Gave me and my friends nightmares. (Platu Marada......something) We all memorized the saying just in case! 
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#33
05-13-2006, 04:28 PM
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If I wear it, will you be my Valentine? 
__________________
There's an Initiation Ceremony. It involves a Squid and a Goat. You're gonna be good friends with that Goat. The Squid will not exactly be a stranger, either. ~~Me, on the SDMB Initiation
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#34
05-13-2006, 04:51 PM
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Why yes, yes, I AM a geek. I can even trump that level of geekery by noting that George Lucas paid homage to that classic sci-fi film in Return of the Jedi, by naming three of Jabba's skiff guards Klaatu, Barada and Nikto.
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#36
05-13-2006, 05:39 PM
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Once upon a time in the early eighties I really couldn't stand those sick little shape-shifting freaks that appeared on the German Sesame Street.
Another character that I found irritating was Herr von Bödefeld, the aristocratic gender-ambiguous trickster figure from Sesame Street. clip
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#37
05-13-2006, 05:46 PM
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Speaking of Saturday mornings, there was this "afterschool special" kind of program that aired on ABC. It was a live-action show, but it would start off with this giant cartoon book opening up. Then after the show, the giant cartoon book would close. I don't know why, but it scared me. The giant mammoth things that opened the Muppet Show scared me too. There was this PBS show that came on during the summer called "Read All About it!". Everything about the show was scary to me, even though I loved it.
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#38
05-13-2006, 08:01 PM
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For the life of me, I can't figure out why that show would have been scary.
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#40
05-13-2006, 09:56 PM
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I vividly remember the scariest scene I ever saw on TV as a kid, but I'm having a hard time remembering exactly what the show was called. It was some children's tv show during the 80's and the main characters were a lady and a very large, talking Victrola. The show, I guess, was for teaching kids about music. They'd have bits about what "rhythm" means and different instruments and things like that.
During one episode, the record-player and the lady were talking about theme music. The point they were making was that theme music helps people figure out what's going on or what's about to happen in a performance. They demonstrate the principle by showing a kid in his bed, all alone, trying to fall asleep. Then, suddenly, really scary music starts playing and the kid becomes frightened when he hears creepy footsteps outside his room, and then the doorknob starts to turn slowly, and the kid is literally hiding under his covers and the door opens to reveal that there's no danger at all. "It's only his mother," the narrator points out. Ha-ha, clever trick. They fooled you by making use of theme music. Lesson learned. Except, as a kid myself, I found the whole ordeal terrifying every time I watched it (my parents recorded shows for me and I watched and rewatched them all ad nauseam). It wasn't even that I had a bad memory or anything, I actually thought it might be different every time. Maybe instead of his mom, it would be a monster. My childlike brain couldn't handle it. So that was pretty scary, but what I'm really interested in is finding out the name of the show. Up until a while ago, I would have sworn on a stack of holy texts that the show was called "The Magic Music Box." I can hear in my head right now what I think is the theme song, singing "it's a magic music box" over and over. This phrase presumably refers to the talking Victrola, who almost certainly acquired its power of speech magically, like a peaceful, more educational Juggernaut. Yet after extensive Googling, I can't find any connection between the name and the show. Does anyone else remember seeing anything like what I'm talking about?
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#41
05-13-2006, 09:58 PM
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I'll go along wih the Star Trek theme, except for me, it wasn't so much the music (though it is kinda creepy) but the photo of the alien they would show at the end of the closing credits. Ya know , the pale faced, bug eyed, pointy eared, slackjawed one? Sometimes they showed a pictured of a green lady dancing. She was pretty oogie as well.
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#42
05-13-2006, 10:08 PM
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#43
05-13-2006, 10:10 PM
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I had almost forgotten my Sesame Street terror. The song "My Beautiful Balloon" was performed by a muppet guy who, at the end, flew away with the balloon completely out of control. he never came back, either. I think he was screaming as it happened, but maybe it was me.
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#44
05-13-2006, 10:11 PM
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Know what scared me? Mr. Snuffleupagus. I knew, I KNEW, that he lived under the grates in the sidewalk. He was running along under there where you couldn't see him (I thought the sidewalks were just a narrow walkway above his tunnels) and one day that trunk would slooowly come snaking up and grab me.
No no no! I can still see that grate from my window now!
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#45
05-13-2006, 10:12 PM
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Those damn Flying Monkeys in The wizard of Oz. They scared the bejuesus outta me....but I still watched it EVERY year...Mom made Homade fudge that night...mmmm
tsfr
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#46
05-13-2006, 10:13 PM
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From Sesame Street: The kittens destroying the dollhouse tea party always made me cry. My mom still talks about this and wonders why. Thinking about it, and the song that went along with it, totally bums me out, even today. And I'm thirty freaking six years old.
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#47
05-13-2006, 10:23 PM
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#50
05-13-2006, 10:42 PM
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So this little boy living with just his father and a woman who obviously wasn't his mother (I think - wasn't there an Asian maid/nanny?) just didn't compute. And I didn't know what "courtship" meant, either
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