What fictional things scared you as a child?

[Freudian Slit]

Movies, books, pictures, even songs.

I know a lot of you hated Large Marge from Pee Wee's Big Adventure.

For me, I didn't have a lot that freaked me out. The one thing that did still scares me to this day. Though not as much as when I was eight. It was the Roald Dahl book and movie based on the book, The Witches. It wasn't till after I graduated college that I could watch that scene without flipping channels or hiding under the bed or both. And I still give ladies wearing gloves the stinkeye. (You never know.)

Apologies in advance if this thread has been done before.

[In Winnipeg]

I wouldn't necessarily say it "scared" me, but I remember finding the gothic soap opera Strange Paradise extremely unsettling.

[antonio107]

I was 1 when the first Ninja Turtles animated series came out. I pretty much obsessed about them until the point when I was 7 or 8 or so. And yet for most of that period, I was intensely afraid of the mousers. If I had nickel for every nightmare induced by those robotic little monsters...then there was metalhead, the one and off villain who was an evil robotic turtle.

Basically, robots scare me.

[Shark Sandwich]

Originally Posted by antonio107

I was 1 when the first Ninja Turtles animated series came out. I pretty much obsessed about them until the point when I was 7 or 8 or so. And yet for most of that period, I was intensely afraid of the mousers. If I had nickel for every nightmare induced by those robotic little monsters...then there was metalhead, the one and off villain who was an evil robotic turtle.

Basically, robots scare me.

That's because robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel. Sounds like you need to purchase some Old Glory Insurance:

Sam Waterson: And when they grab you with those metal claws, you can't break free...because they're made of metal, and robots are strong. Now, for only $4 a month, you can achieve peace of mind in a world full of grime and robots, with Old Glory Insurance. So, don't cower under your afghan any longer. Make a choice. [ "WARNING: Persons denying the existence of Robots may be Robots themselves. ] Old Glory Insurance. For when the metal ones decide to come for you - and they will.

[Freudian Slit]

I actually googled mousers and they look pretty cute! Er, but I'm sure to a small, impressionable child, they are in fact horrifying.

My brother loves the Ninja Turtles. I'll have to ask if he remembers them and what he thought of them.

Did you think Wheelers were scary, too? From Return to Oz. I saw it as an adult so I don't but I've heard those were really creepy to kids.

[pepperlandgirl]

The devil.

[Shark Sandwich]

*Ahem.*

When I was a kid, I used to hide behind the couch whenever The Bumble showed up on Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

It feels so liberating to admit that.

[BobArrgh]

I read Treasure Island when I was 6 years old (part of my dad's Summer Reading Program for Keeping Little BobbyArrgh's Mind Occupied). The name "Billy Bones" was not one I liked to hear.

Especially when my brothers used to go through my bedroom telling all the ghosts, goblins, witches, and pirates what time I went to bed. All the while, they would shouting in a creepy voice, "Billy Bones ... Billy Bones ... he goes to bed at 8 o'clock!"

[RealityChuck]

The only thing I can remember really scaring me as a kid was the tyrannosaurus in Dinosaurus

[MeanOldLady]

Snuffleupagus scared the shit out of me.

[BeeDubU2]

Remember in The Wiz, when they're going down into the subway? And the columns start chasing them with that creepy music? I've given every column and support beam the stink eye since I saw that....

[JoelUpchurch]

I remember watching an old movie where there is a tribe that buries their dead in trees and lets the trees grow around them. One night the trees start walking and attacking people. That night I had a nightmare about a tree breaking through my window and taking me back to the river bluff and throwing me off. I was leery of trees for years after that, especially in the winter when they don't have any leaves.

I'm over it, but I noticed I didn't like the Ents in the Lord of the Rings.

[BrainGlutton]

When I was 5 I saw a horror movie called The Lost Continent -- really dumb movie, really crappy FX, but when you're 5 everything seems equally real, you know? It featured a kind of mobile seaweed that eats people. For a long time after, I was terrified to go in the water.

[antonio107]

Originally Posted by Freudian Slit

I actually googled mousers and they look pretty cute! Er, but I'm sure to a small, impressionable child, they are in fact horrifying.

http://www.ninjaturtles.com/cartoon/...hots/03/13.jpg

They're horrifying, especially given the context. The turtles and master Splinter would be quietly sitting around, minding their own business, and then the walls would start to crack all around you as a hoard of mousers eat their way through your walls, presumably with the intent of ripping your flesh with their metal teeth. It's not just the individual ones that are scary, but the fact that they came at you in swarms, like bees on McCauly Culkin.

[Maggie the Ocelot]

Bloody Mary.

You know. You go into a bathroom at night with the lights off at midnight, and all your friends chant "BLOODY MARY BLOODY MARY" and you look in the mirror and YOU SEE HER FACE INSTEAD OF YOURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I still don't like going past a mirror in a darkened room.

[billfish678]

Those damn flying monkies in the original Wizard of Oz.

[Freudian Slit]

Originally Posted by antonio107

They're horrifying, especially given the context. The turtles and master Splinter would be quietly sitting around, minding their own business, and then the walls would start to crack all around you as a hoard of mousers eat their way through your walls, presumably with the intent of ripping your flesh with their metal teeth. It's not just the individual ones that are scary, but the fact that they came at you in swarms, like bees on McCauly Culkin.

Link's not working for me, but is this another pic of them?

http://www.bogleech.com/tmnt/tmnt-baxter2.jpg

I still say cute..but I think I remember what you're talking about, how they'd randomly burst in. I think this is a case of how many would be scary--like, a huge crowd? Yeah. One? I could train him to do tricks and make him my best friend!

[TWDuke]

I'm sure this is laughable to anyone who wasn't traumatized by it as a kid, but the space ants that killed Bruce Dern still freak me out.

Darby O'Gill and the Little People is a delightful Walt Disney movie about a lovable old man's adventure among charming leprechauns. Oh, yeah, it also has a freakin' banshee.

[evilbeth]

When I was really little, Sam the Eagle from the Muppets really scared me. He looked so mean.

When I was a little older, the move Children of the Corn scared the crap out of me. Now that I am old enough to really understand religious zealousness and seeing so much of it where I live, it scares me even more.

[antonio107]

Originally Posted by Freudian Slit

Link's not working for me, but is this another pic of them?

http://www.bogleech.com/tmnt/tmnt-baxter2.jpg

I still say cute..but I think I remember what you're talking about, how they'd randomly burst in. I think this is a case of how many would be scary--like, a huge crowd? Yeah. One? I could train him to do tricks and make him my best friend!

Yes, I suppose the context of "I ran out of the room everytime they were on TV for a quarter of life to date" probably has me biased towards them. There were a lot of electronic such things that I didn't like - the lady who "yelled" at me when I dialed a number not in service, and those dancing 7Up cans that move when you clap your hands....

[Freudian Slit]

Originally Posted by evilbeth

When I was really little, Sam the Eagle from the Muppets really scared me. He looked so mean.

Oh yeah. I wasn't really scared but I didn't like him. The frowning face. He seemed so angry. I like him a lot more now.

Also didn't like Sweetums. To be honest, Sweetums is *still* creepy.

I guess that's bringing it back to Jim Henson, since he also worked on the Witches...

[MeanOldLady]

Originally Posted by Maggie the Ocelot

Bloody Mary.

You know. You go into a bathroom at night with the lights off at midnight, and all your friends chant "BLOODY MARY BLOODY MARY" and you look in the mirror and YOU SEE HER FACE INSTEAD OF YOURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I still don't like going past a mirror in a darkened room.

Oh hell yes. I have still never said Bloody Mary thrice before a mirror in a dark room. I'm going to see if I have the balls to finally do it tonight.

[Lissla Lissar]

The picture of Tash in The Last Battle. Freaked me out, couldn't look at the page. Terrifying.

Did anyone else read John Bellairs when they were kids? I think all of his books frightened the heck out of me, but there's one scene from (I think) [i]The Mommy, the Will and the Crypt[i]) where the main character is walking down a windy, moonlit street, and sees leaves and something white blowing across the ground. He gets closer, and realises it's a death mask scuttling towards him.


This is the sound of me hiding under the bed.

[antonio107]

Originally Posted by Shark Sandwich

That's because robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel. Sounds like you need to purchase some Old Glory Insurance:

I hadn't watched that skit in ages. Thanks for reminding me of it, lol!

[Meatros]

Originally Posted by Freudian Slit

I know a lot of you hated Large Marge from Pee Wee's Big Adventure.

+1

I was also scared of the "Scary Stories" book series.

[Wile E]

Oompa Loompas. From the Gene Wilder Willy Wonka movie.



Except they scare me as an adult.

[FoieGrasIsEvil]

Sharks (from seeing Jaws at the age of 7 while living in Hawaii and going to the beach every weekend) and vampires.

[Maggie the Ocelot]

Also, the Wicked Witch of the West. And the "daDUMP. daDUMP. daDUMPDUMPDUMP" music from Jaws.

[Leaffan]

Originally Posted by TWDuke

Darby O'Gill and the Little People is a delightful Walt Disney movie about a lovable old man's adventure among charming leprechauns. Oh, yeah, it also has a freakin' banshee.

Oh God, yeah.

Also, the Daleks in the original Dr. Who. Exterminate! Exterminate!

The evil Queen as the apple-bearing, old lady in Snow White!

[Hypno-Toad]

The little devil doll that had the soul of an african warrior trapped in it. Specifically, the shot of it rising out of the bath tub at the end of the hall.

I was going to mention a certain bug based movie, but remembered that such creatures are not fictional. Damn.

[The Second Stone]

Originally Posted by Shark Sandwich

*Ahem.*

When I was a kid, I used to hide behind the couch whenever The Bumble showed up on Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

It feels so liberating to admit that.

OOOOh yes. He was scary. So was the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. I had to run from the room. I'm quite surprised my parents let me watch them in view of their dislike of me watching westerns and stuff which didn't bother me.

[Freudian Slit]

Originally Posted by Meatros

I was also scared of the "Scary Stories" book series.

Oh, tell me. Those were intense. Those pictures. Remember the lady with stringy hair and no eyes? Blech. The Thing still gets me, too. The stories by themselves were a bit creepy but they'd never have stuck in my mind but for the illustrations. And the scary black font...those books always made me shudder. I actually re bought them as an adult and they still get me.

[Shoeless]

Originally Posted by Hypno-Toad

The little devil doll that had the soul of an african warrior trapped in it. Specifically, the shot of it rising out of the bath tub at the end of the hall.

"Trilogy of Terror" with Karen Black. Yeah, it freaked me out when the thing started cutting through the suitcase she had it trapped in. I don't have any idea what the other two parts of the trilogy were, but that doll sure made an impression.

[zoid]

Wanda the witch from Sesame Street scared the crap out of me. But everytime it came on I had to watch it.

[filling_pages]

Originally Posted by Meatros

I was also scared of the "Scary Stories" book series.

Oh, yeah. That's what I stopped to mention. Not the stories, so much, you know. Just those goddam, soul-destroying, pants-wetting illustrations by Stephen Gammell.

And I now see that reprints will be coming out, newly illustrated by Brett Helquist. Fie, I say! He does nice work, but he doesn't horrify.

[Fritz]

Originally Posted by TWDuke

I'm sure this is laughable to anyone who wasn't traumatized by it as a kid, but the space ants that killed Bruce Dern still freak me out.

Yup. The original Outer Limits creeped me out for years. Still does, a little. The one that really got to me was "Warm Hands, Cold Heart."

[YoudNeverGuess]

The child catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. 'Ice-cream, lollipops, all free today'
Shudder.

[Freudian Slit]

filling_pages, newly illustrated? That's absurd. I'm the last person to judge a book by its cover, but honestly, these books were defined by their pictures. And those pictures were wonderful. Every person I meet who has read the books comments on the illustrations. They were incredibly powerful and Stephen Gammell was incredibly talented.

He could make the simplest things seem so incredibly unwholesome. Even simple things like black cats seemed intensely evil when he drew them.

[Rrose Selavy]

Might have been early teens:

The Salt Vampire from Star Trek TOS (Man Trap)

and even worse, the weeping woman who had her face removed in "Charlie X"

[Roderick Femm]

Movies, mostly.

The original "Invaders from Mars" (1953, but I saw it on TV a few years later, maybe '57 or '58). I was alone in my grandmother's house during the afternoon, broad daylight, but it really got to me. Why? You can't even trust your parents!

Two movies I saw on a double bill , presumably shortly after they were released in 1959. I would have been probably 10 at the time, and I had to cover my face so as not to see certain things - "House on Haunted Hill" and "Horrors of the Black Museum".


Roddy

[vivalostwages]

The fat kid getting sucked up the chocolate tube in Willy Wonka... and the tunnel/cave scene in the same movie.

[Paintcharge]

Tim Curry in "It." Good god that clown was awful.

There was a movie, I think made for TV, early 80's, possibly with Ernest Borgnine, in which our heroes are driving a super RV through the post apocalypse Southwest.

They got to Las Vegas and were chased out of town by a massive swarm of cockroaches.

Since then I can't stand swarms of bugs.

[limegreen]

For me it was The Ten Commandments where the "fog" that was supposedly the angel of death was drifting through the streets to kill the first born. Yeah, I'm the first born. I seriously had nightmares every year when they would show that movie. But you have to watch it -- it's Charlton Heston!

[Freudian Slit]

Originally Posted by Paintcharge

There was a movie, I think made for TV, early 80's, possibly with Ernest Borgnine, in which our heroes are driving a super RV through the post apocalypse Southwest.

They got to Las Vegas and were chased out of town by a massive swarm of cockroaches.

Since then I can't stand swarms of bugs.

Are you telling me before then swarms of bugs were A-OK?

Speaking of swarms of bugs, I don't have the image at hand (and I'm not feeling up to looking at this right now), but are you guys familiar with Joshua Hoffine's work? He takes really scary photographs. He's got one particular one involving bugs which would make even the most insect friendly of us vomit in terror.

[filling_pages]

Originally Posted by Freudian Slit

filling_pages, newly illustrated? That's absurd. I'm the last person to judge a book by its cover, but honestly, these books were defined by their pictures. And those pictures were wonderful. Every person I meet who has read the books comments on the illustrations. They were incredibly powerful and Stephen Gammell was incredibly talented.

He could make the simplest things seem so incredibly unwholesome. Even simple things like black cats seemed intensely evil when he drew them.

Exactly my thought. He was a master of the uncanny valley - everything was just off enough to give you the willies. Remember the one about the guys who make the dummy to take their anger out on?

[Indyellen]

The [i]Incredible Hulk[/b] TV series. When he would transform into the Hulk - ugh! I was probably 7-8 when it was on and it terrified me.

(I still haven't seen the movies - not because I'm scared, though, but because I heard the first one sucked and I just haven't gotten around to the Ed Norton one yet.)

[MeanOldLady]

Oh yes! The Incredible Hulk also scared the bejesus out of me. Man, I was a wussy kid.

[Freudian Slit]

Originally Posted by filling_pages

Exactly my thought. He was a master of the uncanny valley - everything was just off enough to give you the willies. Remember the one about the guys who make the dummy to take their anger out on?

Oh yeah, Harold, right? There was just something so odd about it, even though you couldn't really define what it was. It was never, "That's creepy because of all the blood and monster goo!" And for dead/deadish things, they felt so lifelike. I half expected them to run screaming off the page.

I think I'm going to dig out my Scary Stories books from my bookshelf. (Making sure that the lights are on and I've got my protective stuffed animals manning their posts to ensure maximum monster under bed/in closet patrol.)

ETA: Found this. It's just a hand but it's so wrong. And it sets the mood of that story (girl who gets pranked at nursing/med school) perfectly.

[pepperlandgirl]

Originally Posted by Maggie the Ocelot

Bloody Mary.

You know. You go into a bathroom at night with the lights off at midnight, and all your friends chant "BLOODY MARY BLOODY MARY" and you look in the mirror and YOU SEE HER FACE INSTEAD OF YOURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I still don't like going past a mirror in a darkened room.

Hahaha, me too. I was twenty-five before I could stand being in a dark bathroom.

[DiosaBellissima]

The first thing I remember having a truly scary nightmare about was the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland- you know the "hitchhiking ghosts" at the end? Yeah, those.

I was also terrified of the Thriller music video. I'd sob and cry and wail. My mom would tell me it was Michael Jackson, but I used to shout back to her that Michael Jackson would never be that mean, so she was lying. Then she bought the making of Thriller and had me watch it, after which, I was fine.