# Innocent things that freaked you out when you were a kid? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 31, 2014, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038 "2014-08-31T11:02:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tonyfop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/85f322/32.png) [@tonyfop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tonyfop)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/21 "2014-08-31T18:22:49Z")
> [@BaldDudePeekskill](#): > > The barber…guess cause one time, the barber sliced my brother’s ear and I remember my brother freaking out by it…after he was done, the barber Turned to me and in his thick Italian accent said, “you-a next… You get an air-a cut”…um, no!" Getting me to the barber afterwards was quite a challenge Interesting Post/User Name combo. I guess you don’t have to worry about it anymore, or do you just shave it now so you never have to go to the barber?:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/22 "2014-08-31T18:43:48Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > I think it was common then for parents to imply to children that certain menaces would “come and get them”. My sister would tell my young neices and nephews that if they didn’t behave the police would come and take them away, I always hated this because there are various situations that going to a police officer would be the best thing they could do _(if they got seperated and lost in town for instance)_ but she just laughed off my concerns. > [@Aquadementia](#): > > The bird of prey was designed to be bad assed and that rabbit looks like a drugged out thrill killer in a mask. Oh agreed, I’m not a Star Trek fan but the Bird of Prey looks genuinely intimidating, its a very well made design, but this was just a picture on a cardboard box and I was terrified of it! And the rabbit is Dylan from The Magic Roundabout, an ahem ‘interesting’ childrens cartoon from the 1970’s, you may well be right on the money about the drugged out part. > [@Octarine](#): > > The full-page picture of children’s poet Shel Silverstein on the back cover of his books. Like [this](http://www.bobdylanroots.com/silver.jpg), except huge. Shesh, I hope his poems were good! > [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > You’re on the money; Germans do not mess around. As a kid, my (1st-gen US from Germany-descendent) mum used to say, “If you keep it up, I’m going to break your arm off and beat you with it!” > > I didn’t think she could…but all the same, I had seen people with only one arm… Well, did it work? Did you behave yourself? 😉 Thanks for the answers everyone! ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/23 "2014-08-31T19:08:21Z")
Aw man, I haaaate those folks who threaten their kids with the police when the kid won’t eat her broccoli! (And, for that matter, people who use anyone/anything else to menace a child into better behavior. None of this “wait till your father gets home” or “Santa won’t bring you any gifts” crap for me. If my kids need threatening, I’ll threaten. 😃 ) My irrational fear as a kid: any sort of bridge or footpath where the ground is visible through the slats. I didn’t care whether the spaces between the slats were only an eighth of an inch wide - I just knew I’d somehow fall through. Ditto sidewalk grates or anything similar. And frankly, those things still freak me out just a little bit… ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/24 "2014-08-31T19:25:18Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > Fiddlehead ferns. They used to grow in my sandbox and reminded me of fat, green worms. I still don’t like them. Heh. I wasn’t that young when I first saw some growing wild. They are pretty freaky looking. After they’re picked the color dulls and they wilt a little, but while they’re still growing they have this alien look to them. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/25 "2014-08-31T19:31:32Z")
Onion flowers. I was three or four years old, living in Cyprus and there was a clump of wild onions growing next to our driveway - the flower stalks were taller than me and topped with spherical inflorescences that burst out of membranes like this: [![](https://tinycamper.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/onion-flower-blooming.jpg) ](https://tinycamper.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/onion-flower-blooming.jpg) Then they expanded into a terrifying tentacular mass of flowers, bulbils and shoots. Scared the shit out of me every time I had to walk past. ---
**Author:** ![CheshireKat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheshirekat/32/1207_2.png) [@CheshireKat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheshireKat)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/26 "2014-08-31T20:24:37Z")
nm - mine wasn’t an “innocent” thing ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/27 "2014-08-31T20:36:55Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > The full-page picture of children’s poet Shel Silverstein on the back cover of his books. Like [this](http://www.bobdylanroots.com/silver.jpg), except huge. YOW !! That is disturbing. My TTF Me Out wasn’t entirely innocent: “If I should die before I wake…” ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/28 "2014-08-31T21:05:11Z")
As a very young kid there was some station that had [“In Search of”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Search_of..._%28TV_series%29) reruns. In the [intro](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_SAKcOuTpU), which was always kind of creepy to me, it shows pictures, followed by descriptions. What freaked me out was, it showed stonehenge followed by the words “magic and witchcraft”, then a picture of Amelia Earhart followed by “missing persons”. My mind somehow connected “magic and witchcraft” to Amelia Earhart’s picture (I didn’t know who she was at the time) and I thought she was a witch. That image creeped me out me for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/29 "2014-08-31T21:52:51Z")
Thanks to a short on the old Nickelodeon Pinwheel where a kid was freaked out by sounds like a clock, which to him sounded like footsteps in the dark, I was terrified of the clock in my bedroom. And after I grew up and got over that, I am to this day unable to have a ticking clock in my room. It distracts me and keeps me from falling asleep. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/30 "2014-08-31T22:17:02Z")
For many years I was terrified of the Red Cross symbol. This might be because I was in a car accident when I was 3, and my mother, who was injured, was taken to a nearby Red Cross hospital. I was in shock, and remember the blood, the ambulance sirens, and running down the hospital corridor, high on the sedative they gave me. To this day, I always jump a little when I see posters for the semi annual blood drive the Red Cross has at my workplace, or seeing one of their PSAs. My dad was a Red Cross volunteer when I was 10 or so, and he always put his badge away before coming home from driving the Bloodmobile or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/31 "2014-08-31T22:25:50Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > ETA: Ah, I tracked it down online - it’s called [_Struwwelpeter_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struwwelpeter). If you want to traumatize a child in your life, there is no better book! Yes, that! I don’t think I ever read it, Or had it read to me, but there was a copy of it (possibly inherited from some other family member) in my toy cupboard and just the cover picture always freaked me out. I think I managed to hide it away so I would not (often) accidentally see it if I was getting other toys. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/32 "2014-08-31T23:36:30Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > The full-page picture of children’s poet Shel Silverstein on the back cover of his books. Like [this](http://www.bobdylanroots.com/silver.jpg), except huge. Yes yes yes! I loved his books, but I always had to take them off the shelf very carefully so I didn’t get a glimpse of the scary man with the gigantic teeth. > [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > My irrational fear as a kid: any sort of bridge or footpath where the ground is visible through the slats. I didn’t care whether the spaces between the slats were only an eighth of an inch wide - I just knew I’d somehow fall through. Ditto sidewalk grates or anything similar. And frankly, those things still freak me out just a little bit… And this. The stairs off our deck were two two by fours with just the slightest gap between and no back on the stairs! Totally terrifying. I could kinda sorta go down okay, clinging to the bannister, but up was just out of the question. Oddly, while I’ve mostly overcome my fear of stairs with tiny gaps and no backs, when I go to my mom’s house and am faced with those specific stairs again, I might as well be 4 years old again. I’ll go the long way, down the stairs inside the house and out the basement! Finally, the DC Superheroes. I wasn’t allowed to watch those tv shows or read those comics, so I had only the vaguest ideas about who they were, and I completely missed that they were Good Guys. I just knew they were strong and fast and could hit people hard. I literally had nightmares about them, lined up in a row, frozen grins on cold, brightly enameled bodies like mannequins in a fun house, and I had to walk by them and they started slapping me on the top of the head with arms of enameled steel pivoting on their shoulder joints like a weird nightmare version of whack-a-mole. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/33 "2014-08-31T23:51:06Z")
Bananas. My older sister told they were made out of pig’s tails. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/34 "2014-08-31T23:52:13Z")
The mannequins with no heads and stumps for ams and legs, usually used to display underwear. I had a nightmare where one was walking in our bathroom (next to my room), making creepy squeaking noises. My younger sister was terrified of my toy robot. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/35 "2014-09-01T00:55:06Z")
Raggedy Ann and Any. They look like Red headed voodoo dolls. Also, wig holders with the face on them. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/36 "2014-09-01T01:50:45Z")
I’m told I was terrified of seals as a small child and had nightmares about them. I’ve no idea why. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/37 "2014-09-01T01:53:52Z")
Another Sesame Street one - [Bert & Ernie in a pyramid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yiqGtZXCmQ). A statue/sarcophagus comes to life and talks to Bert and Ernie and it’s totally fucking scary. I’ve never really been a fan of Egyptian studies since. I think someone else on the board is scared of this one, too. I’m also scared of balloons and have been since I was a kid but there is _nothing innocent_ about balloons. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/38 "2014-09-01T02:26:29Z")
Marching bands. I could hear the local HS marching band faintly at my house as a kid. My brother told me they were “martians landing” (sounds like marching band when you’re four or five) and I’d run and hide under my bed. Basements, but ours was truly scary. There were these parallel claw marks on the wall going upstairs and the the husband of the previous owner died in the house. I always imagined that the wife threw him down in the basement and he made those marks trying to get out before he died. StG ---
**Author:** ![Clarisse\_McClellan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Clarisse\_McClellan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clarisse_McClellan)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/39 "2014-09-01T02:50:05Z")
Sump pumps. My grandma had a sump pump in her basement (the basement was creepy all on it’s own anyway) which in her 1940’s built house consisted of a hole in the floor where a narrow pipe disappeared. Also it made horrible noises when it was running. I just knew it wanted to suck me in or if I went near it I would fall in by accident and never get out again. She kept the popsicles in the freezer in the basement near the sump pump so it was always a test of my nerve to get a popsicle. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/40 "2014-09-01T03:03:03Z")
Clowns and elephants. When I was maybe 4, my grandfather took me to the circus. Outside the tent, elephants were chained by their legs right next to the path. As we walked in, one stamped its foot right next to me. Then, once inside, as we were suffling to our seats a clown ran by and picked me up and ran into the center ring. He then threw me to another clown. They both smelled funny. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038.md?page=3)