# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![DingoelGringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@DingoelGringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DingoelGringo)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/41 "2014-09-01T03:14:34Z")
The toll booth for the Mississippi Bridge. We’d read the book about a troll living under a bridge and when dad stopped the car at the “toll bridge” my sister and I gasped and held each other in our arms! This probably lasted for 3 or 4 years, but we didn’t cross it that often three or four times a year, just when we made a trip to our cousins’ house. ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/42 "2014-09-01T03:27:05Z")
> [@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. > > Also, my adopted grandmother (more of a close family friend, but same difference), was from Vienna and had a German children’s book about a boy who sucked his thumb. There were full page illustrations of the story - his parents tried to get him to stop, he was disobedient, etc, until one night the Scissor Man came in through his window and snipped his thumbs off. Being a thumb-sucker myself, it scared the bejeezus out of me (yet I still read it multiple times over just to frighten myself). I don’t think it applies here, though, because it \*still \*terrifies me. Germans don’t mess around . . . 😃 > > 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! Yeah, Germans have no compunctions about scaring the crap out of children. My mom was raised in Germany and she couldn’t wait to read that one to us. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/43 "2014-09-01T03:42:19Z")
[Jerusalem Crickets](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_cricket) They still alarm me. Also several songs whose humor escaped me at the time, most notably Darling Clementine, which I could not to bear to listen to. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/44 "2014-09-01T04:35:02Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Bananas. My older sister told they were made out of pig’s tails. When we were kids my brother gave me a piece of Cracking Oat Bran cereal. After I at it, convinced me it was Meow Mix cat food! Just 1 of the reasons I seldom eat cereal, especially wet. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/45 "2014-09-01T04:52:03Z")
I was totally creeped out by a picture, not even a photo, of a woman with the nose of a pig. It was in a paperback collection of Ripley’s Believe it or Not strips. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/46 "2014-09-01T04:53:08Z")
> [@KRC](#): > > Toilets. I was absolutely terrified of them for reasons I can no longer recall The Toilet Monster? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/47 "2014-09-01T08:17:20Z")
I was never bothered by clowns, but in my house when I was a kid there was an 8 by 10 watercolor head and shoulders portrait of a clown. I believe my great aunt had painted it. The clown wore the cone shaped hat that’s associated with Pagliacci. The portrait was all in primary colors on a field of white, and it terrified me when I was a little kid. Truth to tell, even when I became a teenager I was really uneasy every time I saw that painting. I haven’t seen it in more than 40 years, and I don’t even know if my dad still has it. I’d be interested in finding out if it still has that same effect on me. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/48 "2014-09-01T09:02:46Z")
Water draining out of the bath. It was an exercise of coordination so that I could pull out the plug then get the hell out of the bathroom as soon as humanly possible. Also, one night I pulled the nightlight plug out of the socket and some sparks came out. I spent several months after terrified that the sparks were slowly seeping their way into the floor and were going to start a fire that would burn the house down. I eventually confessed my bad deed to my father who gently explained that it wasn’t going to happen. Phew. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/49 "2014-09-01T11:43:04Z")
I remember being soooo afraid of the dark. Also thinking mosnters were under my bed. And clowns. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/50 "2014-09-01T11:44:24Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Another Sesame Street one - [Bert & Ernie in a pyramid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yiqGtZXCmQ) > > I’m also scared of balloons and have been since I was a kid but there is _nothing innocent_ about balloons. Amen to that. I also have a weird balloon fear. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/51 "2014-09-01T12:14:21Z")
Tornadoes. That would be a healthy fear if I grew up in Oklahoma. It’s kind of ridiculous in New Jersey. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/52 "2014-09-01T16:04:27Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > 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. Allium flowers freaked me out when I was a kid. A neighbor had them growing in her garden and I would not go near them. I don’t know if it’s because they were bigger than me or what. [http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/allium-bulbs.html#](http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/allium-bulbs.html#) ---
**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:** [September 1, 2014, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/53 "2014-09-01T18:11:44Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > 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. I was ok with this until the squeaking noises part, which creeped me out. I feel like getting under the covers. Thanks a lot. ---
**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:** [September 1, 2014, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/54 "2014-09-01T18:39:32Z")
I grew up in South Georgia, but tornadoes terrified me, also… Sort of. My brother and I had a set of children’s encyclopedias when I was a kid, and one of the books had a drawing of a really menacing-looking tomato, with arms and legs. Using little-kid logic, to me? THAT was a tornado - a scary, anthropomorphic tomato. Yeep. ---
**Author:** ![BaldDudePeekskill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@BaldDudePeekskill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaldDudePeekskill)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/55 "2014-09-01T21:11:58Z")
> [@tonyfop](#): > > 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: Nature took most of it…I just finish it off …kinda miss the barbershop, it was nice to relax and be still for a little while ---
**Author:** ![No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_umlaut_for_U)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/56 "2014-09-01T23:39:41Z")
Falling over the railing, even when I was little and the banister-cum-railing was taller than I was. Going down the bathtub drain. The oddest is a morbid fear of those two-button wall switches found in older homes. I suspect that my incredibly German grandmother was the cause of that one. I still have to use something to push the button rather than my finger. Fortunately, I don’t see them very often anymore. ---
**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:** [September 2, 2014, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/57 "2014-09-02T00:32:14Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > I was ok with this until the squeaking noises part, which creeped me out. I feel like getting under the covers. Thanks a lot. You’re welcome. The other dream from my youth I remember was several years later and involved Elizabeth Montgomery (at the age she was on Bewitched). ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/58 "2014-09-02T06:58:08Z")
[These things.](https://www.plumbingsupply.com/images/tub-drain-faceplate-503.jpg) Common fixtures to drain the bath, but they looked both like faces and like something that would violate me. Plus I would see my distorted, scared-fat-pathetic reflection in them. ---
**Author:** ![DiggitCamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/59 "2014-09-02T23:20:57Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > (snip) > > 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! Combine it with [Max Und Moritz](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_and_Moritz) and therapy WILL be needed. Mischievous children end up eaten by ducks. ---
**Author:** ![SPosting](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@SPosting](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPosting)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038/60 "2014-09-02T23:27:30Z")
I was freaked out by a talking robotic tree when I was visiting a museum somewhere in Alabama. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innocent-things-that-freaked-you-out-when-you-were-a-kid/697038.md?page=4)