Probably the same people who came up with that human-headed Jack in the box on the Twilight Zone episode “It’s A Good Life.”
On a related note, years ago, my baby niece became wide-eyed with terror at the sight of a wind-up barking, moving doggie toy. We got rid of that thing in a hurry.
I add votes for “Jaws”, “Jack-in-the-Box”, grasshoppers and the “deep end” of the pool as childhood fears.
In addition, I have to add that the flying monkeys and the witch from “The Wizard of Oz” TERRIFIED me!!
:eek:
I third the Horror of Beaker, for exactly the reasons that nifferka gave. I used to go run and hide behind my dad. I still loved the rest of the show, just hated that part.
Remember the Twilight Zone series from the 80’s? The instroduction where they show a series of things as if you’re looking into a crystal ball? The foetus spazzed me out. It was another hide-behind-dad moment.
I was terrified of my upstairs bedroom my entire life. We converted the attic of our log cabin into two bedrooms for me and my brother, and for some reason even when we were still in the process of renovating, it freaked me out. I swore I could hear breathing when I was upstairs by myself. I learned to sleep with a fan running just so I couldn’t hear it. I also became a firm believer in the philosophy that if every bit of your body was underneath the covers, the monsters couldn’t get you. (I had visions of them leaning over my bed, waiting for me to poke a toe out.) In my closet dwelt Butterball, the fat Cenobite from Hellraiser. Only had to see him for a split second on Siskel and Ebert for him to become permanently embedded in my psyche. I haven’t slept in that room since I moved out, when I went home I always slept on the couch.
Biggest freakout in my room: I sat upstairs reading in bed one night. Still renovating so I only had one dim naked lightbulb above my bed to read by. I was getting more and more freaked out, I wasn’t even comprehending what I was reading, I was just still and full of adrenaline. Suddenly, the light bulb blows with an audible POP, plunging me into total darkness, and I screamed blue bloody murder. Plus I got yelled at by my dad who thought I was bleeding from a major artery.
I bought my cats one of those for their first birthday. I sat it down, and Dorothy (the smart cat) walked up behind it to sniff its butt; Lillian (the dumb cat) sat in front of it and stared at it. I turned it on and it started barking and doing somersaults–Dorothy ran like hell, but Lillian’s tiny brain snapped and she just stood there, frozen in terror, her paws planted on the floor and her eyes bugging out.
As a little kid, I would freak out if we went out to eat and the hostess offered me a booster seat. I assumed they were related to booster shots. Oh, sure, laugh, but imagine a 10-inch hypodermic needle coming up out of the middle of your chair and then tell me it’s funny.
Oh, how could I forget the CAR WASH!!! I used to scream my head off if we went through a car wash when I was really little (younger than four, I know that).
I also didn’t like the blender. It was really noisy and it creeped me out.
Yep, my sister was afraid of a tiny scrap of carpet. (two inches long, one inch wide). It was shag carpet, maybe that was it. Oh well, she’d probably be pretty embarassed if she remembered.
I’m going to go and remind her.
I used to be petrified of the radio. But only late night talk shows, for some reason. I used to sleep over my friend’s house and she left it on one night, and I had to jam my fingers in my ears to drown out the horrible talking. I guess I was 7 or 8?
The funny part is I’ve been a DJ since 1980. Hopefully introducing a new generation to night terrors.
I had a fever dream when I was a kid. I was watching a bunch of animals having a picnic in the forest on my ceiling, and somehow I joined them. I was at the picnic getting hotter and hotter, and eventually I woke up and was violently ill. I remember that dream clearly to this day, although it must be 20 years later. It’s like someone recorded it in my brain or something. If only I could remember what I had for dinner last night!
I always had to sleep with my entire body under the covers. That was the only way, I knew, that the monsters could not get me. One day, when I was about 9 or so, I realized I could not breathe too good under there. I had finally grown to the point were I needed more oxygen than was available under the covers. Faced with the choice of being possibly eaten by monsters or actually suffocating to death, I chose to risk the monsters.
There was a famous used car salesman named Cal Worthington in my region. He had countless TV ads, and there was a song with each ad, the refrain of which was ‘go see Cal go see Cal go see Cal’. My 4-year-old brain heard this as ghosty cow. Scared the heck out of me. I didn’t know exactly what a ‘ghosty cow’ was, but I was sure I did not want to see it in my room when I was all alone on some dark night.
mooooooooooooooooooo…
[ul][li]A large beam in the ceiling of my grandparents’ (now Qadgop’s) house. I tried to conceal this one, but dammit, the “big beam holding up the library” was FREAKY.[/li][li]Qadgop’s voice on helium. Granted, this was only when I was a baby, I think.[/li][li]The toilet reaching a particular point in the flush cycle. I was convinced that a witch and her incompetent goblin henchman lived in some kind of secret plumbing hideout, and if I was still in the room when the flush got to that point (it made a distinctive noise) they’d be able to Get Me.[/li][/ul]
I can’t remember any more at the moment. Dad, get in here, embarass me.
I used to have nightmares that tall pieces of furniture like dressers, file cabinets, and grandfather clocks would come to life and try to crush me to death. I have no idea where this came from (and this was years before Earthworm Jim 2, which featured a level with killer file cabinets, before anyone brings that up).
Introducing the New Anti-Monster Bed Snorkel!
Guaranteed to provide fresh air WITHOUT exposing skin to monster attack
I was mortally afraid of being abducted by aliens. (I never WAS, of course, I was just terrified of it happening.) I don’t know if this is a common childhood fear all over, or if it’s some kind of Colorado thing. I notice this pops up in South Park an awful lot.
-My mom told me that when I was a toddler, I was afraid of a ball, Yes, a dark blue inflatable ball that had the alphabet embossed on it. If anyone not in the know tried to play catch with me I would run screaming out of the room. My mom still has that damn ball 30 years later.
-Needles. I remember literally running out of the clinic and down the sidewalk when the Dr. tried to give me a shot. I must have been about 5 yrs old. Getting my blood drawn still skeeves me out a little. However I have no problem drawing blood/giving injections/fingersticking other people.
-I cannot believe that nobody has mentioned the Under-the-Bed Monsters and their cousins the Under-the-Stairs monsters. The only way to avoid the former was to take a running jump into or out of the bed. Otherwise their scaly claws would grab you by the ankles. Their cousins lived under open stairs (the kind that are just boards on a frame and can be reached through in order to grab ankles.)
-Feet must be covered at bed time or the UtB monsters will bite you.
I know dragging this shit up is going to give me nightmares tonight.
My brothers and I used to be scared to death of that little concrete thing in the front yard , under which was the water meter. We were convinced the devil lived in there. There were four of us , and our front yard was a complete shambles, except for a lovely green patch around the devil’s front door. When the guy would come to read the meter, we would stare in HORROR from the relative safety of the house, as he would actually OPEN the door. The devil never did reach out and grab him, though. I think he was trying to lull us into a false sense of security. We were to smart to fall for THAT.
A certain windup train. It needed no tracks, and once it was wound up, it would jerk erratically around the floor making a horridly loud noise, its light flashing. I have a vivid memory of my mother winding it up and putting it on the floor in the kitchen, with my brother and I crying and clawing at the cabinets in a vain attempt to climb to safety.
When I was older, I’ll say eight or nine years old, I somehow developed the idea that if someone stood directly in front of, behind, or next to me, they could hear my thoughts. It was only safe if they stood close to me diagonally. So at this point in my life, if someone came up and tried to speak to me, I would step smartly away. I finally broke myself of this habit by thinking nasty thoughts about people standing close to me to prove that it wasn’t true. (Only then, I developed a habit of thinking nasty thoughts about people, and I still haven’t managed to break it. 
)
May I also say that I’m laughing my ass off at this thread! mooOOOOoooo!