# Little Things You Find Creepy **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 13, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-find-creepy/637646 "2012-10-13T20:44:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rich\_Mann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-find-creepy/637646/1 "2012-10-13T20:44:10Z")
There is an active thread for long, creepy stories and another one for links to creepy stuff around the web. Let’s list the little things that send that chill down (or up) our spines. Include a (preferably short) explanation if you like. I’ll start. 1. The sound of dry, dead, October leaves being blown across pavement–the slower the creepier. (I read _Something Wicked This Way Comes_ in October of the year that I was the same age as the protagonists.) 2. The sound of a woman crying, but only if I can’t see her. (Too many movies about ghosts.) 3. A child talking to their imaginary friend. (Same as #2.) 4. Finding an object somewhere other than where I (seem to) remember leaving it–especially if there is no one else around who might have moved it. Your turn. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-find-creepy/637646/2 "2012-10-13T20:55:44Z")
Not chills down the spine creepy, but always bugged me nonetheless. The Chuck-E-Cheese Animatronics resetting to the original positions after they finished what they were doing. After the music was done and the lights were off. It only took about 3 or 4 seconds, but even as a kid I thought it was weird. Even then I remember thinking it would be more ‘elegant’\* if they could make the routine end with them back in the starting position. [This video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtdHsuRJnAg&NR=1#t=8m15s) sort of shows what I’m talking about. It’s cued up so it happens right away. As soon as the lights turn off, you can see them reset for the next show. I think it’s the ‘not alive’ look that bothered me. I couldn’t find a \*though I didn’t know that word yet. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-find-creepy/637646/3 "2012-10-13T21:06:18Z")
I’m creeped out by people who talk on their cell phones in public bathrooms. Some even talk while relieving themselves, and whomever they’re talking to can surely hear toilets flushing. It makes me shudder just thinking about it. If I see the who it is, I make a point of avoiding them as much as possible from then on. After all, if they think bathroom phone conversations are okay, who knows what else they think is okay? ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-find-creepy/637646/4 "2012-10-14T01:50:12Z")
The word ‘titties’. It just sounds creepy. When my neighbors walk through my yard and look in the windows as they’re going by. What if I was naked? Stop being creepy. Ads on Craigslist where men are looking for female roommates that double as girlfriends- “free rent!” Ugh, creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-find-creepy/637646/5 "2012-10-14T01:54:21Z")
I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: the men in erectile dysfunction drug-commercials. ---
**Author:** ![Troppus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@Troppus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troppus)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-find-creepy/637646/6 "2012-10-14T02:01:07Z")
When you catch a guy staring at your body, then he makes eye contact. And. Raises. His. Eyebrows. Gah!!! That ruins my whole day. When little kids mention something incredibly violent. “I hope his head falls off and rolls into a mudpuddle.” WTF?? Excuse me, I need to find some holy water and a cross. When a well meaning stranger tells you “You’d better…” do something, like tell your family you love them more often, appreciate your good fortune, or take an umbrella or something. I can’t tell from looking whether that guy in the grocery line is clairvoyant, from the future, or the ghost of the deli past, so any “take heed” moment from a total stranger seems portentous and ominous. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-find-creepy/637646/7 "2012-10-14T13:38:07Z")
Passing a mirror in the dark. I always want to look, even though my brain is screaming “don’t look!” because I know it’s going to scare the bejesus out of me. Taking a shower in the early morning, when it’s dark outside, and you have a window in your shower stall. I always have this mental image of a twisted alien hand reaching through the black window into the shower and grabbing me. In case it’s not obvious, I’m pretty much afraid of the dark. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-find-creepy/637646/8 "2012-10-14T13:46:20Z")
Seeing a single child-sized shoe in the middle of a busy street. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-find-creepy/637646/9 "2012-10-14T14:42:14Z")
Modernist concrete buildings and architecture. Especially when you get up close to them: their aloofness and deliberate eschewing of traditional aesthetics is amplified by the coolness of the concrete. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-find-creepy/637646/10 "2012-10-14T15:19:24Z")
Very old dolls, clowns, and any toy with mobile eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sticks_and_scones/32/16951_2.png) [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sticks_and_Scones)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-find-creepy/637646/11 "2012-10-14T15:27:31Z")
> [@saje](#): > > Very old dolls, clowns, and any toy with mobile eyes. Don’t go to [this](http://creepyassdolls.tumblr.com/) website then… (May be be gory, but generally SFW) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-find-creepy/637646/12 "2012-10-14T15:34:41Z")
I have a little voodoo/Santeria doll that I got in New Orleans. It is on a display shelf. My gf and I mess with each other by occasionally changing its position ever so slightly. I think. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-find-creepy/637646/13 "2012-10-14T15:35:55Z")
The slimy stuff in the drain sieve left after washing dishes. I know that A) I just finished eating that same stuff and B) I just finished washing that stuff off the dishes and C) It’s been swirled around in soapy water so it’s as clean as clean gets and D) I handle actual infectious biological waste for a living without a second thought. Still, gives me the heebie jeebies to have to touch limp lettuce leaves and orphaned corn kernels. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-find-creepy/637646/14 "2012-10-14T15:54:07Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Not chills down the spine creepy, but always bugged me nonetheless. The Chuck-E-Cheese Animatronics resetting to the original positions after they finished what they were doing. After the music was done and the lights were off. It only took about 3 or 4 seconds, but even as a kid I thought it was weird. Even then I remember thinking it would be more ‘elegant’\* if they could make the routine end with them back in the starting position. > [This video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtdHsuRJnAg&NR=1#t=8m15s) sort of shows what I’m talking about. It’s cued up so it happens right away. As soon as the lights turn off, you can see them reset for the next show. I think it’s the ‘not alive’ look that bothered me. > > I couldn’t find a > \*though I didn’t know that word yet. The link just gave me a lot of advertising crap. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-find-creepy/637646/15 "2012-10-14T15:56:31Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > king a shower in the early morning, when it’s dark outside, and you have a window in your shower stall. I always have this mental image of a twisted alien hand reaching through the black window into the shower and grabbing me. > > In case it’s not obvious, I’m pretty much afraid of the dark. Er that wasn’t an alien , that was me… Sorry and all that . ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-find-creepy/637646/16 "2012-10-14T16:02:14Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > The slimy stuff in the drain sieve left after washing dishes. I know that A) I just finished eating that same stuff and B) I just finished washing that stuff off the dishes and C) It’s been swirled around in soapy water so it’s as clean as clean gets and D) I handle actual infectious biological waste for a living without a second thought. Still, gives me the heebie jeebies to have to touch limp lettuce leaves and orphaned corn kernels. Sounds like you need a disposal unit. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-find-creepy/637646/17 "2012-10-14T16:03:55Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > Sounds like you need a disposal unit. 🙂 I’m sure my landlord will get right on that. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Troppus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@Troppus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troppus)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-find-creepy/637646/18 "2012-10-14T16:08:41Z")
Casual cognitive dissonance. A childhood friend and award winning photographer posted this message “Thank you, Lord, for this incredible day which you hath made” along with several photos of the blue October sky scattered with a few wispy clouds and crisscrossed with thick, perpendicular, geometrical contrails. Contrails. I love to fly, and I’m impressed by our aeronautical feats and technology, but what is beautiful, artsy, or heavenly about vapor trails in an otherwise pristine sky? ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-find-creepy/637646/19 "2012-10-14T16:29:59Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > I’m sure my landlord will get right on that. 😉 (chuckle) Point. OTOH, some landlords actually would do such things, or allow you to if you’re willing to pay for it. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2012, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-find-creepy/637646/20 "2012-10-15T02:29:12Z")
When my dogs growl at night at something I can’t hear. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-find-creepy/637646.md?page=2)