The original “Outer Limits” - especially one episode called “Cold Hands, Warm Heart” starring William Shatner. Laughable now, but scared the crap out of me at the time.
Once on the afternoon (TV) movie I saw a movie with a scene that really freaked my 8-9ish year old ass out. No idea what the movie was but this guy passed out in the woods for some reason and this woman (witch?) comes up and sprinkles something on his face which allows her to mold his face like putty so he looks totally different. Really bothered me for some reason.
At about the same age my aunt took my cousins and me to the drive-in and one of the movies was Wild, Wild Planet. It’s a super hokey, comically bad movie but there was a scene where a scientist had a dungeon full of rejects from his genetic engineering experiments that really bothered me at the time. I’ve seen the film as an adult and that scene is so brief and tame that I can’t figure out why it spooked me like that.
My mom’s cousin dragged my younger sister, my mom, and me to see “I Am Legend” when she was visiting when I was like 8 or 9. Another few I remember scaring the shit out of me are Coraline, Beetlejuice, and Rocky Horror.
I was too young when I went with my older siblings to see Tommy, the Acid Queen sequence with the snakes gave me nightmares for a while.
Even earlier, I was maybe 3 and at most 4 when we watched Carnival of Souls on TV. This was very scary and on top of that my uncle *snuck *in and yelled something like boo scaring the crap out of all of us kids. Gave me nightmares for quite a time and got my sisters in trouble for letting me watch it.
Carnival of Souls I think helped inspire the look of George Romero’s ghouls (zombies) for Night of the Living Dead.
Oh *Jaws *definitely scared me too but no nightmares at least.
The Doctor Who story The Seeds of Doom both scared the crap out of me and made me love the show.
I must have been 10 or 11 when I walked into the living room in time to see the bombs detonate in The Day After when my parents were watching it on TV. 
It’s surprising how many people of an age to have watched that show mention that episode. It sure scared me I can tell you!!!:eek:
An old black and white movie I saw on TV, Beast from the Haunted Cave, gave me nightmares as a child. Beast from Haunted Cave (1959) - IMDb
For some reason, 5 year old me was terrified of a made for TV Disney movie called Mr. Boogedy.
I also was scared of the flying monkeys. I’d hide behind the couch and peek out.
And I forgot about the banshee in Darby O’Gill and the Little People.
Ooh, you brought forth a memory I hadn’t thought of in a long time.
There was an episode of Outer Limits that had some sort of crab-creatures that pursued people and got on their backs. The image of people pinned down with a crawly crab-thing on their backs horrified me and I wouldn’t watch Outer Limits for years after that.
If I could find the title, I’d look that episode up on youtube and probably have a good laugh.
Another vote for The Outer Limits. I usually didn’t make it past the opening monologue.
And, oddly enough, there was an episode of *Shirley Temple’s Storybook * called The Terrible Clockman that had me and my sisters in tears with fear. The only thing I remember is a group of men walking down a hallway, with a persistent loud throbbing noise around them. One of them asked “What is that sound?” Another answered “It’s your heart.” Then the sound stopped and the man fell over dead.
I’m sure it’s pretty innocuous now, but as a little kid it scared me silly.
I’ve posted this before, a few times.
Back in the Sixties, when I was a little kid, I saw an episode of The Outer Limits called “The Zanti Misfits.” It was all about evil ants from outer space, and it gave me nightmares for months.
When I saw it again at the age of 10 or 11, I was laughing hysterically at how phony and cheesy everything looked!
The Wizard of Oz. I remember watching it at my grandparents’ house when I was about 3, and hiding behind Grandma’s rocking chair, peeking out.
Trilogy of Terror. That evil devil doll STILL creeps me out.
Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. The clowns. The devils. LARGE MARGE. I used to hide behind the chair in the living room covering my ears when it came time for LARGE MARGE, which amused my 3-years-younger sister to no end.
I was taken to see *Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom *as a kindergartener. The ripped-out beating heart scene gave me nightmares.
I don’t know about terrified, but I was too young to handle the intro to Vegetable Soup (kids’ show of the late 70s, early 80s). It seemed so creepy and upsetting.
The Canadian cartoons “The Devil and Daniel Mouse” and “Romie-0 and Julie-8” gave me the creeps when I was young.
Unless I hallucinated this there was a Laurel and Hardy where they are up to their regular hijinks and at the end run afoul of a surly man who threatened some thing like “I told you I was going to skin you alive” and comes at them with a knife. Then they are out in the hallway as a couple of skeletons with regular, fleshy heads. I think they played with their hats and delivered the “This is another fine mess you got me into.” line.
I’m just watching Laurel and Hardy and then get hit with that.
I understand that there were a lot of kids traumatized by “Darby O’Gill and the Little People”. I know that my two still remember it as awful. That banshee was nasty!
the “Outer Limits” episode with the crab creatures was called “The Invisibles” and was pretty spooky. Rewatched it as recently as a couple of weeks ago. Had this actor named Walter Brook or Brooke or Burke who’s pretty darn creepy in everything he’s in.
***Lost in Space ***was extremely harmless and fun.
But…
There was one episode - nothing out of the ordinary. I think the alien was very handsome man and he was working with Dr Smith (trying to take control of the Jupiter 2 or something). Anyway, in the key scene the alien is complimenting Dr Smith by patting him on the shoulder. The screen only showed Dr Smith, with the hand reaching over to his shoulder. Suddenly, the hand patting Dr Smith changes into a (stereotypical) weird, zombie-like, blobby, alien arm. Smith realises this and does the slo-o-o-o-o-ow turn around to see what really was there. Cue eyes popping, screaming, alien evil laughing, etc.
That freaked me out big time when I was seven. Can’t find it on the Tube.