# Once-scary childhood memories of pop culture **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 10, 2012, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-scary-childhood-memories-of-pop-culture/627783 "2012-07-10T12:34:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-scary-childhood-memories-of-pop-culture/627783/81 "2012-07-11T12:39:09Z")
I was also (and I can’t believe nobody has mentioned this yet) TERRIFIED of the Oompa Loompas from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I still can’t stand that movie. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-scary-childhood-memories-of-pop-culture/627783/82 "2012-07-11T13:57:02Z")
My dad used to watch old reruns of “The Honeymooners.” The opening credits when the moon turns to Jackie Gleason’s face used to scare the bejeezus out of me. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-scary-childhood-memories-of-pop-culture/627783/83 "2012-07-11T15:04:24Z")
Mark VII corporate logo at the end of Dragnet. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-scary-childhood-memories-of-pop-culture/627783/84 "2012-07-11T16:04:33Z")
The unmasking of Mr. Sardonicus in the movie of the same name, which I saw around 1970 or so when I was seven. As you might guess, it doesn’t scare me at all now, but I remember it well. [Masked](http://www.google.com/imgres?num=10&hl=en&newwindow=1&tbm=isch&tbnid=W-bCsO_JPgpJlM:&imgrefurl=http://www.coffeecoffeeandmorecoffee.com/archives/2006/03/castle_creep.html&docid=cnu-QUyjSwrKkM&imgurl=http://www.coffeecoffeeandmorecoffee.com/archives/filmstills/sardonicus1.jpg&w=421&h=235&ei=aqL9T6rgOOq36wGP5Zm-Bg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=1059&vpy=212&dur=384&hovh=165&hovw=285&tx=208&ty=111&sig=107977707109648243708&page=1&tbnh=146&tbnw=192&start=0&ndsp=25&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0,i:118&biw=1393&bih=893) [Unmasked](http://www.google.com/imgres?num=10&hl=en&newwindow=1&tbm=isch&tbnid=fUx8EPtAx708oM:&imgrefurl=http://therightprofile.blogspot.com/2011_06_20_archive.html&docid=AaB8BWuJhBmTNM&imgurl=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5sjwiJPfY8Q/ThjEkRF-3-I/AAAAAAAABp8/ZWzikmbbpeM/s640/sardonicus.jpg&w=640&h=348&ei=aqL9T6rgOOq36wGP5Zm-Bg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=758&vpy=532&dur=7518&hovh=165&hovw=305&tx=128&ty=70&sig=107977707109648243708&page=1&tbnh=120&tbnw=220&start=0&ndsp=25&ved=1t:429,r:16,s:0,i:153&biw=1393&bih=893) ---
**Author:** ![Rudiger\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rudiger\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rudiger_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-scary-childhood-memories-of-pop-culture/627783/85 "2012-07-11T17:09:24Z")
> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > I remember in the 80’s, Time Life used to advertise for things like Stonehenge tapes or books, but managed to do it in a creepy way. The commercials for the books about alien encounters showed illustrations of just a ghostly white face with huuuge black eyes that freaked me the f out. One would pop up in a dream and I’d wake up convinced that they were looking in my window at me, but I’d be too chickenshit to look right away. When I finally _would_ look, I wouldn’t see anything, which meant that they knew I was awake and had ducked down for the time being. It didn’t help that another one of the books was about the Nazca Lines being runways for alien space ships… ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-scary-childhood-memories-of-pop-culture/627783/86 "2012-07-11T18:05:51Z")
The opening theme sequence from some weird hippie children’s show called [Vegetable Soup](http://www.yourememberthat.com/media/12570/Vegetable_Soup_-_Theme_Song/). The music seemed slightly freaky, and the animation was obviously drug-inspired. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-scary-childhood-memories-of-pop-culture/627783/87 "2012-07-11T20:02:27Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > The old video game Berzerk got to me. I remember trying it out in a pizza parlor, and the combination of robots swarming from every direction and the evil synthesized voice screaming, “Bzz! Bzz! Kill the humanoid! Kill the intruder!” shook me to the core. Plus, I was terrible at it, so my doom came swiftly with mocking robots jeering me and making me feel I had let down the whole human race. Stupid game. “Chicken-fight-like-a-robot!” > [@astorian](#): > > That MIGHT have scared me if he didn’t remind me so much of “Nature Boy,” the Australian aborigine that Bugs Bunny toyed with so mercilessly. > > I just wanted Karen Black to tell him “Onga Bonga Bonga Inga Binga Binga BUNGA.” “GGAAAAARRRRGGGHHH!” (What’d you say? What’d you say?) 🙂 * * * The opening to the original _Outer Limits_ freaked my six-year-old ass out. The Control Voice not only telling me not to adjust my television set, but telling me to sit quietly and he will control all I see and hear. I kept wondering if I could sneak out during the commercials. ---
**Author:** ![Bass\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/43a26b/32.png) [@Bass\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bass_Chick)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-scary-childhood-memories-of-pop-culture/627783/88 "2012-07-11T20:23:35Z")
Barnabas Collins used to scare me to death. My sister used to watch Dark Shadows every day after school and I would always hide when I heard the theme music start. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/OSbCqp_a3iE/hqdefault.jpg "Dark Shadows Original B/W Opening") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSbCqp_a3iE) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-scary-childhood-memories-of-pop-culture/627783/89 "2012-07-11T20:41:42Z")
“Chiller” I think was hosted by Boris Karloff. It was an anthology series like “Suspense Theatre.” While it didn’t exactly scare the crap out of me (I was already a teenager when I first saw it), I still found Karloff’s intros and outros to be really creepy. One thing that did scare the crap out of me was being all alone in a hotel in Joilet, Illinois, one night when I was maybe eight years old (my dad had gone out on some errand or other). I watched a '50s SF movie about a 500-year-old Spanish _conquistadore_ who had been buried in soil that contained a lot of “natural preservatives” and had been reanimated by a bolt of lightning (“the spark of life”). I know now the picture was pure hokum, but I was absolutely terrified until my dad came home. (Roughly the same thing happened with Laurel and Hardy’s _Chumps at Oxford_ when I was six. If you’ve seen the film, you know which part I’m talking about. :eek: ) Remember the intro every week to “The Invaders” where David Vincent is woken up by the alien spaceship landing? It didn’t help any that my dad was in the oil business and we spent a lot of nights sleeping in the car out in the backwoods of West Virginia. I kept expecting either some reanimated 500-year-old Spaniard to come lumbering out of the woods, or a UFO to touch down on the latest area to be bulldozed. My dad didn’t help any by telling me about the wandering hillbilly he encountered late one night while working out in the field. Forty-odd years later, all I can think of is _Deliverance_. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-scary-childhood-memories-of-pop-culture/627783/90 "2012-07-11T20:43:04Z")
> [@CapnPitt](#): > > Growing up in Pittsburgh in the 70s, you couldn’t avoid the Mr. Yuck commercials that scared kids from drinking chemicals under the sink. A good cause for sure, and the stickers worked, but the “bwahaahahahahaha” and the “bloody eyeball” beginning were pants-shittingly scary to a young lad like myself. > > [Mr. Yuk](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLsONa3gKIQ) In Canada, we had two horrifying alien puppets called Binkley and Doinkle to terrify you into not sticking your hand into flesh-eating bleach and not drinking deadly poison. Other Canadian stuff that scared me as a kid: -The “Dementia 5” episode of Rocket Robin Hood (and to a lesser extent, Spider-Man). -The cartoons “The Devil and Daniel Mouse” and “Romie-0 and Julie-8”. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-scary-childhood-memories-of-pop-culture/627783/91 "2012-07-11T21:27:26Z")
> [@CapnPitt](#): > > Growing up in Pittsburgh in the 70s, you couldn’t avoid the Mr. Yuck commercials that scared kids from drinking chemicals under the sink. A good cause for sure, and the stickers worked, but the “bwahaahahahahaha” and the “bloody eyeball” beginning were pants-shittingly scary to a young lad like myself. > > [Mr. Yuk](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLsONa3gKIQ) Oh, Mr Yuk was in Western NY, too. I think he was EVERYWHERE 😱! ---
**Author:** ![Winnie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e480ec/32.png) [@Winnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnie)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-scary-childhood-memories-of-pop-culture/627783/92 "2012-07-11T21:54:25Z")
> [@Tara57](#): > > The dinosaur at the end of the opening credits to Land of the Lost scared me. He would turn and look right at the camera and he could see you through the television! I would always hide my face. OMG that’s exactly what I came here to post! I always ran behind our couch right before the ending came on. I was 5 or 6 when an old episode of Lassie had the dog trying to rescue kittens from a burning barn. It wasn’t looking good for the kittens and being the sensitive kid that I was it sent me into total hysterics. It took hours for my mom to calm me and insist the kittens were just fine. We visited New Jersey a lot growing up (my mom is from northern NJ) and we’d always stay with her sister and my cousins. My cousin Lisa was 5 years older than me and I’d sleep in her room with her. This was the early 80’s and she had a poster of AC/DC from Highway to Hell. The vision of Angus in his horns terrified me and I’d have to sleep with a blanket over my head the whole night. ---
**Author:** ![Gabing\_Gaboing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b38774/32.png) [@Gabing\_Gaboing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gabing_Gaboing)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-scary-childhood-memories-of-pop-culture/627783/93 "2012-07-12T01:33:07Z")
For me it was the whole boat sequence from the original Willy Wonka movie. I think it was mostly just overstimulation as none of the images were particularly awful. My big one was a movie from the 70s called (iirc) _Ssss_. It was about a carnival or freakshow or something where people got turned into snakes. At one point a guy is half turned and it freaked.me.out. I still detest snakes because of that damn movie. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-scary-childhood-memories-of-pop-culture/627783/94 "2012-07-12T02:44:24Z")
I thought of another one. The painting they showed at the end of the show Good Times used to freak me out as a kid for some reason… ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-scary-childhood-memories-of-pop-culture/627783/95 "2012-07-12T03:33:29Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > The opening theme sequence from some weird hippie children’s show called [Vegetable Soup](http://www.yourememberthat.com/media/12570/Vegetable_Soup_-_Theme_Song/). The music seemed slightly freaky, and the animation was obviously drug-inspired. I came in here specifically to mention not just “Vegetable Souo” (which was creepy enough), but a particular segment on that show called “Outerscope.” The premise was that some neighborhood kids built a wooden fort that was also a rocket ship, they got it launched into outer space and (as is wont to happen in kids shows), they then got lost in the void and went hopping from one planet to the next. If the opening credits to “Vegetable Soup” are an acid trip, then “Outerscope” Is the bad, bad, BAAAD acid trip. Among the various planets the kids journeyed to was one ruled by sentient cleaning appliances, and another world where everything was “opposite.” But the creepiest part of the whole segment was the [puppets!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRcNIqrZ6KI&feature=related). Ahhhh, did they freak me out! In particular, it was the bizarre idea to have tiny doll-sized puppets, but for the puppeteers to use their real hands as the kids’ appendages. It looked like the adventures of the thalidomide puppets. I could not, not, not watch those puppets without being totally wigged out. Heck, they still creep me out looking at them now! Also, the begiinning of Sidney Lumet’s movie version of [Murder on the Orient Express](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ik3C9aIp7o). It’s the creepy, atmospheric music that plays over the opening montage. Brrrr. ---
**Author:** ![bmasters1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@bmasters1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmasters1)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-scary-childhood-memories-of-pop-culture/627783/96 "2012-07-12T08:43:10Z")
The first time I saw the 1981-87 titles to NBC’s hit daytime serial _Another World_, it scared me half to death, because I thought that the “tunnel” at the beginning had frilly edges. Only later did I realize that what looked like frilly edges was actually the familiar wreath of interlocking circles leaving a tunnel behind it as if it were a comet, and that this was created by sort of a streak-timing effect similar to that of the titles of the _Superman_ films. [Another World September 7,1981 opening - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcr1xdQyobo) (1981 debut of this opening) ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-scary-childhood-memories-of-pop-culture/627783/97 "2012-07-12T09:10:32Z")
The one that consistently freaked me out was The B-52s’ “Rock Lobster”. I had a clock radio that I used to listen to as I was going to sleep at night, and at some point while I was half-awake/half-asleep they would do a “Top 10 at 10” countdown or some such thing. There was a string of nights during which “Rock Lobster” appeared in this countdown, and there was something about the discordant instrumentation and Fred Schneider’s voice that I found really, really unsettling. Especially the part where he’s singing “there goes a narwhal,” and such, and other band members are making strange animal-like noises to accompany him. It still sets my nerves on edge a bit. I remember being pretty young (I’m guessing 8 or so) and looking through the TV Guide for something to watch. I saw a program about ants, so being the little nature freak I was, I tuned to that channel. Turns out, the movie was _Them!_ and a giant ant came into frame, blanking out the screen. I _ **freaked** _ and ran upstairs to find my mom. Taught me how to read TV Guide descriptions a little better. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-scary-childhood-memories-of-pop-culture/627783/98 "2012-07-12T09:54:27Z")
My Mother said that the first thing that scared me was a monster from _Star Trek:TOS_, the salt-vampire. I was a baby in arms. Today, I am a Star Trek fan. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-scary-childhood-memories-of-pop-culture/627783/99 "2012-07-12T15:51:31Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > I came in here specifically to mention not just “Vegetable Souo” (which was creepy enough), but a particular segment on that show called “Outerscope.” The premise was that some neighborhood kids built a wooden fort that was also a rocket ship, they got it launched into outer space and (as is wont to happen in kids shows), they then got lost in the void and went hopping from one planet to the next. > > If the opening credits to “Vegetable Soup” are an acid trip, then “Outerscope” Is the bad, bad, BAAAD acid trip. Among the various planets the kids journeyed to was one ruled by sentient cleaning appliances, and another world where everything was “opposite.” Dear God, yes. I remember those freaky-ass puppets. They had bizarre ideas of what constituted children’s programming back then. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-scary-childhood-memories-of-pop-culture/627783/100 "2012-07-12T18:45:43Z")
The animated Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies creeped me out. Not just the parts that were supposed to be scary (Gollum, the orcs), but even the hobbits were creepy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-scary-childhood-memories-of-pop-culture/627783.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-scary-childhood-memories-of-pop-culture/627783.md?page=6)