# Scariest imagery you can imagine? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 12, 2004, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-imagery-you-can-imagine/224186 "2004-01-12T15:43:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![acrossthesea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@acrossthesea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/acrossthesea)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-imagery-you-can-imagine/224186/1 "2004-01-12T15:43:51Z")
For something I was writing I was trying to come up with a very disturbing image. And then I got one out of nowhere: the face of the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz, but where his eyes should be are just two dripping pools of blood. Everyone has a different opinion of what would be scary to them, so that might not be too freaky to you. But what’s the scariest image you can picture just off the top of your head? ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-imagery-you-can-imagine/224186/2 "2004-01-13T05:51:21Z")
My kid in a coffin. ---
**Author:** ![SanguineSpider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SanguineSpider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanguineSpider)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-imagery-you-can-imagine/224186/3 "2004-01-13T05:57:56Z")
I agree, **Horsflesh** … even you posting that made my heart shudder. ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-imagery-you-can-imagine/224186/4 "2004-01-13T06:42:58Z")
Nothing seems to have changed… except there’s nobody else. Wherever I go, there’s just me. The streets are devoid of all signs of other persons. Okay, maybe not scary, but definitely most disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![Lyllyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@Lyllyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lyllyan)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-imagery-you-can-imagine/224186/5 "2004-01-13T15:56:33Z")
///slight hijack/// **Urban Ranger** - I read a short story years ago about this very thing. Seems a guy lands his plane, and no one is around. He takes off again and makes numerous stops at the major airports, only to find the same thing. Finally, he goes home. He cannot cope with being alone and pulls out a cyanide pill. As he swallows, his telephone rings. :eek: That story creeped me out like you wouldn’t believe. ///end hijack/// ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-imagery-you-can-imagine/224186/6 "2004-01-13T17:34:46Z")
> [@Lyllyan](#): > > ///slight hijack/// > > **Urban Ranger** - I read a short story years ago about this very thing. Seems a guy lands his plane, and no one is around. He takes off again and makes numerous stops at the major airports, only to find the same thing. Finally, he goes home. He cannot cope with being alone and pulls out a cyanide pill. As he swallows, his telephone rings. :eek: > > That story creeped me out like you wouldn’t believe. > ///end hijack/// That story seems like it came from… THE TWILIGHT ZONE! ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-imagery-you-can-imagine/224186/7 "2004-01-13T19:30:21Z")
Not really an image as such. But the stories of being incompletely anaesthetized during a major operation seem about the scariest thing that can happen in real life, that doesn’t involve relatives/friends being harmed. ---
**Author:** ![jon\_pi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@jon\_pi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jon_pi)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-imagery-you-can-imagine/224186/8 "2004-01-13T20:45:36Z")
The image that came to mind first, is probably the worst I could imagine… I saw myself in a dim hall, like in a school. I was a little hunched over, breathing hard. Below me, lying sprawled on the tile floor are my friends, who I’ve just killed with my bare hands. My hands are stained with blood, and I’m smiling. I can’t think of anything worse. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-imagery-you-can-imagine/224186/9 "2004-01-13T21:08:41Z")
Seeing something, that is not _quite_ right, without being able to tell what exactly is wrong with it. I actually used this idea for a halloweencostume. I had made realistic looking hands out of iron wire, dressed them in gloves so they’d look realistic, then held them in my hands. My arms looked unnaturally long, but not long enough so that everybody saw my hands had to be fake. I just looked _wrong_. ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-imagery-you-can-imagine/224186/10 "2004-01-13T21:28:37Z")
Hi, I’m DeVena and welcome to my nightmares… Looking up through the water to a tiny patch of blue sky… and knowing there’s no way of reaching the surface before I run out of air. ---
**Author:** ![raz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@raz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raz)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-imagery-you-can-imagine/224186/11 "2004-01-13T22:24:39Z")
Being disembowled, like in Braveheart. _shudder_ Possibly seeing one of my friends/family members getting shot. Crap, like by the DC sniper. Like the lady whose husband got shot while they were loading groceries or whatever in the car. How could you possibly see something like that and be the same afterwards? I don’t even like thinking about it. ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-imagery-you-can-imagine/224186/12 "2004-01-14T00:16:09Z")
When I was a child, the one thing that always got me upset was to think of myself in a superhero-like situation where I’d have to choose between two people’s lives. An evil villian would be holding my mother and my grandfather over a pit of flames and tell me that I could choose just one of them to live. ☹ It’s even got me upset now! ---
**Author:** ![Yarster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/7c8e57/32.png) [@Yarster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yarster)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-imagery-you-can-imagine/224186/13 "2004-01-14T00:49:31Z")
I’ve seen some truly horrible pictures and video of war crimes and torture. One thing that will always be burned into my mind was footage of the Iran-Iraq conflict during the 70s/80s where some Iranians caught an Iraqi soldier, tied him to a tree, and then tied one arm to the back of jeep and slowly drove away. The image of that and the sound of the flesh ripping as his arm was torn off still disgusts me to this day. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-imagery-you-can-imagine/224186/14 "2004-01-14T06:52:04Z")
According to a recent thread, there was an episode of _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_, where a vampire character was sealed in a steel coffin, and dumped on the ocean floor. Apparently, it was cold, dark, and he had no way to escape on his own. But, worst of all, since he was a vampire, he was effectively immortal…he couldn’t die, even if he tried with all his might to kill himself. Conceivably, he might have spent eternity in a box, conscious and aware the whole time. _Da_-amn. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-imagery-you-can-imagine/224186/15 "2004-01-14T07:30:39Z")
The scariest thing, pure IMAGE not so much the idea (the scariest IDEA is something happening to Gunslinger), that I can come up with is this: Dark. Empty street in a normally-busy city. Vague sense of foreboding because of the emptiness. Lost. See person walking in front of you. Hurry to catch up. Ask person for directions. Person turns around, and has no face, just a smooth egg-like surface. For some reason the idea of a person without a face has haunted my nightmares for years. ---
**Author:** ![Ex\_Machina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-imagery-you-can-imagine/224186/16 "2004-01-14T16:28:13Z")
Corruption of innocence or beauty is always a source of horrific images for me. To this day the only movie that gives me the willies when I’m alone is _The Exorcist_. The possessed girl lurks in my dark corners. Sometimes when I’m alone in my bed in the dark I stare at the far corner of the room. There is a white rocking chair which I discern first. Then I see that it is moving slightly, slowly back and forth. It is so quiet that I can hear a labored breathing in time with the sound of rocking. Then I see the shape of a girl. I become paralyzed. As I stare at the form the face becomes more visible. The hair is stringy and clings to the face. The skin is swollen and pale. The eyes, I can see now, are staring at me, lifelessly. And the dry cracked lips are barely parted in a smile. The breathing stops and a guttural growl begins… At this point the lights go on and I get out of bed. I fix some milk and cookies and read \*The Wind in the Willows \* until the image is out of my head. ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-imagery-you-can-imagine/224186/17 "2004-01-14T22:49:02Z")
Falling through the ice, and not being able to find the hole to get back out. It makes me almost want to cry just thinking about desperately clawing at the ice with almost no chance of finding the opening. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-imagery-you-can-imagine/224186/18 "2004-01-14T23:01:39Z")
My nightmare has always been the same: I wake up and my dreams have come true. Not _daydreams_, _Dreams_. The ones that are messed up and make no sense at all. All true. The world has become a very random sort of place, with no sense or logic to it … In can’t, personally, think of anything more disturbing than that. ---
**Author:** ![Sanscour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f475e1/32.png) [@Sanscour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sanscour)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-imagery-you-can-imagine/224186/19 "2004-01-14T23:43:00Z")
I had a nightmare that left be unable to move in bed for about 15 minutes after I woke up, that was about 7 years ago and I’m 28 now. Something that creeps me out for real is thinking about going in for eye surgery because they don’t put you out, they just give you a relaxant so you can’t move your eyes and blink. Just the thought of watching a surgeon coming towards my eye with a knife and not being able to blink or roll my eyes away gives me the willies. Sanscour ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-imagery-you-can-imagine/224186/20 "2004-01-15T00:09:40Z")
I thought this would make a really good horror short story: you’re at work, at a job you hate, and there’s about an hour and five minutes left of your shift-say you’re done at five, and the clock says 3:55. Well, we go through the events leading up until 4:55. And just then, you look at the clock at 4:59- And it changes…to 3:59. You’re right back where you started. The never ending retail shift in hell. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-imagery-you-can-imagine/224186.md?page=2)