# Thanks to Stephen King . . . **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 22, 2012, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-to-stephen-king/613651 "2012-02-22T19:15:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-to-stephen-king/613651/41 "2012-02-23T15:28:10Z")
As a third grader, I read _The Endless Steppe_. In this memoir, a girl thoughtlessly enters a room left foot first, even though she’d been told that was bad luck. Later that morning, her family was deported to Siberia. For a very long time, I always entered rooms right foot first. But hey, it worked! Never been deported to Siberia. ---
**Author:** ![CorneaGenii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@CorneaGenii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CorneaGenii)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-to-stephen-king/613651/42 "2012-02-23T17:28:40Z")
Due to vampire movies as a kid, I would sleep with the blanket tucked around my neck. Thankfully got over that. Because of movies with possessed dolls, I will never EVER sleep in a room with a plush animal, doll, or figurine within sight. I also avoid mirrors, not necessarily because of what may be behind me, but because I’d freak if my reflection did something that I wasn’t doing. It’s also the reason I never sleep with a mirror facing any part of me while asleep. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-to-stephen-king/613651/43 "2012-02-23T20:53:59Z")
> [@CorneaGenii](#): > > Because of movies with possessed dolls, I will never EVER sleep in a room with a plush animal, doll, or figurine within sight. Same for me, but I was traumatized for years because my grandmother gave me a very expensive porcelain doll once. Upon opening the box I was mortified. I had to display it in my room. Facing directly across from my bed. When I moved out I confessed that I hated it and left it there. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-to-stephen-king/613651/44 "2012-02-23T20:57:08Z")
Since “Christine,” I don’t like to walk around the front of cars. I’ll go out of my way to walk around the back. ---
**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:** [February 23, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-to-stephen-king/613651/45 "2012-02-23T21:23:05Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > As a third grader, I read _The Endless Steppe_. In this memoir, a girl thoughtlessly enters a room left foot first, even though she’d been told that was bad luck. Later that morning, her family was deported to Siberia. > > For a very long time, I always entered rooms right foot first. But hey, it worked! Never been deported to Siberia. I read that book and remember that part! I can barely remember my left from right, so I never tried to do it that way. Good book- a lot of it stayed with me. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-to-stephen-king/613651/46 "2012-02-23T23:22:46Z")
> [@Katriona](#): > > Since “Christine,” I don’t like to walk around the front of cars. I’ll go out of my way to walk around the back. That’s a good one - I do it, but I’m not entirely comfortable doing it. I also don’t like walking under our garage door as it’s opening - I can’t assign that to a particular book, but I have a feeling Stephen King was involved somehow. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-to-stephen-king/613651/47 "2012-02-23T23:33:42Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Due to the woman in the bathtub in Room 217 of the Overlook Hotel, I for years compulsively glanced into the tub of every bathroom I entered, and would not have been wholly surprised to see a dead lady floating there. > > Thankfully, due to my vigilance, this never happened. 😛 A highly overrated experience, once you’ve seen one dead lady floating in a bath you’ve pretty much seen them all 😃 > [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > Due to Friday the 13th’s “knife through the guy’s throat” scene, I always checked under my bed, all the way to about age 25 when I moved out. I also opened every closet, looked inside, and closed it, and made sure every drawer was shut. > > I have stopped all of it since I got a dog because they magically keep away serial killers. But to this day, I cannot let any limb hang over the edge of the bed. Don’t know if you’ve seen the original Halloween, circa 1979, but dogs haven’t keep serial killers away since at least Michael Myers. Sweet dreams 😃 Since I read _Bag of Bones_ I get apprehensive whenever I have to look under a bed. Mind you, I was an adult when that book was released. ☹ I have NEVER seen a dead lady floating in a bath ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-to-stephen-king/613651/48 "2012-02-24T08:00:34Z")
> [@G0sp3l](#): > > Don’t know if you’ve seen the original Halloween, circa 1979, but dogs haven’t keep serial killers away since at least Michael Myers. Sweet dreams 😃 Don’t destroy my psyche! 😛 They do keep them away! Or at least ghosts. Yes, they can alert us to ghosts. Yes. Edited to add: That was Kevin Bacon! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-to-stephen-king/613651/49 "2012-02-24T23:25:12Z")
> [@G0sp3l](#): > > I have NEVER seen a dead lady floating in a bath Life is full of disappointment. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-to-stephen-king/613651/50 "2012-02-25T00:30:21Z")
> [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > Don’t destroy my psyche! 😛 They do keep them away! Or at least ghosts. Yes, they can alert us to ghosts. Yes. > > Edited to add: That was Kevin Bacon! Kevin Bacon was in _Friday the 13th_. I don’t recall Jason (or his mother) killing any dogs… and weren’t there dog skeletons in the graveyard in _Poltergiest_? 😃 > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Life is full of disappointment. I haven’t given up yet. But motel bathrooms are small and some ladies are surprisingly strong. ---
**Author:** ![Kasper1014](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c89c15/32.png) [@Kasper1014](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kasper1014)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-to-stephen-king/613651/51 "2012-02-25T04:38:38Z")
Thanks to Salems Lot, if I hear a noise at my upstairs window…I will NOT open the curtains! I read the book when I was 20, I’m now 40 and that book still scares the crap out of me! ---
**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:** [February 25, 2012, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-to-stephen-king/613651/52 "2012-02-25T05:14:51Z")
After watching the movie **Candyman** in the early 90s, I made a point of never staring into the mirror, saying the name “Candyman” six times in a row and then shutting off the lights. Of course, I probably would never have even thought to do that if I had not seen the flick… For months after seeing the one memorable scene from the otherwise mediocre **Exorcist III** (It was [this scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH8ynu0jRvY&feature=related)), I made a point of always keeping my back to the wall while I was alone in a room. Every once in a while at night when I get up to relieve myself and am returning to bed, I still get a creepy spine-tingling sense that the door behind me is gonna fly open and… ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-to-stephen-king/613651/53 "2012-02-25T15:46:40Z")
Another thank you (\*not!)\*to Mr. King and his befucked Room 217. I don’t recall being afraid of bathtubs but for a long time it seemed like every time I woke in the middle of the night my clock read 2:17. To this day I get a slightly freaky feeling when it happens. Thanks to" The Ring" I won’t look at the TV screen when I turn it off in case I might catch a glimpse of a well or something as it flashes before it goes dark. And another shower one, though not from a horror movie. There’s a scene in “Bird on a Wire”, a cheesy movie with Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn, where she’s in the shower and there’s a giant roach on the shower head whiles she’s shampooing with her eyes closed. I always expect / dread to have the same thing happen to me. The thought of Norman Bates and Jack Nicholson busting into my bathroom doesn’t disturb me as much as the prospect of being in the shower with a live roach.\ ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-to-stephen-king/613651/54 "2012-02-25T18:18:40Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > \ The thought of Norman Bates and Jack Nicholson busting into my bathroom doesn’t disturb me as much as the prospect of being in the shower with a live roach.\ I had an apartment once that had roaches, which is very unusual for this area. I was taking a bath, and a roach came out of the overflow drain at the top of the tub. I don’t recall getting out of the tub - I’m pretty sure I levitated. I think I gave my notice that I was moving out later that day. ---
**Author:** ![MsJinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/278dde/32.png) [@MsJinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsJinx)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-to-stephen-king/613651/55 "2012-02-26T03:06:26Z")
I’m pretty sure my now ex-husband would not get the hip surgery he needed while I was unemployed and could help him while he was on bedrest because he envisioned a scene from Misery (Stephen King again!), certain that I would do something horrible to him while he was captive. He waited until after the divorce, and his sister (who drove him crazy) was called upon to be with him post-surgery. ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-to-stephen-king/613651/56 "2012-02-26T16:56:14Z")
When I was a kid, somebody told me about the movie [The Tingler.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053363/plotsummary) I never actually SAW the movie. But the description scared me so bad that for YEARS, I wouldn’t get into bed without looking under all the furniture and even raising up the sheets to make sure the damn Tingler wasn’t in my room. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-to-stephen-king/613651/57 "2012-02-27T16:18:13Z")
Thanks to Stephen King, I’m leery of becoming a writer or English teacher. Especially a writer or teacher from Maine. Apparently, a lot of crazy ass shit happens to them. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-to-stephen-king/613651/58 "2012-02-27T18:09:07Z")
Not only being a teacher from Maine, but going to Maine _at all_! Apparently Maine is like the HellMouth. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-to-stephen-king/613651/59 "2012-02-27T21:14:15Z")
Let’s go to Derry this summer! A paradise, I tells ya. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-to-stephen-king/613651/60 "2012-02-27T22:05:24Z")
The other day I was walking the dogs and at one point quite insistently pulled them away from a storm drain, saying “Are you crazy!? Get away from there!”. I also give a really hairy eyeball to the crows over at the park, hoping to discourage any morphing into the Walking Dude. Apparently, M-O-O-N spells Crazy Old Woman. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-to-stephen-king/613651.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-to-stephen-king/613651.md?page=4)