# The most frightening TV show - ever - **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 1, 2007, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194 "2007-10-01T20:16:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/81 "2007-10-02T18:29:56Z")
_Tales from the Crypt_, anyone? Nearly all of them gave me the heebie-jeebies…the man who cuts off his son’s feet…the conjoined twin brothers…the practical joke where one guy pretends to autopsy his brother…the model who kills another model to win her place as number one… ---
**Author:** ![DiggitCamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/82 "2007-10-02T18:42:39Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] (snip) Here I am, like 10 years old, already very neurotic and extremely claustrophobic, and I’m processing what I’ve just seen on this show: the prisoner GOT STUCK IN A VENTILATION SHAFT - - - and presumably STARVED TO DEATH in there (how else could he have died?) [/QUOTE] Wouldn’t he have died of thirst first? Sorry. Wouldn’t he have DIED OF THIRST first? ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/83 "2007-10-02T19:06:37Z")
Years ago, I saw a children’s show on public television. The host was giving safety tips - one of them was to look both ways before crossing the street. The tips were illustrated with cartoons - simple line drawings with stick figures. The first drawing showed a young boy striding across the street, oblivious to traffic. The next drawing showed him lying down in the street with crosses (plus signs) instead of eyes. I ran crying from the room, and kept having nightmares for many nights about people I knew who had crosses instead of eyes. Of course, I was four years old at the time, but when I later remembered this from my past, I realized how the most innocuous things can frighten a small child. ---
**Author:** ![rhythmonly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee59a6/32.png) [@rhythmonly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhythmonly)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/84 "2007-10-02T20:19:47Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] Oh, you mean [_this_ haunted organ](http://www.percepto.com/media/mp3/015/13.mp3)? 🙂 [Complete score.](http://www.percepto.com/projects/015/) [/QUOTE] YES!! (leaps away from keyboard) ---
**Author:** ![Dunawake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dunawake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunawake)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/85 "2007-10-02T20:29:20Z")
It’s not from my childhood, but [The Cat With Hands](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq3EsyotORM) freaks. me. the. hell. **out**. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/86 "2007-10-02T21:46:30Z")
Hey, can someone spoil those Hitchcock stories for me – Unlocked Window and the Woodbines one? I can’t find anything about them on the Internets. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/87 "2007-10-02T22:10:56Z")
[“An Unlocked Window”](http://www.hitchcockwiki.com/hitchcock/wiki/The_Alfred_Hitchcock_Hour_-_An_Unlocked_Window) and [“Where the Woodbine Twineth”](http://www.hitchcockwiki.com/hitchcock/wiki/Where_the_Woodbine_Twineth) were on _The Alfred Hitchcock Hour_. ---
**Author:** ![NailBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NailBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NailBunny)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/88 "2007-10-02T22:44:12Z")
[QUOTE=Dunawake] It’s not from my childhood, but [The Cat With Hands](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq3EsyotORM) freaks. me. the. hell. **out**. [/QUOTE] Jesus Christ!!! Aaaaaaand I’m never sleeping again. ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/90 "2007-10-02T23:28:31Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] Oh, you mean [_this_ haunted organ](http://www.percepto.com/media/mp3/015/13.mp3)? 🙂 [Complete score.](http://www.percepto.com/projects/015/) [/QUOTE] Thank you!! I LOVE spooky organ music! (Hijack) Best organ music I ever heard was in Switzerland, in a cathedral built on a site where Charlemagne had a vision. Old stone, smelt like old stone, and many, many crypts on site. The organist came to practice, and the music reverberated on the stone. Spooky, magical, and totally wonderful. ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/91 "2007-10-02T23:29:49Z")
[QUOTE=Dunawake] It’s not from my childhood, but [The Cat With Hands](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq3EsyotORM) freaks. me. the. hell. **out**. [/QUOTE] this is great! Thank you for posting this link. I just sent it to my cat fanatic friends…how many of them will sleep happily with their kitties tonight? Heh, heh, heh. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/92 "2007-10-02T23:36:06Z")
Ahhh the Eygpt skit from _Sesame Street_. I used to love that. I have to second the _Tales From the Darkside_ closet one. But here’s three of my own personal ones. First, not a TV show, but the music video to Herbie Hancock’s [Rockit](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7dAxvj2mlU) used to scare the wits out of me. Picture this: A four or five year old seeing things like that going on in a house. All these scary looking figures and machines all operating like that. My mom used to have MTV on all the time (this was back in the day when they actually played music) and when that video came on I’d run into the other room. Second, the show _Unsolved Mysteries_ used to put terror into me. I became convinced that all of those uncatched killers were in my neighborhood. And the episodes about hauntings? Forget about it. I wouldn’t sleep for a week. And to throw a movie in…_The Shining_’s room 217’s bathtub scene. I feared going into the bathroom for years after seeing that. I was always afraid there’d be this old woman in the tub and she’d be laughing like a maniac. ---
**Author:** ![Iggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Iggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggins)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/93 "2007-10-03T00:06:38Z")
_Dark Night of the Scarecrow_ has been mentioned on here before… > **[The Terror Trap: Dark Night of the Scarecrow](http://www.terrortrap.com/television/darknightofthescarecrow/)** > > Dark Night of the Scarecrow: Superior 1981 TV scarecrow horror. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/94 "2007-10-03T00:10:59Z")
[QUOTE=Max Torque] I can’t believe that this thread has come this far and no one has yet mentioned the episode of **Tales From The Darkside** titled “Inside The Closet.” It’s about a girl who rents a room that has a small door in it, a tiny locked closet about three feet high. But sometimes, the door opens on its own… And like everything else today, it’s on YouTube, although [it’s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JJeWbL54dU) [in](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mV2agefQU8) [four](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHzhgcA-GMs) [parts](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U7CaLEn65M). [/QUOTE] All right, I ain’t clicking on it, but is it the one where the little scary monster with the gnarly claws is actually his malformed daughter? And it ends up tackling the girl and dragging her into the closet? 'cause I can go the rest of my life without seeing that again… and “just the juicy parts” are on a Fangoria Magazine series episode profiling Tom Savini… ---
**Author:** ![MonaLizaT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@MonaLizaT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonaLizaT)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/95 "2007-10-03T00:12:31Z")
[QUOTE=Mister Cynical] Some episodes from the first season of the X-Files scared me pretty good, especially the one with the liver-eating worm man. Unsolved Mysteries really freaked the hell out me when I was a kid though, it made me paranoid that kidnappers and murderers (also aliens and ghosts to some extent) were everywhere. [/QUOTE] The ghost episodes always got to me. Years back (when it was in first run), I watched one of them and then placed an order for some takeout chinese food. The total was $6.66! I didn’t ask for my change… ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/96 "2007-10-03T01:43:50Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] Oh, you mean [_this_ haunted organ](http://www.percepto.com/media/mp3/015/13.mp3)? 🙂 [Complete score.](http://www.percepto.com/projects/015/) [/QUOTE] Thanks. The movie never scared me, but I **loved** the organ music. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/97 "2007-10-03T02:21:16Z")
[QUOTE=Dunawake] It’s not from my childhood, but [The Cat With Hands](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq3EsyotORM) freaks. me. the. hell. **out**. [/QUOTE] Oh, I hate when it licks its human hands. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/98 "2007-10-03T03:37:30Z")
[QUOTE=Iggins] _Dark Night of the Scarecrow_ has been mentioned on here before… > **[The Terror Trap: Dark Night of the Scarecrow](http://www.terrortrap.com/television/darknightofthescarecrow/)** > > Dark Night of the Scarecrow: Superior 1981 TV scarecrow horror. [/QUOTE] Holy Crap! I just stopped in to say that! Also, “Devil Dog: Hound of Hell.” Remember the scene where the dog was making that guy reach into the spinning blade of the lawnmower? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/99 "2007-10-03T03:46:07Z")
All this and no freakin’ Daleks from Dr. Who? Jesus Christ, I was scared shitless of those talking garbage cans as a 5 year old. “Exterminate, exterminate…” in that metallic voice of doom… ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/100 "2007-10-03T04:01:32Z")
[QUOTE=nipplesup] My name is Talky Tina, and I love you very much! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: [/QUOTE] Ooh, I absolutely LOVE the Twilight Zone. “My name is Talky Tina, and I don’t think I like you.” ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/101 "2007-10-03T04:16:39Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] 😕 But it’s just Ernie’s voice with reverb. [/QUOTE] Yeah, I know. But knowing how they do stuff on TV doesn’t always make it less scary, right? The whole statue comes to life thing is just CREEPY. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194.md?page=6)