# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/122 "2007-10-03T21:28:40Z")
[QUOTE=Iggins] You know, it was the 80’s remake that I watched. Still a good story. [/QUOTE] I think [this](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088692/) is the 80s remake – which is the one I saw. John Huston played Creepy Gambler Guy. I know we’ve done this thread before, so I feel like I’m repeating myself…but what the hell: for me, it was the Outer Limits Zanti Misfits episode (big ol’ bugs with humanoid eyes…brrr..ewww). And Darby O’Gill and the Little People (specifically, the banshee) on the so-called “wonderful” world of Disney. ---
**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:** [October 3, 2007, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/123 "2007-10-03T22:13:47Z")
_The Day After_. At the height of the Reagan-Redbaiter era, the prospect of nuclear war had haunted me all my life. This made it _all too real_. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/124 "2007-10-03T22:28:04Z")
[QUOTE=«Ðëëp¤F®ïêd»™] Really? Cool! Ignorance faught. [/QUOTE] Is that a whoosh? I vaguely recall the TV show, but I remember the Roald Dahl story ending … [spoiler]… with the challenger’s wife coming in and stopping the contest, because the challenger had over the years lost everything he owned to her. The lighter had lighted eight times, but its owner was still relieved not to have to continue. The narrator then noticed that the hands of the challenger’s wife was missing most the fingers. I thought the TV show ended the same way, except the act of the wife’s entrance actually blew out the lighter, and the challenger swung the chopper down, but deliberately missed the finger maybe realizing it wasn’t fair. Nice there are still some scruples left in dementia![/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Cincoflex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Cincoflex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cincoflex)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/125 "2007-10-03T22:31:09Z")
Man, three pages and not one mention of the original movie “Kolchak: The Night Stalker”? I was twelve when that came on, and the idea that a rational, cynical grown up man believed in vampires had me uneasy. Then when Carl was proved RIGHT–I freaked. Also, The Omen. I know that’s not television, but I got talked into going to see it, and stayed up all night with my bible in hand, _shiver_ ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/126 "2007-10-03T22:37:49Z")
I remember that scene from Salem’s Lot in particular, because it was while we were watching it that our cat began a new way of asking to be let in. It consisted of jumping up on a small table outside the plate glass window behind our TV viewing sofa, and raking his claws down the glass. He continued that throughout the rest his life, but it never made us jump as much as that first time. Damn cats! ---
**Author:** ![ShakWave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f9b8f/32.png) [@ShakWave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShakWave)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/127 "2007-10-03T23:50:26Z")
[QUOTE=Daniel Sug] I would sneak out after my parents went to bed to watch Tales from the Darkside as a kid. The first episode I ever saw was about a college girl renting a room from an elderly man. There was something in the closet… [/QUOTE] Was that the one in which the man had a weird gremlin like son? That episode was scary as hell. There was also one episode in which a young woman comes to live with an elderly couple. The elderly couple seem very nice and kind and always talk about how she reminds them of their kids. They invite her to use their hot tub / jacuzzi and relax. They then turn up the heat, and when she protests, the old lady start cutting up vegetables in the jacuzzi :eek: Yes, they ate all their children.. ---
**Author:** ![ShakWave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f9b8f/32.png) [@ShakWave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShakWave)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/128 "2007-10-04T00:00:28Z")
Drat… must read entire thread before replying. ---
**Author:** ![MelCthefirst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@MelCthefirst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MelCthefirst)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/129 "2007-10-04T00:07:01Z")
Planet of the Apes - scared the life out of me and gave me nightmares…I can’t say we weren’t warned, Mum and Dad were going out and gave instructions that we weren’t to watch it, but we did. ---
**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:** [October 4, 2007, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/130 "2007-10-04T00:15:07Z")
[QUOTE=MelCthefirst] Planet of the Apes - scared the life out of me and gave me nightmares…I can’t say we weren’t warned, Mum and Dad were going out and gave instructions that we weren’t to watch it, but we did. [/QUOTE] Yeah, Charlton Heston’s acting is always cringe-inducing. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/131 "2007-10-04T00:27:38Z")
Jesus people, just watching a few of these is going to give me nightmares. I…think I’m going to go downstairs and hang out with the SO. No reason. Just…er, because. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/132 "2007-10-04T06:37:18Z")
In the early 70s heyday of Sesame Street (of all things), there was a time-lapse filler piece of either a flower opening or an octopus doing octopus-y things (forget which), and it was set to _Land of Hope and Glory_. My sister would run terrified from the room, and be inconsolable for ages afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Dunawake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dunawake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunawake)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/133 "2007-10-04T07:13:07Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] Jesus people, just watching a few of these is going to give me nightmares. I…think I’m going to go downstairs and hang out with the SO. No reason. Just…er, because. [/QUOTE] Have you watched The Cat With Hands yet? Muahahahaha! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/134 "2007-10-04T10:15:45Z")
[QUOTE=Steve Wright] The worst one, for me, was “The Invasion”, with the Cybermen coming out of the sewers - those blank expressionless metal faces, and that awful noise in the background - creeped me right out. (Of course, I was about five or six years old at the time, so … ) [/QUOTE] I came to mention the Cybermen - but from “The Wheel In Space” where the cliffhanger had them marching across empty space towards the Wheel. That gave me _serious_ willies. mm ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/135 "2007-10-04T10:34:16Z")
No votes for Fraggle Rock yet? ::shiver:: ---
**Author:** ![The\_Them](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@The\_Them](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Them)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/136 "2007-10-04T11:39:17Z")
When I was about 7, my older cousins were watching an old _Star Trek_ rerun. I only caught the end- where this creature that could look like anyone it wanted was sneaking about, disguised as various crewmembers, and is finally killed and morphs into it’s true form- a hideous, howling, emaciated monster. HOLY TULEEDUH, I was sobbing and screaming with terror! The Trekkies will doubtless know the episode, and that’s fine, but I don’t care. At the time, the notion of being hunted, by something that would suck out not just my blood, but my very juices, and could come to me as _anyone_, even my Mom, but was actually so UGLY, and me being just this wee boychild… I’m not scared anymore, but that ruined my whole day back then. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/137 "2007-10-04T12:00:12Z")
[QUOTE=Suburban Plankton] [Dr. Who](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr_who) or [The Official BBC site](http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/) [/QUOTE] The Di-lects (I don’t know how it’s spelt) for the early Dr. Who scared me. “I am a Di-lect I come to distroy distroy..” ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/138 "2007-10-04T12:09:11Z")
[QUOTE=Gregor Samsa] I think the scariest thing I ever saw on TV was the TV movie [Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark](http://www.terrortrap.com/television/dontbeafraidofthedark/). It scared the snot out of my siblings and me. We still talk about it, 30-odd years later. [/QUOTE] UGH! I had just gotten over being afraid of the dark when I watched this one afternoon over at my Granny’s. Set me back by about two years. IIRC, _Scream Pretty Peggy_ was another TV-horror movie that gave me the willies. Something about a coffin falling on a girl … I was very young, and the memory gets more blurred every day, but I do still think about it, 32 years later! ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/139 "2007-10-04T12:59:57Z")
[QUOTE=SpazCat] … My scary show was some horror show on in the early 1980’s, definitely around 1983-4. I can’t remember the name of it (Tales from the Darkside maybe?), but they did an episode featuring a creature called the “Shadowman”. … [/QUOTE] I am, the Shadowman, and I will never harm the person, under who’s bed I live …but I am a Shadowman from under someone elses bed!The Shadow Man is an episode of The New Twilight Zone, from its first revival season in 1985-6. It was written by Rockne S. O’Bannon and directed by Joe Dante. [The Shadow Man P1](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2AaDDgILA4) [The Shadow Man P2](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKrDdWsO3NQ&mode=related&search=) [QUOTE=Gregor Samsa] I think the scariest thing I ever saw on TV was the TV movie [Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark](http://www.terrortrap.com/television/dontbeafraidofthedark/). It scared the snot out of my siblings and me. We still talk about it, 30-odd years later. [/QUOTE] The house I grew up in had a fireplace with an ash door in its floor, a clean-out door hidden in the cellar and forced hot air ducting. I’m still [del]just a little[/del] scared of basements! The scariest part for me,they didn’t kill her they made her their leader/mother!!! :eek: **Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark** in 8 parts on [YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=Kirkchilean&p=r) CMC fnord! > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by **SpazCat** … To this day I’m afraid to get my feet too close to the edge of my bed at night thanks to that show. … The sheets must be under the feet with no part of the sheet hanging over the bed (monsters can crawl right up otherwise), head under the pillow, sheets near the head carefully made into a Monster Snorkel™! 'Course now I sleep with the mattress on the floor and use my CPAP machine 🆒 , so I’m mostly safe! ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/140 "2007-10-04T13:03:20Z")
[QUOTE=Dunawake] Have you watched The Cat With Hands yet? Muahahahaha! 😃 [/QUOTE] I couldn’t finish it. ☹ The kid creeped me out almost as much as the cat. The cat really creeped me out. I didn’t watch more than a minute or so. ---
**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 4, 2007, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194/141 "2007-10-04T14:30:51Z")
I remember a long time ago, I was stuck at my parents’ friend’s house with a rabbit-eared television. The only channel I could get was PBS (which was usually fine with me), but what was on was some theater presentation about a bunch of people stuck in a remote railroad depot. The thing began with one of the characters saying “I’m going to die today” or something. And then at the end of the hour, he gets into a fight with somebody and gets shot. That’s pretty much all I remember. I have a vague idea that it was by a noted playwright. Anyway, that one made an impression on me. Pretty creepy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-frightening-tv-show-ever/421194.md?page=8)