Tell us about things in media that you were afraid of when you were younger, no matter how silly it seems now. It can be anything, like shows, commercials, video games, etc.
I remember I used to be afraid of Olmec from Legends of the Hidden Temple.
I was scared of that witch in The Wizard of Oz. I’m going to get you, Dorothy, AND your little dog was the most awful thing to me. I had nightmares about that witch.
(I still can’t stand it when animals get involved in movie violence. Shoot as many guys as you like, but leave the pets alone!)
Pbbbbttt… try the coming attractions for an old series called ‘Lights Out’ with a hand coming up from the ground… The Twilight Zone, anything and everything connected…Much much later, little kids were terrified of ‘the singing orange’ on Sesame Street, and ‘The Letter ‘H’’ - white letter flashing on and off on a black background with a horrible voice saying ‘H…H…H…H…’ Oh, and Larry King when he had the tinfoil hat people on talking about aliens, alien abductions, satanic cults, and black helicopters flying around… (I will also tell you now, there are things about Twin Peaks, the original and the more current series, that still scared this old fart to death. I fall asleep downstairs at night and it’s an act of sheer will to get the F up and go up and go to bed.)
The oompa loompas.
My most memorable part of WWatCF is that my older cousin (who had taken us kids to the movies that day) was so distressed when i ran out of the theatre bawling with fear. I was probably in my 20s before I ever saw that movie. BTW, it’s still a little creepy.
Although I was a teen at the time, the movie The Day After absolutely terrified me. I had nightmares for a long time afterwards. When I was younger, it was the News. I always got scared when it came on (very early 70’s). My parents had to make sure the TV wasn’t anywhere near loud enough that I could hear it from my bedroom.
After 9/11, I have a feeling of apprehension when I put the telly on in the morning for the news. It’s just a “what horror will they be telling me about today” feeling. Yesterday it was the bridge collapse in Italy. There’s always something… 
Earthquakes, volcanoes (had nightmares of one springing up in our back yard), and the atomic bomb.
years ago a hemophiliac commercial on tv freaked me out … the teen boy would prick his finger and say " this could of killed me …" or something and to this day 40 plus years later I get creeped out having to get my finger pricked.
The Wicked Witch did not scare me…you all never met my mom or grandma (I LOVE them both dearly)…BUT…
THOSE GOD DAM FLYING MONKIES…freaked me right the fuck out, and still do.
Yet I chuckle out loud at any CGI gore these days.
My parents took me to see Return to Oz in 1985 when I was 7.
Holy cow. I’ve never seen it again and I remember everything about it. It was horrifying. Horrifying!
I’m sure my parents shook there heads afterwards, having not realized how intense that movie would be.
In 1979 when I was 7 years old, before a kid-friendly movie they played a trailer for a movie called Prophesy. I had nightmares about it for months or longer afterwards. This may or may not be the version I saw. I clearly remember the poster that was in the lobby to this day. (The movie itself sounds much lamer than the trailer or poster.)
IIRC I was also a bit bothered by the Sleestacks on The Land of the Lost.
Yeah, me too, after reading about that guy who had one pop up in his field.
The Land of the Lost creeped me out as well. I was also unnerved by a Canadian TV series named Read All About It, which featured kids trying to stop an alien invasion.
I was 11 when E.T. came out. My mom took me to see it. Towards the end, something freaked me out, I think it was E.T. being operated on. I went out to the lobby for the rest of the movie. I’ve never seen it since.
when I ws a kid there was this show called "in search of " that was sort ofa " like destination truth " but waaay creepier and spooked me for years it was done in a sort of horror movie vibe
Then I realized most of it was bunk and woo when I rewatched it on the history channel ….
although there was one episode of it that took 40 years but it proven was true … it was about a bunch of Nazi loot that was possibly hid for operation Odessa in a lake ……. and someone finally found it …
Howard the Duck. I don’t know what scene I saw, but it terrified me. I understand it’s a comedy, but at the time I thought it was a scary movie.
On a more serious note: AIDS/HIV. As a child of the 90’s, I/we were convinced you could get it just by looking at someone that has it. I remember PSA type things a little later explaining that it’s really via sexual fluids that it can be transmitted. Hugging someone, shaking hands with them, swimming in the same pool aren’t going to cause you to catch it. Even kissing it’s extremely unlikely.
Keep in mind, at the time it’s was essentially a death sentence.
Interestingly, one of the many differences between the book and the movie is that in the book the flying monkeys are not inherently bad/evil. They’re under the control of different people at different times, it’s just that in the movie the wicked with happens to be in control of them. In the book, Dorothy uses them to her advantage as well.
OK, going way back, back in the mid to late 50s I happened to be alone in my Grandparents’ house, watching TV, and saw Invaders From Mars (1953). I was maybe 8 or 9 years old, and of course the scariest part was
where the kid’s parents were taken over by the Martians and started acting mean and strange and evil. Where’s a kid to turn? Lucky for me it was daytime.
Good lord, yes. When watching the movie on TV as a kid, I ran and hid behind my father’s armchair when the flying monkeys appeared.
Beyond those:
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The Emergency Broadcast System / Civil Defense tests on TV. I knew that they said, “this is only a test,” but they still scared me.
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The song “They’re Coming To Take Me Away,” by Napoleon XIV. I first heard this when I was about 7 years old – between the singer’s manic voice, and the odd music, it just disturbed me a lot.
I was scared to death watching the Wizard of Oz, as a young child.
And I’m old enough to remember, during CBS broadcasts during the Vietnam war, when there was a daily count given of how many US soldiers had been killed. That was freaky.