# Things that Scared the Pants Off You as a Child
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-scared-the-pants-off-you-as-a-child/174269
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [May 10, 2003, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-scared-the-pants-off-you-as-a-child/174269 "2003-05-10T04:23:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Stephi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephi)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2003, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-scared-the-pants-off-you-as-a-child/174269/1 "2003-05-10T04:23:41Z")
I was thinking about this in the bathtub the other day. (Yes, I do a lot of thinking in the bathtub, so sue me.)
Does everyone have something that scared the bejesus out of them when they were little?
I remember going to see Sleeping Beauty at the drive in when I was very little. The scene where the witch turns into a dragon scared the snot out of me! I cried all the way home!
My mom bought a Dracula mask when I was eight or so. I was so terrified of a stupid rubber mask. I couldn’t even look at it! I remember my little brother got ahold of it once, and chased me around with it, eventually shutting me in my room by placing the mask on my door handle. My mom eventually had to burn it.
So what terrified you?
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### Author:  [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2003, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-scared-the-pants-off-you-as-a-child/174269/2 "2003-05-10T04:27:31Z")
Two dreams scared the living shit out of me - One where I am floating downstairs and then under a dark bed, another where none of the lights/torches work.
And (not a dream) I was scared by a film which contained heads on sticks, but the head ‘moulded’ to the stick seamlessly.
And I was scared when I was on holiday - I returned to my chalet from playing, to find that none of my family was there - boy did I scream and whail!
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### Author:  [@BrentLumkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrentLumkin)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2003, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-scared-the-pants-off-you-as-a-child/174269/3 "2003-05-10T04:29:46Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Stephi \*
> \*\*I was thinking about this in the bathtub the other day. (Yes, I do a lot of thinking in the bathtub, so sue me.) \*\*
I come up with my best ideas for my writings in the tub, so you are not alone, lol. Here are a few of mine…
1. The hand.
2. The torso-less walking body.
3. The headless black man.
4. The ten foot tall ancient indian priest.
(now to more basic things)
1. Various masks my brother and sister used to scare me with.
6)) The devil mask that my religious grandma used to scare me with.
…if I need to explain the first four, then just ask, heh.
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### Author:  [@Stephi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephi)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2003, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-scared-the-pants-off-you-as-a-child/174269/4 "2003-05-10T04:33:16Z")
Hey, there is a “toys that terrified you as a child” thread right now! Didn’t see that! Whoops! Oh well, I guess this thread is for everything else! 🙂
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### Author:  [@Nichol\_storm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nichol_storm)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2003, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-scared-the-pants-off-you-as-a-child/174269/5 "2003-05-10T04:42:55Z")
I used to be utterly petrified of the puppet from “Tales from the Crypt.” Whenever that show came on, I would flee screaming. I guess I’m going to heaven 'cause that thing scared the hell out of me.
.:Nichol:.
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### Author:  [@Shana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shana)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2003, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-scared-the-pants-off-you-as-a-child/174269/6 "2003-05-10T04:43:22Z")
Ok, I’m not sure if anyone else saw this movie. Not sure of the title…Something like, “The People Under the Stairs”. It was about these horrid little creatures that lived behind the walls or under the stairs - not sure, can’t remember - I just recall them dragging this woman and putting her into the fireplace…I still get upset when I think about it!!! I tried to find this movie at the video store once, but again, I was not sure of the title. Anyway, that most certainly scarred me for life.
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### Author:  [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2003, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-scared-the-pants-off-you-as-a-child/174269/7 "2003-05-10T04:52:16Z")
Halloween was always a traumatic time for me as a kid. My cousin had a “Vampira” outfit (one of those plastic mask ones with a vinyl smock) and on the smock was a horrific picture of “Vampira”, and it always seemed so hellish to me.
Another Halloween, (I was Strawberry Shortcake) I approached a house begging for candy. It was one of those neighborhood haunted houses, complete with scary sounds and music blaring out the window. There was a prop coffiin on the driveway, and the owner of the house bade me to approach. I did, and Dracula popped out, yelling at me and baring his plastic fangs menacingly. I promptly dropped my plastic pumpkin full of candy and tore back down the driveway, screaming my head off. When I reached my mother, I clamped onto her leg and refused to let go, still screaming.
My mother said she still feels guilty about scaring me like that, but I blame the owner of the house. I did get more candy than my brothers from him, though.
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### Author:  [@LolaCocaCola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaCocaCola)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2003, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-scared-the-pants-off-you-as-a-child/174269/8 "2003-05-10T04:54:58Z")
When that hand came out of the screen in Poltergeist.
:eek:
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2003, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-scared-the-pants-off-you-as-a-child/174269/9 "2003-05-10T05:07:08Z")
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**ALRIGHT!** IT WAS _ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES_, OKAY?!
The sight of those giant mutant tomatoes rolling around on their own power and making gloogle-gurgle noises traumatized me for _weeks_. **I hope you’re happy now, missy.**
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### Author:  [@Dragonstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonstar)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2003, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-scared-the-pants-off-you-as-a-child/174269/10 "2003-05-10T05:09:37Z")
I was three. The flying monkeys in _The Wizard of Oz_ were flying RIGHT AT ME and I hid behind an easy chair.
Yet I was just fine watching _Horror Incorporated_ when I was 6.
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### Author:  [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2003, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-scared-the-pants-off-you-as-a-child/174269/11 "2003-05-10T05:12:49Z")
The cheesey sci-fi movie [Target Earth](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6304922868/ref=ase_bridgebooks/103-2192246-0974202) scared the bejeebers out of me. I was maybe six or seven years old at the time. I suppose it is the deserted city in the beginning that makes for pretty alarming viewing.
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### Author:  [@insomnia4AM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/insomnia4AM)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2003, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-scared-the-pants-off-you-as-a-child/174269/12 "2003-05-10T07:10:08Z")
The one thing that scares me to death to this day is the movie **Camerons Closet.** Basically this kid brings a demon to life in his closet, and it kills his family. It never won any awards, and it was B-rated all the way, but an open closet door still makes me shudder.
I remember being scared of **E.T.** I think I spent most of the film with my hands over my eyes!
I was scared of everything when I was a child. Even my father snoring would scare me because I thought it was a monster! I’m 24 years old, and I still have issues with noises at night, no matter what the time.
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### Author:  [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2003, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-scared-the-pants-off-you-as-a-child/174269/13 "2003-05-10T08:00:40Z")
The vacuum cleaner. It ate everything else in its path, so why wouldn’t it eat me?
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### Author:  [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2003, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-scared-the-pants-off-you-as-a-child/174269/14 "2003-05-10T10:48:23Z")
The Oompah Loompas from _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_- I had nightmares and everything.
And the basement of the house - that one I don’t understand, but I was scared of it.
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### Author:  [@Skip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skip)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2003, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-scared-the-pants-off-you-as-a-child/174269/15 "2003-05-10T11:06:48Z")
The rats with the glowing eyes from _The Secrets of NIMH_.
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### Author:  [@Wicked\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wicked_Blue)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2003, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-scared-the-pants-off-you-as-a-child/174269/16 "2003-05-10T11:21:48Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Shana \*
> \*\*Ok, I’m not sure if anyone else saw this movie. Not sure of the title…Something like, “The People Under the Stairs”. It was about these horrid little creatures that lived behind the walls or under the stairs - not sure, can’t remember - I just recall them dragging this woman and putting her into the fireplace…I still get upset when I think about it!!! I tried to find this movie at the video store once, but again, I was not sure of the title. Anyway, that most certainly scarred me for life. \*\*
That was Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark. That movie used to scare the living shit out of me as a kid.
I managed to track down a VHS copy of it recently and watched it. Not so scary when you’re not 8 years old. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2003, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-scared-the-pants-off-you-as-a-child/174269/17 "2003-05-10T11:54:23Z")
No, there was definitely a movie called _The People Under the Stairs_ - my sophomore roommate and I went to see it on campus when they showed it. We were the only 2 people there and walked out of the theater. Horrid movie.
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### Author:  [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2003, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-scared-the-pants-off-you-as-a-child/174269/18 "2003-05-10T12:11:50Z")
[http://us.imdb.com/Title?0105121](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0105121) is the movie in question, deffo.
I was scared by the window in the hall on the way to the bathroom from my bedroom. If I looked at the window I was sure to see somehing behind me. I could however prevent this certain death by making it back under my covers by the time the toilet stopped flushing.
I was also terrified by the final scene in Time Bandits.
[http://us.imdb.com/Title?0081633](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0081633)
I saw it in the cinema when I was 5. Maybe not so clever.
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### Author:  [@Copper\_moon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Copper_moon)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2003, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-scared-the-pants-off-you-as-a-child/174269/19 "2003-05-10T13:44:22Z")
I walked in the living room while my mom was watching some TV movie about a volcano erupting and a tidal wave of lava went crashing through the town. It showed people in their houses and the lava all would of a sudden come pouring in through the doors and windows. I was terrified at night that lava would come out of my closet.
What is it with closets?? And under the bed? No one has said it yet but wasn’t everyone scared of the skeletal hand that would put a vice grip on your ankle as you got into bed and drag you down through the portal of hell that was situated right under your bed?
And I remember laying in the bed with all my cousins in the spare room at my grandma’s house while our parents celebrated new year’s in 1979. I was terrrified at what the world would look like in the new decade. I was sure it would all be different and so futuristic. We would dress in silver lamme clothing and zip around on hover craft. It scared the snot out of me. I liked things the way they were dammit. I was 8 years old then.
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### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2003, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-scared-the-pants-off-you-as-a-child/174269/20 "2003-05-10T13:47:01Z")
**Dragonstar** , you were not alone in being scared by _The Wizard of Oz_ as a young child. Only I hid behind the sofa, and not an easy chair. That music, and the guards chanting as they marched into the castle seemed awfully menacing to a 6-yr old.
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