Thanks Wicked Blue for the name of the movie and the link! Ahhh, so that’s what it’s called? Not sure how I got “The People Under the Stairs” stuck in my head…lol. Oh dear, it’s on VHS? I might just have to face my fear and watch it sometime!! (gulp)
Clowns. I don’t even know if I can continue on.
Ok, I’ll explain. My brother forced me to watch Killer Klowns From Outer Space. That movie ruined clowning for me for life. I shall never subject my children to the horror that is a clown.
Side note: My GF and I went to TGI Fridays a couple weeks ago for dinner. There was a clown there, and when the hostess asked my smoking preference, I said, “Non-clowning, please.” My girlfriend was slightly embarrassed, to say the least.
The Evil Clown Pennywise from Stephen Kings “It” scared the beejesus out of me.
This one is actually my husband’s fear.
His mom used to do bookkeeping for their church when he was under five (before school-age), and he would have free rein to wander around. He used to be TERRIFIED that Jesus would show up in the sanctuary and ask him why he was there. I mean, hubby was trespassing in His house, right? And the ideas of omnipotence and omnipresence can be downright scary when you’re a little kid.
Ghosts in the attic
Dead cats buried behind the garage
Nightmares about my brother catching me smoking
and weirdest of all, the song,
“Life’s Been Good to Me So Far” (don’t know if that’s the real title)
totally gave me the creeps.
I was terrified of the idea of getting cut by a knife or razorblade or anything sharp as a kid. I had some doozy nightmares about this, and it can still send a cold little shiver down my back if I think about it. Oddly, however, I can’t remember ever being afraid of sharp objects (careful handling them, but not afraid).
I have cut myself badly twice - once at about age ten, when my main concern was trying to keep my parents from finding out, as I had been using one of my Dad’s tools which I wasn’t supposed to touch), and once at fourteen when my first reaction was fascination at being able to actually see the layers of skin, fat, muscle, blood vessel cross-sections, etc. in my arm where the cut gaped open before the bleeding began.
So, sharp objects - no. Being cut - no. Thinking about being cut - don’t want to go there at all.
When I was a wee lad (about 6) my parents had recently divorced and my mom had moved to another state. In that era, it was possible for kids that young to fly by themselves. Summer approached, and I was to go visit mom. It was explained to me that I would be flying alone. This blew me right off my rails, because I thought that I would be the one flying the plane! I didn’t know much, but was freaked that no one was even tying to teach me how to do this! I mean really, I got bike riding lessons, and swimming lessons and I know this was a lot harder. I thought that I was going to crash a jet and kill everyone!
On the Wizard of Oz front, the scene where they beat up the guards and dressed in their clothes freaked me out beyond belief. I though that the Scarecrow and company had somehow turned in to evil guards. That was not how things work, damn it!
I second ** insomnia4AM**'s comment about E.T. Bloody creepy little alien thing with a weird head still un-nerves me. Don’t get me started about his glowing finger…
The old (1980’s) Ripley’s Believe It or Not Show. Not the actual content itself, just those little snippits before the ads with the creepy voice-over and the music.
There was this old British marionette series called ‘Terrorspheres’ or something which would scare me wittless. It had these robotic ball thingies that would roll around. I was 6 at the time OK?
Ohh! And Murdok off MacGyver; the man who would just not die!!!
Heh. My youngest kid had a major PHOBIA about clowns after sneaking downstairs to watch IT on the video when he was about 5 years old. Geez, even balloons worried him for a few years! So, being the good, sensitive parent that I am, I teased him mercilessly about it.* When I had a perverse desire to see his face contort with fear, I’d croak out…“We FLOAT down here”. Just the mention of the name Pennywise would see his pupils widen and his chin quiver. God, it was good sport!!
- He survived it…and Stephen King is his favourite author at the present time. If needs-be, I’ll pay for his therapy later.
This is probably going to be the strangest and most mundane thing anyone’s going to mention.
I used to live in Sacramento and there was a drive-in theater located along I-80 (now called Business Loop 80) in the north part of town called the Starlight Drive-In. (I think it’s probably long gone by now. Maybe a Sacramento doper can confirm this for me.) Anyway, the back of the Starlight’s screen used to face I-80 so it was visible to westbound drivers and it used to terrify me when I was age four. I’m at a loss to figure out why but maybe it was the way that mammoth silver screen with the words “Starlight Drive-In” written in vibrant red suddenly lept into view whenever my family’s car drove on that stretch of freeway. And, if that weren’t odd enough, I was never afraid of it when we drove past it at night–in fact, I even saw several movies there with my family without raising a fuss. However, if it was during the day, a chill would go up my spine whenever I got glimpse of the back of the Starlight’s screen and I would dive under the seat until I was sure we passed it.
Mirror Image, rest assured that Tom Kitten did indeed escape the rats’ clutches. The local joiner (conveniently, a terrier dog) comes and tears up the floor and rescues Tom. The rats go to live in a barn.
roly, poly, roly…roly, poly, roly… (I agree, it’s pretty creepy. I was sorry I checked that one out for my daughter.)
Ok this is strange, and yes, we were a religious family at my house, but the crucifixions scene was something that scared me so so bad when I was a little girl. I mean the torture on the way to golgotha and Jesus being nailed to a cross and as I remember in one version he screamed as they nailed him!! Hello, this is still violence.
I used to scream and cry and hide in my mothers arms. I hated Easter time every year because I would have to start avoiding the tv because of the show announcements about a week before easter. I just couldn’t take the chance that they would slip in some death scene. I mean it really stressed me out to the point I would get sick. I mean big time Mexican Catholic family with the velvet paintings with Jesus and a bloody thorny heart outside of his body!! What the hell was that?? Crucifixes with a a pleading Jesus nailed to the thing?!?!? I hated the movie Carrie.
When I was younger a movie came on tv called “Watcher in the Woods” or something. I didn’t actually see the movie, but the ad for it scared the hell out of me.
My Grandmother used to make me recite that kids prayer with the line “if I should die before I wake” and it scared hell out of me. I thought she knew something I didn’t and that I would die in my sleep. Even worse, I came to believe that she and my parents were going to kill me as I slept. She also pumped me full of tales about how people screamed in the lake of fire and how the devil delighted in their agony. I used to have nightmares about the devil coming to get me.
I used to be afraid to flush the toilet. My big brother told me I would be sucked down when it flushed. I embarassed everyone big time by running out of a bathroom screaming when I used one of those automatically flushing toilets.
Two movies -
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One of the Superman movies - not sure which one - but a woman backs into a machine and is turned into a robot. Freaked the heck out of me.
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This one is embarrassing - Airplane! I don’t remember much of the movie - just going to see it at a drive-in when we were on vacation, and being freaked out by part of a scene where someone is vomiting in a barf bag. I know - not a big deal - but I just couldn’t deal with vomiting.
Susan
Thanks, genie. I knew they couldn’t have baked him, not in a kids’ book, but I could never read the ending just in case they really DID bake him.
A load off my mind, certainly.
All three of these things scared me a LOT as a kid, and I continue to be afraid of the Amityville Horror book. For some reason I still have it on my bookshelf. I can’t even bring myself to touch it. I also still worry about nuclear disasters.
Another thing that scared me is the possibility of looking out the window and seeing glowing red eyes looking back at me. I had a dream about this when I was a little kid and it still bothers me. After I watched Mothman Prophecies I was afraid to look out the window after dark for a couple of days.
No doubt, it was Mr. Tickle from the Little Mister book series. See here.
What a twisted book. This Mr. Tickle guy had these long rubbery arms, and he could sneak up on you and tickle you, even reach up through your window, slide his arms under the window, and tickle you. Now, my bed was next to a window on the front of the house (2nd floor). I was terrifed that Mr. Tickle would reach through and tickle me. I begged my parents to nail my window shut.
To this day I am traumatized just getting you guys the link.
Mr. Tickle and nuclear war. Yup, that about sums up my bedtime thoughts as a young child.
Wizard of Oz
The scene where the Lion jumps through the window to escape meeting the wizard scared the living bejebus out of me as a kid.
Still does.
Can’t watch it.
Flying Monkeys, no problemo.