# Were you unintentionally traumatized by childhood books or movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies, books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [October 31, 2020, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-unintentionally-traumatized-by-childhood-books-or-movies/924379 "2020-10-31T04:08:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-unintentionally-traumatized-by-childhood-books-or-movies/924379/101 "2022-01-06T14:39:14Z")
This isn’t one of mine, but my brother’s. As a kid, I heard several times from our mom that when my brother was little he had a terrible nightmare about green shoes. It wasn’t until decades later that I was watching the Looney Tunes “Wearing of the Grin” that I realized that was what probably caused it. Asked bro and he was shocked that, yep, I had figured it out. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/JRq4BMzQHJ8/maxresdefault.jpg "The Wearing Of The Grin (1951) Ending") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRq4BMzQHJ8) ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-unintentionally-traumatized-by-childhood-books-or-movies/924379/102 "2022-01-06T17:51:53Z")
When I was like 4 or 5 I was at grandma’s looking through my dad’s old superhero and Archie comics and I found [this](https://misterkitty.org/extras/stupidcovers/stupidcomics692.html) which scared the living shit out of me. I stuffed it at the bottom of the stack and tried to forget it existed. Just a few weeks ago, nearly fifty years later, it popped up on one of my favorite blogs, _Stupid Comics._ One look at the splash panel and I knew immediately what it was and had a mild PTSD reaction. In retrospect, I can’t blame myself for being scared; check out that fourth panel from the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-unintentionally-traumatized-by-childhood-books-or-movies/924379/103 "2022-01-06T19:50:34Z")
This is my new favorite website. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-unintentionally-traumatized-by-childhood-books-or-movies/924379/104 "2022-01-06T19:56:27Z")
I know, right?? An awesome place for lovers of old comics and snarky humor. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-unintentionally-traumatized-by-childhood-books-or-movies/924379/105 "2022-01-06T22:49:09Z")
Movies, schmoovies, I was traumatized by a _trailer_. _The Dark Secret of Harvest Home_ was a 1978 TV miniseries based on a 1973 novel. A young couple moves to a community in rural Connecticut, and discovers that the townsfolk practice a fertility cult that involves the ritual slaughter of a “Harvest Lord”, chosen from among the town’s men, every seven years. If any outsider sees their rites, the women who lead the cult pluck out his eyes, or cut out his tongue. The trailer was a climatic scene where one character, to whom this was done, takes off his black glasses to reveal…eyesockets stuffed with cotton. This literally gave me nightmares. I most emphatically did _not_ watch the miniseries; although I did a few years later read the book, the first horror novel I ever read. That was in 1978. The year before, I walked out of _Damnation Alley_, a post-apocalyptic tale of a group of Air Force veterans crossing a nuclear-ravaged America and battling giant mutated scorpions and flesh-eating cockroaches. In one scene, Paul Winfield is swarmed by the roaches, and, in his panic, climbs into a burned-out car. Goodbye Paul, and goodbye young Slow Moving Vehicle, who noped out of the theater with his eyes firmly closed, and waited in the lobby for his friends to finish. (Tangentially, _Damnation Alley_ was supposed to be 20th Century Fox’s big summer sci-fi blockbuster of 1977. Until it was overshadowed by the studio’s _other_ sci-fi film released that year: _Star Wars._) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-unintentionally-traumatized-by-childhood-books-or-movies/924379/106 "2022-01-07T00:42:13Z")
I was creeped out by the ads for an early 1970s movie, which featured a picture of an ape with a television instead of a head. I think it was a spoof-ish movie, something like “Kentucky Fried Movie”. Anyone know what movie that was? ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-unintentionally-traumatized-by-childhood-books-or-movies/924379/107 "2022-01-07T00:51:47Z")
The Groove Tube. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-unintentionally-traumatized-by-childhood-books-or-movies/924379/108 "2022-01-07T01:05:54Z")
> **[The Groove Tube (1972) Original One Sheet Poster (27x41) at Amazon's...](https://www.amazon.com/Groove-Original-Sheet-Poster-27x41/dp/B077SWJ6TM)** > > Shop The Groove Tube (1972) Original One Sheet Poster (27x41) and more music, movie, and TV memorabilia at Amazon's Entertainment Collectibles Store. Ahhhh! PS Thanks [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-unintentionally-traumatized-by-childhood-books-or-movies/924379.md?page=5)