# What creeped you out as a kid? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 12, 2008, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creeped-you-out-as-a-kid/452712 "2008-06-12T17:25:54Z")\ **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:** [June 16, 2008, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creeped-you-out-as-a-kid/452712/121 "2008-06-16T16:39:31Z")
[QUOTE=plnnr] BINGO! Particularly when the deaf mute woman sits up on the morgue table. I don’t know if this is an urban legend or not, but I once heard theater owners would wire certain seats to actually vibrate during the last scene: “It’s there! In the theater! Under your seat! The only way to kill it is to scream! SCREAM! Get up out of your seats and SCREAM!” Pandemonium ensues. [/QUOTE] Me too. Scariest movie ever made…in my humble and 10-year-old’s opinion. As I understand it, some seats were indeed wired, in some theaters. It was another in a long list of producer William Castle’s marketing stunts. ---
**Author:** ![jaydotbeedot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/54ee81/32.png) [@jaydotbeedot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaydotbeedot)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creeped-you-out-as-a-kid/452712/122 "2008-06-16T16:49:36Z")
I might just have the oddest one here, but when I was quite young I would get seriously creeped out by the animated [NBC “snake” logo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBC_logos#NBC_snake_logo_.281959.E2.80.931975.29) when it appeared on TV. It might have reminded me of snakes, which I’ve never liked (although I don’t recall that seeming like the reason at the time). Whatever it was, it just made my skin crawl as it grew and twisted into the letters, like some symbol of menacing evil. To a far lesser extent, I always found Danny Kaye vaguely creepy. ---
**Author:** ![meek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce73a5/32.png) [@meek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meek)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creeped-you-out-as-a-kid/452712/123 "2008-06-16T17:12:54Z")
The farmhouse I lived in as a child had a big old scary furnace like [this](http://www.aspenheating.com/heat4holwinner06l.jpg)that made loud hissing and banging noises as the ducts heated up. I wouldn’t go near the thing until I was 7-8 years old. . ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creeped-you-out-as-a-kid/452712/124 "2008-06-16T17:31:52Z")
When I was 6 I picked up a copy of Watership Down at the video rental store and had my dad rent it for me. After about 20 minutes I made him hide it on top of the refrigerator until it was time to return it. I was scared of rabbits until I was in my late teens thanks to that movie. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creeped-you-out-as-a-kid/452712/125 "2008-06-16T17:51:46Z")
[QUOTE=paffinity] [The mothman](http://z.about.com/d/paranormal/1/0/v/Q/1/mothman.jpg) was one of the more terrifying ones, even if it looks completely silly in that picture. [/QUOTE] Looks just like [Gossamer](http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/looneytunes/images/thumb/7/77/Gossamer.jpg/250px-Gossamer.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creeped-you-out-as-a-kid/452712/126 "2008-06-16T19:23:06Z")
My mother says that when I was little, I freaked out when we went through a drive-through car wash. I can imagine that those brushes and hoses and fans must have seemed a bit overwhelming. ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creeped-you-out-as-a-kid/452712/127 "2008-06-16T19:39:01Z")
Slight highjack…What didn’t creep me out as a kid, but did creep out my daughter. When I was my daughter’s age, which is 14, the Guess Who had a hit song called “Rain Dance” I thought it was cool. All these years later, I put this song on my iPod. “Eew, Mom, that’s song’s so creepy!” I can’t figure out what’s creepy about it. Now, P.J. Harvey’s song “Down By The Water”—that’s creepy… _Where’d ya get the gun, John?_ ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creeped-you-out-as-a-kid/452712/128 "2008-06-18T04:45:59Z")
> [@Mr Buttons](#): > > Clowns (I still don’t trust 'em) To be fair, I roomed with a clown once and he was a really nice guy. Great sense of humor, and he could make _anything_ out of a balloon. And I do mean _anything_. (I took balloon Uzis to class every day when I roomed with him 😃 ) > [@Gail](#): > > Slight highjack…What didn’t creep me out as a kid, but did creep out my daughter. > When I was my daughter’s age, which is 14, the Guess Who had a hit song called “Rain Dance” I thought it was cool. All these years later, I put this song on my iPod. > “Eew, Mom, that’s song’s so creepy!” > I can’t figure out what’s creepy about it. Now, P.J. Harvey’s song “Down By The Water”—that’s creepy.. I once described a particular artist as a cross between Jeff Buckley and some other less-obscure musician in a jazz history class, and the teacher asked me who Jeff Buckley was; my explanation was that he was a dude who only put out one or two albums before he drowned, and they were full of songs about feeling worthless and losing your loved ones. Then I heard the song I was thinking of and really paid attention to the lyrics, and found out it was actually a sweet love song. :eek: Projecting a little? ---
**Author:** ![Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Full_Metal_Lotus)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creeped-you-out-as-a-kid/452712/129 "2008-06-18T07:57:53Z")
[QUOTE=Juliette: Culture Junkie] I loved _Scary Stories_ ; in fact I had a little crush on the girl in _The Haunted House_. _The Pin-Cushion Man_ really creeped me out when I was really young, though. [The Pin-Cushion Man on youtube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qOgjCkR_2E) [/QUOTE] When my daughter was a toddler, we got a 99cent video cassette which had a bunch of “old timey” cartoons on it. It contained “The Pin Cushion Man”… It litterally terrified her, but oddly enough she wanted to watch it again and again, as long as we were on the couch with her so she could cuddle and hide her head.. At the same time, the first ROBAXACET comercials came on featuring the artists dummies with pins sticking into them (indicating back pain).. she would curl up into a ball when these came on, we surmise from exposure to pin cushion man.. Regards FML ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creeped-you-out-as-a-kid/452712/130 "2008-06-18T09:47:04Z")
[QUOTE=Elenfair] _E.T._ (the little creepy critter himself) scared the living shit out of me. I was cheering for the government dudes, man. [/QUOTE] Thats what I was going to say, though specifically, the white, sick ET is what did it for me, also: Pretty much anything from the Dark Crystal The show on nickelodeon, “The Third Eye”, especially the intro I thought Mayor McCheese was a sickening abomination The Tv Show “V”, Monchichi’s Chucky Cheese animatonic puppets, particularly when they would “disengage” Bowling Ball return chutes Lady Elaine Some “Frog and Toad” stories creeped me out, as well as Mrs. Butterworth but worst of all, My babysitter would play a record with horror stories on it, once where a womans head was kept on by a ribbon, and she tells her dude not to take it off, but he does when shes asleep, and the head rolls on the floor and says " I told you so!". Just horrible,horrible ---
**Author:** ![TJVM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b38774/32.png) [@TJVM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJVM)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creeped-you-out-as-a-kid/452712/131 "2008-06-18T15:37:55Z")
> [@melodyharmonious](#): > > freaked out on the Pirates of Carribean ride at Disneyworld. My parents took me to Disneyland when I was very young – young enough that you only remember traumatic incidents. Anyway, they took me on some sort of submarine ride. At some point a voice announced that, paraphrasing, “We are going to dive.” I heard this as “We are going to die,” and completely freaked out. > [@HelloKitty](#): > > I used to always get freaked out when we were watching TV and those “Technical Difficulties Please Stand By” graphics would come on. I hated, “This is a test of the emergency broadcast system.” That jarring tone that went on and on made me very uncomfortable. I was sure that if I ever heard it for real, it would signal the end of the world. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creeped-you-out-as-a-kid/452712/132 "2008-06-18T15:42:58Z")
When I was about six and my uncle was sixteen, my mom and I went to stay with my grandmother and she and I slept in his room. He had this [poster for the movie \*Frogs \*](http://www.horror-wood.com/frogs.1.jpg) up on the wall. God, I hate frogs. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creeped-you-out-as-a-kid/452712/133 "2008-06-18T20:38:06Z")
Not much scared me as a kid, but I remember two movies that gave me pause. The first was [The Day the Earth Stood Still](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0043456/). I was 5 years old. The second was [It Came From Outer Space](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0045920/). I was 7 by then. They were probably a bit intense for my age ---
**Author:** ![Noelq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noelq/32/16438_2.png) [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creeped-you-out-as-a-kid/452712/134 "2008-06-18T22:31:18Z")
[QUOTE=pestlewhipped] My dad and uncle took me to Legend of Boggy Creek when I was 10, and then made noises outside the bathroom widow when I was getting ready for bed. Scared me for a long, long time. My uncle had just gotten back from 'Nam so it must have been fun for him to see someone scared of (seemingly) nothing for a change. [/QUOTE] Oh, good lord. Legend of Boggy Creek is responsible for too damn many of my alone-in-the-dark fears. ESPECIALLY when the critter attacks through the bathroom window. ::shudder: Bob Hoskins of Creature Features - I Curse Your Damn Name! Its all your fault! ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creeped-you-out-as-a-kid/452712/135 "2008-06-18T22:50:52Z")
The Haunted Mansion in Disneyland. Specifically, the stretchy-face paintings. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creeped-you-out-as-a-kid/452712/136 "2008-06-18T23:04:15Z")
At one point when I was young, my folks hung a stuffed toy clown over my bed. It was probably about a foot and a half tall, with a grinning, plastic face. I was fine with it during the day, but it creeped me out at night. Because it wasn’t scary during the day, I couldn’t bring myself to complain about it and I got used to it eventually. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creeped-you-out-as-a-kid/452712/137 "2008-06-18T23:05:59Z")
[QUOTE=Noelq] Bob Hoskins of Creature Features - I Curse Your Damn Name! Its all your fault! [/QUOTE] I can’t believe you remember him…but I think it was Bob _Wilkins_. Bob Hoskins was in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creeped-you-out-as-a-kid/452712/138 "2008-06-18T23:06:17Z")
[QUOTE=TJVM] My parents took me to Disneyland when I was very young – young enough that you only remember traumatic incidents. Anyway, they took me on some sort of submarine ride. At some point a voice announced that, paraphrasing, “We are going to dive.” I heard this as “We are going to die,” and completely freaked out. [/QUOTE] Oh, yeah, the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride! I forgot all about that one! I remember going on it with a friend. I was old enough to know that it was all maniquins and animatronics, and that we weren’t really going completely underwater, and all that. I loved the ride, until my friend said, “Wouldn’t it be awesome if the ride broke down, and we got to swim through all that?” The thought of getting in the water with all of those mermaids, and fish, and giant squids, and other stuff creeped me the hell out. I spent the rest of the ride praying that the thing wouldn’t break down, and didn’t go on it again for the rest of the trip. ---
**Author:** ![Noelq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noelq/32/16438_2.png) [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creeped-you-out-as-a-kid/452712/139 "2008-06-18T23:57:05Z")
[QUOTE=jsc1953] I can’t believe you remember him…but I think it was Bob _Wilkins_. Bob Hoskins was in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. [/QUOTE] My mind blocked his name from my memory in an attempt to escape the horror. 😃 My parents always played bridge on Friday nights, leaving me at home, alone. On the three channels we had back then, it was Fantasy Island, at 10, then Creature Features at 11. I still remember the horror of Bigfoot Weekend - I think it was three movies, all about bigfoot, and they are all jumbled in my brain. One was about opening a crypt on a mountain, releasing fumes and an evil bigfoot. Then, there was some campsite strung around with motion-detecting wires, and I remember the abject horror as the radar screen showed the wires getting broken, and dozens of bigfoots (bigfeet?) surrounding the campsite, terrorizing the researchers. Then, it was an epilog of some people riding out on horses, two of them stunned, and the words said something like “And Dr. Mary Worth never spoke again.. only drooled in the corner, ocasionally screaming”. I don’t think I slept for a month. And it made me scared of my Chewbacca stuffed-collectible-action-figure. ---
**Author:** ![phil417](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@phil417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phil417)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creeped-you-out-as-a-kid/452712/140 "2008-06-19T07:38:03Z")
Mentioned in another thread: IMO, the scariest Twilight Zone is the episode The Howling Man. In the story, a hiker took refuge in a European monastery. Resident monks told him they held a prisoner there – the source of all evil. The hiker felt pity for the prisoner & freed him. Now for the scary part…as the prisoner moved from his cell to the outer monastery door, he transformed from a pitiful prisoner to a healthy adult man to prideful, angry Satan; he then proceeded to cripple his rescuer. The last act is this: the crippled hiker has recaptured Satan, but has to leave his prisoner. He cautions his housekeeper not to set his prisoner free, but the housekeeper is filled with pity at the pain-filled howls of the prisoner, & creeps closer to the jail door, key in hand… I saw it first-run on tv when I was seven, & didn’t sleep for several nights. In 1995, my younger daughter & I watched _The Howling Man during a Twilight Zone_ marathon. She kept me up for two nights after with her nightmares. My baby is currently awaiting the birth of her child. If, seven years from now, she doesn’t watch _Twilight Zone_ w/her child, I won’t mind. Love, Phil [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creeped-you-out-as-a-kid/452712.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-creeped-you-out-as-a-kid/452712.md?page=8)