# What specific character scared you the most as a kid.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-specific-character-scared-you-the-most-as-a-kid/77364
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [August 21, 2001, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-specific-character-scared-you-the-most-as-a-kid/77364 "2001-08-21T17:01:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 6
### Author:  [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2001, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-specific-character-scared-you-the-most-as-a-kid/77364/101 "2001-08-29T03:39:15Z")
This is a little embarrassing, but I was terrified of the voice that said “We are experiencing technical difficulties. Please stand by.” You see, when I was 4 I thought “stand by” meant the same thing as “stand back” and the TV was telling me to get out of the room!
One day, I decided to see what would happen if I didn’t leave, so I backed up a little bit, but stayed in the room. The message came on again. The TV knew I hadn’t left! :eek: AAAAAAUUGGGHHHHHH!!!
–sublight.
---
### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2001, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-specific-character-scared-you-the-most-as-a-kid/77364/102 "2001-08-29T14:13:28Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by jayjay \*
> \*\*
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > \*Originally posted by jellen92 \*
> > \*\*The guy from “Electric Company” that is carrying the cake and the song “1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10, 11… 12” is going on and he falls down the stairs and gets cake all over the place. That scared me to death as a kid and I still get chills thinking about it… \*\*
>
> Actually, I think that sketch was from _Sesame Street_, and the baker was none other than (a very young) Jim Henson.
>
> jayjay \*\*
My wife had a problem with this bit. It didn’t scare her but it made her really sad. The poor guy falls down the stairs and everybody laughs.
---
### Author:  [@ladybug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladybug)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2001, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-specific-character-scared-you-the-most-as-a-kid/77364/103 "2001-08-29T21:00:23Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Sublight \*
> **This is a little embarrassing, but I was terrified of the voice that said “We are experiencing technical difficulties. Please stand by.” You see, when I was 4 I thought “stand by” meant the same thing as “stand back” and the TV was telling me to get out of the room!**
Not exactly the same thing, but I used to be scared of the Emergency Broadcast System. It came on TV when I was visiting relatives (I was about 6 or 7 at the time). My 14-year-old cousin grabbed me and pointed at the TV, which said something about a tornado warning. She was so scared that I just knew the sound meant some terrible event was about to happen. Even though we never got a tornado, that sound creeped me out for years.
---
### Author:  [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2001, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-specific-character-scared-you-the-most-as-a-kid/77364/104 "2001-08-30T01:53:44Z")
He Roe. I’m still scared of him.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-specific-character-scared-you-the-most-as-a-kid/77364.md?page=5)