What objects do you remember being scared of in childhood?

[wanderings]

Rationally or otherwise? Some of mine were:

Seeing a toilet with the seat up - it looked like an open-mouthed monster, and I remember it being at my eye level too.

Shoes with buckles, especially when someone else was fastening them on to my feet, because I couldn't get them off myself. Velcro ones were OK though.

Lifts, especially the old-fashioned ones with metal gates instead of sliding doors, now quite rare.

Balloons. Even now they bring me out in a cold sweat, because they might burst.

[TillyVonMilly]

Clowns still freak me out and I’m 51! My dad took me to the circus when I was four and a clown tried to get me to go with him into the ring, I was hysterical 😩
Men with beards, I used to hide behind the settee when a neighbour who had one came round.
Flushing toilets
The light shade in my bedroom, it cast a shadow on the ceiling like a huge spider when the light was on.
Cellars that have Windows with bars at pavement level, I’d never walk over the bars as a child, I thought something might grab me and pull me down to the cellar

[politicalgames]

A picture of Christ that had eyes which seemed to open and close.

[JoggerBottom]

Sitting against walls at night! A girl in school told me that you can get stabbed by knives coming through walls at night.

Terfsup - sounds like Home Alone!

[Elderflower14]

Just remembered being terrified of having my hair washed. I used to get the bath plugs and hide under my bed. My dad was going out one night. He got 500 yards up the drive. He heard me screaming and came back to see what the fuss was about...

[BlueKittens]

Pierrot clowns- the one shedding a tear

Queens guardsmen- the tall furry black hats nearly covering their eyes

[mastertomsmum]

escalators, I thought I'd go inside the mechanism if I didn't jump off quick. Mind you, I had a partially sighted mum I had to help with this task.

dolls with eyes that make the noise 'kink' when tipped up and all dolls had to look at the wall in the bedroom or I couldn't sleep

[TheLastNigel]

Eating mashed potatoes. I saw some string in my mash at nursery and told the nun in charge of Lunch (convent school). She didn't believe me and made me eat it all. I was terrified of choking on it. I haven't been able to eat mashed potato since and I don't really like making it for anyone else either.

I was also terrified of The Moomins cartoon on TV and even now I find it a bit other

[littlemisscomper]

The bloody hat-stand in our hallway. It was right by the front door and you had to get past it to go upstairs at night. It was always heavy with coats and just the sort of thing a burglar would hide behind. It terrified all of us throughout our childhood. Honestly if I'd been our parents I just would have replaced it with ordinary wall hooks.

[MissCherryCakeyBun]

My brother was terrified of Lambs
My mum took us to see lambs one Easter they were being bottle fed and I was 6 and he was 4 I thought there were amazing.....my brother? Thought they were going to eat him for some reason and ran screaming from the like the Devil himself was after him.

My daughter was like me pretty fearless about just about anything until one winter afternoon I heard her scream in terror upstairs and went up the stairs 3 at a time as us mums do and found my 12 yr old daughter crying hysterically in the hall. It was getting dark outside and she had been in her tiny bedroom looked down and saw a red spot on her chest (from a laser pointer) in her teenage way she for no good reason decided she was about to be shot by a sniper ( we lived in Hertfordshire not Sarajevo ) I was pissed off that somebody from the flats behind had seen fit to shine a laser pointer at her.....it really freaked her out and even now at 26 she can't have the curtains open at night as there is this fear she is being watched.
I popped in and reported it to the local Police and they were very kind but as it was flats behind us it was impossible to find out who it was or where it had come from. She can now laugh about the actual incident but for months afterwards I had to close the curtains for her as she didn't like going into the room with it dark outside and then open

However it's not as fun as killer lambs

[lexi727]

read a book about black widow spiders hiding under toilet seats when I was little. Until I was about 15 I had to check underneath every single toilet seat I ever used 😂😂 I live in Essex, UK. Don't think there was any chance of any black widow spiders sneaking up on me.

[DesertCactus]

Clowns
Plug hole
My Nana's painting of the crying little boy
Pressure cooker when it whistled loudly, run for cover!

[Synecdoche]

I thought goldfish were going to come out of the shower head and plop onto me when I was having a shower!

[YeTalkShiteHen]

politicalgames I’ve seen one of those, bloody terrifying! His eyes were red in the one I remember, and he was mid-crucifixion so it was gruesome too!

I was absolutely fucking terrified of the Honey Monster. Still freaks me out to this day, no idea why.

[FawnDrench]

Those horrible, noisy motorised roadsweeper machines operated by the fearsome hurdy-gurdy man.

Snails.

The rear view car mirror - as a child I thought it was the gateway to a different universe, and avoided looking at myself in it when travelling in the back seat.

[morningconstitutional2017]

People clad in balaclavas as it looks really sinister.
The swimming pool at school - even today the smell of bleach reminds me of the strong chlorine and makes me feel sick.
Walking past big dogs.

[MistyInTheRiver]

When I was little we used to go to a nearby farm/petting zoo type place fairly regularly. At the farm there was a hand washing area, complete with a hand-dryer shaped like a pig. I remember being TERRIFIED of it. I think it was the combination of the hand-dryer noise and the shape of the thing. Anyway I recently came across a picture of the very same hand-dryer and it still sends a shiver up my spine! What were they thinking??

[Kemer2018]

The hook on the back of my bedroom door.
My dads long pointy 1970's collars.

[SupplychainNpton]

The fucking 'test card' on TV.

[IpanemaChica]

Darleks and Doctor Who in general. Even now, hearing the theme tune makes the hairs on my neck stand up.

[JoeElliotsMullet]

The gas cooker (perfectly innocent)
The fire alarm at primary school. It was a klaxon one so a hideous, awful, terrifying noise. I remember not wanting to even go near it or walk past it and being so nervous and afraid that it would go off when I was near it.
Men with beards, all my uncles had beards. My dad grew one once and I shrieked until he shaved it off (I was about 3 I think).
Dogs, because idiot dog owner let his big black lab bound up to me when I was three. I wish there were dogs that were head-height to adults so that stupid owners could experience the kind of terror inspired by a mouthful of fangs in their face, loud barking and being knocked over by something heavier and stronger than them against which they have no defence whatsoever. I am a lot better now but still get nervous near big dogs off leads or jumpy dogs or basically any dog that isn't too fat/arthritic/old to do anything but waddle slowly next to its owner.

My DDs don't seem to be afraid of much apart from Dyson Airblades in public loos. Which I can entirely understand.

[HoldOnTight]

The wooden scarecrow on my grandparents allotment.
Escalators. Still avoid them.

[StripySocksAndDocs]

Quick sand
Rabies
The sea (due to killer sharks)
Darleks

All very frequently occurring things, that posed a serious threat to life the 80s it seemed.

[grace7]

My aunt's wardrobe - I remember having a bad dream that it was trying to eat me when I was about five.

[foxyknoxy30]

The big lorry that looked like a bin lorry but cleaned the sides of the kerbs 😃

[SheSnapsThenSheFarts]

Padded envelopes being sent in the post. Terrified someone had sent my dad a bomb.

Also escalators due to the public information films, and the (religiously serviced and ventilated) back boiler.

I was an anxious child