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.

[mumsiedarlingrevolta]

@wanderings oooooh how interesting-is that where the word shanghai comes from? or named after it?
Wonder if my Grandfather aware and used it to scare me-which I think was much more common back in the day

[gladiatorgirl]

Escalators. Loved riding on them but getting on or off used to make my heart thump.
Dark bedrooms where the wood grain on my wardrobe looked like a witch..
Cringeing in the corner of the kitchen waiting for the pressure cooker to explode. It never did!

[TheFluffyHippo]

We had a blue cup that I wouldn’t drink out of. It was tall and thin, like a highball glass, and made of thick, opaque plastic.

The reason I refused to drink out of it was because when I lifted it to my mouth and my eyes went over the opening, it was dark inside the cup and I was scared of the dark.

[akitas2]

Just thought of another one....Carry on Screaming Rubbertiti!

[Deathraystare]

Yep, the pressure cooker!




God yes! I remember those! I would not go in the kitchen if it was going 'off' or would creep past it!

[weepat]

People dressed as Santa.
Still freaks me at age 48.
I made sure my kids did not pick up on this.
People think it's hilarious.
I do like Xmas though.
I am super vigilant in places I can't control.

[MadMaryBoddington]

Pylons. There was one in a field where we used to go for a walk and I was convinced it was going to fall on me, or that the wires would snap and lash down and electrocute me. I think it was the public information film about the kite flier that did it.

The standard lamp in the corner of my grandparents’ spare room. They had to remove it when I stayed there. It had a salmon pink shade with fringing. Terrifying it was.

[MadMaryBoddington]

Oh and the Juliet Bravo theme tune. What is it about tv theme tunes? So many people on this thread with tv theme tune trauma.

[SmokeAndBone]

A TV programme called 'Escape Into Night' (1970s) where the stones in the garden looked as if they were coming towards a little girl who drew pictures in a book.

Dr Who

Dogs (love them now - even own one)

The spiders in the garden - they don't bother me any more

[Sladurche]

Coffee percolator. Made a horrible noise.
A night light that was in the shape of a little house. In the dark it looked like a light-up skull.
Men with beards.
The baggage collection at the airport.

[wanderings]

@mumsiedarlingrevolta I'm not sure about the word Shanghai, but the guide showed us how they caught people. In the pub above, there was a trap door in the floor. With the help of a pretty woman, they would get an unsuspecting man to stand in the right place, then release the trap door so that he would fall through into the tunnels.

[LieInsAreExtinct]

A talking dummy which was there to promote tights in a department store. It stretched them to demonstrate how stretchy they were, and for some reason it traumatised me.
Electricity, especially seeing sparks on the underground train tracks, and the sound of that. When I was about 10 I was scared of hoovering too close to the socket, as I thought it would short circuit.
I was also scared of looking in the mirror at night as my friend had told me that I would see Satan looking over my shoulder!

[boingboingboom]

Pylons

[letsgomaths]

@Slardurche The baggage collection at the airport. I liked the cases coming back, but I found the baggage check-in unnerving - seeing the cases disappearing, and my parents telling me that we wouldn't see them again until we got to France. I think I didn't understand that they went in the plane with us, I thought they got there some other way.

Classical concerts on TV: I found these scary because of the close ups of fierce concentration on the musicians' faces, the conductor's wide-eyed exaggerated facial expressions, and the wind players' distorted faces.

As a small child, I found teenagers or young adults unnerving, because I wasn't sure if they were grown up or not; they often looked like children, but they'd be wearing something grown up, like high heels. It was doubly confusing if young women were referred to as "girls": I remember thinking that girl = child. My parents were in their thirties in my childhood, so they were more definitely "grown up". I was a very black and white thinker.

At a birthday party, one of these "confusing" teenagers turned the innocent game of pin the tail into the scariest thing ever. Before the game, she stood there, in costume, with a scarf stretched between her hands, grinning and saying like a pantomime villain "I'll make sure you can't see a thing. Who's going to be first?", and she did the blindfolding and spinning with a brisk sense of purpose. I bravely had my turn, but I think I was trembling!

[ISpeakJive]

I was petrified of the crying child portraits....

shudder

[McFugget]

Oh no, just remembered that band Sparks, This town ain't big enough for the both-of-us. Keyboard bloke utterly terrifying.

Also Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody. All those spooky swirling disconnected heads.

[Partridgeamongstthepigeons]

Not an object but a place- the Ferrier estate in Kidbrooke. The buildings and the huge chimney thing.

[Awwlookatmybabyspider]

I've just Google the Ferrier Estate. It is rather creepy.
Have you seen Trelleck Tower. That's a bit freaky. It looks quite like The Royal Hospital (Liverpool).

[Soopdash]

Open slat stairs. I was convinced someone (or something!) was going to grab my ankles when I was running up them!

The 999 theme tune (Michael Burke). It was so dramatic! Used to terrify me.

[Cellardoor23]

Yep, mirror in a dark room too. I'm just scared of the dark in general. I remember when the lights went off in my flat stair (I live at the top) I had to get my partner to come down and get me as I refused to walk up there on my own in darkness.

[wanderings]

Trellick Tower was used as a backdrop in the children's game show Incredible Games, 1994!

Church bell ropes, especially when they're all tied up when not being used. I once asked why there was a prominent sign saying "DANGER: the bells are up". Someone explained about the mechanics of church bells, and how they can be very dangerous indeed (they'd never get through health and safety if they were invented now). I also saw a group of people ringing them, and noticed how the ropes suddenly shoot up.

[lastnamefirstfirstnamelast]

steam rollers.

saw one yesterday and it made me shudder!

[kezzy13]

Alice in wonderland and beauty and the beast

[thesockgap]

I was also for some reason, utterly terrified of the character Hartley Hare on the kids show Pipkins. I can't even remember it now but I would run out of the room if ever he came on screen!

Also scared of theme tune from Tales of the Unexpected. Still sends shivers down my spine now!

[iklboo]

Mr Noseybonk was scary as all shit back when I was younger.