Things which scared you as a kid and have stayed with you...

[GinJeanie]

I’m talking about things which scared the bejeezus out of you at the time and you would still hate to encounter as an adult- no doubt irrationally. I have two examples and suspect if I revisited them, they wouldn’t be as bad as I remember. I won’t though - still too scared!
The first is a book called A Candle in Her Room. It’s about some sisters who have an vile, evil wooden doll in their house and horrible things keep happening to them. It was a children’s book but I found it terrifying. I’m a middle-aged woman but NOTHING would make me read it again. The thought makes me want to vomit.
The second is a public safety film called Apaches which was shown in the 1970s. It involved a group of children dying one by one on a farm (all had horrible accidents)... I know I will never watch that film again even though it’s readily available on YouTube. My terror is too great.
Anyone else?

This

And Jaws,wouldnt even have a bathafter i saw it

Chorlton and the wheelies.

The twilight zone (US)

Krampusz. He was always feared when we were children.

Fucking child catcher. 46 years old and still won't watch chitty chitty bang bang. And neither will DS

A puppet show on TV in the 60's telling the story of Pilgrim's Progress. I hated the sight of the puppets.

Most of the Beatrix Potter stories.

Animals - particularly cows, standing on their hind legs and dressed in human clothes.

Walking over open grates above cellars - I would always walk round them.

Walking through a moving train especially between carriages when you could see the track below you.

That's quite a list. I was a wimp.

Can't sleep with ticking clocks no idea why.

Have this weird thing about people hovering outside windows if the curtains are closed.

Also shadows I suspect possibly from Peter Pan maybe. But I've managed to get over that one.

Another vote for pylons
If Dark Water is the one where a voice intones “ I’ll be back....” then that was absolutely terrifying!

Oh God dolls - even now I’m not brilliant around them, especially those bloody awful Victorian porcelain monstrosities! I remember my friend’s Baby Alive doll which broke so it kept trying to eat when nothing was in it’s mouth. The noise “ amneeyam” still haunts me! And don’t get me started on talking dolls! The stuff of nightmares!

Heffalumps and Woozles (Winnie The Pooh) really freaked me out as a kid. I made the mistake a few years ago of going on the Winnie The Pooh ride at Disney World, not realising that there’s a whole Huffalumps and Woozles section I had to close my eyes and cover my ears!

My family used to watch horror movies around me as a young child (2 upwards) so I was traumatised at a young age lol soo...

Children of The Corn
The Wicker Man (both at around age 3)
The statue of St Sebastian in the film Carrie
really creeps me out.
The Wheelies and the hall
of Heads in Return to Oz which is a HORRIBLE children’s film.
Pyrotechnics (magicians with saucepans with fire, the flash and bang in pantos, fire scenes in theatre)
The Witches when they remove their faces and when the children are turned into mice
Ghost watch traumatised me as a small child.
The extended Thriller video
My granny’s house had a really creepy painting in the box room that always seemed to stare at me.
I used to always get creeped out at the top of the stairs.
Not scary but The Little Match Girl left me inconsolable. I’ve never got over it.Awful.
Ventriloquist dummies make me want to projectile vomit to this day. I can’t watch Thunderbirds or any of that sort of programme. The eyes. The jaws. Deeply, deeply unsettled me.
The huge rolls of carpet in the big carpet shops used to freak me out. I always thought one would fall off and suffocate me.
The idea of being suffocated in the ball pit (now replaced by...what the fuck kind of germs lurk at the bottom of the ball pit?)

Randomly...

Mushrooms.

The episode of the Moomins where the Frost Queen comes and kills a squirrel!

Watership Down

Ghost Watch

Disney film The Watcher in the Woods

@snooks1971 awful, wasn't it? Iirc I was only about 12!

Those weird walking hammer things on Pink Floyd's 'Another Brick in the Wall' video

Oh me too. Even hearing the song sets me on edge for that reason!

Disney film The Watcher in the Woods

I was going to say this too. Nerak. Chilling.

@SuckingDownDarjeeling has it... The test card 🙈

Oh God I've just remembered another one! Hartley the Hare from Pipkins. Google to see - it's HIDEOUS!

And Evil Edna from Willo the Wisp

@Angelonia

The first two chapters of The Secret Garden when everyone dies of cholera. I literally woke up in the middle of the night screaming. I re-read it recently and was surprised by how mild it is - not graphic at all. I guess it was the idea more than the actual words.

I hear you. It took me years to be able to finish that book as I couldn’t get through those first few chapters. The idea of waking up to find that you parents are dead is just horrific.

Ghostwatch.

The theme tune to Rhubsrb and custard.

Jaws the shark.

Jaws the villain in Moonraker.

Clowns - from the start of a james bond film I think.

Bedknob and broomsticks - the deep singing when the germans invade and the suits of armour are marching across the field.

@Bluesheep8 yes her too!

FlamingoAndJohn it's a lovely book after the terrifying beginning!

Large Marge from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure 😱

You lot should look into Hauntology.
It’s a music and art movement made by people who grew up in the 70s where creepy as all fuck stuff was shown to kids as normal.

www.bbc.co.uk/ideas/videos/what-is-hauntology-and-why-is-it-all-around-us/p0729knv

I first watched Threads as a 21 year old and it gave me sleepless nights!
Any fire-related safety film we'd be shown by the Fire Service once a term in primary school. Francis Firefly still gives me goosebumps.

Thunderstorms
The test card clown (scared me long before Life on Mars.)
Firework safety adverts from 70s and 80s
Charlie Says adverts
Gas masks
Those public information films about surviving nuclear attacks
The child-catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Totally agree about the Myra Hindley photo - chilling.

i remember that farm safety film it was horrific and i think if i remember rightly there was a railway one as well in a similar vein.
when i was a child the song teddy bears picnic always got me crying and screaming dont know why but i still hate it. my sister used to sing it to me to get me to cry then mum would come charging upstairs to tell my sister to leave me alone!