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Original poster

Gurning & Spontaneous Human Combustion

237 replies

Underminer · 29/05/2023 23:47

Not connected to each other, but when I was little, circa mid 80s, gurning used to be a regular thing on telly, along with spontaneous human combustion being a thing we were all scared of happening to us.
Anyone else remember this? Maybe the gurning was on Record Breakers? I remember watching it on more that on occasion, my brother has a memory of old men with no teeth pulling faces through horse collars, and he thinks it was a toothpaste advert and that’s why we don’t really hear about it now? We don’t live in an area with contests.

What other random things do you remember that seem to have spontaneously combusted in history?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
17
SwedishEdith · 30/05/2023 17:42

TulipTuesday · 30/05/2023 15:26

I read this book so much when I stayed with my Nan when I was younger. I made sure I kept it after she died, I’ve got it in the garage somewhere I’m sure.

Oh, we had that one as well!

AlwaysGinPlease · 30/05/2023 17:46

CoreyTaylorsSoggyTshirt · 29/05/2023 23:52

Quicksand.

I was terrified of it and thought it would feature quite frequently in my adult life. We even had safety videos about it in school.

Never been a problem once in my life.

Yes! Ditto Sinking Mud!

CorporaINobbyNobbs · 30/05/2023 17:58

Does anyone else remember the stories about people ‘falling into oblivion’?? I’m sure they were in the same book as SHC. You’d be just walking down the street and disappear!

QueenOfThorns · 30/05/2023 18:12

Oooh, also time slips! The people who just disappeared could’ve been sent to Victorian times. Or the Stone Age!

SettlingForAnotherMuffin · 30/05/2023 18:24

I loe the idea of time slips.

We were in a holiday cottage on the Isle of Wight once and there was a whole series of books about ghosts and timeslips on the Island.I was riveted

Singleandproud · 30/05/2023 20:42

I have to cross a railway line on foot twice a day to get into work and I still feel worried everytime I do it, I check both ways about 8 times despite having a light, a siren and the trains always whistle. I hate driving across level crossings too. I put it down to those videos.

I also thought standing on the rails would actually electrocute you until I was far older than I should have been to realise its the line above carrying the current.

gloriawasright · 30/05/2023 21:03

CeliaCanth · 30/05/2023 07:27

Aliens and UFOs. I had a few books on them which I used to terrify myself with daily during the summer holidays, probably around 1980/1981. Reading these things gave the impression that every glimpse into sky could easily lead to a “sighting” of some large silent disc and if you were foolish enough to get up early or wander round in the countryside you may well bump into various “beings” of which there were three main varieties. (One such was “greys” and I think they also came in larger, more benign, and smaller, more malicious, models.) One particularly traumatising book featured a farm in Wales which effectively had a bunch of them as uninvited guests for a while, conducting various experiments and generally being a nuisance.

I remember that story .I read the book and it bloody terrified me .was it called the visitors ?

GettingStuffed · 30/05/2023 21:05

The beach around weston-super-mare and Burnham-on-Sea has quick sand, every year the RNIB have to rescue people.

NoBiscuitsLeftInMyTin · 30/05/2023 21:07

GettingStuffed · 30/05/2023 21:05

The beach around weston-super-mare and Burnham-on-Sea has quick sand, every year the RNIB have to rescue people.

Yep - we’ve seen them in Burnham in a hovercraft on duty.

CeliaCanth · 30/05/2023 21:10

@gloriawasright I’ve done a bit of Googling and it was “The Uninvited”. I’d try to find a second-hand copy but I’m too scared!!

BathshebaKnickerStickers · 30/05/2023 21:10

I had major surgery 6 weeks ago and had an amazing student nurse. We were chatting one day and he lost a cousin in quicksand in his lifetime (he was 22) in India.

so don’t be complacent about quicksand…!!!

DuesToTheDirt · 30/05/2023 21:23

I went into quicksand as a child in the 1970s, at Weston Super Mare. I didn't go in very far just ankle-deep I think. Some years later, as an adult, I visited again and there were signs on the beach saying, "Beware, quicksand!" I'm sure some MN-ers must live round there and can confirm?

DuesToTheDirt · 30/05/2023 21:23

Ah, just spotted a comment above re Weston Super Mare.

CountingMareep · 30/05/2023 21:24

I seem to remember a relatively recent TV programme investigating a Bermuda Triangle shipwreck, which concluded that the area concerned was (a) on a tectonic fault line and hence vulnerable to earthquakes/tsunamis and (b) prone to tropical storms. Both would have easily accounted for mysterious disappearances of ships.

MyFaceIsAnAONB · 30/05/2023 21:24

DuesToTheDirt · 30/05/2023 21:23

I went into quicksand as a child in the 1970s, at Weston Super Mare. I didn't go in very far just ankle-deep I think. Some years later, as an adult, I visited again and there were signs on the beach saying, "Beware, quicksand!" I'm sure some MN-ers must live round there and can confirm?

Ha yep, my poor DM! Not Weston but same stretch.

DuesToTheDirt · 30/05/2023 21:24

But I do hope people are rescued by the RNLI, not the RNIB!

CountingMareep · 30/05/2023 21:26

DuesToTheDirt · 30/05/2023 21:24

But I do hope people are rescued by the RNLI, not the RNIB!

I was thinking that! Interesting rescue that would be…😂

gloriawasright · 30/05/2023 21:27

CeliaCanth · 30/05/2023 21:10

@gloriawasright I’ve done a bit of Googling and it was “The Uninvited”. I’d try to find a second-hand copy but I’m too scared!!

That's right ,the uninvited ! It really freaked me out,I might have to have a wee Google and see what new info I can terrify myself with.
I did of course have no reason to doubt the accuracy of the story,no doubts at all that it was all true 😩

DeadbeatYoda · 30/05/2023 21:32

This is thread title of the year for me!! 😂

Rockbird · 30/05/2023 21:38

Oh God @TulipTuesday we had that book as well 🫣

gloriawasright · 30/05/2023 21:38

Does anyone remember an old tv show called armchair thriller.
I can only recall snippets of the storyline of one of the shows.
In the 70s.
If anyone can help me out,
There were two girls ,one a little bit more troubled than the other,
It touched on children killing other children.
There was a tune played "boys and girls come out to play ..."
And there were pills involved. And either a skip or some cement that was poured over the murdered girls body .
Really gruesome story line for the 70s
Does anyone remember this ?
It really affected me as a child,I'm guessing it wasn't aimed for children

Guess what idiot posted this in the wrong thread .😱😱
Iv reposted here.and I just hope I haven't upset any brides or bridesmaids over on the other thread 🤞

Kernackered · 30/05/2023 22:14

Was it this?

Gurning & Spontaneous Human Combustion
blackheartsgirl · 30/05/2023 23:01

Flat Stanley also terrified me!! Used to give me nightmares

blackheartsgirl · 30/05/2023 23:03

I have a battered copy of the uninvited. I first read it as an adult about 10 years ago and it freaked me out, still does