What were your irrational fears as a child?

[virgocatlover]

I remember at 5 I was terrified of getting worms, as in the parasite. Some children at school had idiotic parents who told them they would get worms if they suck their thumb or put their fingers near their mouth. I was scared there were worms inside my stomach.

I was also very scared of the Bermuda Triangle (thanks to cartoons) as if there was a chance I will be visiting it on a frequent basis.

Falling down the cracks in the bouncy castle.

Rabies it was my mum.really we used to abroad once a year in the 80,s and my mum had me convinced every dog and cat had rabies and would never allow me or my sister near them.
I was shocked when I went abroad as an adult

that other adults would happily stroke dogs and cats.

E.T

I was scared to get in a bath/swimming pool/jacuzzi for a while (jacuzzi in particular) in fear that fish were somehow in there…..

A crocodile jumping up out the toilet bowl to bite me

War. I used to dream of war planes flying over like the footage from WWII despite being born more than 40 years after it ended.

Plus I’m Irish … we’re neutral 😂

I overheard my uncle talking about beetles and didn't sleep for weeks because I thought I heard him say that they go in your ears and eat through your brain. Couldn't put my head on the pillow for weeks….😆

I was also scared of nuns. I was told they have to shave their hair off and was sure they would catch me and shave mine. ( waist length, thick hair).

@Isittoolatea gosh, also E.T! I was forced to watch it as a child, as in, literally forced to sit on a family members lap to watch it.

I still can't watch it now, freaky little fucker.

Apart from the standard ghosts and puppets, I was terrified of this statue of the Duke of Wellington in Edinburgh and my mum would have to drag me past it screaming or clamp her hand over my eyes if we were coming close to it, especially on the bus!

At night, I thought my chair covered in clothes and stuff was a monster even though I knew it was a chair. It did look like a monster in the dark.

Also another vote for aliens. I remember watching Independence Day at a church sleepover and cacked myself. I had to sleep in a huge freaky hall where the toilets were down a freaky ass corridor, and naturally, as I was so scared, I had to pee every 5 minutes. It was a very long night.

I was convinced for reasons that will always remain unknown, there was a killer cowboy living in the loft I always ran under the hatch (after building myself up and alway with heart palpitations) 😂😂

😂😂😂😂😂😂
I used to have an imaginary friend called Gemma. She looked like E.T but had Goldilocks hair . Freaked me the hell out ! It’s the walk that does it for me and the fingers

Swallowing chewing gum. Because it would get stuck in your heart.

Swallowing apple pips because an apple tree would grow inside you.

Picking your nose in case you picked through to your brain.

Clearly my parents felt aversion therapy was an effective way of controlling behaviour! (It was)

I was terrified I would spontaneously combust. I also saw a news report once where a girl was raped and myrdered in her bed after a man climbed through some sort of air vent. I was convinced that would happen to me.

The dark, there was someone hiding under the stairs who would chop my ankles off (had a dream about this once), swallowing an apple pip as I thought I would grow a tree which now sounds ridiculous when I write it down, being sick as I once threw up and it was like tinned fruit salad, fish cakes as I once threw up after eating them, Jaws, spiders (think that developed more as an adult), insects dying (I killed the class stick insect and would get upset when daddy long legs flew at lights etc.)

@SteelBottle

not alone with the apple pips then!

The wheelers from return to Oz

The wallpaper in my bedroom. Perfectly normal during the day, but when the room was dark it took on a new life.

That the world was ending.
That my parents would go to jail.
That there'd be a war and I'd be evacuated.
Also, I seem to remember believing I could fly, but was scared to do it in case I couldn't get down again!

I was scared of the space under my bed. I would jump from across the room and land on it so as to not get too close.

I was also scared of walking from the outbuildings back to the house at night - I’d pelt along the path as fast as my legs could carry me and fly in and quickly close the door behind me.

I still sometimes feel that urge to run when approaching my front door in the dark now!

I thought if the bathroom window was ajar someone would poke a shotgun through it and shoot me while I was going to the toilet. Think I’d been allowed to sit up and watch some horrible crime dramas. Thankfully I’ve survived the loo so far.

My mum used to wear a long coat and on windy days it would blow up in the wind and I was terrified that it would send her flying up in the air like Mary poppins. I would stand behind her crying and holding her coat to stop it blowing.

Also, I had a porcelain doll on a swing that hung from my bedroom ceiling. I would stare at her at night convinced she was swinging ever so slightly. I was terrified of it.

I also thought that dastardly and mutley (spelling?) were hiding in the loft and if I woke for a wee in the night they would grab me and pull me up as I walked past to go to the toilet

Our house burning down after the fire brigade did their fire safety talk / video at school and told us we shouldn't leave any plugs switched in over night at home. I had nightmares for months and drove my parents mad switching everything off before bed.

Getting out of bed at night in case someone was under the bed, and would grab me by the ankles. I remember lying awake in the night terrified and just wanting to go to my parents bed but I would have to psyche myself up to be brave enough to leap from the bed and run to their room.

being kidnapped. Blame my mother for that one, probably trying to keep me safe but instead scared the crap out of me.