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.

I was terrified someone was going to break in and steal me. For years I slept as close to the wall as possible in the hope that when they came in thru the window they wouldn't see me.
I was also scared that people were going to blow gas into the streets that would kill me. I used to practise holding my breath for when it happened.
Other fears were the car driving into water. I still think about that from time to time now.

Looking into a mirror in the dark. My slightly older cousin told me that she and her brother had looked into a mirror in the dark and "seen their ghosts". I asked my Dad to carry me to bed every night for a while, but didn't admit that this was so that I could close my eyes when going past the dressing table mirror and not see whatever horror had confronted my cousins.

I was also scared that I'd be the person asked to go to the toilets "to make sure they're all right" if another child in the class said they felt sick. The idea of seeing someone vomit made me really anxious even though actually seeing someone vomit didn't bother me at all.

Oh yes. On a Spanish holiday I was terrified a cat was going to pop up thru the toilet and bite me. why the toilet I don't know when there were plenty of cats on the streets.
I love cats by the way.

Tsunami's. I didn't actually know they name of it, just the fear of a monstrous wave engulfing the beach and not being able to outrun it.

I was convinced that the tiny red light on my electric blanket control was watching me when I went to bed😱 I was about 7 or 8 at the time.

Monsters in the toilet, I used to hate going to the bathroom alone! I was convinced that when I flushed something would jump out at me so I'd sprint out of the bathroom and down the stairs in absolute terror! Also monsters under the bed and monsters in the wardrobe. I was also terrified of seaweed for some reason.

Nuclear War thanks to Threads.

Old spooky dolls - there was a shop in Chester - if anyone is local they will know!

Clowns. Still am.

Mines pretty embarrassing. Around the time of the Gulf war. I became absolutely terrified of Planes flying over the house. Especially during the night. Even more so if a fighter jet was screeching over. I'd heard part of the news saying how they were bombing the Middle East. Although I just heard the east bit. My 5/6 year old brain was utterly convinced that meant East Yorkshire where I live and I'd hide under the covers during the night convinced they'd come to bomb us every time a Plane flew over.

Pretty much anything Charlie said 😂
Also nuclear war. Oh and getting square eyes from sitting too close to the tv.

And getting water in the overflow pipe. My older siblings somehow convinced me that 'twyfords' (sink manufacturer name, often printed just above overflow) was a word that meant your house would implode if you got water in it 😂

I am old . Daleks - this was in the days before they could get upstairs & so obvs my father told me they could not get upstairs , but I was still concerned they might just gather around downstairs and then what would we do? 😊

My bedroom curtains.

I grew up in the 1970’s . All those swirly patterns. In summer when I had to go to bed and it was still light outside, I could see faces in the swirls of the curtain fabric.

I used to hate walking from our lounge, past the dark door to the dining room to go to the stairs. All because I had been half asleep on the couch while my parents watched "Carry on screaming" I was convinced they were all in the dining room.

My Grandma used to say when i was younger i was absolutely petrified i wouldn’t grow and i would be a dwarf.

I was terrified I was pregnant when I was eight or nine. I was sexually abused by a female so it wasn’t likely (!) but I was too young to understand that. All I knew was that it took 9 months to have a baby so I was really relieved when that time passed.

Similar - I thought a shark would get into the swimming baths through the big vent thing

i used to be scared of Teddy Bears Picnic yes really. whenever I heard that nursery rhyme it was tears straight away. i had this picture of these poor little bears stuck in the woods and their mummy's and daddy's they say coming back when they are tired little bears. i imagined them being alone in the woods with monsters and bad men who would snatch them away all sorts of bad things.
my sister older than me would sometimes sing it to me when we were in bed only for me to start yelling and crying! she got many a telling off for that!

Me too! I thought I could hear them coming for me when I lay down at night. I could hear their pawsteps in the snow. Turned out it was my own heartbeat in my ear!

I was also really scared of meteorites after a lesson at school. My parents had a word with my teacher and she did another lesson explaining how unlikely it was that one would land on my house.

I was also terrified of getting killed by a train while crossing the tracks (which I never did). I think it was due to that scary public information film. Funny thing is, I did cross the tracks once as an adult (abroad) and had a near miss!

At various times I was convinced that:

1. There was a shark between mine and the spare bed (this was pre Jaws)
2. There was a poisonous snake at the bottom of my bed
3. There was a raging inferno in the hall downstairs
4. I would go on a ferry and it would sink.

I was a weird kid!

My wallpaper 🫣. Really.

Street sweepers. Fuck that

That scientists would decide it was a good idea to recreate dinosaurs from frog dna. This was basically my top concern between 1993-1995.

Pylons, I thought if I went anywhere near one I would be electrocuted especially if they were crackling.

Also used to think a shark would come up the plug hole while I was in the bath or up the toilet.

Both stem from school, one a public information film they showed us and once for showing us Jaws while I was at primary school! Had nightmares for weeks after that my Mum went mad with school.

Me too. It's all very well being stuck up to your ankles... until the tide comes in (which it does very quickly here). People fairly regularly have to be rescued.