What used to scare you as a child?

[Kasterborous]

I was terrified after I had seen the film Jaws at school, that a shark was going to come up the plug hole in the bath or up the toilet bowl. And for ages I had nightmares about that dead body that appeared from under the rocks in the water. My Mum was that they had shown the film at school I was about nine and easily scared. I also remember being terrified of the Triffids which was on telly when I was young. I remember my sister, who is three years younger than me chasing me round pretending to be a triffid! I still can't watch horror films.

[TheProsAndConsOfHitchhiking]

Beards,Punks and people dressed up in full costumes (mickey mouse etc)

I still dont like masks of any description.

I did get to the bottom of the 'punk' fear though, When I was a Baby my dM and her friends were punk (coloured hair,shaved,mohichans, peircings etc) they were glue sniffers and used my mums flat as their glue den. I was really badly with the fumes from the glue and was taken away by social services and the police, I was in hospital for 6 weeks while a big court case was going on. I believe thats where my punk fear came in. I remember small things like graffiti on the walls and tv's being thrown :(

[Latara]

When I was a toddler I used to dream about toilets chasing me with their lids snapping open & shut!

Also I was terrified of diggers.

And fireworks because I thought they would land on my head...

Then age 10 I nearly got struck by lightning so was terrified of it after that.

[MarilynMoanroe]

My brother's entire childhood goal was keeping me in a permanent state of fright.

He told me about faces coming up through the kitchen tiles, of the dead that were buried beneath our house.

He would alarm me by saying there had been a nuclear attack and I'd have to block all windows, doors and even plugs to stop the radiation from killing us by melting our skin.

He informed me of tales of the Bermuda Triangle, vampire bats and Easter island.

If we ever saw anything scary on tv/films he'd gentle inform me that the monster will be in my wardrobe that night.

Amongst other things, what scared me most was when he'd zombie attack me. He'd turn of the lights and come for me doing a zombie moan. Oh, and I suffer from claustrophobia as result from him wrapping me tightly in a quilt and putting pillows over my face, whilst singing "suffocation!"

I'd like to add a disclaimer that he is now 37, very charming and sensible. But doesn't have children.

[MrsColumbo]

Showing my age now, but I had to run out of the room when the video for 'Another Brick in the Wall' by Pink Floyd was on TOTP - walking hammers and teachers feeding kids into a mincer! Sapphire and Steele was also pretty creepy - anyone remember the episode with the man with no face?

[doorbellringer]

I was a scardey cat but, I think with good reason. Seems inappropriate films caused a lot if it. Thanks mother video ratings are there for a reason you know.

I watched a film where someone drilled a hole in the ceiling and covered the sleeping person in syrupy gloop then sent a plague of locusts down to eat the person. I was terrified of any round marks on the ceiling.
Freddie - relative used to sing the song outside my door when I went to bed. One two Freddie's coming for you.
IT -still hate bastarding clowns to this day. Also china clowns - peroit aaaagh!
Chuckie - enough said.
Ear wigs - saw a film where someone put a helmet on and they crawled in and ate his ear insides. Still to this day hate slaters as they remind me.
Foot grabbing monsters under the bed - still a threat even as a grown up they can get you!
Walking down dark hallways or upstairs - obviously there is someone waiting to grab you.
I break down crying and have a panic if someone touches my neck - not sure where that came from.

I don't know if these things ever truly leave you.

[doorbellringer]

Sorry didn't mean it to be so long. Actually quite therapeutic getting that all out.

[PipkinsPal]

A bulldog coming out of the toilet and biting my bum when I was on it. Years later, as an adult I visited a friend, she had a white ceramic bulldog on her toilet cistern .

[AnneTwacky]

Loads of weird ones.

That orange flying jigsaw piece off Jigsaw. I didn't like it's face.

Old victorian style public loos, the sort where the cistern is high up and you have to pull a chain to flush.

The man on sesame street who used to always fall down the stairs carrying a load of pies.

The number 9 on my Grandma's bedroom clock. Every other number was ok

[hamdangle]

Urgh! Just remembered two more. The box of delights intro and griselda from terrahawks. Who the fuck comes up with this stuff and then packages it for kids?

[edam]

Another one - the crucifix on the wall above my bed when I stayed at my Grandmother's house. Very realistic depiction of suffering/nails.

[marriedinwhiteisback]

The dark ad noises in the night
Big dogs off leads (still scare me)
Daleks
The bogey man
I had the safest most harmless childhood and am sorry some of you had real life stuff to be scared of.

[AnneTwacky]

Just remembered another one. There was a children's programme about some dolls who lived in a doll's house. I think the name was Tottie but I might be wrong.

Anyway one of the dolls was called Birdie and she was made of wax, so of course they thought let's show her get too close to a naked flame and melt. I still remember sitting there in shock at her horrible death.

[GangstersLoveToDance]

I can remember learning in Year 6 about the World, Space, asteroids etc.

Two things stick in my mind particularly. One was someone asking what would happen if the World stopped turning. The answer was that the whole World would implode and end. I spent the next few years terrified of any sign of this happening.

The second was discussion around Asteroids. We were told that a large asteroid landing in the Sea would release a huge wave that would wipe out anyone on the coast close enough. Ever since I have been terrified of tidal waves.

[Elsiequadrille]

I thought the Box of Delights programme itself was a little scary, too!

[ben5]

Another one for arms and feet not being exposed while sleeping. Also the cupboard under the stairs ( this is about 25 years before Harry potter!!!)

[FrussoHathorAKADaisythecow]

ben5 i still can't have my feet exposed whilst sleeping.

[pot39]

Another one for child catcher. Can't bear him even now and I'm 51.
The dark. Flushing the loo if I went during the night.
Witches flying around the 'little light' which was kept on because of my fear of the dark.
I always rather enjoyed the scary bits in Dr Who and found it not scary enough once Jon Pertwee and Tom baker were on.
Another one for being tucked tightly in bed to prevent limbs being chopped off by the witches. I remember it took me ages to feel safe in a duvet because of escaping limbs!
Most of all was the terror of either parent dying.

[JesusInTheCabbageVan]

Anything to do with eyes - glowing eyes, scary eyes, eyes suddenly changing or springing open. When I was 8 or 9 I watched in Who Framed Roger Rabbit - I was so scared I went grey, shaking and throwing up

[Kasterborous]

Yes to funny eyes. They still freak me out now.

[Solari]

Think the 'earwig in the helmet' mentioned might have been from , and is definitely a shuddery tv-moment.

I can't stand having any part of a limb hanging over the bed edge, am always convinced something is going to grab me. No idea what protection the invisible barrier around the bed actually provides!

[Solari]

Oh, and scene from Starman (shows a baby growing suddenly into a man) still gives me the eebie jeebies, and its not even a horror!

[cakebaby]

Dr Who music, triffids, nuclear war (thanks to school showing us 'Threads'), someone breaking into our house, red wall paper in the hall, being asked to answer a maths question, standing still using the phone in case I got shot through the window (another film) being chased by the big kids from the 'rough family' (really?) 2 streets away.

No discernable basis for any of them

[cakebaby]

Oh and the brain eating machine in a Blake's 7 episode (#toomuchtvthanksparents)

[iwasyoungonce]

Worzel Gummidge.

The Witch from Chorlton & The Wheelies.

Flushing the chain - I thought it would release creatures from under the toilet who would chase me down the stairs. No idea how I didn't break my neck falling down the stairs - I used to fly down them like a maniac!