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.

[SpinningBirdKick]

Bizarrely, I am still to this day, at 34 years of age utterly terrified of an episode of Captain Caveman- which has a masked man haunting a film set.
I used to hide behind the sofa when it was on TV.
I found the episode on YouTube- I was going to watch it to quench the fear- and wimped out after 30 seconds

[TeaAndABiscuit]

Anything to with Rabies bizarrely.. I'd watched this horrendous programme on it which freaked the hell out of me and then saw a public information film on it and that was me done for :)

[WestieMamma]

The ghost who we were told lived in the cellars at grandad's house. We stayed there after my grandad's funeral and were so scared my sister and I wouldn't sleep alone. We ended up sharing a single bed and going to the bathroom together.

We were in our 30s at the time

[TeaAndABiscuit]

Btw, the poster who linked to the 'world in action' theme-that was a good shout.
Also does anyone remember Picture Box? (Schools programme) the theme is as sinister as hell:
m.youtube.com/watch?v=6IF-0XNKlhk&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D6IF-0XNKlhk

[TeaAndABiscuit]

m.youtube.com/watch?v=6IF-0XNKlhk&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D6IF-0XNKlhk

[StElmo]

Leslie Neilson and the plastic dinosaurs on the dresser opposite my bed. They actually MOVED!

[idobelieveinfairies]

Watcher in the woods-Disney film about a missing girl and an eclipse.

Whippet dogs that were huge, fast and kept escaping from their garden.

When the wind blows (I think) the nuclear programme.

[CharityFunDay]

YY to the World In Action opening sequence. Doom-laden music and I always thought that the Leonardo "Vitruvian Man" was Jesus, which meant the whole thing took on very apocalyptic tones.

Nuclear war terrified me and (aged about eight) I took to stealing food from the kitchen and hoarding it in a suitcase under my bed, along with the "Protect and Survive" leaflet. I managed about half an hour of watching "Threads" and had to go to bed because I was crying uncontrollably. TBF even my parents were ashen-faced.

Daleks haunted my childhood nightmares. There was an incident when I was about five in which my granny walked me to a local playing field where a fete would take place later in the day. There, in the middle of the empty field in the morning mist, was a full-size DALEK. I clung to my granny's leg and became quite hysterical, thinking it would turn and spot us at any moment. It wasn't until we came back later in the day, with the fete in full swing, that we found it was one of those daleks you could get inside and trundle around in. The owners must have set it up early. Granny offered to pay for me to have a go in it, but I was still too scared.

[Catypillar]

Ghosts, things going on fire, aliens, spontaneous human combustion, asteroids hitting the earth (in particular a Nostradamus prediction about the "king of terror will come from the skies" in 1999 which didn't happen- terrified me for years though), non-specific horrible things that would happen if any part of me including my head wasn't under the duvet all night, shapes made by stuff in my room in the dark, nuclear bombs, tons of pictures in books, dead birds, dead anything really, any toy with funny looking eyes, going upstairs on my own even in the daytime, tons of other things. I was a very anxious child. I have bipolar disorder and wonder if the anxiety was a symptom of it even back then. The only one of these things I'm still scared of is the dead birds which people think is pretty odd considering some of the scary-sounding situations I deal with at work that don't bother me at all.

[EugenesAxe]

CharityFun - I am laughing my head off at the Dalek in the mist. And also at SpinningBird's anecdote about Captain Caveman. My best mate and I used to gauge the severity of our sore throats by saying 'Oh CAAAveeey!' and seeing if we went off the scale.

I forgot The Tripods - awesome theme but a bit scary.

[TheOriginalSteamingNit]

My ladybird Dracual Retold book

Paradise Towers (dr who - bonnie Langford nearly gets ate by some geriatric cannibals, which in retrospect seems a good rather than a scary idea).

[Kowalski]

I was scared of the toilet flush too, had completely forgotten until I saw others mention it! I had to open the door then go back and flush so I could run out of the room quick!

I'm also another one who was freaked out by Watership Down, I vaguely remember a rabbit with a wire round it's neck?

Also Poltergeist - I begged to be able to watch it, saw about 5 mins and was traumatised. I only plucked up the courage to watch it years later!

I have to sleep inside the covers too, even when its hot; I also have to cover my ears :/ DH thinks I'm a bit odd, I'm so surprised I'm not the only one

[riskit4abiskit]

Defo the dark crystal

the bird like dancing puppety things on labyrinth that could take their heads off and throw them around.

Ear monsters from wrath of khan, for YEARS I thought this was what an earwig was.

[riskit4abiskit]

Oh and the ending music from the x files

[Doha]

Daleks--when l was young in my dreams they used to chase me alone the road from my house and l escaped down the stairs....

Now l am all grown up l am still terrified of the Daleks and l still occasionally dream about them but this time Dr Who writers have created Daleks who can fly...

I am doomed doomed ...

[vladthedisorganised]

Did anyone else ever sit through a very realistic blood-guts-gore-and-all 'information' film about childbirth, which was shown to primary schools in the late 70s/early 80s? They didn't explain what the placenta was and I assumed the woman's insides had all been dragged out of her. She seemed happy enough at the end, even when what appeared to be a blood-soaked blue salamander was plopped on her chest.

It terrified me. I'm sure everyone in my class had children much later than the standard as a result.

[SaggyOldClothCatPuss]

The Tripods...tick
The Daleks...tick
Star Trek Kahn Ear Worm...tick
Poltergeist...tick
The Dark Crystal...tick
Fecking Bastarding Nostradamus...tick
The arm eating monster under the bed...tick
I am not ALONE!
Can I also add...
The Day of The Triffids
Everything else written by John Wyndham. freak
Necrotising Fasciitis
Disabled people
The Dark
Spiders
Climbing the stairs in the dark!

[Isesgirl]

edam - the Joanna Lumley psychic detectives programme was Sapphire and Steel(e?). I absolutely remember the "Pack Up Your Troubles..." one, to the point that even now (at 43!) if I hear that song, it makes me think of that episode.

There was also an episode (may be the same one?) where a man in a suit and trilby-type hat turned round to face the camera and he had no face. OMG, I can still see THAT too!!

Yes to (even now) not being able to dangle legs/arms off the side of the bed.

Yes to Threads.

Yes to the Triffids.

Cybermen though. Those buggers were the ULTIMATE EVIL. Also, they killed Adric (one of the Doctor's sidekicks, with whom I was totally utterly in love and bound to marry as soon as we met) and so deserve their own special place in HELL.

[Chivetalking]

There was a scary rhyme about an undefined but definitely murderous someone gradually getting closer and closer doing the rounds at junior school. It ended with a sudden shouty bit at the end about them being right beside you or somesuch. Terrifying when you were laying in bed at night and could hear them creeping up the stairs.

YY to Cybermen also Sea Devils. Didn't paddle for years after that series of Dr Who.

The Dark.

Monsters under the bed who were all set to grab a stray foot or arm if they got the chance.

[alltoomuchrightnow]

Doctor Who, especially Daleks
Balloons
Ghosts
War

[Chivetalking]

Just remembered an episode of Star Trek where a bloke they'd rescued wiped everyone's faces blank because he didn't like them laughing. That had me cacking for ages too. I really shouldn't have been allowed anywhere near 70's TV