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Original poster

Weird things that scared you as a child...

341 replies

user1491572121 · 16/04/2017 09:22

My DD is 12 and I was just absentmindedly singing "Frere Jacques" and she said "Oh that song! It used to give me nightmares!"

And I said why? I used to sing it to you all the time!

And she said YES! And it made me think of people drowning...

Apparently she used to hear it and envision a man in bed and then water would rush in and drown him!

What weird fears/thoughts did you or yours have?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
14
OneOfTheGrundys · 17/04/2017 22:36

Noseybonk. Too too scary.
And fire.

peoplepleaser70 · 17/04/2017 22:42

Daddy long legs. Someone mentioned there was one outside and I actually thought it was a man with really long legs.

Smurfy23 · 17/04/2017 22:48

The Count from Sesame Street. I was convinced he was going to come and get.me!

cbigs · 17/04/2017 22:55

Can't believe how many others are scared by pylons and things under water that shouldn't be there!
Those water power turbines they have in the sea are literally horrifying to me 😳 even words like weir and sluice give me unsettling feelings 😰

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 17/04/2017 23:15

Picture this scenario. Its foggy and you literally can't see a thing in front of you, and you're getting chased by Pylons. You know they're there but you don't know where. One could grab you or you could bump into one at anytime without warning.
ERM I STFU, shall I. Grin

PidgeonSpray · 17/04/2017 23:31
  • The black lines at the bottom of a swimming pool (I thought they were snakes) and I can't really swim now bc of that.
  • pipes (still have that phobia now)
vanrecovered · 17/04/2017 23:37

Ladybirds! My uncle told me that they bite as s joke when I was about 5 or 6, and even though I KNOW they don't - I still get that feeling of riding panic if I've got one on me!

salsmum · 18/04/2017 00:26

The old black metal bed in my sisters flat abs scarecrows.

BeaLola · 18/04/2017 01:03

The handles on my wardrobe - they looked like a face and if I woke at night seemed to stare at me !

LightDrizzle · 18/04/2017 01:16

The toilet at night, if I wasn't back in bed before the sound of the flush died away either one of my parents or I would die!!!
The spine of one of my mum's interiors books in the sitting room, it looked like a scary monster/robot, it was actually a rococco jardiniere or something.
The shed witch's house in the wooded bit at Burnby Hall Gardens, we had to run past in case she got us.

The childcatcher from CCBB, Robert Helpmann at his finest!

OldandJaded · 18/04/2017 01:47

There was a heavy goods train used to go past both my dp's and gdp's houses where I spent equal amounts of time, I managed to convince myself it was a hell train taking damned souls to hell......... It used to go every couple of hours, during the day I often didn't hear it but at night I'd lie there shaking with fear!
It started with my dad getting a new Chris de Burgh album and hearing the song Spanish train I think..... Weird things kids imaginations Hmm

Kelsar · 18/04/2017 01:51

Buttons!!

aspoonfulofyourownmedicine · 18/04/2017 02:37

Not just as a child, but as an adult too, I'm still terrified at the age of 31

Clowns - This will out me but I had a ragdoll clown when I was younger, which gave me the most horrific nightmares. I dreamt my dad put it in the bin, and when the binmen emptied said bin, it popped it's head out of the back of the bin lorry and waved at me. I woke up screaming about it well into my early teens. I was convinced it was in the cupboard in my brothers bedroom, but my mam swears she gave it away. There's no hope I'd watch IT or anything.

Water - I hate rivers and lakes, especially deep ones, and I'll actively seek to avoid them. Even my son getting too close is enough to give me anxiety.

And bridges - especially ones that cross rivers for said reason above ^

aspoonfulofyourownmedicine · 18/04/2017 02:50

I'm also absolutely terrified of a pier that is near to where my Grandparents live. There's a 'North' and 'South' pier at the mouth of the river. We live on the South side. One pier has a lighthouse with a red light, the other has a white flashing light. It's pattern is what freaks me out - flash 1,2,3,4, flash, flash, 1,2,3,4, flash,1,2,3,4, flash, flash. It always gave me the heebies when I stayed at my grandparents. I still drive past now when I pick my mam up from her friends, and always say 'that gives me the heebies, it used to give me nightmares'. I have no explanation why this affected me or why it still does .........

MulderitsmeX · 18/04/2017 02:54

Return to Oz is bloody scary. Thr wheelie monkeys, heads in jars fhat scream and the talking mountain!

On a similar theme- through the dragon's eye

KazenoTaninoNaushika · 18/04/2017 03:22

There was a story in a comic book where a hand with claws came out of the arm of a dressing gown which was hanging up and scratched a woman round the neck. Still scared of that now and have to rush past my dressing gown on its hanger Blush!

LadyAlanPartridge · 18/04/2017 03:53

Coconuts. My older brother used to roll one at me whilst I cowered in the corner. Got his back though by convincing his girlfriend to hire a candy floss machine for his sons christening party. He is petrified of it. He is 41.

Killer whales. Hated them as a child. Hate them now.

angelnix · 18/04/2017 08:22

Grotbags terrified me!

Wurzel Gummidge - we went out for a family meal at a chain restaurant (possibly The Harvester) when I was younger and had to leave without ordering due to me totally freaking out over the Wurzel Gummidge statue and activity pack!

Level crossings - overheard something on the news about someone being hit, turned me hysterical on pretty much every car journey as we had to regularly drive over one.

N0tNowBernard · 18/04/2017 15:23

Salsmum "my sisters flat abs"
Amazing typo. Unless you are genuinely afraid of your sister's abs. Confused

Zaphodsotherhead · 18/04/2017 16:50

I was left downstairs alone with the TV on and (I think) an episode of Crossroads came on... I remember a bed, something moving under the covers...

I ran screaming upstairs, and still don't know what it was that was moving, probably a kitten or something. But I was proper terrified.

Also noise of toilet flushing - always had to pull the chain and run (but always turn the bathroom light off before heading downstairs, and we weren't allowed the landing or hall light on... it was a traumatic upbringing!)

Mammylamb · 18/04/2017 16:52

The witch in stingray. And the skeleton for an advert (think it was for videotape).

Charlie97 · 18/04/2017 19:22

Christmas crackers!! Nasty bloody things! I had to hide in the cupboard whilst they were pulled!!!

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 18/04/2017 21:19

I remember that Skeleton. Mammy.
He was very cute. I thought.

Wettingthetopbunkbed · 18/04/2017 21:56

Automatic doors, I thought they would cut me in half! Blush
Also flushing the toilet in case a red hand came out and pulled me down, still feel kind of scared of that- people always comment how quick I am going to the toilet!! Blush Blush

Sammysquiz · 18/04/2017 22:19

Static electricity on clothes. I didn't know what it was and had some hideous pyjamas made out of some synthetic material which would occasionally crackle and make tiny sparks when I moved in bed. Was sure my bed was going to catch fire so would try and lie very still.