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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:
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14
Awwlookatmybabyspider · 16/04/2017 14:00

Nuns used to terrify the life out of me.
Pylons. I'm still not thrilled about the fuckers now. My curiosity got the better of me abs I ended up watching The march of Pylons. Creepy as fuck
The toilets in my junior school. Well not so much the toilets the steps that lead down to them.
Spiral Stair cases.
The song oranges and lemons.

sashh · 16/04/2017 14:01

My Nana's lino.

Just inside the door there was lino mostly covered by a rug, then carpeted stairs straight ahead and living room door to the right.

It had a shell pattern, of cowrie shell, like a photo not a drawing and I was convinced if I stepped on them they would bite.

MrsScrubbingbrush · 16/04/2017 14:01

Many many years ago there was a novelty song out called 'They're coming to take me away. Ha ha' about somebody who thought they were going mad & would be taken away to 'the funny farm' because they'd been abandoned by their dog.

I was petrified in case our dog run off & I'd go mad.. I'm sure my lovely older DB helped put the idea in my mind.

He also told me that if you couldn't say supercallifragilisticexpeallidocious they wouldn't let you into the cinema to see Mary Poppins. I spent the whole trip to the cinema panicking because I couldn't say & I would be left outside while DM, DF & DB saw the film.😢

MyOtherNameIsTaken · 16/04/2017 14:02

Escalators. Especially the steep ones in the London Underground. Used to scare the pants off me! Many a nightmare that I had somehow slid underneath and was trapped.
I still don't like them but at least I don't have the screaming abdabs when I see one!

JustDanceAddict · 16/04/2017 14:03

I was also scared of beards as a child

JaceLancs · 16/04/2017 14:05

The child catcher in chitty chitty bang bang terrified me

bertsdinner · 16/04/2017 14:05

Mine was water tower you could just see the corner of from my grans living room window. I called it the bump, and was so terrified of it they had to draw the curtains so I couldn't see it. I envisioned it as a kind of concrete scoop on top of a long pole, that would hop along and get you in it's scoop.

Anasnake · 16/04/2017 14:08

Cows

citychick · 16/04/2017 14:09

Yes...the child catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang too.
Still gives me the chills and I'm 46! Blush

DanyellasDonkey · 16/04/2017 14:10

Didgeridoos - I once watched an episode of Skippy that had somebody playing one and it was really creepy.

I hated the song "Lord of the Dance" because I thought the words were."and I'll eat you all in the dance said he" instead of lead. I had this vision of a big man going around eating small children Hmm

SparklyUnicornPoo · 16/04/2017 14:13

Ring a ring a roses. DB2 told me it was about plague when i was about 6 and from then on everytime i heard it i saw sad little ghost children skipping around and at we all fall down they'd ask me why i wasn't dead too and start pulling me to the ground, then I'd wake up screaming.
Country lanes because of a ghost story DB2 told me, this would have been less of an issue if I hadn't grown up in the middle of nowhere.
Stairs with gaps in, DB2 grabbed my ankle as i walked up some once, i was totally convinced there were trolls trying to pull me under.
Mirrors, because DB2 told me about Bloody Mary.

I think I should have just been scared of DB2 to be honest

MyOtherNameIsTaken · 16/04/2017 14:14

A book called "marianne dreams" in which a girl who is ill in bed for ages does lots of drawings during the day which became her nightmares when she goes to sleep. And mine, too! Really petrified me.

lizzieoak · 16/04/2017 14:15

That damn child-catcher from CCBB!

My cupboard - I was sick with a fever and thought there were scary animated puppets in there and so had a lingering suspicion of the cupboard after that.

Women in burkas. I saw some women, with the little metal grill over their eyes, in Harrods when I was about 9 & they scared the bejesus out of me. I had no idea why they are dressed like that & it really frightened me (early 1970's, so not a common site at all, first time for me).

IjustbelieveinMe · 16/04/2017 14:16

I was scared of the gap in my bedroom curtains at night (the curtains didn't fit properly) because I thought God was a giant who walked past houses late at night and could see me in my bed...

StorminaBcup · 16/04/2017 14:16

mirime thanks! I'll have a look on YouTube and see if I can revisit it! Martin Clunes in gold hot pants Grin

rory12 probably not that irrational!

ladylunchalot1 · 16/04/2017 14:20

We used to watch a series at school called Dark Towers and it scared me no end!

228agreenend · 16/04/2017 14:25

I remember being told in PE by a Daniel (junior school) that if you lie on your front, your rib cage would break. Felt nervous about laying on my front for years afterwards.

IjustbelieveinMe · 16/04/2017 14:26

My other-I read Marianne Dreams too and it terrified me!! I seem to remember it was made into a tv show but I might be imagining it.
Another thing I remember is a babysitter letting me watch 'The Entity' when I was 9. I swear to god I didn't sleep on my back ever again until I was 14.

Original poster
user1491572121 · 16/04/2017 14:28

LadyLunch that's available on Youtube! I love it!

I also found this terrifying!

OP posts:
Whiterabbitears · 16/04/2017 14:28

I hated E.T, his neck in particular. I remember hiding under the table in fear when it was on T.V! I was also scared of the pink monster from monster munch crisps, there used to be an advert on telly with him in and I was terrified of him. I didn't like the Disney film Pinniochio either, the scenes where the boys change into donkeys is horrible! And when he is kidnapped by the puppeteer, I still don't like that film now.

CatTheMouse · 16/04/2017 14:28

Repeated loud noise scared me. My mum used to play loud music in the car and I had to hide under a blanket to block it out. Still hate anything like loud music or drilling, even in tiny bursts.

I also used to have to scrunch my feet right up to my body in bed because there were snakes at the bottom and they might get my toes. Weirdly this never led to a fear of snakes and I now have several.

harderandharder2breathe · 16/04/2017 14:29

The Neverending Story - not something in it, I never saw it, I was afraid I would be forced to keep watching it forever and ever, truly Neverending!

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 16/04/2017 14:30

I remember Dark Towers, and That creepy fucker 'Wordy.' That used to float around.

Huldra · 16/04/2017 14:31

The toilet at night time because a witch could rise up out of it and poke me in the bum with the pointy hat.

Shockers · 16/04/2017 14:33

Tights on the radiator!