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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
KeepingitReal2 · 16/04/2017 19:37

Any toilet... I have no idea why but remember being absolutely petrified of being alone in the toilets especially if large with lots of cubicles like you get in shopping malls

ElsaMars · 16/04/2017 19:38

1980s Casualty theme tune
Total irrational fear of the house catching fire for YEARS
The incredible hulk Envy

73kittycat73 · 16/04/2017 19:42

I used to be scared of going back in time to the stone age when I was falling asleep.
I was also scarred of my wallpaper as PP has said. I had to fall asleep looking at it or Superman (The pattern on the wallpaper.) would beat me up. I remember when my baby brother was born He had to share my room for a while until his was ready. I actually felt safe with him in there and had the best night sleep I had in ages.
I also had this thing where if I looked at someone and swallowed, I had to then cough them 'back up.' It was like a piece of them had got in me and I had to get them out.
I've got more, I know I sound like an anxious child, and I obviously was, but I had a lot of trauma in my childhood. I've only ever 'spoken' of these things to others as part of therapy.
Oh, just remembered on a lighter note. My brother had been given a bottle of bubble bath in the shape of He-Man. He was placed on the window ledge of the bathroom. When I used to use the loo I would turn He-Man around so he couldn't see me doing my business! lol

Lindorballs · 16/04/2017 19:44

Charn from through the dragons eye which was an educational programme shown in schools in the late 80s. Terrifying

IJustGotHitByADeer · 16/04/2017 19:46

The ITV 'Weathergens' terrified me. I was 4 years old in 1998, they all scared me but the one that really made me run from the telly screaming for my mum begins at 4:44 in this video

tinglyfing · 16/04/2017 19:46

Theme music to Tales of the Unexpected
An old oil tank at the bottom of the garden
Holes in tree trunks
Tom Baker

AgentCooper · 16/04/2017 19:49

Sea creatures, mainly squids and octopuses, those mad bottom feeding ones that are see through, rays, basking sharks. And I'm still terrified of them! I totally inherited that fear from my mum, who is the same. My dad foolishly took us to a bargain bin Seaworld on holiday when I was 7 and my mum started crying, so I followed suit Grin and from then on was terrified of creatures of the deep.

Sproglets · 16/04/2017 19:51

Getting on or off an escalator, I remember my Dad having to pick me up so that I wouldn't get eaten by the teeth!
Flushing the toilet at night, but it was okay if you stuck your fingers in your ears so that you couldn't hear the noise.

topcat2014 · 16/04/2017 19:54

Lawnmowers the council used - ie the big ones that got pushed along verges.

Caravans and small boats - not helpful given that GPs had a static caravan on the Norfolk broads.

mumoseven · 16/04/2017 20:08

Precocious reader, which led to reading books beyond my emotional/ mental age.
Pan horror books specifically.
No wonder I couldn't sleep!
Also saw a terrifying Wuthering heights film with a floating Cathy knocking on the window 'Let me in!!'

ShakyMilk · 16/04/2017 20:09

Casualty theme tune. Had to be out of the room. It absolutely terrified me.

user1471545174 · 16/04/2017 20:10

The Hobyahs! I thought I 'd dreamt this up - terrifying Grin I sort of enjoyed them as well, though.

ShakyMilk · 16/04/2017 20:11

High fives ElsaMars re: 80s Casualty. There was a horrific one when someone got a badminton racquet through the neck. Yikes!

tshirtsuntan · 16/04/2017 20:14

A page in a colouring book with a picture of a crocodile floating down a river on an inner tube, terrified Confused also, there was a scrap metal place which had a figure made from junk hanging outside, the face was a circular saw blade. I really thought it was going to jump down and chase me.

TheCatsWhiskers · 16/04/2017 20:16

A BBC programme for children called moondial https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moondial(TVV_serial)

It really scared me and I didn't sleep properly for at least a year after watching it.

I can't remember what I found so scary about it now Hmm

sems · 16/04/2017 20:19

The never ending story and the labyrinth. Both films scared the shit out of me

Davros · 16/04/2017 20:20

Whistling. Why, just why?!

RubbishMantra · 16/04/2017 20:27

@MrsScrubbingbrush - my cat just leapt off my lap with the awfulness of that song you mentioned, about the bloke going mad because his dog left him.

I remember it, so had to have a listen.

sniffle12 · 16/04/2017 20:51

Haha to all the Casualty theme tune haters - think it's a classic now but you're right there was something so creepy about it.

ElsaMars I also had an irrational fear of fires... that I'm still not sure was all that irrational! All my relatives were big on smoking and deep fat fryers, and I only recently found out that my auntie whose house we often slept over at, and which had a coal fire (which terrified me), didn't even have a smoke alarm!

Thank god I didn't know that at the time as I was already scared enough!

Sweetheartyparty76 · 16/04/2017 20:55

The Incredible Hulk, I had nightmares where I would turn green if he got hold of me. I'd hide upstairs behind the bedroom door if it on was on TV.
Also, I used to have really scary nightmares of a man who used to really stamp his feet coming up the stairs and would grab me and tickle my back. I never saw his face but it was terrifying

Wriggler79 · 16/04/2017 21:14

Loved Pan horror books in my early 20s. The myrhh verse of We Three Kings was my favourite bit! Beautifuly horrible.
The film of Marianne Dreams is scary, especially the bit where she draws her dad but scribbles over his eyes.
I was scared of a Moomins episode, one where some kind of monster was chasing them? This thread has reminded me of the only Dr Who episode I ever got to see when younger. I remembered it had some cat-like people in it, and that one of them turned back to being human after being stabbed with a big tooth, and just before dying. It made me really sad, and I've always remembered it. Just googled it and it was about the Cheetah people, apparently!

FlouncingInTheRain · 16/04/2017 21:20

Jesus. He's watching you, he can see your every move. Gave me nightmares for years. Who needs the bogey man when you've got a devout religious primary teacher to inflict religion on you.

Flopjustwantscoffee · 16/04/2017 21:30

The lord of the dark settee (I misheard the lyrics of "I am the lord of the dance said he")

RubbishMantra · 16/04/2017 21:34

And the theme music of Coronation Street. Horrible.

glitterglitters · 16/04/2017 21:35

Pylons. There was an advert in the 80s where they started walking around and stuff. Even now I feel like they might come and get me.