To ask what you were terrified of as a child

[pinksuede]

NC for this one as I've told some colleagues about these before.
What were you terrified of as a kid that would make you laugh today ?

I was scared of the 'radiator man'. I would lay in bed at night and hear the tinkles and pops of the radiator as it was warming up next to me. I would imagine that it was the radiator man crawling through the pipes to come and get me in my sleep. He was entirely made up of cylindrical tubes of metal, his fingers were long pipes and his body was really slim but long and shiny.
I would literally scream for my DM to come to my room and make sure my radiator was turned off before I went to bed because I was absolutely terrified that he could get to me.
It wasn't until I was in year 7 at school that I told my brother about it and he laughed and laughed at me and said he had never heard of the radiator man. Up until that point I completely believed he was real. I had clearly made it all up in my own head and couldn't believe that no one else had heard of him.

Another one was giants, I was so petrified of them I would look around my room on a night before bed for hiding places where I could go if a giant managed to get his hand through my window. My favourite place to hide was at the bottom of a fancy dress box right at the bottom underneath all of the clothes. Again, I was convinced giants existed until I was about 10! 😂

Would love to hear other people's fears as a child that were completely unfounded.

I was terrified of flushing the toilet. I was convinced I would get sucked in.

My sister was terrified of those big fluffy feather dusters :o

😂😂 I know someone who's child currently is afraid of the flushing toilet too ! Absolutely no idea why until now.

When I was little, my mum happened to mention that we’d had a letter from the water company and we weren’t to spend as long in the shower (A big bill, I get that now!) At the time, I took this to mean that something awful was going to come and get me if I loitered so I spent months hopping in and out of the shower bloody terrified!

Popped balloons terrified me when I was little, I thought the balloon ghost was going to get me. No idea why

I thought my mum and dad turned into werewolves when I went to bed , God knows where it came from , I never got out of bed until morning just in case they 'got' me !

The pinhead guy on the front of the Hellraiser video cover (not surprising really), my Mum and Dad had to keep it hidden under the stairs so I didn't see it but I had sneaky cousins who would show it to me when parents weren't there!

The pink slime in Ghostbusters 2 (that will totally out me, hello DSis if you're reading 😂)

That moment when it comes out of the bath tub and tries to snatch Oscar the baby? Fucking terrifying. Still find it very uncomfortable watching it.

I was terrified of demons when I was 11 thanks to watching The Exorcist. Cried alot over that.

Also bizarrely the toilet at pre school... the flush was very scary. It just seemed huge compared to the one we had at home.

Dogs and going down stairs in the middle of the night.

That Stephen King film with the clown hiding in street drain channel things

Urgh Christ makes me feel weird thinking about drains now

Not the toilet flushing, but I was scared of getting sucked down the plug hole in the bath 😂 I used to share a bath with my younger sister and would insist she took the plug end as I wouldn't have my bum over it!

My parents used to let us watch horror movies and we watched the House series (anyone remember that from the 80s?!) and in (I think) House IV there was a scene with a possessed singing pizza. I was terrified of this for years! I wouldn't open the box if we got takeaway pizza 😂

Darth Vader.

Terrible asthma and a lightsaber to slice you

Stigmata and amputated limbs. I used to sit in church terrified and checking my palms every few seconds till my sister finally pointed out that as someone who didn’t believe in God I’d be the last person chosen. And the amputation I think just frightened me as I couldn’t cope with the idea of being separated from part of my body, it was a lot to get my head around then.

Car washes.
Windscreen wipers.

Yes, really. No idea why.

@Oddcat That’s so dark!!

I was scared rigid of those big round orange security cameras they had hanging from the ceiling in Homebase. Literally no idea why now.

I was convinced that there was a reasonably high chance of my dying by either tidal wave or dinosaurs.

I think it was because i had absorbed the general message that these things were “real”, and equated that to “might happen to me at any moment”. I’m still not entirely at ease standing next to the sea, now you mention it...

Flushing the toilet. I thought at one point jaws could come up and get me.
Then my older cousin made me watch The ghoulies one day. So i was terrified of them coming out of the toilet to get me, backfired on her though cause she was then always sent to stand in the laundry or kitchen while i was in the toilet after dark or i wouldnt go.

Also watched The gate and the one scene that stayed with me was when hands shot out from under the bed/couch and grabbed someones feet. I dont laugh at that now because i still run and jump into bed if its dark in my room and will not leave an arm/leg hanging over the edge of my bed...im in my thirties for gods sake....

I was terrified of being sick (weird)

And the Incredible Hulk. I truly believed he could get through the tv haha

Wallpaper in my bedroom...i could see 'faces watching me' in it.....( just a pattern but it was redecorated to plain magnolia after 6 months of hysteria ).

The gaps in between trains and the platform.

And blocked toilets as I thought they would never stop flooding and I would be washed away

Fear of being sick isn't weird. I still am as an adult

The theme tune to Doctor Who.
Worzal Gummidge.
Going upstairs in the dark.
Flushing the loo at night time.
Still being in the bath when the plug was pulled out.

A tree outside my bedroom window it would shadow and i t was bloody scary
Aunt Sally from wurzel gummage

Aaaggghhhh Aunt Sally....

Cookie Monster. I had horrific anxiety over exactly when he would lose his shit and go from normal to crazy stuffing cookies into his mouth.

I was really surprised it was only me that found him so disturbing!