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.

The sword propped against the wall in the spare bedroom, which I could see through the partly opened door as I went downstairs.

And the foxes under my bed.

The foxes weren't real, but the sword was.

Yes @ioki

Me too!!! Car washes were terrifying!!!!!

The dark, I was actually frightened of the burglars rather than monsters etc, we were broken into a lot when I was growing up, I always thought they'd want to come into my room and steal my toys. I still don't sleep in the dark when I'm alone, my husband has always laughed at me for it!

She laces undone on escalators, my mum told me I'd get sucked in, totally bought it for many years.

My wallpaper. Seriously. My parents had to redecorate so that I would sleep in my bedroom and not scream about being eaten by 'the witch', who was actually Mrs Noah, of all people to accuse

I've remembered another one.
I wouldn't eat strawberries. I was terrified of the pips thinking that they were spikes.
I would sit watching my cousins eat them with sugar on and say "doesn't it hurt"
They were baffled.

Dogs.

Being sucked down the bath plug hole.

Anyone going up the stairs behind me. Still got that one.

Strawberry Ski yogurts i thought they had spiders in them for some reason?!
Also had an irrational fear of going upstairs by myself as i was convinced Ronald McDonald was hiding up there in wait...!

I wasn't necessarily scared of it but my dad told me a lie that if I swallowed chewing gum it would get into my stomach and stay there for life and that he had to have an operation when he was younger to pull it all out and it was as big as a basketball. He didn't.

another for watership down. absolutely traumatised me for months.
in fact, just popped on youtube to see why it was so bad, but can't even bring myself to watch it now (nearly 40).

the gargoyle dog thing from ghostbusters.

when DS1 was a toddler, he was terrified of the shapes from Mr Maker, tears, screaming the lot!

I used to be terrified of the Goosebumps TV show when I was younger (particularly the one with the Smacky the Dummy).

Also when I was around 7, I was adamant that a polar bear was going to come all the way to my house in Kent (which is where I lived at the time) to steal me away and eat me. This particular fear lasted for around 7 months and my poor mother had to reassure a rather hysterically me every night for hours that I wasn’t going to be devoured.

Punch and Judy. I'm still convinced it's one of the most evil things ever.

(Have no issues with normal kids stuff like clowns, the dark etc etc etc)

Oh and spiders. (They're aliens. Nothing on earth needs that many eyes or legs.)

And tbh both of these things still freak me out

Hand dryers! They seemed so loud and scary when I was younger 🙈

Scared of swallowing my tongue. I think it happened to a football player on grandstand. I spent days lying on my front with my tongue hanging out.

Haven't read the thread yet.
Mine are:

Windscreen wipers. (the sound of them in the car)
Bears. (not teddies, but bears that might me OUT THERE).
Ditto reindeer.
My GMs cookoo clock. (i wouldn't go in the room with it)
My GMs hoover. (i wouldn't walk past it)(it was a very old brown Kerby)
The darkness under the bed.

Now i'll read the thread :)

Burr muncher that's brilliant 😂🙈
I just thought it wrapped around your heart and you would die !

*ButtMuncher

Wee willie winkie?! Was there a nursery rhyme about him?! Petrified!

Also being burgled...

There used to be an advert on TV for Wookey Hole Caves with the famous Wookey Hole witch. I was terrified of it and used to leave the room whenever ads came on (my mum kindly accompanied me).

I was also really scared of The Incredible Hulk tv series, particularly when his eyes first changed

Grotbags!

Watership Down. DM thought it would be a lovely story about bunnies and left a 4 year old me to watch it. I STILL see the quivering faces of the rabbits trapped in the warren by dictator rabbit and the menacing combination of 'bright eyes'/ 'Hazel, the field is covered in blood!' in my nightmares!

The IRA shooting me and a boa constrictor coming out of the loo and chasing me downstairs after I flushed it.

Spontaneous combustion- I must have read about it somewhere and I was terrified it would happen to me

Nuclear war.
Being possessed by the devil.
Spontaneous human combustion.
The ozone hole.
My sister's Planet of the Apes bag.
Quicksand.
The closing credits of Lassie.
The Incredible Hulk.
The opening credits of Big John, Little John.

There are probably more. I was a morose little thing.

I was terrified of my grans old 👵🏼 hairdryer like those ones in old lady hairdressers that you sit under. She had one in the spare room where we used to stay and I wouldn't turn over in bed because in the dark it look like a monster. I made her move it out as I refused to sleep in there because of the hairdryer monster😂