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.

ioki !!!!!! Windscreen wipers! Me too!

The ghosts in Scooby Doo. Not the monsters, only actual ghosts.
Venger in Dungeons and Dragons.
Vampires
Witches
Ghosts
Toilet flush
Nightmare on Elm St posters
Headless horseman
Hooded monk
Dark wardrobes
Sticking your feet over the edge or end of the bed

Oh and The Crow Man in Worzel Gummidge.

Barney. That big purple blighter was terrifying.

All these worzel gummidge references have reminded me - Return to Oz - specifially the Wheelers and the queen with a corridor of heads she’d chopped off beautiful young women (whom she’d turned into statues) that she chose from every morning. How the fuck did that film get released for children?

I can't remember the crow man in wurzel gummage i must have blocked it out !

Swallowing apple pips. I would not eat an apple that had not been chopped into quarters.

@PlinkPlink

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.

Had to halt reading the thread and post this after I read yours to say I completely agree with you. I was absolutely TERRIFIED of that part and i used to beg not to have baths or go swimming in case it got me. That horrible picture of the man with the white hair too 😭 How that was considered a family friendly film I never know. I only ever watched it once but I can still remember that pink slime. Morbidly, I want to seek it out on YouTube now

Ok, back to the thread

Vampires - as a child, I unintentionally caught some of Salems Lot on TV and I didn’t get over the fear until was in my 20s (when Dracula with Gary Oldman was released ).

Snakes in the toilet, you sit down and a snake slithers up the ubend and kills you when at your most vulnerable

Passwordfailure I’m shuddering at this...I’d love to say this was limited just to my childhood, it’s really irrational but still pops into my head sometimes when I’m taking care of bathroom business!

Dusty Bin. Absolutely petrified!

xiaoxiong Rascar Capac?
Yes, I found him scary. He's still scary when I read it as an adult, but weirdly my childrenwho are scared of everything ever weren't perturbed by him

For me, it was the witch down the loo that would grab your bottom if you sat on there too long!

I think I was a weird child...

The Crow Man in Worzel Gummidge.

@UpstartCrow
I used to work with someone who got stuck in a lift with a workman.
They were in there for some time and he was desperate for a wee.
He pissed in her lunch box (her suggestion)
Never laughed so much as when she told that story. But been paranoid about never getting in a lift when I need a wee.
The struggle is real.

The snake thing happened to my cousin as a child! She wasn’t bitten but when she got off the toilet and went to flush it there was a snake in the toilet bowl!

Mine are:

Car washes
Trevor McDonald
The channel 4 logo before American Football was aired with the bull huffing (does anyone remember that)?
Pink slime and evil white haired man from ghostbusters
Grates at the bottom of swimming pools (I think most kids were scared of those)
Ghosts. So much so that I would “talk” to them at night, trying to make friends and tell them not to come and see me but I still wanted to be friends

My hearbeat

Daleks
Triffids
Deep sea - courtesy of The Poseidon Adventure

Daleks

I wasn't scared of them but I used to think Orthodox Jews were all professors because they looked like the character from Tin Tin!

Heights/spiders etc everything I was a wuss. Still am tbh.

Clowns - I had a ragdoll clown when I was younger that I was terrified of, and my DM had shoved it in the cupboard in our room out of the way. I was petrified of it coming out of the cupboard to get me in the night. I still am terrified of clowns.

Dolls - I still dislike them. My Dgran used to buy me porcelain dolls, and I swear their eyes would follow you round the room :(

Red Indians.

The Long Man of Wilmington. We lived about 50 miles away but I reckoned he could be in my house in about 5 paces. Still not keen 50 years on.

sussexpast.co.uk/properties-to-discover/the-long-man

Child catcher in chitty chitty bang bang!! Terrified me for years

The dark and ghosts.

I remember being scared of my Nana's bath and I am not sure why