To ask what irrationally scared you as a child? *lighthearted*

[liverbird10]

My mother insists I was terrified of the Chef from Sesame Street as a toddler, I would howl whenever he appeared on screen.

I was also petrified by the 2ft Bugs Bunny my brother bought me.

A few years later, it was the Gorgs from Fraggle Rock. I seem to have got over that fear though, my fella resembles a blond one slightly.

Was anybody else round here equally odd?

The vampire that lived in the laundry basket.

The tree roots that were volcanos.

The noise of the house settling at night that were burglars' footsteps.

And another one for the terror of quicksand (in suburban England)

(And another one blaming siblings' tall tales for all of the above)

Also, randomly, Lionel Blair.

I used to be terrified of those lanky street lights. Creepy fuckers with their long arms, too. Billy wind I used to call them. Don't know WTF I got that from
There was one outside my bed room window of all places, and i used to cry saying "Take him away.".

Wee Willie winkie. My mum used to say that he'd hook my out of bed if I wasn't asleep by 8. Thanks mum

The theme tune to the 999 programme.

Grotbags from Rod Hull & Emu

Sharks in the swimming pool.
I just did half a mile in my pool and even though I'm nearly 40 years old I still swam quicker when I had a "jaws" moment.

Public swimming pool filters. Terrified something would come out of them. Sharks most probably.

My DM was listening to a play on the radio, some sort of horror apparently, as at the end of the play the female character drove a nail into the side of her husbands head.

The sounds he made was, I realised years later, probably something like a tape recorder being played very fast, possibly backwards. Anyway that sounds stayed with me for months and scared the bejesus out of me.

I don't know how old I was, clearly old enough to understand the play, but far too young to be hearing that, I suspect, but things were a bit different in those days.

I'm 70 now but I've never forgotten it.

Toilet cisterns*

Drains*

Filters in pools*

Boiler in airing cupboard

Men with beards*

Suction tube part of vacuum cleaners

Wheelers from Return to Oz film

Tunnels under rivers*

Bridges over rivers*

Piers*

Gas fires* (back in the 80s my grandparents had one and I was convinced it would blow up at some point)

Priests

• = fear remains to this day!

My sister and her friends once told me there was a goblin living in the water tower near our house and it would come out to eat me if I walked within a direct view of it. I got so upset that a neighbour had to put me in her car and drive me 4 houses down the street so I wouldn't have to walk past! That tower still freaks me out to this day! 😂

Volcanoes. Utterly ignorant of geology, I eyed every little hillock with suspicion, and on holiday in Hereford feared Hereford's Knob would erupt at any moment.

Henry hoovers. I was terrified of them when I was little. I'm ok with them now though!

Abandoned water parks and theme parks, they just look so eerie

And I've no idea what stemmed it, but I used to be terrified of someone coming into my room and chopping my ears off and would sleep with the duvet covers pulled right up over the top of my head to cover my ears up. That must be something that's stayed with me because even to this day I still sleep with the duvet pulled over my head to cover my ears up and when I'm anxious or scared about something having my ears covered calms me down a little bit

The man on the Sandeman port bottles. When I was a kid there was a huge advertising hoarding near the local shopping centre and there he was in all his terrifying glory. I used to get upset every time I had to pass it.

Also, Transfer, the evil wolf in the Willy Fogg cartoon. He scared me shitless!

The x files theme tune. I saw the start of an episode when I was 7 or 8 and it was the only thing that really freaked me out, maybe if I had actually seen the whole episode it wouldn't have. I also went through a period of about a month, where I was scared of Hocus Pocus even though it was one of my favourite films before hand and it was still one of my favourite after that period, still don't really know why I was suddenly scared of it.
Oh and graveyards.

E.T. I was petrified, aged about 8. Doesn't help that my father thought I was being ridiculous and forced me to stay and watch until I became so hysterical that my mother intervened. I felt traumatised and refused to watch it until many years later.

Bagpuss

Also was in a department store in town with mum one day and fire alarm went off so all had to evacuate down emergency stairs when I was about 7. Refused to ever go back in there again for about 10 years!!

1. My mum use to have this painting of a French clown crying when I was a child, it really freaked me out.

2. chimmneys! When at primary school we learnt of the jobs children had to do and how some suffocated in them. I was always scared that someone was stuck in one.

3. The witches movie, not the whole film but the beginning scene with the girl trapped in the painting? Again that freaked me out and still makes me shudder.

4. the muppets Christmas carol: the little ghost girl (shudders)

I was petrified of road sweepers

Quick sand was a huge feat of mine, no idea how it got into my head as I've never come across it in my life. Sink holes were a whole new horror that I learnt about in my teens, I'm still petrified of that happening!

Plastercine and programs made of modeling clay.

Spiders coming out the toilet

Alf

My wardrobe door that looked like a face.

Mirrors

Would scream and refuse to walk on the pier because of the holes.

Custard

Teddy rukspin

I now realise I was scared of alot.

Oscar the Grouch
The crocodile in Punch and Judy
Crossing level crossings- I still run across them to this day.
Lawnmowers- the result of an over zealous home safety talk at school featuring a video in which somebody went over the cable for the lawn mower and electrocuted themselves.

The black rabbit of Inle in Watership Down. I was a traumatised, tear-stained, snotty mess leaving the cinema. Still can't hear "Bright Eyes" without feeling sick.

The theme tune from the X files used to put the shits up me like nothing else. Creepy as fuck.

My friends porcelain doll collection. She used to hide them under a blanket for me whenever I stayed the night otherwise I'd have nightmares

Mr blobby. He still creeps me out now though.

Baron Samedi from the Bond Film Live and Let Die. He is summoned and rises vertically from a grave and Roger Moore's Bond shots the side of his head off and his eyes look up to the missing part of his skull before he gets shot again and crumbles away to a pile of bones. Scared the shit out of me one Christmas that did.

Also the face melting scene when the ark is opened in Raiders of The Lost Ark.

Also C3PO from Star Wars. I used to have nightmares about his head cracking open. Shudder!

All PG films....oh the shame!

This one is daft:

I had come across the phrase ‘the Bermuda Triangle’, but for some reason I thought that it referred to an actual ghostly triangle that could materialise out of space and abduct people.

The curtains in my bedroom didn’t close properly, and formed a triangle of light at the top that was visible after dark. So for years I would go into my bedroom with my eyes tightly closed and grope to turn on the light, in terror of seeing the Bermuda Triangle which would carry me away if I looked at it. Apparently it couldn’t get me if I didn’t see it.

It’s a shame that I didn’t explain any of this to my parents, who would have been able to set me straight!

The rag and bone man 😵
Escalators
Moths
Falling down drains
Ladders

Ghosts appearing in mirrors or windows when it’s dark.

Someone suddenly behind me when walking around the house late at night - typically to do a wee

Bugs in my shoes - had to shake them upside down before I put my feet into them in case a spider or beatle was hiding in them!