What things irrationally scared you as a child?

[DeliveryGodNoah_v1legacy]

As a child, I remember being terrified of a lot of things that seem trivial today.

For example, my grandparents had a rather large nutcracker soldier. The first time they tried to show it to me, I ran away screaming in fear and refused to reenter the room until it was hidden away. It would be awhile before I'd see it again, unfortunately the next time I saw it was actually in the basement.

I was also quite afraid of the Talk-back Macaw bird toys. Whether it was the erradic way it moved or how it loudly up pitched whatever noises it heard, I wouldn't get near one of those things and frequently remember having nightmares of the toy coming alive and attacking me. (as well as my other toys)

I also distinctly remember one Christmas my father tried to give me a rather large string puppet of this bird like thing? If someone can help me remember what it was, that'd be great, but all I remember is screaming in terror as he walked it out and then I never saw it again (likely because he took it back to the store).

Anyway, what odd things were you afraid of as a child?

 

[Zontar]

This fucker.

Sounds stupid now, but when I was a kid and my parents brought me to the screening of that movie, that guy scared the shit out of me.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Boat rides in dimly lit caves.


I remember once during a family vacation we took a ride inside of a pristine cave but the boat we took it in was too small and rickety for my nerves so I was crying basically the entire way through. I thought we were gonna fall at any moment due to just how rickety the boat was and it's not even that I was scared of falling into water as I loved swimming and whatnot but for some reason that damn cave scared the hell out of me.

 

[SmugFrog]

I was up late one night when I was about 3 and this came on the TV:


I thought a portal to hell was opening. Jesus it's even worse with that added on subscribe ending there. It was many years until I could hear the Dr. Who theme song and not freak out.

 

[Baffle]

Zelda from Terrahawks. Dirty puppet ************.

 

[Hawki]

I'll have you know that the T-Rex in the Genesis Jurassic Park game was a perfectly legitimate threat, and I was well justified in running out of the room. Just as how Dr Robotnik terrified my 3/4 year old self in Sonic 1, leading me to try and go 'under' the level and dying.

Oh, and bridges. Every time I'd go under a bridge I'd try and hide, afraid it would fall on me. Especially the Sydney Harbour Bridge, any time I was on a ferry, I'd hide insight the boat when it went under it.

 

[happyninja42]

These motherfuckers:


And this delicious bit of nightmare fuel


And not to forget, their henchbugs that creeped me the fuck out big time when I saw this, the Garthim, that were just fucking creepy as shit. Sadly I can't find any good clips of their bits in the film that were quite unsettling at the time.

Aahh...the 80's, when PG meant it contained shit that would fuck you up for years, or send you into a depressive cry fest over a character dying horribly. RIP Optimus.

 

[Aeshi]

I might regret admitting this, but the old THX intro.

You know the one... VVVWWWWWWMMMMMM!!!

I used to hide behind the sofa whenever I was watching something that had that at the beginning.

 

[DeliveryGodNoah_v1legacy]

I might regret admitting this, but the old THX intro.

You know the one... VVVWWWWWWMMMMMM!!!

I used to hide behind the sofa whenever I was watching something that had that at the beginning.

I know quite a few people were startled from that. I just listened to it now, and I can actually understand why. It starts out downpitching for starters, and then just quickly gets higher and higher from there. Most likely you'd have the sound up loud from the start too. It's sort of anxiety inducing even now as an adult.

 

[Borty The Bort]

Mahatma Gandhi. Don't ask.

Also, the Pixar intro. I used to think for some reason that when the light bulb stand looked at the screen, it would annihilate my soul.

I might regret admitting this, but the old THX intro.

You know the one... VVVWWWWWWMMMMMM!!!

I used to hide behind the sofa whenever I was watching something that had that at the beginning.

I used to do the exact same thing. Whoever implemented that intro needs to pay reparations to the children harmed.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

The Truman show! This movie fucked me up for years. I was so paranoid my life was a TV show and everything I did was being watched by millions of people, an my entire family and friends were in on it. I kept trying to catch cameras or odd events or lead conversations to get people to drop hints.


Its actually a really horrifying movie.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Let see-

That Simspon episode when Selma wanted a baby and she dated Moeman. that scene when Moeman going to kiss him as if he's kissing the screen scared the hell out of me!

Concept of death. You can blame my brother for that and my lack of maturity to fully understand and accept it.

Spoiler: Also this at 5.05

Seriously, I don't know why the Showgirl boss scared me!!

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

My dad liked to play music in the basement, aka our main entertainment center, when I was young. One of the most common songs was Michael Jackson's Thriller. Guess what part of the song I was terrified to get to?

The weird thing is the rest of the song I enjoyed, despite the album cover having some extremely grotesque artwork.

Less irrational but more topical would be an initial fear of Power Rangers' Lord Zedd in his Season 2 debut. Apparently this fear was shared by a number of other kids since he was toned down over time over parental concerns.

 

[WindKnight]

The Lou Ferrigno Hulk

Sram from TerraHawks... but only one episode for some reason. I can't remember which one exactly, but he legit terrified me in that one specific episode, while in all the others he didn't bother me at all.

 

[Aeshi]

I know quite a few people were startled from that. I just listened to it now, and I can actually understand why. It starts out downpitching for starters, and then just quickly gets higher and higher from there. Most likely you'd have the sound up loud from the start too. It's sort of anxiety inducing even now as an adult.

I used to do the exact same thing. Whoever implemented that intro needs to pay reparations to the children harmed.

I was honestly expecting this to be one of those "Oh come on, really?" deals. Now I actually feel a little bit better!

 

[Zhukov]

But really, can you fucking blame me?

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Massive industrial isolated (no people in them) buildings/structures. They really intrigued me at the same time too funnily enough.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

The game "Microsurgeon" for the Intellivision. How could some game in 1982 disturb someone, you ask? Well, this was the box art:

And then you had to go through this barely-recognizable representation of a human body, with that ever-present heartbeat:


For a seven-year-old kid, that's pretty disturbing stuff!

 

[Glongpre]

Social situations.

Oh wait, those still scare me....

Ummm, prob the boogeyman in my closet because of the boogeyman movie. Always checked to make sure my door was closed for a while, haha.