What scared you as a kid...?

[groomporter]

Besides the normal things, are there any specific things that "tweaked" you as a kid? Also, did you have any rituals that you used to deal with things that frightened you?

I just listened to the story "Tattletale" on the Dunsteef podcast http://dunesteef.com/2010/10/13/episode ... er-fisher/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and it got me thinking about things that scared me as a kid and thought if people had similar things they want to share it might inspire stories or at least atmosphere to remember thinking as a child.

The closet door.
I got to the point as a young kid where I realized that it was best if the closet door was closed tight, or wide open. If it was just open a couple inches it was easier to imagine that it was moving/opening in the middle of the night.

odd facial features/dolls
My mother had a little Xmas elf that would sit on a living room table. She made with a red and green felt costume and the head was a styrofoam ball, but she had used star-shaped sequins pinned to it's face as eyes. When I was at a certain age I didn't like to be alone in the same room with it. I've read as an adult that people who are trained as clowns are taught when doing their make-up to make the corners of their mouths round not pointed, because there's something about pointed corners to the mouths that scares kids, so I assume my problem with the star-shaped eyes of the elf was something similar.

Speaking of clowns
I used to work in a public library and when we had summer programs we would have parents call to ask what age the programs were aimed at. If it was a clown I started telling people if their child was afraid to sit on Santa's lap they were probably too young or too sensitive for close-up clown act.

Turning off the lights/basements attics.
Our TV was in the basement for most of my years as a child, but the switch for the stairway light was at the top of the stairs. When I was old enough to stay home alone for an evening if my parents went out for dinner, but still young enough to spook myself, I would sometimes go to the top of the stairs to turn on that light before turning off the TV and the other lights in the basement. If I didn't, I was in the dark for a moment as I walked to the stairs and up to the kitchen. More than once when I forgot to turn on the stairway light I found myself imagining something could come out of the newly formed darkness, or the from the dark laundry room door that was at the bottom of the stairs. On those occasions I sometimes found myself speeding up as I moved towards the stairs and reaching a dead run by the time I reached the lighted kitchen at the top.

[Etaan]

I remember a period where I was genuinely scared of going for car rides. The reason? I couldn't get the imagined image of my mom's fingers being caught in the slamming door out of my head. I was certain that one of these times it was finally going to happen and our family simply wouldn't survive her devastating impairment.

Ironically (I think?), I'm now married to a woman with very limited use of her fingers.

[Goldenrat]

Clowns. I was in a summer program the library put on and one day they had a clown come in and I freaked out. They had to call my parents to come get me. Can't remember what age I was or many details but I just remember how big and freakish he seemed.

Mirrors. When I was in second or third grade all the rage at kid get-togethers was "Bloody Mary". We would get so wound up doing that routine that it started getting in my head and every time I looked in the mirror I was afraid I would see Bloody Mary.

[ROU Killing Time]

"If I should die before I wake..." WTF, Die? You're telling me that's a possibility I need to worry about? Gimme a break, I'm only 4 years old!!!

[tbaker2500]

LOL! Good to see ya ROU.

[Mikes]

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Or more specifically The Kiddy Catcher from the film. I swear the guy was coming to take me. My mum tells me I used to scream the house down whenever the film came on.

Speaking of clowns, I've never been really that scared by them, but my wife has a whiteface clown about a foot tall that,, when she was a little girl, would wind up and rock back and forth on its bottom and laugh a jolly laugh.

That, however, was 25 years ago. now the red and black paint over its white face has run and when wound up will do nothing for an indeterminate period of time before convulsing like its having a fit and issuing a manic cackle.

I shit myself the first time she showed me it.

Now it's stored, safe and soudn in the garage, until my own kids misbehave. "No, daddy, no. Not Mr Whiteface, please!"

On a side note - Tattletale was awesome. Really gave me the chills, which is not easy these days.

[moonowl]

You are going to laugh at me.

E.T.

Everyone knew how much I loved sci-fi as a kid, so they showered me with gifts featuring the creepy wrinkled long necked monster. I was old enough to be ashamed of telling them he gave me the willies, so I used to hide the toys and stuff. Then my Mom made one of the latch hook wall hangings and put it down the dark creepy hallway to the bathroom...

[ROU Killing Time]

Good to see you too, Tom. I second that comment on the child-catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang... creeeepy, and I was at just the right age to be creeped out by it.

[groomporter]

I also went through a period when I didn't like having my bedroom door closed because the wood grain pattern of the veneer on the inside of the door formed a triangular shape that my over active imagination would turn into something like an evil wizard.

[groomporter]

My wife's aunt has been collecting art deco lamps of nude figures for few years. Most of them are stored in a spare bedroom of the old farmhouse that they live in and they apparently spook the grand sons.

[spiralmoons]

hi, new here...Stairs. Stairs scare me now and as child they were terrifying! mostly beacuse of my silly mom who loved to grab our legs on the way up for Sh*ts and giggles hahaha! And ya seeing doors and stuff look like they were moving in the dark used to bother me too.

[Mikes]

hi, new here...Stairs.

How do...

And stairs - good call. It reminded me of my parents house when I was 12. On the wall, at the top of the stairs, was a large portait of an English civil war cavalier.

Not unlike this one: http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl= ... 19&bih=506" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is the one reason I never got up in the night for a glass of water.

[Phenopath]

Scared or scarred... I was obviously terrified of Doctor Who as a child. However in retrospect, not so scary...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfhiqTuy ... re=related" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[tbaker2500]

Scared or scarred... I was obviously terrified of Doctor Who as a child. However in retrospect, not so scary...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfhiqTuy ... re=related" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Surely you were scared of the bad guys, not terrified of Dr. Who himself? And certainly not MY namesake?

[ROU Killing Time]

When I was 5 years old or so, "Thirteen Ghosts" scared the willies out of me... In particular, the bed with the lowering canopy that would smother it's occupant...