What weird childhood fear do you still kind
of hold on to?.
looking out the windows at night, i’m petrified
that there will be someone there.
I don’t know how people calmly leave their
blinds curtains open at night!
They’re insane
That sensation that someone something is chasing
you in the dark.
Usually when I’m at home alone.
I don’t know what it is I just know that
it’s coming for me..
Usually when I have to turn off downstairs
lights.
I still run up the stairs to safety as quickly
as possible
A killer hiding behind the shower curtain.
This was a big one of mine too.
I used to always check when I went into the
bathroom, until there was a storm one night.
Growing up we had a huge St Bernard who was
terrified of thunder.
Whenever she heard it she ran straight for
the bathtub and jumped in.
I'm a deep sleeper, and thunder never wakes
me.
One night I wake up needing to pee and walk
into the bathroom.
As usual the shower curtain was open just
a little bit, more than enough to conceal
a killer.
Still half asleep, I pulled it open fully
just to be sure and our huge, 150 lb St Bernard
is sitting in the bathtub, staring up at me
like she was waiting for me.
I startle really easily, but when I saw that
I got that paralyzing kind of startle where
you don't jump, don't shout, you just freeze
and feel your stomach drop and your heart
rate triple.
Opening up the shower curtain and seeing anything
besides an empty tub was terrifying enough
that I've just decided to accept whatever
is on the other side of the curtain.
I miss that big ass dog.
There was a line in a Goosebumps book about
a monster eating your toes while you slept.
Bothered me enough as a kid that I still can't
sleep with my toes poking out of the blanket.
I'm 32..
I know that the thing under my bed doesn't
exist.
But I also know that if I keep my feet under
the blanket, it won't grab my ankle.
Stephen King
Going out in the dark outside.
Most of the time, it doesn't bother me.
However, there are some nights where it just
starts gnawing at the back of my mind, even
though I know the chance of anything happening
is slim to none and I scurry to and from where
I need to go..
Me and my friends were dumb back in the day
and the woods around our neighborhood were
super dense in the summer.
We decided to camp out in the woods.
As like 12 year olds. shut was terrifying.
Absolute silence broken up by snapping of
twigs slowly approaching the tent.
Basements.
They still give me the creeps..
Especially dark, unfinished basements.
Yikes
I'm still kinda scared of escalators.
My husband makes fun of me for it but I'm
scared something one is going to get caught
on them..
Years ago, my sister had crocs on and an escalator
sucked up the croc and almost got her foot.
I'm still scared of escalators.
Mirrors in the dark.
My grandmother instilled this one into me,
she was a very religious catholic Slovakian
immigrant and always had the mirrors in her
house covered up with blankets, some superstition
about them being a gateway for evil or something.
So it’s always in the back of my mind now.
Edit: A lot of folks are asking why she had
the mirrors at all.
From what I recall, she still used the mirrors
and would only cover them when she felt the
need to, due to her superstitions about spirits
in the house.
Okay, so hear me out.
I had a recurring nightmare as a child that
I had a nightmare and had to walk to my parents
room.
When heading to their room wolves would jump
out of our boiler closet and eat me so waking
up from that nightmare I would sit in bed
as apposed to going to my parents room as
I was too scared.
Still to this day when getting up to the bathroom
at night I think something will jump out from
behind a door and murder me..
> I had a recurring nightmare as a child that
I had a nightmare I hate these situations
in general.
Sometimes my dreams go so many layers deep
that even once I have woken up I’m unsure
if I actually have.
Drowning.
Suffocation.
Any death by lack of air.
I grew up with asthma and it sucks.
Same here.
I even get problems with scarfs or basicaly
anything touching my neck :D
i mean i can wear them but i generally dislike
the feeling
When there's no sounds.
Not even the ambience of say a highway or
a fan blowing.
Just utter silence.
Even to this day, when I'm in a setting like
that, I just start singing loudly and poorly..
Just get tinnitus noob
That if there is a chair in my room and I
open my eyes in the dark someone will be sitting
there..
Never considered this and now slightly creeped
out.
I knew piling clothes onto my chair had a
purpose!
Whenever the washing machine gets too loud
I think it will explode.
When I put too much in it and it starts shaking
I sit on top of it to try and stop the movement
and I will sit their panicking until it finally
finishes its cycle
None of them In childhood, health seemed guaranteed
At age 66, different story.
Isn't that the truth??
58 here.
Taking care of my elderly parents with dementia.
Old age is not for sissies.
sleep paralysis.
That happens to me when I'm super stressed
out.
I always 'see' the same man wearing a wide
brimmed hat trying to get to me.
Horrible, horrible feeling not being able
to scream or move.
Opening a can of biscuits.
I fear the pop.
If no one is around to do it for me I cope
by whacking the container hard into the corner
of the countertop to force pop it on my own
terms.
To muffle the sound I contort my neck sideways
to press one ear hard against my shoulder
and plug the other ear with my finger.
I also close my eyes, not sure why.
I’ve been told I look like I’m having
a seizure.
I'm convinced this will be how I die.
I'll be 84 years old, living alone with my
yippy little dog.
I'll pop the biscuits, have a heart attack,
and I'll be found a week later with my dog
haven eaten my face.
Those damn chickens.
Terrors that flap in the night
Knowing my parents will die one day.
This is the realistic fear that still gets
me really panicky.
Getting to my room and into bed as fast as
effing possible after turning the lights off.
I can’t let the Nightman get to me..
Sounds like you need some sort of champion
of the Sun
Being homeless..
Happy cake day.
Always be homeful
I am afraid of the pressure cookers . Especially
when they whistle out the steam.
The story is it my birthday and we were cooking
goat meat and the whistle got blocked and
it was kinda like a bomb from there.
One my friends mom was injured heavily when
one of the pressure cooker exploded so I had
a bit of fear already.
The fact that I could've died on my birthday
gave me a mental scar forever..
My aunt got pretty badly burned from a similar
situation and even the story has made me have
this story
I've always had a weird fear of windows, especially
when it's dark out and you can't really see
through them from the inside of a house.
Started when I was really young and we had
a huge window right at the front of the house
and anyone outside could see the entire living
room..
My friends and I used to fight not to sleep
near the living room windows at sleepovers
because of this
The deep parts in pools, I swear there is
a giant octopus shark waiting to eat me..
I somehow misread this as deep sharts and
thought oh yes we've all heard of some kid
pooping in a pool.
The deep sea scared me too with all the creatures
out there
Heights, stairs, loud noises, dad, a monster
in the toilet,.
Hol up
To be kidnapped by a paramilitary group in
the night.
Yep, usual fears of my childhood in Colombia.
Dolls.
My sister had this one that used to talk and
it had a creepy light in its chest.
I swear it used to start talking by itself.
I remember finding it talking one day in my
wardrobe, and I had no idea how it got there.
In hindsight it was probably my brother being
an asshole but at the time I was convinced
it was haunted or something.
I was terrified and didn’t want it anywhere
near my room so I flung it down the stairs.
Even now I find dolls creepy as shut.. if
you hadn't mentioned dolls, I would've thought
you were talking about a Furby.
Ever since the Monsters Inc. movie came out,
I've always had my closet door open a little
bit so they can't use their teleportation
doors..
I would pour sharp objects on the ground in
front of the closet to prevent their crawling
Driving on mountain roads..
Especially when another car is riding your
ass
Poor quality surfboards.
Growing up surfing as a kid I was told by
asshole older kids that sharks are attracted
to Real McCoy's, which are like the generic
name brand for blue foam surfboards for beginners
that you kinda start out on as a kid, so every
time I paddled out I was looking for sharks.
Then I finally got a real board for my 9th
birthday and thought I was invincible.
But whenever I see a kid's foam board... sharks..
Kinda off topic but I can't believe the generic
brand had the audacity to name themselves
The Real McCoy's
Car windows.
OKAY LET ME EXPLAIN!!
So when I was 5, I loved to draw on the car
windows of my brothers car with my finger
because it was winter and the windows got
all foggy.
Apparently he didn’t like that I was leaving
fingerprints on the windows, so he told me
that the chemicals on the windows would make
my fingers fall off.
I was mortified and I never touched a car
window ever again.
I even traumatized my friends by telling them.
Even to this day, I cannot touch a car window
without awkwardly wiping my hand off on my
shirt.
Thanks Jeo, you scarred me :). Aww no!
You must have been dead scared.
This reminds me of the episode of Arthur where
DW eats a green potato chip and Arthur and
Buster let her overhear that they are dangerous
and can kill you, to get back at her.
That my stuffed animals get sad when I don’t
pay attention to them.
I’m 23.
Join the club!
Every now and then, I’ll wake up stressed
because I forgot to do my homework study for
the big test..
SAME.
I'm not in education anymore so it's unrealistic
but I will have nightmares that I haven't
been to class all year and it's the day of
the final exams
Getting lost being alone and not being able
to find my way home.
Based purely on a nightmare I had as a kid
after moving to a new house.
The monsters in the pool.
I still can't go under for long before I feel
like there is something trying to get me.
Semi-random, but was that from that one are
you afraid of the dark?
Episode?
That aliens (grays) still watch me and visit
me while I sleep.
Recently found my old journal from preschool
(I would draw a picture and narrate my drawing,
teacher would write what I said).
Every.
Single.
Day.
I wrote about hanging out with aliens.
I remember being obsessed with aliens as a
kid, but I’m surprised no one was concerned.
I was about 4, and was with my grandmother
shopping one night.
It was store closing time, and a cashier made
the comment Any later, and we would have to
lock you in and keep you.
I always get edgy when a store is closing.
Despite having worked in retail a number of
times over the years.
ventriloquist dummies.
One of my friends had one sitting on a chair
in a spare bedroom at her house... facing
the bed! effing creepy.
Edit not shouting!
My dad is bipolar and unmedicated..
I remembered a moment from middle school the
other day.
My seventh grade math teacher was (quite)
bipolar.
I got glasses for the first time that year,
and one day I forgot them.
The teacher asked me a question about something
on the board, I sheepishly admitted I forgot
my glasses and couldn't see.
She ERUPTED, claiming I was doing it to mock
her and refused to let me walk closer to the
board or move on to another student.
At a certain point, I had to say, 'Look, I
understand you have to deal with a lot of
minor power plays by dumb kids, and remembering
my glasses is my problem, but I'm not...I'm
not gonna be able to read it if you won't
let me move closer.'
Looking back, it was so insanely obvious that
I had a bipolar parent and was used to talking
him down.
Nothing stranger than a 12-year old taking
pains to make sure an adult doesn't look at
them like some kind of authority to be rebelled
against.
Staring into the microwave will fry your eyes
or liver or something.
Still won't do it.
I remember when I was a kid there was an episode
of family guy where the old man was in the
closet watching Chris and around the same
time the Michael Jackson case was going on
so I had an irrational fear that Michael Jackson
would be hiding in my closet while I slept
and even though he’s dead i still have that
fear.
That would be even scarier dead micheal Jackson
creeping on you
As a kid when home alone I always heard one
of my parents calling my name when I’m well
aware they weren’t home.
It eventually got the point where I would
jump when I heard my name loudly sometimes.
If you sneak up on me and say my name to try
and scare me, I will hold a grudge because
that scares the shut out of me.
Am I the only one who had this issue of hearing
your name from someone you know isn’t home?.
Apparently this is a thing the brain does
sometimes.
It remembers a similar situation where you're
used to hearing your name called and kind
of replays that
