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Scariest Programme When You Were A Kid (Or Indeed A Nipper)?

When I was about four or five, there was a Twilight Zone episode that creeped me out. It featured a weird old lady living on the bayou or some such place, and for some reason she had this jar with all sorts of stuff in it, in some kind of liquid I think. There was much concern over the jar, a big gallon size pickle jar or something of the sort. It was involved in some kind of curse, or zombie type thing. I imagined all sorts of things in there, including eyeballs. We saw this on a small black and white TV so it was mostly all implied that the jar contained stuff I didn't want to know about. I'm surprised it was on while I was in the room. That's about all I remember.

In later years, I brought up the episode in casual conversation and learned I was far from the only little kid to be freaked out by the jar. I'm pretty sure I saw the episode, or most of it, on reruns after I was grown up, and it seems like it was pretty subtle (for the Twilight Zone) and not really scary. Just weird.

Now I'll warm up the googlizer and see what I can find!

Later--
Well it looks like it was an Alfred Hitchcock show based on a short story by Ray Bradbury. That's a potent combination for atmospheric drama. I'll have to watch it again. In the daytime. Grandma loved to watch Hitchcock, so it was surely on the TV because she wanted to watch it. It aired in '64, so I was a bit older than I remembered being. Alfred did some amazing things. Pretty much all of it that I saw scared the hell out of me when I was a kid.
 
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One of the very few TV offerings I currently make a point to engage is a 1.5 hour block of reruns on an interstitial / ephemeral broadcast network (MeTV). From 0030 - 0200 (EDT) every weeknight they broadcast a classic Twilight Zone followed by 2 installments of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

IMHO it's the best block of TV programming currently available.

I'm consistently astounded by the quality of both programs, even though I've seen most of the episodes dating all the way back to their original runs.

The big surprise lies in being reminded how Alfred Hitchcock Presents occasionally drifted across the boundary from 'crime vignette' to 'semi-Fortean weird real life scenarios' and even to occasional 'paranormal' story lines.

There have been occasions when I've tuned into the middle of an episode in progress (without situation awareness on the clock time) and not been sure which program I was watching.

Damn, I miss anthology series ... :(
 
EnolaGaia said:
One of the very few TV offerings I currently make a point to engage is a 1.5 hour block of reruns on an interstitial / ephemeral broadcast network (MeTV). From 0030 - 0200 (EDT) every weeknight they broadcast a classic Twilight Zone followed by 2 installments of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

IMHO it's the best block of TV programming currently available.

I'm consistently astounded by the quality of both programs, even though I've seen most of the episodes dating all the way back to their original runs.

The big surprise lies in being reminded how Alfred Hitchcock Presents occasionally drifted across the boundary from 'crime vignette' to 'semi-Fortean weird real life scenarios' and even to occasional 'paranormal' story lines.

There have been occasions when I've tuned into the middle of an episode in progress (without situation awareness on the clock time) and not been sure which program I was watching.

Damn, I miss anthology series ... :(
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A bit of hopefully good news for you then Enola, a new The Twilight Zone is on the way ..


http://www.aintitcool.com/node/80925

 
EnolaGaia said:
One of the very few TV offerings I currently make a point to engage is a 1.5 hour block of reruns on an interstitial / ephemeral broadcast network (MeTV). From 0030 - 0200 (EDT) every weeknight they broadcast a classic Twilight Zone followed by 2 installments of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

IMHO it's the best block of TV programming currently available.

I'm consistently astounded by the quality of both programs, even though I've seen most of the episodes dating all the way back to their original runs.

The big surprise lies in being reminded how Alfred Hitchcock Presents occasionally drifted across the boundary from 'crime vignette' to 'semi-Fortean weird real life scenarios' and even to occasional 'paranormal' story lines.

There have been occasions when I've tuned into the middle of an episode in progress (without situation awareness on the clock time) and not been sure which program I was watching.

Damn, I miss anthology series ... :(
Click to expand...

Sounds wonderful... how does one get this MeTV channel? Is this in the UK? (Sorry EnolaGaia, I don't actually know where you're from) :sorry:




Swifty said:
A bit of hopefully good news for you then Enola, a new The Twilight Zone is on the way ..
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Speaking personally (but your mileage may vary of course), I just wouldn't be interested in a new version of the Twilight Zone, because for me, part of the appeal is the oldness of the show. The black and white footage, etc. That's what makes the atmosphere, for me. It just wouldn't be the same if it were all new.

:)
 
Schrodinger's Zebra said:
Sounds wonderful... how does one get this MeTV channel? Is this in the UK? (Sorry EnolaGaia, I don't actually know where you're from) :sorry:
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I'm in the States. MeTV's self-description webpage is at:

https://www.metv.com/about-us/

As far as I know, it's accessible only in the USA.

When the USA went all-digital for over-the-air broadcasting back in 2009, the mainstream networks were each typically allocated multiple channels. Some mainstream broadcasters used these 'side-channels' for their own programming. Some of these in-house experiments didn't last long. As a result, there were a number of underused or completely unused side channels.

A number of smaller broadcasters and entrepreneurs established virtual networks leasing side channels from local channel owners and broadcasting their own content. In a way this was a digital era repeat of the 'super-stations' that grew into networks leveraging the new cable TV medium back in the 1970's.

MeTV broadcasts vintage TV series and movies, as do many of these (what I call 'interstitial') networks. For example:

- the confusingly similarly-titled MyTV network (hosted by the local FOX affiliate) shows back-to-back X-Files reruns once a week, in sequence. They're currently approaching their 2nd pass through the entire series.

- Comet is a totally sci-fi interstitial pseudo-network that shows any and all B-movies they can get their hands on.

Some of these interstitial networks have now been included in cable offerings, so they're widely available to people who pay for television as well*. If there's any possibility for accessing these interstitial channels internationally, it would probably be via connections to American cable / digital media services.

(*I'm not a big TV watcher, so I've always refused to pay for television access.)
 
EnolaGaia said:
I'm in the States. MeTV's self-description webpage is at:

https://www.metv.com/about-us/

As far as I know, it's accessible only in the USA.

When the USA went all-digital for over-the-air broadcasting back in 2009, the mainstream networks were each typically allocated multiple channels. Some mainstream broadcasters used these 'side-channels' for their own programming. Some of these in-house experiments didn't last long. As a result, there were a number of underused or completely unused side channels.

A number of smaller broadcasters and entrepreneurs established virtual networks leasing side channels from local channel owners and broadcasting their own content. In a way this was a digital era repeat of the 'super-stations' that grew into networks leveraging the new cable TV medium back in the 1970's.

MeTV broadcasts vintage TV series and movies, as do many of these (what I call 'interstitial') networks. For example:

- the confusingly similarly-titled MyTV network (hosted by the local FOX affiliate) shows back-to-back X-Files reruns once a week, in sequence. They're currently approaching their 2nd pass through the entire series.

- Comet is a totally sci-fi interstitial pseudo-network that shows any and all B-movies they can get their hands on.

Some of these interstitial networks have now been included in cable offerings, so they're widely available to people who pay for television as well*. If there's any possibility for accessing these interstitial channels internationally, it would probably be via connections to American cable / digital media services.

(*I'm not a big TV watcher, so I've always refused to pay for television access.)
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Ah, thanks for the detailed info :)

We have a channel over here - Talking Pictures TV - which is (in my view) excellent as it broadcasts nothing but old films and tv series, (mainly from the 50s/60s but some films as early as the 30s, occasionally, and sometimes some films from the 80s).

Mr Zebra and I have found many a enjoyable film to watch on there, as well as some old British TV series that we'd never seen before, such as The Human Jungle https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057757/ and Scales of Justice https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0843225/.


Actually we have some Twilight Zone series on DVD... might dig them out and have a watch :)
 
I don't know if Sesame Street had much play outside of the US, but in the 70's, it was unintentionally responsible for some of the most frightening moments in American children's television. (I still haven't gotten over some of it myself!)

Slate magazine has an audio piece about one of the most fabled horrors of that era, The Crack Master.

"In the mid-1970s, Jon Armond was traumatized by something he saw on Sesame Street. It was a cartoon about a little girl who encounters creatures formed by the cracks on her bedroom wall—including a horrifying, screaming face who called himself “The Crack Master.”
Decades later, Armond wasn’t sure if the cartoon actually existed … until he discovered a subculture of obsessives who remembered the exact same thing. Armond details the bizarre rabbit hole he fell into trying to track it down. Plus, Sesame Street executive producer Ben Lehmann talks about the cartoon’s disappearance and uncovers some of its elusive mysteries."

It's about 30 minutes long and well worth a listen.
https://slate.com/culture/2019/02/1975-sesame-street-short-cracks.html
 
Ulalume said:
...one of the most fabled horrors of that era, The Crack Master.

"In the mid-1970s, Jon Armond was traumatized by something he saw on Sesame Street. It was a cartoon about a little girl who encounters creatures formed by the cracks on her bedroom wall—including a horrifying, screaming face who called himself “The Crack Master.”

Decades later, Armond wasn’t sure if the cartoon actually existed …
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maximus otter
 
skinny said:
Did you just diss the hood?
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Not really. It's more like the well-intentioned folks behind it were thinking "Ooh, the kids are going to luurrrve this experimental new form of education" and instead accidentally gave us 40 years worth of nightmare fuel. :p

That said, I did watch it faithfully and learned a lot from it. They clearly learned to tone down the experimental factor eventually.
 
Kimosabi said:
Dad used to let me stay up and watch the series Quatermass and another series I'm suprised no one has mentioned, A for Andromeda, either of which had me hiding under the blankets at bedtime! Some years later the film Witchfinder General with Vincent Price and that bloke who played The Saint Mk II also had me going, but in a more angry way.
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I too watched Witchfinder General when I was significantly younger than the recommended demographic - and it remains one of my favourite movies to this day.

If we're focusing on children's programmes which adversely affected you, then I can recall The Singing Ringing Tree, with its surreal landscapes, malicious dwarf, semi-human bear and, worse of all, the giant suffocating goldfish, seriously disturbing.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&s...Vaw1d1VY4H8IQRBUWRUgKhiOH&cshid=1550830022095
 
When young, my parents would would have bbq's and card nights with our neighbours each weekend taking turns to host.
Their daughter, Ann was 11 months younger than I and my best friend. We grew up together.
Each Saturday night whilst our folks were playing cards and drinking (this was the very early 70s) we would huddle under a blanket and watch 'Creature Feature'.
One weekend, 'The Blob' was on starring Steve McQueen. Our houses were on the side of a cliff that overlooked bushland and the room that we were watching t.v in this evening looked straight out over the tops of the trees. A short while into the movie we saw a bright flash that turned the night sky a bright reddish/orange colour. It was not lightning and Ann and I were convinced it was a meteor striking the earth not far from us definitely containing another Blob sure to engulf us in all it's ooziness.
 
Ulalume said:
I don't know if Sesame Street had much play outside of the US, but in the 70's, it was unintentionally responsible for some of the most frightening moments in American children's television. (I still haven't gotten over some of it myself!)

Slate magazine has an audio piece about one of the most fabled horrors of that era, The Crack Master.

"In the mid-1970s, Jon Armond was traumatized by something he saw on Sesame Street. It was a cartoon about a little girl who encounters creatures formed by the cracks on her bedroom wall—including a horrifying, screaming face who called himself “The Crack Master.”
Decades later, Armond wasn’t sure if the cartoon actually existed … until he discovered a subculture of obsessives who remembered the exact same thing. Armond details the bizarre rabbit hole he fell into trying to track it down. Plus, Sesame Street executive producer Ben Lehmann talks about the cartoon’s disappearance and uncovers some of its elusive mysteries."

It's about 30 minutes long and well worth a listen.
https://slate.com/culture/2019/02/1975-sesame-street-short-cracks.html
Click to expand...


A fascinating listen. So this short was digitally converted for the archive. It does feel strange that CTW didn't really seem to want to acknowledge it, and so few people involved with it can be traced. It is real though.

And yes. Creepy as all hell.

It would be interesting to find out who that woman in white linen at the recording actually was.
 
The stop-motion Gumby cartoons (no relation to certain Monty Python characters) produced some frightful images for children in the 'sixties, some probably unintentional. The most memorable outright monster for me was The Glob.
 
amarok2005 said:
The stop-motion Gumby cartoons (no relation to certain Monty Python characters) produced some frightful images for children in the 'sixties, some probably unintentional. The most memorable outright monster for me was The Glob.
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I tried showing some of the Gumby cartoons to my son when he was 4 or so, and he was utterly terrified!
 
The title sequence from Picture Box still gives me the creeps to this day!

They used to show us Picture Box in primary school, and it was made extra weird by the fact that the host telling all us kids these stories was playing a heroin addict in Brookside at the same time. Alan somebody, I think his name was.
 
Ta-daaaaaaa! @Kryptonite it was for this very reason that I was delighted to be able to buy my very own Picture Box!

And yes, I have rotated it under lights and sung the tune :)
1550943255119.png
 
Kryptonite said:
The title sequence from Picture Box still gives me the creeps to this day!

They used to show us Picture Box in primary school, and it was made extra weird by the fact that the host telling all us kids these stories was playing a heroin addict in Brookside at the same time. Alan somebody, I think his name was.
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Alan Rothwell. Catchphrase: "Hello."
 
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