• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Strange Things That Scared You (But Aren't Obviously 'Scary')

poozler said:
The lips in the old Clutch Cargo crappy cartoon series really disturbed me.
Click to expand...

They were more than a little surreal and unsettling. When I was a kid we mocked it by acting like Clutch Cargo and friends - i.e., freezing our faces in a rigid expression and speaking with exaggerated lip movements.
 
EnolaGaia said:
They were more than a little surreal and unsettling. When I was a kid we mocked it by acting like Clutch Cargo and friends - i.e., freezing our faces in a rigid expression and speaking with exaggerated lip movements.
Click to expand...
I wasn't old enough to mock anything (and I couldn't follow the simple story lines) but I was horrified/fascinated by those lips. Even now they seem otherworldly, and too red and juicy.
[edit]I just realized that I could not have seen red lips because television was black-and-white. But you know what I mean.
 
Last edited:
I too went through a phase of being afraid and running away after flushing the toilet, I think this was only at home and only at night, don't recall any more specifics -like if I thought a monster would get me or anything. I don't think it lasted long. I think I was also briefly afraid of Things Under The Bed but I think this only occurred after hearing that other people were or seeing/hearing/reading stories about this, I don;t think it struck me of my own accord that there could be something down there.

I do recall seeing something on children's TV, I think it was some sort of vaguely spooky story, I don't know if there was a ghost or monster something. All I remember is some sort of classical stature with two or three figures, either humans or a mix of animals and humans, it was supposed to be in some wood I think. The camera panned around it and the light and shadows moved or flickered, there was some sort of narration over the top and for some reason this scared the shit out of me. This was autumn or winter and dark early and I wouldn't go up upstairs other than to go to the toilet and to bed for a few nights afterwards, my mum noticed as I tended to spend a lot of time in my room, I made up some excuse. No idea what it was about that few seconds of footage that so unsettled me, as I said it was part of some sort of spooky tale but I don't recall any other details.
 
Ogdred Weary said:
All I remember is some sort of classical stature with two or three figures, either humans or a mix of animals and humans, it was supposed to be in some wood I think. The camera panned around it and the light and shadows moved or flickered, there was some sort of narration over the top and for some reason this scared the shit out of me.
Click to expand...
Your description reminded me of 'The Children of Green Knowe' (it may well not be that for you though). In the garden of the house there were topiary animals that came to life (or maybe, at least in the boy's imagination) and also the statue of St Christopher against a wall and surrounded by ivy?. But even if it's not that, I'm sure that series probably gave a few children a few nightmares. I like it though
 
Eponastill said:
Your description reminded me of 'The Children of Green Knowe' (it may well not be that for you though). In the garden of the house there were topiary animals that came to life (or maybe, at least in the boy's imagination) and also the statue of St Christopher against a wall and surrounded by ivy?. But even if it's not that, I'm sure that series probably gave a few children a few nightmares. I like it though
Click to expand...

Perhaps it was that, I remember the title and that it had ghosts but nothing else about it, not sure if I ever saw it even though it would have been my sort of thing. Looking at the the broadcast date: Nov-Dec 1986 I think I would have been old enough to remember it more clearly, I can vaguely recall The Box of Delights for example and that was two years earlier.

Also, I'm pretty certain the statues weren't about to come to life, my indistinct recollection is that the flickering shadows may have been purely atmospherics and were not there to suggestion life within the stone. All said though, it's just hazy moment/image and it's more the sense of fear that accompanied it that stays with me.
 
Souleater said:
Sounds like an old bbc sound effects album

View attachment 34654
Click to expand...

I had that record too, it was orange around the BBC logo as I recall. My brother and I used to try and make audio stories using the sound effects to embellish our
output.

It's probably why I like Pink Floyd so much.
 
Last edited:
lordmongrove said:
As a very young child i was terrified of dead, brown leaves for some reason. I can clearly recall being scared of them but i can't recall why!
These days it's large moths that make my blood run cold. I've worked with massive crocodiles, alligators,, huge snakes and venomous snakes and all kinds of scorpions and spiders but show me a big moth and i'll scream like a girl and run for my life.
Click to expand...
Just out of interest what Job are you referring to that includes in its job description massive crocodiles, alligators, huge snakes, venomous snakes, scorpions and all types of spiders?

I would like to know so I don't accidentally apply for a position there.
 
Last edited:
XBergMann said:
I had that record too, it was orange around the BBC logo as I recall. My brother and I used to try and make audio stories using the sound effects to embellish out output.

It's probably why I like Pink Floyd so much.
Click to expand...
There were/are dozens of BBC sound effects records you can see them all if you google it, i dont know who or why people would buy them, i cant imagine sitting down as a family around the old record player and listening to various weird sounds lol
 
Souleater said:
There were/are dozens of BBC sound effects records you can see them all if you google it, i dont know who or why people would buy them, i cant imagine sitting down as a family around the old record player and listening to various weird sounds lol
Click to expand...

They were great for amateur dramatics, school plays etc...and for playing the sound of torrential rain in order to cool down on a hot day.
 
Souleater said:
There were/are dozens of BBC sound effects records you can see them all if you google it, i dont know who or why people would buy them, i cant imagine sitting down as a family around the old record player and listening to various weird sounds lol
Click to expand...

I don't know if it was a BBC one or not but an old school friend of mine had one of steam engine sounds. He'd invited a woman round for a meal and had it playing in the background. By the end of the third course and the umpteenth playing she ventured to wonder why?

'Oh I thought it might introduce the atmosphere of 'Brief Encounter''

As a seduction ploy I think it needed a bit of refinement ..... bless him.

Sollywos x
 
Another one from my childhood. My mum used to have a ceramic plate on the wall with a picture of a nice little cottage on it. Very pretty, thatched roof, garden, flowers, well in the garden all done in relief.

For some reason, I got it into my head that someone was looking out of the windows but always when nobody was looking and wouldn’t go near it. Of course, I would never admit it, despite people asking why I would always swerve away from the wall when I walked past.
 
Iris said:
...The toilet was outside as well and I was always nervous about going out to use it at night.

I also used to be afraid that there was something hiding under my bed.
Click to expand...

Me and my brothers were pretty hardy kids - and not a lot put us out. But there was my aunt's terrifying outside toilet, perched like some rickety and malevolent Tardis in the back of her garden, way out in the middle of nowhere. Things weren’t helped by the fact that I’d generally hold on until I really couldn’t any more, and by then it was often dark…country dark, and chances are she’d have forgotten to get batteries for her big torch, so I’d be sent off into the wilderness with a sputtering paraffin lamp. Which meant, in my mind, that my life was hanging by a thread strung between the twin prospects of involuntary self-immolation and the hungry maw of the bog monster.

Also, but unrelated to frightening toilets; I posted this on the Something Unpleasant, Unseen thread:

My mum always tells the story of when her and my dad had to shoot off to the site of a family emergency - they were only supposed to be gone a few minutes, but things got complicated. I think I was about 11 years old, my two brothers were younger, and we were on our own in the house when we heard a knocking from the cellar. We were all scared to death, but when my parents got back they found us down there - me with a breadknife in my hand, my younger brothers behind me armed with various bits of kitchen equipment. We'd followed our own particular instincts - ironed up, and gone down to confront the 'thing'. Turned out it was my dad's kiln - he was an amateur potter and had recently bought one, and the thermostat clunked in and out with an irregular, resounding, and slightly metallic, clanking sound.
Click to expand...
 
Spookdaddy said:
Me and my brothers were pretty hardy kids - and not a lot put us out. But there was my aunt's terrifying outside toilet, perched like some rickety and malevolent Tardis in the back of her garden, way out in the middle of nowhere. Things weren’t helped by the fact that I’d generally hold on until I really couldn’t any more, and by then it was often dark…country dark, and chances are she’d have forgotten to get batteries for her big torch, so I’d be sent off into the wilderness with a sputtering paraffin lamp. Which meant, in my mind, that my life was hanging by a thread strung between the twin prospects of involuntary self-immolation and the hungry maw of the bog monster.

Also, but unrelated to frightening toilets; I posted this on the Something Unpleasant, Unseen thread:
Click to expand...
 
XBergMann said:
Just out of interest what Job are you referring to that includes in its job description massive crocodiles, alligators, huge snakes, venomous snakes, scorpions and all types of spiders?

I would like to know so I don't accidentally apply for a position there.
Click to expand...
Reptile keeper in a couple of zoos and all sorts of adventures in the wild whilst hunting monsters.
 
GNC said:
They should have had the kid cycling to the accompaniment of The Wurzels.
Click to expand...

How very dare you! Dorset (where Gold Hill is) is definitely not Somerset (and hence not entitled to Wurzelage).

We have new visas for Somerset border crossings, questions include:

  1. Is 'Scrumpy Jack' really cider?
  2. What are the exact lyrics to 'Blackbird'?
  3. Can you drive a tractor?
  4. Is Bridgwater a delightful and scenic country town?
 
Last edited:
Bad Bungle said:
A friend of a friend in 1981 had obtained mirror contact lenses (I don't where from or how much) and heard that people on the Underground just freaked.
Click to expand...
My school careers advisor once asked me to get him some mirrored sclera lenses when I was about 15 after I'd told him I wanted to become an F/X artist but what with me being 15 and not yet an F/X artist .. not a chance.
 
AnonyJoolz said:
How very dare you! Dorset (where Gold Hill is) is definitely not Somerset (and hence entitled to Wurzelage).

We have new visas for Somerset border crossings, questions include:

  1. Is 'Scrumpy Jack' really cider?
  2. What are the exact lyrics to 'Blackbird'?
  3. Can you drive a tractor?
  4. Is Bridgwater a delightful and scenic country town?
Click to expand...
1.my arse is it
2.Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of a dark black night
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of a dark black night
Blackbird singing in the dead of night…l
3.arr
4.arrrr
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top