Childhood Fears of the Unknown

[filmmaker2]

Now, assuming most people here are adults or at least not really young children:

What kind of weird shit really scared you, in a "fear of the unknown" sense, when you were small? I mean really small. This can be something you imagined in your own mind, or something, like a spooky story or idea, that someone scared you with, or something that you saw or experienced that instilled within you a fear of the unknown.

In other words, I don't want to know about the dog that bit you that made you afraid of dogs for the rest of your life. I would prefer to know about the ghost that your cousin said lived in the basement, or about that window that always seemed creepy to look out of at night because you imagined that something was out there, et cetera.

I'll start. When I was a kid we had these hats hanging on the wall in my bedroom, straw hats, Disneyland hats, different things. One night at around ten o'clock, I was lying awake, having trouble sleeping, and in the darkness, I thought I saw one of the hats grow into an ugly, scowling, long face with big eyes.

I closed my eyes and tried to forget about it, because deep down I knew I was only imagining this. But after that, I never liked to look at that hat on the wall at night, because I was worried I would see that face again.

Now you! You, you!

Your answers will be fed into a market research computer and used to make a really bad, trendy movie starring some young people from TV.

[Marroe]

I've posted before that I've always been afraid of trains...Don't know exactly why it started, but I always had that weird dream that I was walking up a hill with and old man, then we get to the top and feel a train moving and hear it but don't see anything, then I turned around and the man is gone, and I'm all alone *tear* I think that mostly hadda do with a fear of loosing my great grandpa (who was raising me at the time) but he' slike 80 now and still kickin pretty good.
Also when I was about 5 or 6, the same time I was having these dreams, I was staying in this tiny lil town called Steele, MO. with my great grandparents. We lived in this tiny shack that was about 50 feet from the old tracks that haven't been in use since the 1940's. My grandma and I were sleeping in the back room, and were both awoken by a train going down these tracks...of course no one belived us...but I think that just pushed me over the top.

[filmmaker2]

That story about the train tracks is pretty neat--there couldn't've been a train on those tracks, is that what you're saying? That's wild.

[Haunted]

Marroe, that is really interesting because I have a similar disquiet about train tracks.

I used to live in a neighborhood about a crow's flight from an old, but still used, set of train tracks. They were rumored to be haunted.

My brother, being the sadistic mofo that he is, told me a story about a train porter being decapitated and his head throw onto one of those swinging lights. Apparently, on special nights one could see his head with his eyes glowing red, swinging back and forth on the light.

This very same neighborhood had an old cemetary at the top entrance. I spent summers there, amongst the dead....

[Angra]

Originally posted by Haunted


This very same neighborhood had an old cemetary at the top entrance. I spent summers there, amongst the dead....


Why??

[Haunted]

Because I was morbid, and still am. I love ghost stories true and fictitious.

"Why?" he asks.

It's bloody Horror.com

What'd you think you'd find here?

[Marroe]

Originally posted by Haunted
Marroe, that is really interesting because I have a similar disquiet about train tracks.

I used to live in a neighborhood about a crow's flight from an old, but still used, set of train tracks. They were rumored to be haunted.

My brother, being the sadistic mofo that he is, told me a story about a train porter being decapitated and his head throw onto one of those swinging lights. Apparently, on special nights one could see his head with his eyes glowing red, swinging back and forth on the light.

This very same neighborhood had an old cemetary at the top entrance. I spent summers there, amongst the dead.... hahahaha..Oh, lord! we have the exact same legend on some of ours! Call the story "red eyes"....so much for authenticity of it.

[Angra]

Originally posted by Haunted
Because I was morbid, and still am. I love ghost stories true and fictitious.

"Why?" he asks.

It's bloody Horror.com

What'd you think you'd find here?



Nerds....

And i succeeded.:rolleyes:














Sorry, just messing with you a little, Haunted. I´m bored.;)

[FairyKorpes]

I always freaked when getting dressed and my collar was to small or something, i was affraid of getting caught in this evil shirt world or something.

[immortalem]

When I was little (about 5) I lived in this house that a lady had died in. I would always have this dream that they buried her in the stove that was still in the house and that she now haunting us. So, I would always be afraid of the stove and the house. I would have terrible nightmares while I lived in that house and when we moved I was fine.

[filmmaker2]

Those stories are all great folks, keep 'em coming! I know there are more because EVERYONE was creeped out or spooked by something as a kid...

I especially like the Red Eyes story, that is totally sick and wrong.

Here's another one from me, a local "creepy tale," but this is one I pretty much never believed.

There is this park in my hometown that happens to have this sewage line thing in it...it's a weird concrete structure where three sewage lines merge into one or something like that. There is (or was, because I haven't been there since a long time) an opening you can look into (grated off so you can't climb in). If you look down there you can see all this awful dirty water flowing through it.

Anyway, when I was a kid, the local kids used to say that a giant lobster monster lived down there. A surprising number of kids knew about it, so this was a popular myth. The lobster was supposed to be as big as a truck or something.

I never quite believed it, but I liked thinking about it. I wonder if this story was created by kids, or by parents trying to get their kids to stay away from the giant sewer....?

[Elzy]

this is a subject that really interests me, anything to do with fear and the supernatural. I have many stories however I will share only a few

first of all I have alot of fears one of them is windows l;ike you say I was always scared ofwindows as I thought a banshee would appear. Also looking down the stairs at night freaks me out. I also am scared of open doors they have to be closed, I don't know what that means probs some phycological thing.
Now the stories

~when I was about 8 I used to live in a house in a small village in suffolk(already known as being a haunted county, Black shuck ring any bells with anyone) well, this house had an old and a new section my room was in the oldest part of the house, I used to see weird shapes of light on my wall, my mum told me it was nothing but then the night b4 we moved my mum told me that the house was haunted and all the activity was coming from my room

~when my grandad died my aunt was 6 mnths pregnant with ma cousin tilly (now 9). when tilyy was at talking age my aunt herd her talking like children do, she was always shown pictures of grandad so she knew who he was. she suddnly said hello grandad 'what you doin here', my aunt was shocked however knew that if it was grandad he wouldn't scare her, she then suddenly said where you gone grandad as though he had just dissapeared (i like this story as I like to think he still visits us.

~ When my mum was about 12 she lived in a well known ghost spot called stirrups lane, one knight she was going to the toilet and was looking down when she suddenly saw some feet, she was so scared she didn't look up and ran straight through the owner of the feet , the ghost of stirrups lane

~ I have always had a thing for run down churches and on the way to Yarmouth from Norwich there is a really spookey one. my mum my sister and I decided to visit it, it is all fallen down and covered in ivy it's gorgeous, my mum was standing by this closed grave, I went to walk past it and suddenly we heard this horrible sound coming from the closed grave like a crow or a cat dying there were no holes in the grave for an animal to get in, my mum and I looked at the grave then she grabbed us and ran.

~in one of the local pubs that I go to with my frinds is a ghost that hangs around the drinkersevery time I go I see a mn out of the corner of my eye its always the same man and its always on my right. when I started seeeing him I didn't know that the place was haunted.

I used to be scared of ghosts but I see em so often that i'm not anymore, everyone in our family does, a bit like a sixth sense being passed down, some ghosts are clearer than other but they are only ever there for 5 secs tops before they dissapear. It sounds weird but it can always start a convesation in a pub

I hope that some of the stories have helped your research I have loads more but these are a few of my best if you need any help then I research 'horror monsters' in my spare time like frankenstein and dracula Zombies ghosts that type of thing so if you need to check anything, have fun.

[orangestar]

~ When I was around 6 or 7, my family and I went to a museum of sorts. I cant remember details, but there was a photograph of a starving child like the ones they have on TV. The thing about this picture was that this childs eyes were bulging in a weird way. When we got home, I talked back to my parents and got sent to my room. As I was walking my brother told me that this kids eyes were in my waterbed. I flipped out worse than I have before or since. I couldnt stay in my room, but my parents wouldnt let me out. I was stuck in my room with this thing that terrified me. I stopped being able to sleep in waterbeds, so within the next week my parents got me a matress bed. I still hate waterbeds and cant be around them.

[urgeok]

only the dark ...
when i was a kid i could see little dark shadows around the door ..

your mind can make you see anything in the right state ...
which is why i dont believe in ghosts but i believe people think they see them.

[Haunted]

Originally posted by urgeok
only the dark ...
when i was a kid i could see little dark shadows around the door ..

your mind can make you see anything in the right state ...
which is why i dont believe in ghosts but i believe people think they see them.

That's as good as any theory I've heard. Although, I do believe in ghosts. Never seen one, though. My brother has. Also, I've been to an actually haunted house. Hackles raised up and all that jazz.

However, Urge, that's a good skeptical analysis. Most skeptics aren't that convincing.

[LilMissScareAll]

I dunno if this counts or not, but I was afraid of our walls(wood paneling) because of all the various shapes...they reminded me of creepy looking faces. I guess I had a weird imagination. I can still see the faces(my mom & dad never realized how I could see all those faces in the walls(although my dad saw the cat I saw on the print in the bathroom floor)--they thought I was hallucinating because of a medication I was taking! haha) --one in particular is a guy with creepy looking eyes and he doesn't have a nose or mouth--that one always scared me the most! :p

[LilMissScareAll]

Also...I saw the shadow/outline of a guy at the door of my room once when I was a little kid...and an old woman sitting in a chair. I think I was just dreaming :confused: especially since I don't even think I believe in ghosts or anything... .but I always thought it was real... I still remember them like it happened yesterday, although I was probably only about 5 or so when this happened. I guess because I never saw them anymore I figured it must have just been a really weird dream.

[filmmaker2]

Did he look like THIS????

Great story by the way. I like the wood faces story a lot.

[The_Return]

Well, my mother is dead set [scuse the pun] that our house is haunted. Ive actually seen something that was kinda bizare...but thats a differant story. Anyway, she told me this as a kid, so I always tried to find it during the day....heck, I think thats a major reason why I love horror so much.


Another thing is this picture we used to have in our kitchen of 2 of my cousing that Ive never met. They were all pale, had creepy eyes, and friggin scary smiles. I hated it...*shivvers*

[The_Return]

Originally posted by LilMissScareAll
I dunno if this counts or not, but I was afraid of our walls(wood paneling) because of all the various shapes...they reminded me of creepy looking faces. I guess I had a weird imagination. I can still see the faces(my mom & dad never realized how I could see all those faces in the walls(although my dad saw the cat I saw on the print in the bathroom floor)--they thought I was hallucinating because of a medication I was taking! haha) --one in particular is a guy with creepy looking eyes and he doesn't have a nose or mouth--that one always scared me the most! :p

Sounds like looking at the embers of a fire....I can always see faces

[filmmaker2]

And when you picked up the photo, the cousins turned to look at you, like the Tall Man does in that scene in Phantasm.




See? Another great story. I love these stories. This is better than going to the movies and seeing the Hollywood product.

[The Mothman]

well, when i was little, I used to get up at 2 in the morning to go watcgh TV in the living room. I would always think that there was some kind of criminal hiding in m,y living room, (My living room is very big). I would think so hard that there was someone was there, that sometimes I would hollcinate and see his face pop up from behind a chair in the dark.

[The_Return]

Originally posted by filmmaker2
And when you picked up the photo, the cousins turned to look at you, like the Tall Man does in that scene in Phantasm.




See? Another great story. I love these stories. This is better than going to the movies and seeing the Hollywood product.

Pick it up!?!?!?

You couldnt have paid me enough to get close enough to pick it up!!:p

[LilMissScareAll]

Originally posted by filmmaker2
Did he look like THIS????

Great story by the way. I like the wood faces story a lot.

nah, that doesn't really look like him. :p I should take a picture of the wall sometime and show you the picture of the 'creepy face'...you might not be able to see it, but if you have a weird imagination like me, maybe you'll be able to see it...just lately I've also noticed a monkey face on the wall. :)

[LilMissScareAll]

Originally posted by The_Return
Sounds like looking at the embers of a fire....I can always see faces

I do that with clouds too...if I'm riding on a long trip sometimes I can make shapes out of the clouds. My mom does that too, which is kinda weird because she can't see the faces on the wall, and she can't even see the cat head on the bathroom floor, although I think it's pretty plain...