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debm55

(51,498 posts)
Sun Oct 5, 2025, 02:34 PM Sunday

What thing/things scare you, as a kid or now. Mine are--the attic, under the bed, and clowns.

Edited to add kid or now
46 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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What thing/things scare you, as a kid or now. Mine are--the attic, under the bed, and clowns. (Original Post) debm55 Sunday OP
Large Sharks and old age. surfered Sunday #1
Thank you very much, surfered. debm55 Sunday #2
Dark water EarthAbides Sunday #3
Thank you very much, EarthAbides. debm55 Sunday #4
Basements. MIButterfly Sunday #5
Thank you very much, MIButterfly. As a kid, I had to go down to the basement to pull the chain on the lightbulb to see debm55 Sunday #7
In the closet of my bedroom there was an entrance to the attic . I would go up there and read. I would mucifer Sunday #6
Thank you very much, mucifer for sharing with us. debm55 Sunday #8
That voodoo doll that chased Karen Black... Mike Nelson Sunday #9
That little guy gave me nightmares for a looong time. Lars39 Sunday #14
Me too. debm55 Sunday #16
only flying stinging things Brainstormy Sunday #10
Thank you Brainstormy. I agree with you debm55 Sunday #17
Snakes. LoisB Sunday #11
Yep. right there with you, LoisB debm55 Sunday #18
Clowns don't scare me, but after reading IT by Stephen King, I will not walk or park near a sewer grate. CrispyQ Sunday #12
Agree with you, CrispyQ. debm55 Sunday #19
Even if you don't find them creepy, there's always the fear you'll drop something down there. CrispyQ Yesterday #38
Closets. As a kid, I would check my closet and that includes looking behind the clothes. Polly Hennessey Sunday #13
Thank you very much, Polly Hennessey. debm55 Sunday #20
Both scared and fascinated me: my grandmothers (enormous--to me as a little kid) big brick home in rural MO hlthe2b Sunday #15
Thank you, hlthe2b. That house would scare me. with some of the items you posted.It would be interesting to go back and debm55 Sunday #21
The basement in our house when I was a kid was dark and dingy and cool with rurallib Sunday #22
Oh my, rurallib, what a nightmare. Thank you my friend for sharing that with us. debm55 Sunday #24
Oompa Loompa's & the scene from dlilafae Sunday #23
Thank you dlilafae. Yes, the Oompa Loompa's and Shock Therapy debm55 Sunday #26
Rain LogDog75 Sunday #25
Thank you LogDog75. I agree. We had the tree cutters come in to trim trees last week. The house next store is debm55 Sunday #27
Balloons, then and now. AbnerBunny Sunday #28
Yes, balloons and CN. bullies debm55 Sunday #33
My father when he got angry no_hypocrisy Sunday #29
Agree, my dad put a hunting rifle , in front of my head and told me that he would blow it off. Mom,was not much better. debm55 Sunday #32
Oh, dear deb, I am so sorry Grim Chieftain Yesterday #45
Thank you my friend. Grim Chieftain. debm55 Yesterday #46
Spiders, Fire (we had a fire in our house when I was little), wind storms redstatebluegirl Sunday #30
I am so sorry, redstatebluegirl. They are scary debm55 Sunday #31
Irrational fears or well founded ones? Glorious bastard Sunday #34
I guess both ,Glorious bastard.Thank you. debm55 Yesterday #44
When I was a kid, my bedroom closet boonecreek Sunday #35
Yes, thank you boonecreek. the closet. debm55 Yesterday #40
As a kid, there were plenty of things. OldBaldy1701E Yesterday #36
very true, OldBaldy1701E. Thank you for sharing. debm55 Yesterday #41
Tornadoes and huge waves on Lake Michigan. catbyte Yesterday #37
Yes, catbyte, you are very lucky on both counts. debm55 Yesterday #42
Horses terrify me! Phentex Yesterday #39
Thank you Phentex for sharing with us. debm55 Yesterday #43

EarthAbides

(384 posts)
3. Dark water
Sun Oct 5, 2025, 02:41 PM
Sunday

I do not like traveling over large expanses of dark water, either by boat or by bridge. Flying is okay!

MIButterfly

(1,442 posts)
5. Basements.
Sun Oct 5, 2025, 02:45 PM
Sunday

When I was a kid, my friend told me there were witches in my basement. The fact that our basement was dark, cold and damp didn't help. I'm also afraid of mice. Years ago, there was a mouse in my gramma's house and my uncle said that the mouse was more afraid of me than I was of him and I said "no, he's not."

A couple of years ago, I went downstairs to my basement (!) and there at the bottom of the stairs was a mouse with my two cats, one on either side of him, all three frozen like statues. As soon as I saw them and they saw me, all four of us took off running in another direction!

debm55

(51,498 posts)
7. Thank you very much, MIButterfly. As a kid, I had to go down to the basement to pull the chain on the lightbulb to see
Sun Oct 5, 2025, 02:50 PM
Sunday

I hated walking down those stairs.

mucifer

(25,349 posts)
6. In the closet of my bedroom there was an entrance to the attic . I would go up there and read. I would
Sun Oct 5, 2025, 02:46 PM
Sunday

get itchy from the pink insulation and come down. I loved it up there.

Now I'm scared of republicans, much more than before.

CrispyQ

(40,298 posts)
12. Clowns don't scare me, but after reading IT by Stephen King, I will not walk or park near a sewer grate.
Sun Oct 5, 2025, 03:46 PM
Sunday

No how. No way.

CrispyQ

(40,298 posts)
38. Even if you don't find them creepy, there's always the fear you'll drop something down there.
Mon Oct 6, 2025, 11:14 AM
Yesterday

Ick, ick, ick. My toes curl just thinking about it.

Polly Hennessey

(8,226 posts)
13. Closets. As a kid, I would check my closet and that includes looking behind the clothes.
Sun Oct 5, 2025, 03:54 PM
Sunday

Don’t know why my bedroom closet hid a night monster. It was ok during the day and all other closets in the house were OK.

I am also very uncomfortable in total darkness and in dense forests.

hlthe2b

(111,609 posts)
15. Both scared and fascinated me: my grandmothers (enormous--to me as a little kid) big brick home in rural MO
Sun Oct 5, 2025, 04:33 PM
Sunday

It had semi-hidden rooms, multiple floors, and a basement that I was only in once. The latter was more full-height cellar than a basement, and revealed the layers of renovations from its long-ago origin as a tavern (rumor has it that Jesse James frequented). Sadly, while it was one of the oldest homes in a tiny town in Missouri, upon her death, the historical society could not afford to purchase it (even at really depressed prices), and my uncle, who was the executor of her estate, was not exactly appreciative of that possibility. So, while I'm told it still stands, it has been renovated to an almost unrecognizable state.

At any rate, that house was so unique that I can still remember almost every major detail from room to room, and I used to dream about it as having almost an entire hidden "house within a house," so fascinating it was to a young kid. But it did likewise scare me, with those semi-secret passages.

debm55

(51,498 posts)
21. Thank you, hlthe2b. That house would scare me. with some of the items you posted.It would be interesting to go back and
Sun Oct 5, 2025, 05:36 PM
Sunday

visit it,

rurallib

(64,212 posts)
22. The basement in our house when I was a kid was dark and dingy and cool with
Sun Oct 5, 2025, 05:50 PM
Sunday

an odor. That was enough to make me nervous to go down there - but one summer really topped the charts

My dad was a huge beer drinker. One year he decided to make his own - somewhere in the mid to late '50s. We were in the Cold War with Russia and this year tensions were running high.

My dad bottled hundreds of bottles of homemade brew and stored them on shelves in the dark, cool basement. After a week or so we had a real hot spell - hotter than hell. Even the basement got hot.

So hot that a bottle of beer exploded around midnight, then another and another. Pretty soon it sounded like WW3 had started in our basement. We all got up and ran down to the basement. He had bottled 2 gross. Few survived. For about 15 minutes we thought we were under attack.

LogDog75

(896 posts)
25. Rain
Sun Oct 5, 2025, 07:17 PM
Sunday

I normally worry about the rain and I actually like hearing its sound and if there's thunder, even more. It's not the rain itself but the possibility my condo roof will leak. My condo has a crawl space about five feet high with the roof sloping on either side. Our roof is due for replacement in 2030 but every time it rains I worry the roof will leak.

debm55

(51,498 posts)
27. Thank you LogDog75. I agree. We had the tree cutters come in to trim trees last week. The house next store is
Sun Oct 5, 2025, 07:24 PM
Sunday

abandoned. and it's a jungle. The tree cutters only cut down what was hanging on our roof. The borough. will not do anything. It scares me when we have a heavy snow.

debm55

(51,498 posts)
32. Agree, my dad put a hunting rifle , in front of my head and told me that he would blow it off. Mom,was not much better.
Sun Oct 5, 2025, 09:12 PM
Sunday

And at that time punch kids, breaking bones and blackening eyes and verbal abuse was kept in the home. My hurt goes out to you no-hypocrisy. It is very scary for a child to be in a home where the parents won't tell them they are loved or kiss them. PS. You are loved by me my friend,

Grim Chieftain

(667 posts)
45. Oh, dear deb, I am so sorry
Mon Oct 6, 2025, 01:27 PM
Yesterday

I had a pretty rough childhood too, still dealing with it at 72. I do believe in the adage "The best revenge is living well."

Hugs to you dear lady.

boonecreek

(1,245 posts)
35. When I was a kid, my bedroom closet
Sun Oct 5, 2025, 10:05 PM
Sunday

especially after seeing the Roger Corman Sci fi horror film "The Day the World Ended", the one with the three eyed mutant.
Now, half the nuts on the road.

OldBaldy1701E

(9,245 posts)
36. As a kid, there were plenty of things.
Mon Oct 6, 2025, 08:33 AM
Yesterday

As an adult, they all pale compared to the scariest thing on the planet.

People.

catbyte

(37,961 posts)
37. Tornadoes and huge waves on Lake Michigan.
Mon Oct 6, 2025, 09:16 AM
Yesterday

I had nightmares about both when I was a kid. I think the fear of tornadoes stemmed from having the roof taken off of our house when I was 1 year old so there must be some memory of it lurking somewhere. The fear of waves came from getting caught in a rip tide but luckily I knew how to swim out of it. Still scary, though.

Phentex

(16,637 posts)
39. Horses terrify me!
Mon Oct 6, 2025, 11:20 AM
Yesterday

Fortunately I don't see them very often. But they see through me to my soul, they sense my fear, and they become agitated.

I'd rather see a shark next to me in the ocean

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