AmeliaBloomer
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,842
Location: USA
Jun 26, 2014 5:01:45 GMT
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Post by AmeliaBloomer on Jul 2, 2015 16:26:51 GMT
In another thread, conchita reported she would peek around corners to make sure Jesus wasn't watching her from the family velvet wall hanging. That prompted memory of a childhood fear of mine, chock full of Catholic mojo: I never wanted to be alone in our dark living room because - wait for it - I was afraid Jesus or Mary would appear to me in a vision. Having heard the visions-at-Lourdes-and-Fatima stories too often at school (and seen the Hollywood movies, natch), I knew that little girls who see visions were often asked to devote their lives to follow-up vision activities, which included keeping secrets...taking messages to the Pope...and - always! - becoming a nun. So I ran out of the living room REALLY FAST after turning off the lights. (Luckily, I shared a bedroom.) So, top that! Tell us your (or your children's) weird childhood fears. Religious imagery not required. |
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Post by genny on Jul 2, 2015 16:39:29 GMT
Clowns (Still an issue btw). All because of that one scene in Poltergeist. Pennywise only drove the fear deeper into my heart.
Dolls eyes, the kind that close when you lay them down? {shudder} Don't bother me as bad now, but really gave me something to have nightmares over as a kid. I kept waiting for them to blink at me and always felt like they were watching me.
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anniebygaslight
Drama Llama
I'd love a cup of tea. #1966
Posts: 7,402
Location: Third Rock from the sun.
Jun 28, 2014 14:08:19 GMT
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Post by anniebygaslight on Jul 2, 2015 16:41:35 GMT
Clowns, China dolls, especially the Victorian type, Punch and Judy, and statues of saints etc. *shudder*
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 5, 2024 9:18:25 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2015 16:53:46 GMT
Ok so this is going to make me sound like a complete weirdo but here goes. We used to live in an area that at one time had an old railway station on it, to get to school we went under the old railway bridge as a shortcut (it was perfectly safe and we only went through with an adult). I developed a strange fear that walking under the bridge would change things somehow and I'd come out in a different time or place. I have no idea what put that notion in to my head but it stayed with me for quite a while and I used to cry to go the long way round  |
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Post by pierkiss on Jul 2, 2015 16:58:53 GMT
For some bizarre reason my parents bought me this large (16x20ish) painting of a portrait of a clown when I was a baby. They hung it in my room and demanded it stay there until I was about 13. Every time we moved my dad always hung it near my bed. I hated that thing! I was absolutely terrified of it! I was convinced that it's damn eyes were following my every move in my room. I shared this with my friends, and they of course we're no help because they had always thought the same thing. I wish I had a picture of it to show people when I tell them about it! Finally when I was 14 I'd had enough and took it off the wall and put it in the hallway, facing the wall. I left for school and came home to find my mom had hung it back on my wall. This went on for several weeks, and there were many fights over that stupid painting. I have no idea why it was so important to her that I keep that horrible painting in my room. Whatever. My dad finally had enough of the fighting and the tripping over the painting in the morning. He took it and hung it downstairs in the guest room in the basement. We'd have company from out of town over and even the grownups got weirded out by it! They would often stick it outside the room while they were sleeping.  My parents finally pitched it when they moved out of Michigan. |
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Post by pierogi on Jul 2, 2015 17:01:01 GMT
Clowns. I've hated them ever since I saw Dumbo as a child. Antique dolls with real hair and glass eyes with moving lids. I'm Catholic as well, and I feel guilty admitting that large statues of the Sacred Heart spook me to this day. Especially the one in the hallway of my high school that lit up.  |
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georgiapea
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,846 
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Post by georgiapea on Jul 2, 2015 17:11:53 GMT
This isn't childhood, but I stayed in a Bed & Breakfast one time in a sea captain themed room. All by myself. The captain guy was over the bed and I felt his eyes on me everywhere in the room. I first noticed while standing nakie in the bathroom door!  I took him down and put him behind the TV stand until I left. |
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sharlag
Drama Llama
I like my artsy with a little bit of fartsy.
Posts: 6,580
Location: Kansas
Jun 26, 2014 12:57:48 GMT
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Post by sharlag on Jul 2, 2015 18:25:05 GMT
For some bizarre reason my parents bought me this large (16x20ish) painting of a portrait of a clown when I was a baby. They hung it in my room and demanded it stay there until I was about 13. Every time we moved my dad always hung it near my bed. I hated that thing! I was absolutely terrified of it! I was convinced that it's damn eyes were following my every move in my room. I shared this with my friends, and they of course we're no help because they had always thought the same thing. I wish I had a picture of it to show people when I tell them about it! Finally when I was 14 I'd had enough and took it off the wall and put it in the hallway, facing the wall. I left for school and came home to find my mom had hung it back on my wall. This went on for several weeks, and there were many fights over that stupid painting. I have no idea why it was so important to her that I keep that horrible painting in my room. Whatever. My dad finally had enough of the fighting and the tripping over the painting in the morning. He took it and hung it downstairs in the guest room in the basement. We'd have company from out of town over and even the grownups got weirded out by it! They would often stick it outside the room while they were sleeping. My parents finally pitched it when they moved out of Michigan. OK that's the strangest parenting story I've heard in quite a while. |
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Post by pierkiss on Jul 2, 2015 18:30:29 GMT
I know right??? Sometimes they were just really really weird. Not often though, thank goodness!
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Post by foolana on Jul 2, 2015 18:37:11 GMT
My mom was Catholic and she had this weird picture on the wall that was two-sided. One side was Jesus and other was Mary. You could see one from angle and the other from another. To say it freaked me out as a child is an understatement. I can still see it in my mind and it gives me a shiver.
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Post by krazykatlady on Jul 2, 2015 18:41:04 GMT
For some bizarre reason my parents bought me this large (16x20ish) painting of a portrait of a clown when I was a baby. They hung it in my room and demanded it stay there until I was about 13. Every time we moved my dad always hung it near my bed. I hated that thing! I was absolutely terrified of it! I was convinced that it's damn eyes were following my every move in my room. I shared this with my friends, and they of course we're no help because they had always thought the same thing. I wish I had a picture of it to show people when I tell them about it! Finally when I was 14 I'd had enough and took it off the wall and put it in the hallway, facing the wall. I left for school and came home to find my mom had hung it back on my wall. This went on for several weeks, and there were many fights over that stupid painting. I have no idea why it was so important to her that I keep that horrible painting in my room. Whatever. My dad finally had enough of the fighting and the tripping over the painting in the morning. He took it and hung it downstairs in the guest room in the basement. We'd have company from out of town over and even the grownups got weirded out by it! They would often stick it outside the room while they were sleeping. My parents finally pitched it when they moved out of Michigan. Ok, borderline abuse   Just kidding ... ok, no I'm not! Did they ever say why it was so important that the picture hang in your room? If they loved it so much it should have been hung in their room! |
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Jul 2, 2015 18:45:53 GMT
my dad is a professional taxidermist, so our basement was full of mounted animals-- all sorts of ducks, geese, deerheads, fish, etc. (actually, it still is; he's 85 now, and has been doing it since he was 20.) The collection includes all his personal mounts, and whatever customer ones are waiting to be picked up.
When I was really little, I used to think maybe the animals would 'come alive' in the middle of the night and do stuff downstairs in the basement while we were sleeping, loL! so I was always a little hesitant about going down there in the dark. I have NO idea where I would have gotten that idea; my parents would never have told me anything like that-- maybe I came up with that idea on my own after reading The Velveteen Rabbit, or something like that.
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Post by pierkiss on Jul 2, 2015 18:48:31 GMT
For some bizarre reason my parents bought me this large (16x20ish) painting of a portrait of a clown when I was a baby. They hung it in my room and demanded it stay there until I was about 13. Every time we moved my dad always hung it near my bed. I hated that thing! I was absolutely terrified of it! I was convinced that it's damn eyes were following my every move in my room. I shared this with my friends, and they of course we're no help because they had always thought the same thing. I wish I had a picture of it to show people when I tell them about it! Finally when I was 14 I'd had enough and took it off the wall and put it in the hallway, facing the wall. I left for school and came home to find my mom had hung it back on my wall. This went on for several weeks, and there were many fights over that stupid painting. I have no idea why it was so important to her that I keep that horrible painting in my room. Whatever. My dad finally had enough of the fighting and the tripping over the painting in the morning. He took it and hung it downstairs in the guest room in the basement. We'd have company from out of town over and even the grownups got weirded out by it! They would often stick it outside the room while they were sleeping. My parents finally pitched it when they moved out of Michigan. Ok, borderline abuse Just kidding ... ok, no I'm not! Did they ever say why it was so important that the picture hang in your room? If they loved it so much it should have been hung in their room! Haha! I've asked them about it in the past. I wanted to know if they were so attached to it because someone in the family painted it or we were related to the clown somehow? They said no. That they happened to go to a starving artist show when I was 5 or 6 months old and they came across this clown picture. Apparently I got excited when I saw it (whatever that means), so they decided I liked it and they bought it and put it in my room. That's pretty much all they've said about it. I suspect that it was one of those things where it represented me as a baby and they just didn't want to let that one little bit of babyhood go. But still...it was really freaking creepy! |
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J u l e e
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,531
Location: Cincinnati
Jun 28, 2014 2:50:47 GMT
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Post by J u l e e on Jul 2, 2015 18:53:27 GMT
I had this picture hanging above my bed when I was little. I hated it and it made me sad on a daily basis. Sometimes I would cry myself to sleep because I was so sad for the (clearly fictional) dog. There was a matching cat picture too above my sisters bed. I remember eventually telling my mom I didn't like them and she said something to the effect of, "well, I like them". And that was that. Why would you hang that picture in a child's bedroom?  |
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Olan
Pearl Clutcher
Enter your message here...
Posts: 4,050
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Post by Olan on Jul 2, 2015 18:59:56 GMT
Here's another story from my childhood...it's pretty messed up now that I am an adult. Anyway, my cousins and I were all playing in the backyard at my grandmother's home. A couple of my cousins began digging in the ground and creating a good sized hole, they were covered in dirt and making a huge mess out of the lawn. My grandma peeked out the back window, saw what they were doing and we could hear her cursing in Spanish as she made her way through the house and out the back door. But my cousins didn't budge out of the hole they made and were snickering at how angry she was. So she told them, "The devil is coming to get you. You're digging a hole to hell where he is at. He is gonna grab you by your ankles and pull you down"! OMG! They started crying and scrambling to get up and out of the hole. We ALL fled back inside the house and wouldn't go back outside until my uncle came and filled the hole in. And even then we all stayed away from that area. My grandma laughed and made fun of us for years with that story. Bad grandma! Did we have the same grandma! Grandma C. (Not the white grandma who passed) told me if I didn't go to sleep my heart would stop beating. |
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SweetieBsMom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,741
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Post by SweetieBsMom on Jul 2, 2015 19:02:34 GMT
Was terrified that jaws was swimming around my bed at night. Convinced my window air conditioner was going "da dum, da dum...." (Jaws theme). My poor father, had to keep coming in my room because I'd be screaming. But it's his fault taking a 6 year old kid to see Jaws. Oh....thought of another one. I was convinced a vampire would bite my neck while sleeping. So I slept with the afghan blanket my grandmother made wrapped around my neck. I figured the vampire would get his teeth stuck trying to get to my neck and go after my sister instead....easier meal  |
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Jul 2, 2015 19:03:49 GMT
oh my goodness, some of these stories are just awful! J u l e e, that picture makes me sad, just looking at it! And Olan and conchita-- to tell you as kids that the devil would get you, or that your heart would stop beating?!?  |
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smginaz Suzy
Pearl Clutcher
Je suis desole.
Posts: 2,606
Jun 26, 2014 17:27:30 GMT
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Post by smginaz Suzy on Jul 2, 2015 19:04:02 GMT
Mine was the giant painting of a fierce tiger that skeered the bejabbers out of me. What is it with parents and scary art? I see that tiger print and it is no less scary now even as an adult.
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The Great Carpezio
Pearl Clutcher
Something profound goes here.
Posts: 2,983
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Post by The Great Carpezio on Jul 2, 2015 19:05:43 GMT
I was afraid of Mrs Weatherby. Apparently since we were good Catholic girls, we didn't learn about bloody Mary bloody Mary in the mirror, it was the same story but it was Mrs. Wetherby. If we said her name three times in the bathroom with no window and the lights off she would come and get us. So, every time I went into a bathroom without a window, I would always think her name and I was always afraid she's going to come to the Mirror.
I also always had to hold my breath when we went by a cemetery, and whenever I played the piano, I had to play the top key before I could close the lid. I'm not sure why I had to do that, but for some reason I thought if I didn't do that something bad was going to happen to me---like low notes were evil and high notes were angelic?
I was a bit neurotic.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 5, 2024 9:18:25 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2015 19:07:57 GMT
We had a ceramic rabbit lamp. There was the light bulb with the shade above the rabbit, but it had these plastic or glass things in front of it's eyes. So when you turned it on, they glowed a red color. I didn't get out of bed much. |
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oldcrow
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,828
Location: Ontario,Canada
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Post by oldcrow on Jul 2, 2015 19:08:54 GMT
Here's another story from my childhood...it's pretty messed up now that I am an adult. Anyway, my cousins and I were all playing in the backyard at my grandmother's home. A couple of my cousins began digging in the ground and creating a good sized hole, they were covered in dirt and making a huge mess out of the lawn. My grandma peeked out the back window, saw what they were doing and we could hear her cursing in Spanish as she made her way through the house and out the back door. But my cousins didn't budge out of the hole they made and were snickering at how angry she was. So she told them, "The devil is coming to get you. You're digging a hole to hell where he is at. He is gonna grab you by your ankles and pull you down"! OMG! They started crying and scrambling to get up and out of the hole. We ALL fled back inside the house and wouldn't go back outside until my uncle came and filled the hole in. And even then we all stayed away from that area. My grandma laughed and made fun of us for years with that story. Bad grandma! Did we have the same grandma! Grandma C. (Not the white grandma who passed) told me if I didn't go to sleep my heart would stop beating. My father used to tell my children that if they didn't behave he would undo their belly buttons and their bums would fall off. |
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SweetieBsMom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,741
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Post by SweetieBsMom on Jul 2, 2015 19:20:31 GMT
Did we have the same grandma! Grandma C. (Not the white grandma who passed) told me if I didn't go to sleep my heart would stop beating. That made me laugh out loud. |
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 5, 2024 9:18:25 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2015 19:20:59 GMT
I guess my grandpa telling me I'd grow hair on my chest if I drank coffee was quite tame compared to conchita! |
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conchita
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,141
Jul 1, 2014 11:25:58 GMT
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Post by conchita on Jul 2, 2015 19:29:08 GMT
I guess my grandpa telling me I'd grow hair on my chest if I drank coffee was quite tame compared to conchita! Were you trying to sneak sips out of his coffee mug? Lol! |
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 5, 2024 9:18:25 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2015 19:34:26 GMT
I guess my grandpa telling me I'd grow hair on my chest if I drank coffee was quite tame compared to conchita! Were you trying to sneak sips out of his coffee mug? Lol! No, I was raised Mormon! He was always offering us coffee. I think he enjoyed watching our faces as we were debating a moral dilemma. He also offered Jack Daniels if anyone had a persistent cough! |
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eleezybeth
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,784
Jun 28, 2014 20:42:01 GMT
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Post by eleezybeth on Jul 2, 2015 19:40:08 GMT
My mom would stalk us as the boogie man. The worst was when she would take a big metal spoon and run it along our windows. This boogie man lived in the basement and would pound on the walls when ever mom did laundry (yes, the spin cycle) and if he was really mad he would throw away our toys, but he only did that at night if we went down there to get a toy Even to this day I will high tale it up the basement steps at my mom's house. I just know he is there and going to get my ankles.
Pretty effed up that I'm a grown ass woman still afraid of the boogie man. Thanks mom.
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AmeliaBloomer
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,842
Location: USA
Jun 26, 2014 5:01:45 GMT
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Post by AmeliaBloomer on Jul 2, 2015 19:44:32 GMT
...and thinking "big mistake girlfriend"... You just made me choke on a grape. |
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tincin
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,378
Jul 25, 2014 4:55:32 GMT
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Post by tincin on Jul 2, 2015 20:16:04 GMT
I was afraid of the "witch" who lived across the street from my childhood house. The house was tiny and the yard was filled with flower gardens so you could barely see it. She was all stooped over like a witch and yelled at us kids if we got too close to her yard. Mind you none of us would go in it. The house, the fence, the shed were just all rickety. I'm certain it was neighborhood kid lore that made us afraid of her. Years later my sister and I were telling our SIL about the witch across the street and how afraid we were of her. Turns out the witch was my SIL's grandmother. OMG We laughed so hard when we discovered that. Apparently she had some mental health issues but she did not cast spells.
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Post by LavenderLayoutLady on Jul 2, 2015 20:36:09 GMT
Okay, mine was not frightening art related, but here goes..... I was absolutely terrified that I would get sucked into the bottom of the escalator. I imagined that my skin would tear off, and my bones would crack and crunch as they got pulled inside. Of course, to escape this doom, I would jump two or three steps up before the bottom to ensure that I landed safely and kept away from the crunching jaws of death. I was a weird kid.  |
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anniebygaslight
Drama Llama
I'd love a cup of tea. #1966
Posts: 7,402
Location: Third Rock from the sun.
Jun 28, 2014 14:08:19 GMT
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Post by anniebygaslight on Jul 2, 2015 20:52:27 GMT
My father used to tell my children that if they didn't behave he would undo their belly buttons and their bums would fall off. That made me laugh out loud. Me too. Sort of thing my Dad would have said. |
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I took him down and put him behind the TV stand until I left. 
Just kidding ... ok, no I'm not! Did they ever say why it was so important that the picture hang in your room? If they loved it so much it should have been hung in their room! 
