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Post by papersilly on Jul 2, 2015 21:08:54 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? oh my gosh, that's just the saddest painting! I would have been scarred forever if I had to look a that everyday. I can't imagine my own two dogs being tied up at the pound like that. my fear came when the pro-life people would pass out the abortion pamphlets at the church. they would have these graphic drawings and real pictures of babies all chopped up and thrown in the garbage. the pamphlets would describe in detail how the babies where cut up in-utero. it was awful to have those passed around where small kids like me could leaf through them. I was probably 10 or 11 when I saw those booklets and I still can't get those images out of my head today. awful, just awful.
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eleezybeth
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Jun 28, 2014 20:42:01 GMT
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Post by eleezybeth on Jul 2, 2015 21:11:50 GMT
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. My mom taught us that we could get caught in the elevator and it would strangle us. Then, one night on the news, they showed a boy whose hoodie strings got caught in the escalator and he nearly died. It seemed after that there was an epidemic of kids dying on escalators! In my 9 year old mind, it was a lot, probably 2. I remember thinking I had to take scissors if we went to the one store in our area that had an escalator. I still have a bit of a panic when I get on an escalator.
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Deleted
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Oct 5, 2024 11:16:41 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2015 21:44:39 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 Yes to both of these! I would never, ever let my hand or foot hang over the edge of the bed because I just knew a shark would bite it off. In my bedroom. In landlocked West Virginia. My brother and I used to stay up late on Saturday nights to watch the late night horror movies on TV. Vampires scared the fire out of me! And so did werewolves. I would sleep with the covers up to my nose, tucked in tight all around me. And when the dog walked in the kitchen, his nails would click on the linoleum. I was sure it was a werewolf coming to get us! I couldn't understand why no one else seemed worried about it. They apparently slept right through it. I've never seen any of the Twilight movies, not because they were cheesy or bad but because I can't stand either vampires or werewolves to this day!
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Deleted
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Oct 5, 2024 11:16:41 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2015 1:12:31 GMT
My grandmother had what we called the "scary Jesus picture" that we all avoided like the plague. My brother took it after she died and now has it hanging in his house, to frighten any small children who might enter.
My biggest fear though, was Harpo Marx. My parents enjoyed the Marx Brothers movies. One night, I had a terrible nightmare that Harpo killed my father by drilling a hole in his head with his super long fingernails. I remember the dream in great detail to this day, even though I don't remember my reactions to the movies after that, which my mother said were extreme. She said they had a terrible time figuring out why I would run screaming any time I saw him on the TV.
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Post by metaldancer on Jul 3, 2015 1:25:15 GMT
Mine isn't scary art related either. lol We did a lot of camping when I was a kid. One weekend, we had a close encounter of the 6 foot rattlesnake kind. Holy shitake mushrooms, he was big and mean looking. After that camping trip, for years I would sleep balled up in a ball. If I stretched my legs out, that rattlesnake at the foot of the bed was gonna bite me.
I do completely stretch all over the bed now (all alone with my dog in a king sized bed) but I DO NOT let any body parts hang off. Because whatever is under there will get me. I'm 54 years old! LOL
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Post by Woobster on Jul 3, 2015 1:46:04 GMT
My mom taught first grade for 40+ years. On year, she had a little girl who thought that the emergency light in the bathroom (you know... the one with the big, huge bulbs on it) were spy cameras. That poor little girl peed her pants for months because she was afraid to go to the bathroom. Finally, she explained to my mom what was going on and they worked it out so that she could use the teacher's (single) bathroom, which didn't have that light in it.
Poor kid.
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gmasparkles
New Member
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Jun 27, 2014 4:12:59 GMT
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Post by gmasparkles on Jul 3, 2015 3:39:07 GMT
Crimsoncat05. Have you read the book Let's pretend this never happened by Jenny Lawson. Your story reminded me of this book. I don't think you will regret reading it. It's a fun book about a girl and her taxidermy father.
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Post by katieanna on Jul 3, 2015 15:29:42 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. Oh my, I'd totally forgotten the fear I had of escalators that I had as a small child until I read your post. I can still remember my Mom holding onto my arm and pulling me over across the steps because I was so afraid I'd fall through the cracks. One other fear that I remember having as a very small child was of the saints pictured in the Catholic calendar that my Dad hung on the door in the kitchen that led to the basement. I'd had a dream one night that I was standing on the other side of the room and there was a baby crawling on the floor just underneath the calendar. The saint reached out of the picture and stretched his arm down toward the baby, picking the baby up by the diaper. The next thing I knew, I was the baby that had been clutched by the saint and was being pulled into the picture with him. Those calendars creeped me out ever since.
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anniebygaslight
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I'd love a cup of tea. #1966
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Location: Third Rock from the sun.
Jun 28, 2014 14:08:19 GMT
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Post by anniebygaslight on Jul 3, 2015 15:50:25 GMT
Crimsoncat05. Have you read the book Let's pretend this never happened by Jenny Lawson. Your story reminded me of this book. I don't think you will regret reading it. It's a fun book about a girl and her taxidermy father.Somehow this is not selling it to me.
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sharlag
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I like my artsy with a little bit of fartsy.
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Jun 26, 2014 12:57:48 GMT
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Post by sharlag on Jul 3, 2015 16:00:22 GMT
Crimsoncat05. Have you read the book Let's pretend this never happened by Jenny Lawson. Your story reminded me of this book. I don't think you will regret reading it. It's a fun book about a girl and her taxidermy father.Somehow this is not selling it to me. ... and I immediately went to Amazon and downloaded a sample onto my Kindle!
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Post by bc2ca on Jul 3, 2015 17:20:22 GMT
Not a fear, but the house across the street from my K burned down. We were told to stay away, but a rumor started that people had died in the fire and everyone knows that your heart doesn't burn (someone was very clear on that FACT). If people died, then their bright red heart shaped hearts would be sadly sitting in the burned shell. The class became obsessed seeing these hearts.
A couple of boys defied the orders to stay away and reported back to the class that they had seen the hearts. After discussing it for days, my BFF and I worked up the courage to go into the house and see the hearts too. We were so relieved to not find any bright red heart shaped hearts and called out those lying liar boys. I still remember being so happy that no one had died.
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Post by penny on Jul 3, 2015 17:24:47 GMT
My grandmother's house has drawers built into the walls in one of the bedrooms - the one I'd sleep in when I stayed over... I hated them... Big old wooden drawers that are heavy and creak and come from behind the wall... Don't think I knew why they creeped me out, but when I was older I think I figured it out... My grandfather worked at the little town hospital that was on the street behind the house and he had access to every part of it... Those drawers reminded me of the morgue...
That same bedroom has two windows, on adjacent walls... The bed was tucked in the corner between them, the ceiling sloped down on one side, you couldn't actually see the windows because they were dormers so they were inset (not sure I've explained that well), and there were more drawers in the dormer walls that led to the windows... I'd lay there, sounds coming from both sides, morgue drawers in three different places, a slopped ceiling coming down over me and wonder just how horrible the other bedrooms must be if I got the "nicest" one...lol
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Post by bc2ca on Jul 3, 2015 17:42:48 GMT
I don't think I'll ever be able to sleep in a Murphy bed. We were in a hotel with four kids in two beds, baby in a crib and my parents had a Murphy bed. They tucked us all in and my dad said "if you hear a bang in the middle of the night, pull us out of the wall". I stayed awake for hours waiting for the bang and was so happy their bed stayed open all night.
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Post by liya on Jul 3, 2015 17:58:42 GMT
I was afraid of the news. "It's 10pm do you know where your children are?" preceded the newscast. It scared the heck out of me. I don't know if it was that I thought there were missing kids when I was safely tucked into my bed or if it was the deep announcers voice. I always screamed for my parents to change the channel or lower the volume.
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Deleted
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Oct 5, 2024 11:16:41 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2015 18:21:45 GMT
I was also terrified by escalators. Still am. I hate it when people crowd me on escalators, especially at the airport. I need my space for jumping off at the end, which is difficult enough while maneuvering a suitcase. Here's the lovely doll my grandmother gave me when I was little. I think I've shown this before. (the picture is from an ebay sale, but it's exactly the same as my doll.) My sister found it in my parents' basement while she was cleaning out their house (right where I hid it.) She was so kind to bring it to me. Shudder.
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moodyblue
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Jun 26, 2014 21:07:23 GMT
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Post by moodyblue on Jul 3, 2015 18:54:04 GMT
My sister and I had those big dolls that are about the size of a small child, the ones with shiny, usually blue, eyes. Something happened, and the arm broke off of one of them, up at the shoulder. I remember waking up one night and the moonlight coming in the window illuminated the doll just enough, so you could see the "missing arm" and then the shining blue eyes that seemed to be staring right at me. Scared the crap out of me! After that I had to make sure that the doll wasn't sitting in that spot and that it wasn't facing the bed at night.
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Post by vpohlman on Jul 3, 2015 19:32:43 GMT
My grandma had those life sized dolls and she would put them in the closet, laying on the top shelf, then leave the light on for us for a night light. It was one of those sliding double door closets. We'd lay there staring at the closet, just waiting for those doors to slowly slide open and the dolls coming out to get us!
My mom also bought a molded plastic Raggety Ann bank. It sat on the night stand beside the bed for awhile before I finally snuck it out to the trash dumpster. Yes, I worried she was coming back until the trash truck came and emptied it! I was so afraid it would turn and look at me during the night! Mom asked where it went and I just kept quiet. I told her what I did with it about a 10 years ago. I'm 50 now so I waited a good 30 years to confess! She said "I always wondered what happened to that! Dolls still scare me! Pretty sure it all stems from Talking Tina!
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perumbula
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Jun 26, 2014 18:51:17 GMT
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Post by perumbula on Jul 3, 2015 19:54:17 GMT
Crimsoncat05. Have you read the book Let's pretend this never happened by Jenny Lawson. Your story reminded me of this book. I don't think you will regret reading it. It's a fun book about a girl and her taxidermy father.Somehow this is not selling it to me. She's known as The Bloggess on the internet. It's the woman who wrote that really hysterical blog post about Beyonce the Chicken. She's hurt your guts laughing funny. I always hated heights. Not because being high up itself was scary, but I was afraid if I stood too close to the edge I'd get this weird, irresistible compulsion to jump off.
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Post by krazykatlady on Jul 3, 2015 21:01:35 GMT
Somehow this is not selling it to me. She's known as The Bloggess on the internet. It's the woman who wrote that really hysterical blog post about Beyonce the Chicken. She's hurt your guts laughing funny. I always hated heights. Not because being high up itself was scary, but I was afraid if I stood too close to the edge I'd get this weird, irresistible compulsion to jump off. Beyoncé the Chicken ....best blog post ever. The first time I read it I couldn't breathe from laughing. I'm laughing now just thinking about it. I'll have to look into the book. And I agree about the irresistible urge to jump!
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Post by gracieplusthree on Jul 3, 2015 21:06:00 GMT
well I grew up living at my grandparents for years. and my grandmother was a hoot, she was creative though in keeping one in line. I was aware by her that Jesus could always see anything you did, good or bad. but also that the devil was watching.well so their house had some land behind it, not a lot maybe an acre and a half or so,part was the backyard, part was where we put the garden and part was grown up to a field--this area lead down to a creek and often was just grown up,but would get bush hogged or mowed maybe once or twice a year.. anyway we would cut through that to go to the creek. well once we saw what now I know was just a big mushroom, the kind that look like a big bowl or something sitting ON the ground, not the cute kind of mushroom with the stem and cap. this one lay directly on the ground, well I remember having never saw one before so had no idea what it was. my grandmother told me it was the top of the devils head, that he was listening to make sure i was being good..
I was petrified to walk through that field again. from that point on we had to walk through the neighbors nice mowed yard to get to the back road that also went to the creek,even though it was a longer route, I was NOT walking through the grown up part again.
Also, if you've ever had the little white bump on your tongue, I think its an inflammed taste bud? anyway she told me that those were a lie bump, and that having one of those meant that you had told a lie,even a little harmless white lie and bammo you'll get one of those bumps on your tongue. so if I got one Id rack my mind trying to figure out what I'd lied about LOL..
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janeliz
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I'm the Wiz and nobody beats me.
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Jun 26, 2014 14:35:07 GMT
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Post by janeliz on Jul 3, 2015 21:17:30 GMT
When I was little, my family took a trip to Gettysburg. There, we visited a home where a civilian named Jennie Wade was killed during the battle. If memory serves, there was a recording during the tour of someone crying out "Jennie Wade! Jennie Wade!". Freaked me out for months. Bad dreams, etc. I was the youngest of 5 kids, so I'm sure they took pleasure in messing with me about it as well.
In fact, my older sister was recently there on a trip with her 8th grade class. She texted me, "Jennie Wade! Jennie Wade!"
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anniebygaslight
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Jun 28, 2014 14:08:19 GMT
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Post by anniebygaslight on Jul 3, 2015 21:29:47 GMT
I was also terrified by escalators. Still am. I hate it when people crowd me on escalators, especially at the airport. I need my space for jumping off at the end, which is difficult enough while maneuvering a suitcase. Here's the lovely doll my grandmother gave me when I was little. I think I've shown this before. (the picture is from an ebay sale, but it's exactly the same as my doll.) My sister found it in my parents' basement while she was cleaning out their house (right where I hid it.) She was so kind to bring it to me. Shudder. Good grief! That is truly horrendous.
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Jul 5, 2015 1:25:36 GMT
Crimsoncat05. Have you read the book Let's pretend this never happened by Jenny Lawson. Your story reminded me of this book. I don't think you will regret reading it. It's a fun book about a girl and her taxidermy father. I have never heard of this book, but I will definitely look for it! eta: just read a little farther in the thread; that makes sense, now! I've read her blog before and often wondered why she has a thing about buying odd pieces of taxidermy...
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Post by corinne11 on Jul 5, 2015 1:49:04 GMT
When I was at primary school, maybe 8 or 9? we watched a fire safety film which showed a family going to bed and then over a period of time the tv caught on fire and the whole house filled up with smoke and flames. Everyone died in their sleep. Our house was tiny and all our bedrooms led straight off our lounge room.
For quite a few years I would sneak out into our living room when everyone was asleep and unplug all our electrical things in the lounge room, record player, lamp and tv. I was so scared that we would all die in our sleep.
I don't remember anyone ever commenting on the fact that everything was unplugged so maybe I used to plug it all back in the next morning before everyone got up!!
Corinne
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Post by M~ on Jul 5, 2015 4:25:22 GMT
Three specific childhood fears:
1) La Mano Negra. Literally the "black hand." Our nanny used to say that "la mano negra" was the hand of the devil who would come to take you if you misbehaved. Once she literally put on a black glove and snuck it in between the glass windowpanes (you know, the ones that you had to screw closed) at night because we had misbehaved.
2) The person who turned into the devil. This tale was told to discourage us from ever giving everyone a ride.
3) The mother who crushed her child's hands when he stole something--You know, cause it's not enough to say, "stealing is bad," but we have to go and tell the tale of the poor crippled kid who couldn't keep his hands to himself and stole something.
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chendra
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Jun 27, 2014 16:58:50 GMT
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Post by chendra on Jul 5, 2015 6:42:49 GMT
My mom tried to transfer her fear of hippies to us kids. I'm not sure that it worked because I think I was actually afraid of my mom being afraid. There were some teenagers who would drive through our neighborhood in a white van playing loud music. When my mom saw it, she would cry "Kids! It's the hippie wagon! Get inside!" and we would have to run for the shelter of our house before they could abduct us and addict us to drugs. (I think that was her fear.)
This sounds so ludicrous now that I type it. I wish I could ask her about it and find out if there were any details actually worth being frightened about or if they just represented the Other to her.
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Post by johna on Jul 5, 2015 11:59:39 GMT
my childhood fear was this: I had an aunt that died of Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS) in the mid-70s, when I was about 10 years old. She was in a nursing home for the last 5 years of her life. We went to visit her after church every Sunday (her nursing home was about a 45-minute drive from our house). So, anyway, I saw the effects of that disease for quite a while. My fear was that I was also get ALS because everyone always told me how much I looked like Aunt Ruth. In my childish mind, I equated my looking like her with her disease. I still sometimes fear that I will get that disease, but who wouldn't? it is a horrible thing.
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Post by yoko on Jul 5, 2015 13:21:01 GMT
One of our local malls had this Christmas display- Archie the Snowman. There was someone inside him who talked to kids. He was TERRIFYING. His eyes glowed red and somehow he knew my name.
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Post by Spongemom Scrappants on Jul 5, 2015 15:10:40 GMT
My greatest childhood fear did not develop until I was in third grade. I raced home from school everyday to watch Dark Shadows. I loved that show. But I developed a fear of vampires coming to bite me in the middle of the night.
We lived in an older home in Florida that had patios all around and several rooms of the house had double French doors that opened onto the patios -- including my bedroom. I would lie in bed at night listening to the shrubs scraping against the glass and be convinced it was a vampire coming for me. My father cut all the shrubs back but that didn't help. They even moved me to another room with no French doors but that didn't help much either. The fear was fully ingrained by that time. Why my mother STILL let me watch the show every afternoon, I'll never understand. I kept them up many a night terrified of vampires.
Eventually, I guess I outgrew out. And interestingly, I am the least superstitious person I know now. I don't put any credence in any type of mystique, ghost, superstition, spirit or anything like that.
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Post by Pahina722 on Jul 5, 2015 15:46:07 GMT
I was insanely afraid of earwigs (pincher bugs) crawling in my ears at night and eating my brains out. Why? Because Mamaw had told me the bugs got their earwig name because of that behavior. I slept with the covers pulled all the way up around my ears for years. Gradually, I generalized the protection that having my ears covered afforded to everything that scared me. In my kid mind, if I could SEE it coming I was safe, but my ears were a weakness that I had to protect.
I won't even get into my nightmares about snakes. Living on a lake infested with water moccasins in central Florida gave too much fuel to my 8-year-old imagination. It didn't help that our cats used to kill young snakes and leave them draped across the patio outside our sliding glass door as presents.
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