Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

debm55

(52,880 posts)
Sun Oct 5, 2025, 01:34 PM Oct 5

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

EarthAbides

(406 posts)
3. Dark water
Sun Oct 5, 2025, 01:41 PM
Oct 5

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

MIButterfly

(1,698 posts)
5. Basements.
Sun Oct 5, 2025, 01:45 PM
Oct 5

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

(52,880 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, 01:50 PM
Oct 5

I hated walking down those stairs.

mucifer

(25,439 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, 01:46 PM
Oct 5

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

(40,463 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, 02:46 PM
Oct 5

No how. No way.

CrispyQ

(40,463 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, 10:14 AM
Oct 6

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

Polly Hennessey

(8,370 posts)
13. Closets. As a kid, I would check my closet and that includes looking behind the clothes.
Sun Oct 5, 2025, 02:54 PM
Oct 5

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

(112,222 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, 03:33 PM
Oct 5

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

(52,880 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, 04:36 PM
Oct 5

visit it,

rurallib

(64,426 posts)
22. The basement in our house when I was a kid was dark and dingy and cool with
Sun Oct 5, 2025, 04:50 PM
Oct 5

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

(990 posts)
25. Rain
Sun Oct 5, 2025, 06:17 PM
Oct 5

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

(52,880 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, 06:24 PM
Oct 5

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

(52,880 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, 08:12 PM
Oct 5

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

(951 posts)
45. Oh, dear deb, I am so sorry
Mon Oct 6, 2025, 12:27 PM
Oct 6

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

(1,316 posts)
35. When I was a kid, my bedroom closet
Sun Oct 5, 2025, 09:05 PM
Oct 5

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

(9,588 posts)
36. As a kid, there were plenty of things.
Mon Oct 6, 2025, 07:33 AM
Oct 6

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

People.

catbyte

(38,339 posts)
37. Tornadoes and huge waves on Lake Michigan.
Mon Oct 6, 2025, 08:16 AM
Oct 6

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

(16,663 posts)
39. Horses terrify me!
Mon Oct 6, 2025, 10:20 AM
Oct 6

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

Latest Discussions»The DU Lounge»What thing/things scare y...