...by Laurie Anderson. Thankfully I've never encountered the song since then (not exactly typical fare for oldies radio)

My fears were rational: dogs and heights. Dogs because a fuckoff great Alsatian jumped on me when I was two, heights because FALLING OFF THEM KILLS YOU. That's just sensible.

For the record, I don't fear dogs any more. I just dislike them strongly, the great idiots.

My friend Matt was terrified of Sparky's Magic Piano, with some justification. And if Roo of this parish stops by, he'll tell you about a certain televised aquatic wildfowl which still makes him shriek with terror. Like a massive great baby girl.

from The Magic Roundabout.

Creepy organ grinder who hung around the roundabout watching Florence and her friends play. I think he had a tricycle as well which is just.... weird.

Come to think of it, Florence freaked me out as well. HUGE head.

The horror, the horror.

are the only thing I can recall from childhood. Which is odd, 'cause I've got loads of phobias now I'm an adult. But not dogs - I'm now so unscared of dogs that I have one of my own.

Following a chance encounter with a Panorama documentary on the subject of Chinese organised crime gangs, around the age of six, I became obsessed with and terrified by the concept of Triads. If we passed a Chinese takeaway in the car, I'd hide beneath the window. I'm all right now.

At the end of the credits of the original Star Trek (remember the days when we didn't need to say "the original"?), there was occasionally a still of a horrible bald alien beastie with staring eyes which used to terrify me, and always seemed to appear when I least expected it... appositely enough, in the episode in which they appeared, they turned out to be puppets used by a short, cute race of aliens to frighten and intimidate any potential visitors... job done, then.

It wasn't just the twin rolling blades, it was the devil-may-care method of driving them employed by their 'owners'. I hated them. Rare to see them now, or is it just me?

By the Animals. When that was a hit the first time I had measles, which I kept picking at. One night watching Top Of The Pops my mother told me that if I carried on scratching at them I would end up looking like HIM (pointed at Eric Burden and his acne-ridden face, the poor sod).

Whenever the song was on the radio I felt incredibly uncomfortable and developed a life-long loathing. As no doubt did the rest of the Animals, once they learned that Alan Price was trousering all the money from it. Allegedly.

Sat on the big orange mat gripping the hand of my best friend as we watched. Okay, it was designed to 'scare' but still...

...especially the ones what lived up the chimbley.

Mainly Noddy Holder and Dave Whatsisname. Every time they loomed into the frame of Top of the Pops, young Con dived behind the couch and plugged his ears.

Thinking around late 70s/early 80s, possibly Scandinavian - very Brothers Grimm/Judderman. Quite unnerved me, possibly more rational than irrational. If anyone knows what the heck I'm taking about, could you please point me towards seeing some again? Ta

He had sideburns. And looked scary. I still think he's a wrong 'un.

And I still don't like being over water at night or water at two different levels (weirs, dams, lock-gates and the like) which is really odd and I don't understand it but I get a very deep sense of unease being around these things.

... for the duration of a school holiday when I was about 7 or 8 where I saw a film on telly that frightened the life out of me.

I have no idea of the name of the film (although I suspect the word 'ant' or 'ants' appears in the title) which, I think, was set somewhere in Africa and involved Joan Collins.

The premise was that killer ants were taking over and the bit that frightened the snot out of me was at the very end of the film after everyone had packed up and moved across the river and blown up the bridge to prevent the ants from following them. Unfortunately, being the clever little buggers that killer ants are, they simply climbed aboard fallen leaves and floated across to the other side of the river. Millions of 'em.

It gave me nightmares for weeks.

The Black nun.
Still brings a shudder.

I was scared of the Muppets.

Also, televised custard pie fights, mainly because of the distorting effect on the receiver's face. Tiswas was a no-no (although I was only 3 or so at the time).

from Jigsaw

and Richard Stilgoe in general

Gave me the creeps

Around 1976, Nationwide did an on location report at Mother Shipton caves describing to viewers how uncannily accurate her premonitions of the future were. Then, at the end of the item, the reporter, Bob Wellings tells us that she also predicted the world will come to an end in 1981. This mortified me for a long time and I was secretly pleased on Jan 1st, 1982 that the old bag was wrong.

with a pink caravan that I was deeply suspicious of.

at the beginning of The Herbs & the opening credits to (pre-Scrappy) Scooby-Doo.

And the theme tune to Crossroads used to make me cry.

I was a robust child.

was quite unsettling in the same way Terry Gilliam's Python animations and Yellow Submarine were.

It was the fact there was no dialogue, just this spooky eyed girl chastising her dog to this odd jazz folk accompaniment.

Dr Who and the Green Death with its glowing green lurgy, giant maggots and scary (at the time) huge fly freaked me out for MONTHS as an impressionable 9 year old!

Classic behind the sofa stuff

Remember being terrified of the huge wave at the beginning of Hawaii 5-0. As for the Klan, I remember watching Roots as a kid and hearing a Klansman saying how he hated Catholics. I couldn't sleep that night for fear I'd wake up to find a burning cross on the front lawn. Not really very likely in Hertfordshire.

Not the show itself (always thought it was a bit pants), but the theme definitely gave me the collywobbles. Still does.

>shiver<

When I was a nipper, one thing that always terrified me was The Bill Bixby era Incredible Hulk TV series. Specifically when Bixby used to commence that transformation into a Green Lou Ferrigno. It was the sudden screen shot of Bixby's eyes changing colour, and I'd be off like a bullet behind the sofa. Once Big Lou was fully formed I'd quietly return to my usual viewing spot on the rug, happy as Larry!

Vitruvian Man and the World In Action theme music. Wah!

I also got scared by the 'bigger boys' in werewolf outfits at my first ever primary school halloween disco (I went as that traditional ghostly Roman soldier - thanks mum). Weird to think that these kids would have only been 11 but they terrified me.

Hated birds, loved Tippi Hedren after that.

Has no-one mentioned "Children of the Stones" yet? Flippin' 'eck - talk about proper disturbing and chilling?

And that theme tune with the moaning and wailing...

...but The House in the Clouds at Thorpeness.

For those of you unfamiliar with this Suffolk landmark, it's a giant water tower disguised as a chalet-style cottage.

I found it really creepy for some reason. I once went on a caravan holiday in nearby Aldeburgh aged about three and remember daring myself to look at it through the curtains.

to the Redbone single "The Witch Queen Of new Orleans" was a song called "Chant : 13th Hour", it had native american drums and chanting and a weird humming background - and then a creepy scream before the song started playing.
That was scary enough to me, but my older brother could never resist sneaking up on me ( sitting under the table for protection ) and letting out a bloodcurdling warcry that terrified me every time.

And then there was the Swedish childrens television show called "Ville, Valle & Viktor"...
Viktor was a living ragdoll. He came to life when a horn sounded, and collapsed when it sounded again. He had the face of a clown... *shudders*... His voice was shrill.
I hated Viktor and after every episode I would lie in my bed paralysed with fear, staring into the black void that was the doorless opening between my bedroom and my parents room, expecting Viktor to creep into my room any time now...to eat me.
Reading Stephen Kings' "It" as an adult brought back memories of my worst childhood nightmares!

It's Dusty Mop and Humphrey Cushion!

from "The Mysterious World of Arthur C Clarke"

...didn't help knowing that out of the 20 Amazon explorers in the party that took this photo, only 4 returned alive

Oh, and the Omega Factor, a TV series about the paranormal in the 70s (apparently forced from the air by Mary Whitehouse). Brrr.

There was an episode of "The Six Million Dollar Man" about this Russian space probe sent to Venus, but which ended up harassing Steve Austin (with a dodgy 'tache) by following him around like a crap Dalek. I was absolutely petrified of it and remember it being on while I was at my Gran's house once and I hid behind the sofa, screaming - properly screaming - my head off.

I've just found it on YouTube and watched it again. It doesn't really seem that scary now.

I was horrified by a scene in a late night movie where a band of Apaches ( I think ) ambushed a wagon train...the only survivor of the attack, a young woman, played dead until one of her attackers - to make sure she was deceased - poured sand down her throat until she choked.

Only saw it once and that was probably thirty years ago, but it's an image that terrified me for years ( despite the dearth of Apaches or, come to think of it, sand in Finsbury Park ) and it still gives me the heebie jeebies. If anybody knows which film it's from, do let me know - it's about time I confronted that particular demon.

...the Wizard of effing Oz on the big screen. I ran screaming from the cinema in the middle of the Saturday afternoon matinee. Why it was showing in the late '50s I have no idea but it scared the proverbial out of me. I ran all the way home, blubbing. My mum thought it was very funny! I have never been able to watch it since.

When The Wind Blows.

"The cakes will be burned" still sends the proverbial shivers down my metaphorical spine.

I was TERRIFIED of hairdryers when I was 5 or 6. I had been told that electricty and water should not mix. So, to my mind, hairdryers were the very devil - the bringing together of electricity (to power the beast) and water (from the wet hair). FEAR! FEAR! FEAR THE HAIRDRYER! (I'm still slightly distrustful of them now, truth be told)

also, I was too scared to go into my parents' bedroom after dark, as I was convinced that their TV would sprout an enormous golden nose and snort me into its insides. can offer no explanation whatsoever about why I thought that.

But anyone else remember the Poltergeist episode of the Waltons?

No warning whatsoever. As a youngster, I nearly shat myself.

this clip does not do it justice...

I have enjoyed it immensely.

... the 1980 mini-series starring Rock Hudson, based on Ray Bradbury.

The whole sequence depicting the initial attempts at colonisation by earthlings, featuring the spooky bald headed martians with silvery eyes (who are ultimately rather tragic figures), who have the ability to mess with our minds. There's a bit where they influence the crew so that they are 'back home' in the Mid-West, up until the point where one of them twigs and the spooky martian reveals itself. Had a really odd effect on me.

Also the bit where the earth is devastated by a neutron bomb - it sort of goes brown whilst being viewed in the telescope. That's how I remember it anyway. That gave me the cosmic fear...

The Co-operative Society building in Newcastle, which has now been reduced to a supermarket, was a magificent art deco building full of details saluting the working man - the banister on the staircase was infinite little featureless blokes pulling on an infinite rope, symbolising the collective ethos. I still occasionally have nightmares about it.
Over in Gateshead, Shepherds was on of those old-style MC Escher buildings where you went through the sports department in the basement, went down a fligh tof stairs, and found yourself in Furs on the fourth floor.

As a child I was terrified of getting lost - to the point where I had nightmares about it. It stemmed from being read a story in infants school where a child got lost and what happened to them.
My daughter for some reason gets freaked out by clowns but then she did insist on watching IT.

My nephew had an intense fear of buttons and consequently wouldnt wear any clothes with buttons. The fear was almost pathological.
He also had a fear of sausages but we put that down to him having choked on some gristle in a sausage.

and still do.

London flooding - helped by posters on the buses and tube 'If London flooded tomorrow what would you do?' With a picture of an abandoned, soggy toy doll. Nightmares for ages, which my mum tried to placate me with 'we live at the top of a hill we'll be fine...'

and it freaked me out. But I still wanted to hear it again.

I'm not sure if it's the strings along with the guitar, Bobbie Gentry's delivery, the fact that you don't fully understand the story, or the whole southern gothic thing. And I just got the shivers listening again. God, that's a great song.

I remember round lunchtime on ITV there used to be some program whose intro credits featured a white bust of a head cracking open and ants emerging from the cracks, and crawling all over the face. This gave me the absolute heebie-jeebies for years. Does anyone else remember this?? I think the program used to be on round the same time as Crown Court.

Childhood memory of sleeping in my parents bed - a noise which for some reason I associated very explicitly with black and white minstrels in straw boaters with starey eyes, in my parents wardrobe. I was utterly petrified (aged 2 or 3, more likely 3). Many years and many nightmares later I realised the noise would have been my father snoring. Still sends shudders through me though. And through him actually Christ you should hear him still just as bad

Also at the height of my profound soft as shite teenage Southern English namby Cold War phobia (South Bucks being Number 1 Target in Western Europe because of Strike Command at H Wycombe) I was woken in the night by this enormous roar outside and a brilliant light that was shining through the windows. It was in fact a jet in the Heathrow stack (they WERE noisier then) on a moonlit night. I was actually sobbing thinking this was it. Still frightened when I am at my parents house by the glow in the sky that is London and the dim unknowable terror it represents (and I subsequently lived in the Smoke for 14 years)

It will surprise many of you to know how much I like the Smiths

There seemed to be a great deal of alarm over squatters when I was maybe 7 or 8. It seems you couldnt watch the news or nationwide without a story of some hapless family nipping out for cakes and coming home 15 minutes later to find squatters moved in with the locks changed and the law on their side. I was decididely uncomfortable going on holiday that year!

Also the rag and bone man, I can remember hearing his call and going clammy with fear, not sure why, I think it was the ominous chanting that got me.

Finally (and still have this today to some degree) I was always freaked out if the water jets at the urinal started to operate as I was standing there, I finished early on many occasions when that happened.

Beneath The Planet of The Apes

AAAAAAAARRRGGHH!!

Some 70s "Secret Mysteries of The Unexplained with Arthur C Asimov" type show explained that the famous three sided nexus of evil was "getting bigger every year", which led me to surmise that eventually it would reach the UK and we'd all be sucked into it.

Doesn't appear to have happened yet, thank crikey!

Too big - they'd squish you in an instant.

I once saw one in a domestic kitchen and watched in terror as it macerated a potato. From that moment on I imagined my hand trapped in the drain as the blades started to turn. I still do if I'm honest.

Very scary for me. I have no idea why. I used to hide when we drove past the hovercraft slipway at Lee-On-Solent and one of the big SRNs was at the top.

used to put the shitters up me, I didn't watch ITV for months because of it. God, I was a wimp.

Yes, Peter Woods.

http://hub.tv-ark.org.uk/images/news/bbcnews/images/bulletins/1976/headl...

This thread is bringing a lot of stuff bubbling to the surface.

I caused a child's nightmare. We were babysitting a friend's five-year-old son and he was sleeping in the spare room. On the wall of said room hangs a large canvas based on the back of The Velvet Underground's White Light/White Heat LP.

Apparently he had a bad dream because of it. Looking at Lou Reed there, I can understand why.

have a "terrifying sub-department" in children's programming in the 70s??!??

This would have been some time in the mid/late 1980s. According to Those That Know (*cough my mum cough*), there was a pepsi advert on telly featuring lots of jump-cutting, which caused me to go quite liderally batshit every single time. I eventually had to be talked through it frame-by-frame in order to overcome my fear. I haven't youtubed it as I'm at work and they already think I'm subervisive for voting Labour and wearing waistcoats AS A WOMAN, so I doubt me having a lipsmackingthirstquenching internet-related fit will do much to help matters.

Happily, I made a full recovery and now greatly enjoy choptastic programmes such as This Life, ER etc.