With Halloween less than a week away, I decided to write an article that is relevant to this Hallmark holiday. As children, we were scared of anything that was new to us, anyone who we weren't familiar with and anything that television, movies, books, and parents negatively portrayed. Excluding a few of them, we grew out of most of our childhood fears as we matured. Now we can reminisce and laugh about how ridiculously irrational most of our childhood fears were. Here are 25 irrational fears that we had as children.
1. Monsters Under The Bed
You always had your parents check under the bed for monsters like a billion times, and even then, you still thought they were there.
2. Pool Sharks
"Are there sharks in the deep end of the pool mommy?" Said every 3 to 9-year-old child ever. "Pool sharks" had a whole other meaning when you were younger.
3. The Basement
For some reason, it didn't matter what house you were in, the light switch was always at the bottom of the basement staircase. Going up the staircase, you would turn off the lights, sprint up the stairs (never EVER looking back), and slam the door shut. By that point you were in a cold sweat and your heart was about to beat out of your chest. Going downstairs when the lights were off, you were like "No way, Jose! I'm getting daddy to turn the lights on. It's scary down there."
4. Ghosts
Ghosts were always a fear when trying to go to sleep at night, and you prayed that if you ever saw one it would be a nice ghost like Casper.
5. Bloody Mary
When you got a little older, you heard about the prank where you say "Bloody Mary" three times while looking in the mirror then Bloody Mary would appear to you in the mirror. You did this to scare your friends, but it always ended up backfiring and you scared yourself as well.
6. Scary creaks, taps, thumps, and bumps in the middle of the night
This was when I would tell myself that it was my Tigger stuffed animal just bouncing around at night.
7. The fear of something grabbing you and pulling you under the water at a lake
If you have ever been tubing, you always freaked out while waiting in the middle of the lake for the boat to come pick you back up after falling off of the tube.
8. Shadows
Once upon a time, this was definitely you.
9. The sound of the radiator
Any sound that your house made while you were trying to go to sleep was automatically a monster coming to get you.
10. The Attic
You probably didn't know what your attic looked like until you were 13 because there was no way that you were going up there. After all, that is where many of the monsters were during the day.
11. Bad Guys
"Don't turn off the light! The bad guys are gonna get me!"
12. The sound of a grandfather clock at night.
If you had a grandfather clock in your house, you definitely remember hearing the eerie chimes that it made at each hour, but you especially remember the even eerier sound it made in the silence of the night.
13. Clowns
No matter how funny/nice they were, this is how all clowns looked to you.
14. Sitting on Santa's or the Easter Bunny's lap...
You had a love/hate relationship with both the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. You loved it when they left you presents and candy, but you dreaded the moment that you had to sit on their laps for all of two minutes.
15. ...and pretty much anyone dressed up in a costume
Don't you remember being so excited to go to the happiest place on Earth, Disney World (or Disneyland), but once you were there you cried on every ride and you cried at the sight of every Disney character? It was a living nightmare for both you and your parents who had to deal with you the entire time.
16. Doctors
Shots, cold stethoscopes, being naked and cold, finger pricks, other blood tests, and stitches. Need I say more?
17. Scary animals in the toilet
When going to the bathroom at night, you definitely looked to make sure that a snake, spider, or monster wasn't hiding in the toilet.
18. Nightmares made you afraid to sleep alone.
"Mommy?...Daddy?...Can I sleep in your bed?"
19. Full Moons
Full Moons = Dogs + Howling = Werewolves
Werewolves = (You not sleeping at all) x (Not leaving your bed for anything)
= Having to change your sheets
Therefore: Full Moons = Werewolves = Peeing Your Pants
20. Bats
When you were younger, every bat was a vampire bat, which automatically made it Dracula or some other vampire in disguise.
21. The Ocean
Don't lie, you definitely avoided the dark spots of algae when you were swimming in the ocean.
22. Thunderstorms
Like you, Mickey could have really used a thunder buddy. "Nature: YOU SCARY!"
23. Something scary coming up the shower drain
See?! Clowns were scary!
24. Driving across bridges
You always wondered if today was the day that the bridge was going to collapse.
25. Waking up and thinking someone is in your bed with you
When you woke up in the middle of the night and saw a lump on the other side of the bed, this was always the fear; but it always ended up being a pillow, a stuffed animal, or something that made its way under the covers while you were sleeping.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
