I was talking to a friend the other day about what used to scare you when you were a kid, and how you used to deal with it.

I mentioned that when I was about 5 I used to be really scared of vampires coming to get me in the night. However, I decided, in that messed up kids have, that if a kept a sheet tightly wrapped around the back of my neck while I slept, they couldn't get me.

His was better than this. Apparently he'd watched some cheap horror film called "Razorback" about a wild pig that went around killing people.

In his bedroom were these really big windows at around waist height that pretty much went all the way around the room. His bed was on the other side of the room from the switch, which he used to have to turn off before he got into bed.

Now getting from all the way across a dark room to the safety of your bed when there's a huge scary killer pig outside, is a pretty tall order for a kid, but he figured out that
a) if the light was on, he was ok.
b) if he was in bed he was ok
c) Getting from the light switch to the bed was ok, but only if he stayed below the height of the windows (so the pig couldn't see him ldo)


So, OOT what **** used to scare you when you were a kid, and what kind of crazy rules did you make up that kept you safe?

I was scared of my uncle who touched my happy place too often. The crazy rule I made up to keep me safe was to blackmail him for candy.

I had velociraptor fear for a little while. I would imagine a tyranosaurus rex roar because he'd scare them away. I was obv. not as scared of him because if he put his big eye next to the window i coudl just go under the covers and he wouldnt see me. The velociraptors were more clever, they would have found me. So everytime they were about to get there, i would imagine the roar of a TRex and it would scare them off.

I watched an episode of Johnny Quest about werewolves and become insanely terrified of them.

I also hated just being in the dark in general, still do tbh.

Land of the lost: Sleestaks

I was terrified of Chuckie, and little dolls coming to life to kill me. Unfortunately I never thought of some rule that could keep me safe, I just always was prepared to take off my belt and unload some doll whoopass.

I was afraid of slipping into a coma so deep that everyone would think that I was dead, then waking up trapped in a coffin. I had trouble sleeping for like two years because of this.

I was also afraid that everyone else in the world would disappear and I would be left completely alone.

Edward scissor hands fear, I've never quite gotten over it.

Scale. Like the fact fractions on an in inch are huge compared to still smaller distances. I only thought about it when I came down with a fever, but when I did I could barely stand upright from the vertigo.

after watching It as a kid i was scared of clowns. before hopping into the shower i had to open the shower curtain really fast to make sure there was no clown hiding there waiting to kill me. then once in the shower i would occasionally have to open the shower curtain a little to make sure a clown wasn't lurking behind it, though come to think about it, not sure what good that would do me anyways since wtf would i do there standing naked in the shower vs a clown with a knife?

the head of my bed was next to a window and for a while i was scared of the glass window shattering on top of me so i always slept completely underneath my blankets from head to toe.

To this day I still open the shower curtain before sitting down to take a ****. I just can't relax knowing that someone might jump out and stab me to death mid-****.

Child's Play absolutely terrified me from the ages of about 4 to 10.

Zeno's Paradoxiphobia?

Aliens.

I saw the Xfiles when i was young and couldn't sleep well for a week, that intro beat/song still scares the **** out of me.

It's always comforting to know that no matter how dumb the **** I do is, there is somebody else doing it too.

Tornadoes / hurricanes whenever lightning storms got really, really bad and the wind picked up. I vividly remember a 3 week period where I couldn't sleep because I had the same recurring nightmare about it every night. Kind of irrational for a 7 year old considering I lived in suburban Toronto and the nearest twisters are usually an hour or two away.

The ****ing dark.

Don't dangle feet over the edge of the bed because there are monsters there ldo. To this day, I pull my feet up if I realize they are hanging over the edge. It's not a conscious decision, it just happens.

Used to never like looking in mirrors when the light was off, or when it was late at night. Think it was because of candyman

I was never scared of anything until I saw Hellraiser when I was 7. It was scary but didn't bother me after watching at first, but then a couple months later we moved to a new house and the entrance to the attic was in my room. Squirrels and birds would get trapped in there and I could hear them scratching at walls when I was trying to sleep. I obviously thought Hellraiser was in my attic and trying to get me.

I used to watch American Gladiators at night before bed once a week and the show after was X-Files. As soon as AG was over I had to rush to the TV to turn it off so I wouldn't hear the X-File intro on the "this show's next" as it would scare me.

+1, the X-files always came up with some twisted stuff but I could never resist going back, sometimes it wasn't too scary but the times it was I couldn't sleep.

I would have these sick dreams as well where I was yelling for my parents to save me from whatever villain and I just couldn't hear my own voice, but I was sure I was yelling as hard as I could. No escape imo.

-Being buried alive.
Well, I never had a rule for this, I just hope it never happens.

-Someone hiding in my shower.
I always open it and check when I'm going to take a crap.

-Someone hiding in my car.
I turn the lights on and look in the backseat.

-Vampires.
There's nothing you can ****ing do about vampires.