Terrifying childhood tv shows

[Black Hound]

Mind if I light up while I ponder this in more detail? The Twlight Zone has some scarey viewing but the DARK SIDE was a little over the top for me, esp. if it came on late at night. Way too closse to a spooky reality.Now where did I put that ash tray?

[Sarka]

Goosebumps and Are you afraid of the dark? Freaked me out as a kid now I can watch them and not worry

I always found Are You Afraid of the Dark to be scarier then Goosebumps. But I will never forget this one episode of Goosebumps when this girl kept trying to kill her cat and at the end of the episode the mom turned into a deformed looking cat herself. I don't remember the details but it scared the crap out of me.

I liked the Goosebumps books better then the show, I loved the 'choose your own ending" ones. Are You Afraid of the Dark was great though, it really scared me but it was soo good.

[Grandpa Greenman]

Outerlimits use to scare me. I don't remember any kiddy shows that scared me.

[Lilly]

I'm of Darkwind's generation and definitely 'The Outer Limits' scared the beejeebees out of me. Back then traditional kids shows weren't all that scarey. But, 'The Outer Limits' was flat out terrifying...even today the part where the announcer says, "We are in control of your television" gives me the creeps.

[Mantis914]

I remember seeing a little cartoon called "Jac Mac & Rad Boy" on either Night Flite or one of those late night shows and as a kid, their voices terrified me. The cartoon itself is pretty twisted and more for an adult sense of humor. Other than that, manniquins and dolls used to terrify me also when I saw Twilight Zone "After Hours" and "Living Doll"...

[thewild]

Me, too. Even when that tv show "The Goodies" did a parody of Watership Down, I got upset.

It just reminded me of a similar book/film The Mouse and His Child. Does anyone remember that? The 'mean' rat upset me. Also, the mouse and his child were stuck together by their hands, and being a wind-up toy, once they wound down someone else had to wind them up or they would stay frozen. They couldn't wind themselves up. I spent the whole movie stressing about them winding down.

Me too!! That scene where the mouse and his child are underwater, looking at a can with a label on it, and saying, "there's another, and another, and another,(ect." freaked me out a bit. The image was of a dog holding a picture of himself holding a picture of himself, and the child could see into the picture ad infitom sorry about the latin spelling it's probably incorrect lol. But that was a disturbing cartoon. Also the stop-motion animation of "The Adventures of Mark Twain". Oh and "the Little Prince" that one made me stress. How did he survive on his tiny planet?? Worried the heck out of me.

[thewild]

I didnt really get scared of things as a child when it came to watching tv shows but...I was looking at creepy stuff on youtube the other day and I came across this video. Now, i'm sure if I would have watched this when I was a kid it would have messed me up. its not like 'ghost scary' but its kinda twisted.

Ok that one is the stop motion animation of the adventures of Mark Twain. It was an 80s movie and I first watched it on HBO. Freaked me out too!! I do not think it was banned however.

[NosmoKing]

Me too!! That scene where the mouse and his child are underwater, looking at a can with a label on it, and saying, "there's another, and another, and another,(ect." freaked me out a bit. The image was of a dog holding a picture of himself holding a picture of himself, and the child could see into the picture ad infitom sorry about the latin spelling it's probably incorrect lol. But that was a disturbing cartoon. Also the stop-motion animation of "The Adventures of Mark Twain". Oh and "the Little Prince" that one made me stress. How did he survive on his tiny planet?? Worried the heck out of me.

Arrrrgh, why did you do that? I'd completely forgotten the can with the picture in the picture in the picture. I must of repressed that for obvious reasons

Darkwind and Lilly, did 'The Outer Limits' have an episode set on a farm (like in Iowa) where a dimensional window comes into existence in a field? People can see into another dimension (and possibly cross into the other dimension) but 'humans' in the other dimension can't see us. Scientists come to study the window, and watch a nice looking, old fashioned family. One guy (I think it's played by Bill Pullman) becomes obsessed with the daughter, and the nice, old fashioned way they seem to live. Finally he cracks and jumps through the window before anyone can stop him. The family approached him like , but then they jump on him and tear him to shreds and eat him. Window disappears. Episode ends with the scientists theorising about what might happen if the window is reversed, and the cannibals are able to see (and cross) into our world.

Anyone remember that?

Edited August 10, 2010 by NosmoKing

[Shayde]

Each country has had thier own spooky shows, shows that as kids growing up have left their mark on us all...

Candle Cove I will admit to not knowing, but there was a few from my childhood in the 70s that I do wish would be released on DVD.

The Changes is one such programme. Taken from the book trilogy by Peter Dickinson, it was a tale in which Britain is taken over by a malevolent power that reverts all the people to a medieval mindset, smashing up technology. The power travelled along power lines, and since I lived right next to one, well, you can imagine how that affected a youngster's mind! This was a TV show that was shown around early evening, as part of the children's television output. Only recently I managed to source the books, and giving part of the narrative (beheadings, stonings and the like) it is remarkable to think this book is geared towards the younger reader. And to be frank, I'd be surprised if such a show would be remade today.

One old thing that still lingers in the mind comes from those advisement and safety adverts. It was called Spirit of Dark Water, and warned about the dangers of playing near water. To make it very clear, a cowled figure (Death of course) is seen near to ponds and such water features, as kids play unknowingly... Now that did scare the living daylights out of you!

And of course, while not a kid's show, but the ITV show Sapphire and Steel. Episode/ Assignment 4 is one of the more spooky ones they did. The death of one character by burning a photo in which she's been trapped as an image is a rather memorable way of doing a very horrible death on the cheap but effective way to stick in the memory...

[bveeman]

I would have to say unsolved mysteries scared the hell out of me when I was younger. It was the ghost stories and the alien abductions that really freaked me out . I can remember sitting in the basement watching the stories and being so scared that an Alien was right behind the couch that I couldn’t move. That creepy music they played didn’t help for sure.

[Oniomancer]

Arrrrgh, why did you do that? I'd completely forgotten the can with the picture in the picture in the picture. I must of repressed that for obvious reasons

Darkwind and Lilly, did 'The Outer Limits' have an episode set on a farm (like in Iowa) where a dimensional window comes into existence in a field? People can see into another dimension (and possibly cross into the other dimension) but 'humans' in the other dimension can't see us. Scientists come to study the window, and watch a nice looking, old fashioned family. One guy (I think it's played by Bill Pullman) becomes obsessed with the daughter, and the nice, old fashioned way they seem to live. Finally he cracks and jumps through the window before anyone can stop him. The family approached him like , but then they jump on him and tear him to shreds and eat him. Window disappears. Episode ends with the scientists theorising about what might happen if the window is reversed, and the cannibals are able to see (and cross) into our world.

Anyone remember that?

I've seen that. That's the new version of the Outer Limits produced and syndicated by Showtime. The one they're talking about is the original black and white version from the 60's.

[Insignia]

Fantasia scared the hell out of me when i was young. No idea why, it was just ridiculously sinister

[Corp]

Not sure why but over time Teddy Ruxpin creeped me out. Also found the Mice of Nimh a bit on the creepy side. I'm also told that the start of Harry and the Hendersons scared the crap out of me.

Looking back The Brave Little Toaster should have freaked me out. Maddness, suicide, hopelessness. Can't believe my parents let me watch it

[Leah G.]

The 3 stooges did it for me. I couldn't understand why they kept beating the hell out of each other. It was bad, I had terrible nightmares for years and everyone laughed at me about it and kept watching it. I did learn to love to read so it did have a benifit.

[~TheBigK~]

I grew up in the 90's too so Are You Afraid of the Dark and Goosebumps did it for me as well. A couple Halloweens ago my friends and I were watching it just to relive old times and there was one with a ventriloquist doll called Night of the Living Dummy and it still unsettled us haha. I also like watching shows now that didn't freak me out back then but do now such as Ren and Stimpy.

[H.H. Holmes]

Watching a programme called 'goosebumps'

I know it was supposed to be scary but that stopped me sleeping for years.

"Afraid of the Dark" owns Goosebumps, imo. Some of that stuff was just too creepy for little children.

[+HerNibs]

Most episodes of this terrified me.

Nibs

[Aim4TheHead]

The only one I can remember right now was Are You Afraid of the Dark..especially the clown one

[UltraThunderMan]

There was an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark where this kid was at home with the flu or something and this monster guy would come in his room and i remember thinking what the crap even though i was a teenager when it came on tv.

[NosmoKing]

Not sure why but over time Teddy Ruxpin creeped me out. Also found the Mice of Nimh a bit on the creepy side. I'm also told that the start of Harry and the Hendersons scared the crap out of me.

Gah!!! I'd forgotten about Teddy Ruxpin. I wanted one when I was a kid, but when I actually saw the toy in the shop I realised that thing was best left alone.

Oniomancer, I've never seen the older Outer Limits. I imagine it's much better than the 80s/90s one. Although I do have season 1 & 3 of the old, black-and-white Twilight Zone, and it's really good. Do you remember the episode where the boy is a monster and controls the town, It's A Good Life or something like that?

[Ealdwita]

Any limeys out there old enough to remember the Saturday afternoon black-and-white TV series, "The Trollenberg Terror"?

How that ever managed to scare the daylights out of me I don't know - but it did!

[Pauly Dangerously]

I'm a 90's kid as well and Eerie Indiana got me on a couple of episodes. The one where the mom kept her twin sons young in giant tupperware bugged me out.

Also, and don't ask me why, David the Gnome. Just couldn't do it.

[Wookietim]

When I was a kid, I watched an episode of the animated Start Trek series and, for some odd reason, the depiction of Klingons in that episode freaked me out beyond belief...

[Fluffybunny]

Most episodes of this terrified me.

Nibs

I both loved and feared that show...the music would give me the chills every time. I do however like that they had Kolchak on the X-files... as his show had been partially the inspiration for the X-files...

The one show that always freaked me out:

Pretty much anything from Sid and marty croft made me feel like someone had slipped magic mushrooms into my morning pancakes...

[Eldorado]

Tales Of The Unexpected...introduced by Roald Dahl (a right creepy looking man)