There are a few things that scared me in childhood that I never seem to have gotten over. To this day, if I’m walking past a mirror at night in the dark, I will not look in the mirror lest Bloody Mary be there looking back at me.
There are two other things that I’ve never gotten over, both thanks to Stephen King. I was too young to read his books and watch the movies, but that didn’t stop me.
In The Shining, there is a scene with a bloated corpse in the bathtub that starts to move. Terrifying. I often pull back the shower curtain on my tub to make sure she isn’t there.
Another King incident that sticks with me (I think it’s a combination of the book and movie) is the character Zelda from Pet Cemetery. She was green and crooked because of her spine and short. She waddled over with her malformed shape saying in a scary voice, “I’ll make your spine just like mine.” I always think she’s hidden in the corner by my bed at night, so I try to get into the bed as quick as possible. Because it’s night and it’s dark (and Zelda is pea green), she blends in, so I might not see her until it’s too late.
Are there any illogical fears that you know aren’t real that have stuck with you from childhood? Or from adulthood?
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Childhood Fears
Posted by Kirsten at 10:25 AM
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4 comments:
Thanks to an episode from "Highway to Heaven", I used to be afraid a snake would come up through my toilet and bite me. I was wary for a long time of elusive toilet snake.
I believe (we actually found one) crazy people lived in the woods behind my house and would snatch me on the way home from my friend’s house.
I lived with unstable, highly religious folk and was terribly afraid of demons as a result. A woman was killed in the house I grew up in, and that didn’t make it much better. Her ghost used to scare the pellets out of me.
Going back to snakes, I probably have an unusual fear of them. They seemed to be one of the biggest dangers of my childhood in the country. I don’t give a ham sandwich about which ones are not poisonous. Tell me all about it when you get bit by one you mistook for a “friend of jack.”
I'm right there with you, Jon. I used to think a snake would come through the toliet and bite me. It's like we're leading parallel lives. I don't know where the fear comes from, though.
I also check behind the shower curtain when I go into a bathroom. I guess I'm afraid a psychopath is hiding there with a knife or something.
Lately, I've been taking Zyrtec for allergies and I've been waking up extremely paranoid at night thinking that there are spiders on my pillow and that Satan is standing next to the bed. I'm thinking I'll ask my doctor to switch prescriptions . . .
As I was reading the post, I didn't think I had any, but reading the responses, I realize that I do. I am afraid of a man huddled in the floor board of my back seat when I get in my car at night. I am afraid that spiders will spit in my eye. I used to be afraid of the toilet snake as well, and I still have an elevated fear of snakes (which I associate with my conservative Christian upbringing). Since I have been reading Modernist poets, I am afraid of leading a long, mundane life full of repetition and dying without ever have made a single, real human connection, and then realizing that there is nothingness when I die. Grim? I know.
I am most afraid of dying, but my fears are mostly irrational fears of what may happen to me in public - things like vomiting or standing up and just pooping all over myself with absolutely no warning.
I also feel like I may shout out something totally inappropriate for the situation. I am also very afraid of clowns - both alive and knitted.
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