I found an old feed of Jonny Quest cartoons online tonight. And it reminded me of just how terrified I was of mummies as a boy. Everything else I could sort of laugh off. But not mummies.
Plodding, but relentless; seeking out those who were many times faster. And when you tired and least expected it they would wrap you in a death’s embrace and drag you down to your demise.
That’s the stuff of nightmares!
What monster scared the bejeebers out of you as a child?
© 2026 – SoulSequel
33 responses to “What monster scared the bejeebers out of you when you were a child?”
Ghosts. Most monsters or whatever, you can see them coming. A ghost, they appear and disappear. Having someone that is suppose to be dead just be in your face randomly was always a terrible thought. Mirrors also bug the hell out of me, even still to this day. Just the idea of nothing in the room but something being in or changing in the mirror is messed up.
@yin https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=63&v=nCpRMdeorIg
The mystery “thing” under the bed that might grab your leg if you dangle it over the side of the bed. At my Grandma’s house, all of us cousins slept in a row in Grandma’s twice as wide feather bed. 8 to 10 kids could snuggle in that bed, but I always ended up at the edge —– within grabbing distance of the “thing” in the dark under the bed. Grandma would say, before she put out the light, “Good night my little babies, and good night thing under the bed.” I did not dare dangle any part of my body over the side of the bed.
Speed ahead 60 years and I am an old woman, a widow. My 45 year old son had left my house and was never coming back. I was sleeping blissfully in my bed. Then I heard a noise !!! I opened my eyes in the dark. The bed moved a little and I heard the soft brushing noise again. I told myself that I imagined that. There is no monster “thing” under my bed. But, there was a small sound again — !!! I got my bedside flashlight and bent over the side of the bed to have a look. Glowing greenish yellow eyes stared back at me. I screamed and my son’s cat ran out from under the bed and out of my room! Yep, my son left his cat behind.
The exorcist deeply disturbed me. I was a big monster fan, otherwise… loved Abbot and Costello, etc. Would read monster comics.
Oh yeah, and the people under the stairs. Also the snake man, guy turns into a snake. Both have forced conversion (the people under the stairs would turn you into tiny evil gremlins).
People.
…still do.
I can still see this monster in my head from the original series The Outer Limits back in the early 60’s.
There was this one episode where there was this thing in the shape of a man that glowed brightly and within the glow there were these red things like ants that looked like they were all crawling within. As I think about it; I wonder if they were red, because I don’t recall when we got our first colour TV set.
Anyways, the second this thing came on the screen I set my ass on the other side of the floor model stereo, also in the living room, to block my view as I covered my ears.
@spitfire3dc
You watched the outer limits as a boy??
And I thought I was the rebel for sneaking off to my friend’s house to watch Jonny Quest!
@griz Most of the time my eyes were closed.
@griz
Your parents wouldn’t let you watch cartoons?!?!?!?!?
@luftballooneyegouge
That’s quite a leap from one cartoon to all cartoons!
Watch you don’t hurt yourself.
And perhaps there was wisdom in their intent at least. That mummy from The Curse of Anubis haunted my imagination for a very long time.
@griz
….except I never said “all” or any.
@luftballooneyegouge
It seemed implicit in the collective plural noun “cartoons”
I don’t recall any “monsters” scaring me, but…I was terrified of little people for a few years. We went to Disneyland a lot, and many of the characters like Donald Duck was played by a dwarf. I would stare at their deformed calves, and at night I imagined they were hiding in our hall closet.
Then I was afraid of closing my eyes in the shower for years after watching Psycho, afraid of the unknown monster.
When I was 15 years old the movie Jaws came out. I was a big time body surfer, but I stayed out of the ocean for a whole season. I was even scared on the sand thinking Jaws would come out and grab me.
@Gina After much thought about why I was afraid of little people when I was young, I came to this conclusion: When I was a child there wasn’t a thing called being Politically Correct, and this was before the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). People who were different weren’t talked about much, except mostly in a negative light.
Political Correctness was put into place so people would be more considerate of others, for people to be nice to each other. I probably wouldn’t have had a fear of little people if there was more positive talk about different people back then.
@Gina
I wonder if political correctness was only necessary because parents had neglected their parenting duties?
I was a rather precocious and outspoken child. It mortified my mother but amused my father.
So he would arrange for me to meet and interact with people who were different, or afflicted with ailments. And they would tell me what bothered them and what didn’t. I learned to see people; and not just awkward appearance and condition.
But that takes parental effort. So I guess it didn’t happen a lot. And now we have the scourge of political correctness running amok.
@griz Good parenting is always a wonderful thing, but parents need help too. My older sister worked with handicapped children, and then I did too. She would bring the kids to our house for holidays, and fun days. My parents were open-minded as they would go to drag shows at the Gay Queen Mary.
In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with treating people with consideration and kindness. There are always people that go too far with everything, or don’t go far enough. I will remain as PC as I need to be, I will not exclude, marginalize, or insult groups of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against; and I will not be cowed by people who say it’s wrong, extreme or silly.
@Gina
If we have Polite Consideration, we don’t need “Political Correctness”.
@griz
Polite consideration vs. Political Correctness: What’s the difference?
@luftballooneyegouge
The latter runs off of fear and finds safety in isolationism.
@griz said, “The latter runs off of fear and finds safety in isolationism.”
How do you come to this conclusion? You’re going to have to elaborate on that vague assertion.
How is calling someone what they’d like to be called, not rooted in empathy?
How is it isolationism, to be inclusive?
@luftballooneyegouge
An actual experiment in political correctness:
A philosophy Professor had a class that was very outgoing and interrogative on almost any subject he introduced. He announced they were going to have a guest speaker that day to interact with.
A tall thin white man in his sixties went to the front of the classroom: where he pronounced that he identified with being a black female. The class seemed fine with that. Then he pronounced that he identified as being short and fat. The class had a bit more trouble with that. Then he pronounce that he identified as five years old.
And everything was silent among the students who are usually eager to tackle any topic.
The professor asked them why. Still silence.
And finally one Brave young lady put up her hand and said she had been afraid to say even one word, lest it be deemed offensive. The professor asked how many others felt that way. Every hand went up.
Being polite and considerate doesn’t have to shut people up in isolate them.
Where as political correctness often demands this. If you are afraid to offend better to just shut the hell up.
I anticipate that you will find fault or flaw with the story with the semantics or how it’s presented.
But it’s still a very good story about how political correctness isolates us from one another out of fear of unanticipated offense.
@griz
You cannot call that an experiment in any sense of the academic meaning.
The kids didn’t want to be judged because they were aware that their actions were being noted in an unnatural way & being judged.
This man didn’t really self-identify as any of the things he claimed, & that was probably obvious.
Where is this isolation? What were they supposed to do, stand up & call a stranger a liar, when they Know they’re being manipulated artificially & judged.
I think maybe they didn’t want to play the game, which I’m finding difficulty with what this exercise has to do with a philosophy class? I think your instructor was teaching sociology, when they should’ve been teaching philosophy.
…..community college?
How you jump to isolation seems to be missing, & the fear, probably isn’t there once removed from the classroom judgement exercise.
@luftballooneyegouge
It was U of Toronto. The philosophy prof is an authority on ideologies, with special interest how in the 20th Century in particular, many “good” people have been swayed by toxic ideologies. He’s also a respected clinical psychologist.
The little classroom experiment very effective showed how fear of “committing an offence” kowtowed an entire class of adults into isolative behavior that was totally out of character for them. Up until that point they had eagerly waded into all manner of topics: difficult and contentious.
Which actually, I was sure I’d articulated clearly.
I just watched one of his electors the other day where he talked about how ideologies can come to possesses us in such a way that no matter how logical and rational an explanation is given to us, we will reach for points of illogical and irrational trying to defend it — all while thinking ourselves wise and good.
He links this behaviorally to some of the most murderous and contemptuous experiments in ideological control of the masses in the 20th century.
It ties in very neatly to the concept I’ve been introducing on group for years about paradigms of beliefs that we apply religiously: and how they blind and control us.
@griz said, “I just watched one of his electors the other day where he talked about how ideologies can come to possesses us in such a way that no matter how logical and rational an explanation is given to us, we will reach for points of illogical and irrational trying to defend it — all while thinking ourselves wise and good.”
….what like a diagnosis being twisted into some sort of scarlet letter?
…..good things not being incentives?
……Canada
I still see the forced circumstances causing the behavior, & not popular social conditioning.
@luftballooneyegouge
The “forced circumstance” perhaps ties into the wisdom that life is less about what happens to us than what we choose to do with what happens to us.
Two very same people in the exact same circumstance can take very divergent paths based on how they choose to respond to it.
This restores personal freedom, and can very effectively mitigate popular social conditioning.
@griz
I learned that back in The Cave of Time & Chimney Rock in the 70s.
Didn’t your Canadian parents allow you to Choose Your Own Adventure?
My code name is Jonah…..
@luftballooneyegouge
My father understood the importance of it.
Yours?
@griz
If you’re referring to freedom growing up, I can’t remember any set rules.
@Gina
…..Randy Newman ?
Real or movie monsters?
I lived a pretty sheltered life. Wasn’t allowed to watch monster movies.
As far as,real monsters, unless you count mass murderers, they don’t exist.
@Jear77
To a child reality is still a very fluid concept. So most of their monsters would be imagined — but falling within the fixed range of archetypes.
George Bush.