No one knows where fear really comes from. You can typically trace them back to experiences, things that have actually happened to you, affected you, and are now triggers to your fear zone. As a kid, however, the big, new world can present many strange encounters you have no idea how to comprehend. Suddenly, the loud flushing toilet lives in your nightmares and you have no one else to turn to.
That's what the internet is for.
Reddit user, u/neriahfuller, wanted to hear what monster lurked in your minds when they asked:
As a child, what genuinely terrified you?
A Thought That Never Goes Away
Simpsons Apocalypse GIFGiphyI would randomly get it into my head that the end of the world was going to happen. Something along the lines of the rapture or some sort of apocalypse.
There'd be nights when I'd stay up and just wait for the end to come because I was somehow so convinced that it was 100% happening.
We'll Have To Call In The Proper Authorities
Not making it home before the streetlights came on.
Not only was it, like, the main rule of life during childhood, but I was very convinced it was an arrestable offense to be out after the streetlights came on. As in, the streetlights come on but you're still a block and a half from home, so cops instantaneously come out in swarms to surround you and put you in the back of a cop car.
We've All Thought This, Only Some Of Us Are Afraid Of It
Automatic toilets.
Don't let your butt touch the water, it'll suck you in too
Scared Into A's
I was terrified of teachers.
I ended up being an excellent student because i would pay utmost attention in class, complete everything on time, score top marks..all this because i was terrified of them scolding me.
This Math Checks Out
That my dog would get taken by a dog catcher.
In kids movies the dog catcher is always the bad guy!
Who Knows What Darkness Lurks In The Hearts Of Potatoes?
bart simpson GIFGiphyI don't know why but for some reason i was terrified of fried potato skins.
Maybe you misunderstood and thought it was fried people skins. Or you were deliberately told that by an older cousin with a cruel sense of humor.
You're Not Sitting Alone
The dark
I also am scared of the dark but I was told something that changed my view on it. Living alone, I'm not afraid of the dark I'm afraid of something joining me in the dark
Obviously.
Being in any well-lit room, with uncovered windows, after dark. Especially if in unfamiliar neighborhoods. Because of "the snipers" who could easily target me from their perches outside, obviously.
Soon, You'll No Longer Be...
I used to lay in bed at night and realize that one day I would be dead and no longer exist.
And now I'm having an existential crisis
Who Says You Could See Them?
I was terrified that I would look up and see someone staring at me through a window when I was alone at night
That's Right, Kids! You're Not Even Safe In Your Sleep!
season 3 sleeping GIFGiphymy parents were religious, and told me the prayer "if I should die before I wake, I pray the lord my soul to take." The idea of it horrified me. I didn't want to be accepting of someone taking my soul in my sleep...I refused to say it
My grandma tried to get me to say this prayer when I'd stay the night at her house, and it made me really uncomfortable. Like... You can die in your sleep?! I hadn't considered it before.
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
@arianagrande/Instagram
@arianagrande/Instagram