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Oct. 30th, 2005
Childhood fears
Oct. 30th, 2005 11:06 amI was reading an old message board thread about this subject and thinking how these fears seem so funny now but were so damn creepy back then (and are still a little creepy, admit it). These were mine:
It's all very amusing now but I can still kind of feel the chills going up and down my back at the memory of how it felt then. So how about you guys? What were you afraid of?
- "Broken" toilets. You know, those industrial ones where the toilet seat didn't meet in the middle front, usually black, often seen in schools and older rest stops and such? Yeah, those. I was terrified of them and would refuse to sit on them to pee. I'd rather have held it in, and you who know me in real life know that that isn't something I like to do ever.
I'm not sure exactly what I thought they would do to me, but I know exactly how it started: years later, Mom told me that when I was very small, we went to some rest stop bathroom that had lots of toilets and was very loud with all the flushing. It started after that. I eventually got over it by sitting sideways on the seat until I couldn't be arsed to bother anymore. Mom suggested I "practice" at home (on the good toilet) so I'd be ready. I think this was when I first went to school, actually. She must've not wanted me to be a screaming freak. - Volcanoes. No, I wasn't scared of them popping up under me (in Ohio?). I was scared of going on vacation to Hawaii, because apparently volcanoes erupted there all the time. Note: we never vacationoed in Hawaii, nor did we have plans to do so.
- Kidnappers/the ominous "they." I was scared someone would come take me away in the middle of the night, so I slept with lots of stuffed animals and dolls, the reasoning being that if I sat very still they would think I was a doll, too, and not bother. I also practiced lying very still so robbers (not to be confused with kidnappers) would see that I was deeply asleep and not do anything bad to me as they ransacked the house.
It's all very amusing now but I can still kind of feel the chills going up and down my back at the memory of how it felt then. So how about you guys? What were you afraid of?