#45

Two things

Chance viewing of the early 70s World In Action edition that revealed the link between smoking and lung cancer. My dad smoked 20 a day back then and I genuinely thought he was going to drop dead at any minute. Horrific.

Living ‘under the shadow of The Bomb’. From when I was old enough to understand the consequences of nuclear war, and the tension of the Cold War, I lived in daily fear of hearing the air attack siren. Probably lasted 10 years, up until the Berlin Wall came down.

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#46

I remember a kid at my school bringing a tape measure in to check the diameter of other kids’ trousers and if they were deemed to be flares you were subjected to a pile-on

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#47

100% this. Lots of discussions of what you would do during the ‘4 minute warning’

Also being repeatedly told by the government you would die of Aids if you had sex. Neither sexy nor mischievous.

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#48

Had really terrifying nightmares about loud booming factories when I was a kid. Weirdly was talking to a colleague who reckons they had a similar thing when they were a kid.

Maybe there’s just a load of generic nightmares that you have before you learn about final exams, public nudity, teeth falling out etc.

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#49

the shapes emitted a really loud noise too.

reckon the government was feeding us acid.

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#50

i think retrospectively this might have been my first experience of sleep paralysis but I remember one night when I was 10 or so having a sort of lucid nightmare where my curtains were on fire, it was one of the most vividly horrifying things, i have a terrible memory of childhood stuff but still recall the visceral feeling of it.

#51

No need for acid when you had terrifying TV ads like this on all the time :persevere:

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#52

there was an episode of some sciency programme speculating on stuff that might be able to happen in the future, and there was a bit about head transplants which sent me west

there was a video accompanying this bit… there was somebody with this weird thing over their head, like a cylindrical glass thing. I think this also reminded me of nightmares I had when I was potty training of somebody with a toilet for a head walking down the corridor.

layers of nightmare fuel, there.

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#53

I was born in 75 so also had the 80s fear of the bomb dropping on me. Terrifying.

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#54

This

#55

oh fuck, I had these when I was ill! really claustrophobic, too. horrible abstract fever dreams.

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#56

I remember I had a dream about a fox careering around a living room that was on fire and then woke up to find it was thunder and lightning

#57

Heartbeat on ITV.

One because it was so boring and two it was on at like 8 on a Sunday so you knew the weend was nearly over

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#58

I was so neurotic as a child (and later, an adult) that I got really fixed on loads of morbid stuff. Think staying up late while on holiday in Norfolk when I was about 7 and watching a documentary about Chernobyl was the thing that has stuck with me in my adult life.

Other things that sent me into a uncontrollable misery included Old Bear (the TV series and book) which combined with The Velveteen Rabbit lead to me becoming obsessed with the thought of my toys getting sad or lonely. The song ‘Two Little Boys.’ The Silver Sword (can’t remember who it’s by but really vividly remember getting to the end, crying my eyes out then starting it again).

Not really surprising I’m an emotional wreck now.

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#59

that opening guitar riff is burned into my head

#60

Eat too much roast dinner on a sunday and fall asleep in front of F1 coverage and wake up feeling groggy and horrid. Eugh.

#61

I was terrified of asteroid impact and meningitis. I am a migraine sufferer, and every time I got one I was convinced that was it.

Also, I used to cry with intense melancholy at loads of things when I was a kid. I had a keyboard that had a version of Just The Way You Are as it’s demo, wept at that. Learned to play the piano, used to play and sing through an Elton John song book and cry, particularly No Sacrifice. Still have trouble listening to A Good Heart by Feargal Sharkey sometimes, because while it was my favourite song as a kid it can tip me right over the edge. It was on in Co-Op a while ago and I had to leave.

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#62

CJD/BSE was terrifying! All those experts saying masses of people would be dropping dead from it in a decades time. Not to mention all the news footage of zombified cows staggering around and weird names like “Creuzfeld-Jakob Disease”.
Really creepy stuff!

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#63

getting sad about inanimate objects really got to me, like if I dropped a sweet on the floor I would drop another one so it wouldn’t be lonely. once had a magnetic fishing game I played in the sink, one of the fishes went down the overflow slot, I was distraught, my parents had to reassure me to calm me down said it would end up at sea and eventually find my grandparents on the isle of wight. I must have been quite a stupid kid as I believed them

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#64

still actually a bit like this, like if I pick up a book and it is slightly damaged I won’t look for an unblemished one because I have already bonded with the book I have picked up. also feel really bad about changing guitar strings that have served me well

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