I was deathly afraid vampires were going to sneak into my house at night and give me the S U C C. So I used to sleep with a pillow around my neck, as if ol’ Count Drac couldn’t just yank the pillow away. I also fully believed vampires couldn’t come inside unless invited in but that logic didn’t get in the way of me still believing they were going to break in somehow.

  • Umechan [he/him]
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    222 years ago

    Not an actual fear of something that would happen, but there was a nightmare I had when I was a young Christian boy (around 5-7 years old) that terrified me.

    I dreamt that I got separated from my mother while we went shopping, got lured into hell by a demon, and placed into a contraption that turned me into Satan’s second-in-command. I remember growing horns and doing an evil laugh the moment before I woke up.

    I was borderline traumatized. I talked to my preacher father about it, but said I saw it happen to someone else, as I didn’t want him to imagine that happening to his son. But now, as a middle-aged queer atheist, I embrace my role as Satan’s loyal devotee, even if I don’t understand what I did to move up the ranks so quickly.

  • BeamBrain [he/him]
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    2 years ago

    Ghosts. I had a bunch of unwritten rules for where and when they would most likely appear (at night, indoors, dark room, nobody nearby, nobody else in the building) and would do everything possible to make sure I didn’t meet those conditions.

    • GeorgeZBush [he/him]
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      62 years ago

      I used to watch Ghost Hunters with my mom before bed as a kid, so I always had a fear I’d hear voices at night or see a face looking at me in a window or something. I was also afraid of being in our unfinished basement. So yeah, I can relate lol

  • CombatLiberalism [he/him]
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    52 years ago

    When I was like 4 I had an incredibly vivid and terrifying dream that on paper sounds absolutely ridiculous but scared the shit out of me as a kid. I dreamt that a band of orangutans had gotten into our house and were hiding all over the place: in the walls, under the kitchen table, behind the fridge, behind picture frames etc. and every now and then they’d jump out of their hiding spot and attack us. It didn’t result in like a long-lasting fear or anything, in fact orangutans are my favorite animal, but to this day when I think back on that dream I feel a little hint of fear.

  • FourteenEyes [he/him]
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    162 years ago

    The Bermuda Triangle was presented as this impassible nightmare so when I found out that ships pass through there hundreds of times a day it was really disappointing

  • Vingst [he/him]
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    92 years ago

    ninjas hiding in my closet and poisoning my dixie cups i used when i brushed my teeth

  • keepcarrot [she/her]
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    122 years ago

    Being eaten by the toilet monster that made loud angry noises after flushing. Didn’t result in anything, but I do remember hurrying out of there for a few years

  • Flinch [he/him]
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    142 years ago

    I was absolutely terrified of aliens. I would sometimes refuse to go outside because I was scared of being abducted.

    As an adult I realize, if they exist, they certainly don’t want to talk to us* sadness

    *yet posadas

    • SorosFootSoldier [he/him, they/them]OPM
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      122 years ago

      Yeah I shouldn’t have watched Fire In The Sky as a tween, that movie fucked me up and made me paranoid of aliens. Funny enough the movie Aliens never scared me and neither did The Predator, two movies I shouldn’t have watched as a kid.

  • wtypstanaccount04 [he/him]
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    52 years ago

    I was terrified of clouds as a kid

    Because clouds could mean thunderstorms

    And I was afraid of thunderstorms

    Then I got prescribed antidepressants and that helped a lot

  • stevatoo [they/them, she/her]
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    82 years ago

    My mom replaced the hanging toy plane in my bedroom with a realistic white dove. The air conditioning would make it slowly spin around at night and I hid under the covers any time it “looked” at me.

  • GrouchyGrouse [he/him]
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    42 years ago

    I used to be scared of the devil. Now I listen to satanic music and tell God to fuck off. I wasn’t exactly a kid but the first time I listened to satanic metal a part of me was like “am I sinning?”