Kudos go to Richard for introducing me to a site called Kinder Trauma. Collecting stories of people's experience with movies, TV shows, and music videos that scared them when they were kids, the site is something plenty of us can relate to. For me, three memories immediately pop into my head. And looking back on them, I now have a better understanding of why so many people were traumatized by the flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz.
Even though my babysitter assured me that Murder, She Wrote was not a scary show, I was frightened by the opening scene of an episode. Showing a burglar entering a house, I don't seem to recall much after that, other than being very scared and not wanting to watch any more.
Seeing E.T. in the theater was an experience. And not a fun one. I really, really wanted to see the movie, but some of the trailers before it freaked me out. I don't remember any of the names of the movies, but I hope they weren't for The Thing or Blade Runner. Certain scenes in E.T. really scared me. Namely, the opening scene with men running in the woods with flashlights. And, when the man in the spacesuit showed up at the front door, I got really upset. My father took me out of the theater, and something about being out of room calmed me down.
Lastly, seeing the start of V (the movie) at a friend's house really got my goose. The whole thing about aliens tearing their human skin off was very difficult to watch. I believe I left the room once I saw that.
I should note that all of these experiences happened before I was eight years old and somewhere between the ages of four and seven. And looking back, they are rather laughable and not scary to me now. None of these experiences have prevented me from going about a normal life. They are no match for the kind of real life horrors that go on every day in the world, from spousal abuse to terminal cancer to genocide. So, I consider myself lucky that I had an upbringing free of that stuff.
Even though my babysitter assured me that Murder, She Wrote was not a scary show, I was frightened by the opening scene of an episode. Showing a burglar entering a house, I don't seem to recall much after that, other than being very scared and not wanting to watch any more.
Seeing E.T. in the theater was an experience. And not a fun one. I really, really wanted to see the movie, but some of the trailers before it freaked me out. I don't remember any of the names of the movies, but I hope they weren't for The Thing or Blade Runner. Certain scenes in E.T. really scared me. Namely, the opening scene with men running in the woods with flashlights. And, when the man in the spacesuit showed up at the front door, I got really upset. My father took me out of the theater, and something about being out of room calmed me down.
Lastly, seeing the start of V (the movie) at a friend's house really got my goose. The whole thing about aliens tearing their human skin off was very difficult to watch. I believe I left the room once I saw that.
I should note that all of these experiences happened before I was eight years old and somewhere between the ages of four and seven. And looking back, they are rather laughable and not scary to me now. None of these experiences have prevented me from going about a normal life. They are no match for the kind of real life horrors that go on every day in the world, from spousal abuse to terminal cancer to genocide. So, I consider myself lucky that I had an upbringing free of that stuff.
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