"Back in the 70s, cars had big headlights and big grills in the front. when I'd go outside after dark, I'd see the front of the car and was sure the car was alive. The grills just looked like these big monster grins - and I was convinced if I didn't move and hightail it into the house the car would come alive and come after me. I'd hurry up with whatever it was I was doing (usually calling our dog Meg into the house) and then RUN into the house into the kitchen! Mom would look at me a little funny but wouldn't say anything. I'd just run up to my room. Even to this day, looking at some of those cars from the 60s and 70s brings back those memories of dark nights! "
Minette, age 40
Champaign, IL

"I AM very scared of clowns, so is my best friend and her boyfriend. Once we were at a fundfaising event (Relay 4 Life) and we was a clown. It had a huge multicolored afro and overalls. We just stared at it and it came over and said, 'Hello Kids!' We started screaming and beating up the clown. I am proud to say I caused quite a few bruises and scratches. My friend's boyfriend tried to pull of his afro, but it was real! We ran away as fast as we could and ended up on the roof of my house! lol "
Nora, age 12
Berryville, VA

"As a kid, I was always scared to get off of escalators. Getting on them was no problem, but the dismount...troubling. Couldn't I get sucked in? What if I tripped and fell and my shoelace got caught? As an adult, my legs are longer and I can kind of 'hop' off, but when you are little with short legs, it can make you sweat!"
Gina, age 29
Oswego, IL

"What's behind the open door -- between the door and the wall 'specially in the dark rooms -- I was never afraid of the dark but what's behind the door, not any more but I do not know why?"
Reem, age 22
Alexandria, Egypt

"I am and forever will be scared of spiders! I remember one time when we moved into our new house (This was only last year!!) that I was standing on bottom stair on the staircase and a spider was hanging right above my head and I didn't see it. My brother came up to me and said 'I guess you're not really scared of spiders, Rache.' I looked at him all confused and he pointed up, that was when I saw the biggest spider in my entire life. I screamed and ran all the way out the back door until I was sure I was safe. later I found out it was plastic and my younger brothers had planned it all along. :)"
Rachel, age 15
Green Bay, Wisconsin

"I was always scared of photos... I thought they would hurt... and absolutely refused to let photos be taken of me. I ripped out quite a large chunk of my mother's hair trying to escape the little black box once. And when I finally got a photo taken, I realised it didnt hurt but I was still scared of them hurting me, hence the many photos we have of my crying. "
Jo, age 20
Sydney, Australia

"An umbrella. I'm not kidding. I was looking for a baby picture for my yearbook and I found this cute picture of me when I was 3 and all dressed with an umbrella. Which I wasn't actually holding in my hand. My mom told that I was actually really unhappy when she took the picture because I wanted to get away from the umbrella.
Also, when I was 8, I started watching Hitchcock movies. Why my parents would let an 8 year old kid watch 'The Birds' or 'Psycho' is beyond me, but both movies traumatised me for a long time. I followed my mom everyhwere for a week after watching both movies and I even though I knew they were just movies, I became increasingly paranoid that if I turned around, I would find a man in the corner with his eyes gouged out or a dead woman rotting in the cellar. I got over it pretty quickly, thank god, and I've never needed therapy, though I think my threshold for horror movies has been permanently damaged."
Marie, age 17
Massachusettes

"I was scared of under the bed (in the dark.....scaaaaaaaaary)"
Maima, age 28
NSW Australia

"I am terrified of Clowns And getting lost! Clowns always are smiling all the time it's just plane creepy. Once when we went to the circus a clown came up to me and I started crying. And getting lost scared me to death once i just thought about the times I got lost and I just started crying."
Unknown
Portsmouth, RI

"Actually, what I was scared of when I was little, I am still scared of. I am terrified of birds. I think it started when my family went to Disneyland for winter vacation. We went into the Tiki Room and those things scared the living daylights out of me. Also in 8th grade one of my friends had a bird and I know that Petrie knew that I was scared of him... So every chance he got he would flap his wings at me, throw his food at me, or fly at me. The last one was the most scary because then he would land on me and flap his wings in my face. Ever since then, any bird within 15 feet of my personal space scares me really bad."
Meredith, age 17
Mesa, AZ

"When I was four years old, a rather unconsiderate babysitter (aka my older cousin) made the wise decision to let me stay in the room while she and her friends watched 'It.' To this day, that dang movie scares me senseless. My older brothers picked up on my fear shortly after the experience, and pointed out to me that my mom and dad's shower was EXACTLY like the one in the movie, where the clown thing crawls out and the little boy's blood..comes out (that's how I remember it happening in the movie and I absolutely refuse to watch the movie unless I'm flipping through channels and it's playing somewhere, so that's the version of the movie that I remember). My mom told me repeatedly that there was nothing wrong with her shower and tried to make me use it, but when I did I would squeeze my eyes shut and cry, and jump out as fast as I could. Until I was about fifteen years old, I would NOT take a shower in that bathroom unless there was no other option, and then I would leave the door and the shower curtain open! Even now, it gives me the creeps to think about spending time in that bathroom!"
Sue, age 20
Sylva, NC

"I was really scared of owls. Pictures of them, as well as the ones in the woods behind our house!."
Chris, age 29
Madison, WI

"We had an outside toilet. To get to it you had to go out the back door, and then into the laundry. We also had a huge Gum Tree in our backyard. Everybody knows monsters hide behind Gum Trees - not to mention Drop Bears!!! I would open the back door very carefully at night, peer out, and then race into the laundry before the monsters had time to run from the tree to the door to catch me. And the procedure was repeated on the return to trip to the house..."
Anne, age 32
Thailand

"When I was growing up I was scared of movies. Thats about it."
Joi, age 11
Pennsylvania

"I was scared of the dark and had to have a nightlight. I also also scared of heights. I wasn't scared of bugs or worms or spiders though."
Michelle, age 24
Minnesota

"The scariest thing for me as a child was going down the cellar steps at my great aunt and uncle's house. It was creepy and dark, but the backs of the steps were open and I was deathly afraid that I would fall through them! I had to be carried down those steps many times to get root beer from my aunt's root beer box! Then, my father told me a monster lived down there under the steps in which made thosesteps even more scarier! Oh to be that frightful again! Those were the days!"
Sam Mylin, age 43
Willow Street, PA
smylin@hydrosoft.net

"The thing that I feared most as a child was when my parents told me to go and turn on their electric blanket before I went to bed. You see, I had to go upstairs and down the long dark hall to my parent's bedroom which I was convinced housed monsters of many varieties. I would climb the stairs and walk the long hall slowly, and then race in there and click on the blanket. I would then turn and run for my life to get out of there before the monsters could get me. I 'performed' this job mostly every night of my childhood. I can't remember when I stopped believing in monsters, when the boxes, nightstands, and dressers in my parent's room took on their true identity. However, I'll never forget the gripping terror I felt as a child from turning on the electric blankets."
Connie Kotecki, age 25
Harvard, IL
koteckic@charter.net

"One day when I was in fifth grade (I went to a K-12 school) I was heading for baseball practice when I realized that the school's greatest athlete was walking toward me. Jack Meyer, who could throw a baseball in excess of 100 miles an hour and who would soon be pitching for the Phillies, was one of the most dominant high school hurlers in Philadelphia history. In three years of varsity pitching, Meyer never came close to losing a game, and struck out most of the batters he faced. We kids were in total awe of him, and I couldn't believe he was about to speak to me, a mere mortal. "Hey, kid," said the Great One, "I'm a little stiff and I need to warm up. OK?" Without waiting for an answer, Meyer tossed me a catcher's mitt and jogged to a spot about 60 feet away -- far enough so that he couldn't see me shaking like a leaf. At first, he simply tossed the ball, but as he loosened up they came in faster and faster, until they changed from balls to blurs. "Nice catch, kid," Meyer yelled a couple of times, not realizing that the only way I could save my life was to somehow get that mitt between my head and the bullets he was firing. Suddenly he called out the sweetest words I'd ever heard: "Well, got to get to practice. Thanks, kid!" With that, Jack Meyer trotted off to glory, and I staggered off to a quiet spot where I could get my heart started again."
Allan Dash, age 65
Philadelphia, PA
allandash3@comcast.net