When I was very young, I used to think that two small white Japanese women statuettes, perched on a shelf in my parents' bedroom, could come to life and be dangerous. I referred to them as the "Achoo Statues." (don't know why)

Ellen Levitt

I used to believe that all my favorite cartoon characters would come gallyvanting down the hill by my house to come scare me as I played.

Anon

When I was a little girl, my older brother used to love to scare me..
He used to tell me that "The Preakness"
was going to get me..It wasn't until years later I found out that the preakness is a Horse Race!

Jo

When I was 8 or so I read the original story of the nutcracker, E.T.A. Hoffman's "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King", which is a very grim and creepy story. There was a character called the Rat Catcher, and any children up past their bed times when he made his rounds got nabbed, stuffed into a sack and turned into a rat to serve the mouse king. I was always up late into the night, and I knew that one night he would find me out... eek!

wendy

When I was young I believed that If I slept with my bedroom window open then a burgular could come in, and if instead I slept with my bedroom door open than monsters could come in. Everynight I would contemplate on which source of cool air to take a risk with. As I got older the door always one because i became skeptical of the existance of monsters.
And even past this stage, the idea of home invasion terrified me.

Kelly

When I was about 6, I went through a phase of thinking that a giant wanted to kill me. I would lay in my bed and I could hear the giant's footsteps walking up the hill to our house. I would jump out of bed and peep through the curtains to see him, but of course, he was too quick for me and would hide.

When I got back into bed, it would start all over again, only he would be walking faster and faster and eventually running to get me. I really had trouble sleeping for a while because of this giant.

I don't remember how long it went on for, but I eventually realised that it was only my heart that I could hear as my ear was pressed tight against the pillow, my heartbeat getting faster and faster the more scared I became.

Victoria

I used to think a troll lived on my building's top floor/attic. One time, my neighbor came to my mom crying, all cut up and bruised and I thought the troll got her.

Anon

I used to believe that whenever you used Irish Spring soap, you would automatically turn Irish and the banshees would come after you.

David

I believed if I went out alone after dark, the bogieman would come out of the bushes in front of our house and stuff me in a sack and beat the sack with a big stick. My older brother told me this.

Kristen

when i was young, i had read a scary story about two women swimming in a river, and one of them was grabbed at the ankle and pulled underwater. when she got out, she had a green palm print on her leg caused by a "frogman." for a long time after reading this story, i was afraid of not just rivers and lakes, but my own shower and toilet. i would avoid standing near the drain in the shower for fear of the frogman leaving behind a green imprint on the bottom of my feet. i can't begin to describe the caution used when on the toilet.

boo radley

I used to be one of those kids who thought inanimate objects came to life at night when no one else was around. Now, around Halloween, this became quite a problem. My mom used to go all out decorating the entire house with skeletons, a life-sized Dracula that sat at our dinner table, and even a replica of the killer from Scream. It didn't help that there was a giant fake spider web, complete with huge fake spider that was right outside my room (Spiders are my worst fear). Needless to say I never got much sleep for the entire month of October. Looking back on it now, I was also rather afraid of one of the Santa decorations that was put up around Christmastime. I was a rather troubled child.

Kaitlin

I used to believe that shadows were people trying to take over the world, and as the day went on they got bigger and bigger ( for all you idiots out there that means the sun was setting)I thought shadows were trying to raise an army.

Bianca

When I was a little kid, about 3 or 4, I thought that "lepruchans" were 6 foot tall, literally, lepoards that wore green hats, resembling Abe Lincolns, and green disco suits. HAHAHA

Seatharob

When I was about 4 yrs old I was absolutely terrified of the TV show "The Increidible Hulk." Even though the big green guy was suppose to be nice, I would freak out and run away if someone was watching that show. The house we lived in, at the time, was old and the carpet in my room was green. At night I had to sleep with the hall light on because I thought if I turned it off that the "big green guy" could use my carpet as some kind of portal (with his magical powers); beam himself into my room and scare me some more. It was some scary stuff when I was little!

lil' Jen

The public elementary school I attended was next to a private parochial school. That school's main building hard a large vent pipe coming out of the roof. "Everybody knew" that on St. Patrick's Day, a huge green ghostly hand would appear out of that vent pipe to throw rocks at you.

Anon

In order to get me inside after dark, my father would tell me that if I didn't come inside, that "Shamu" would get me. I did not know who this Shamu person was, but he sounded big and horrifying. The trick worked every time. As I got a bit older I found out that Shamu was a WHALE at Sea World. Dad's trick died that day.

Connie G.

My bedroom was upstairs, and I hated walking up them at night when my parents were in the living room. After a while I figured that since my parents could actually keep monsters away, then I could trick the monsters into thinking my parents were there by saying, "Good night Dad." "Love you too Mom." Over and over till I got to the safety of my room.

Katie

I used to believe that the boogeyman was the giant pitcher of red "Kool Aid." Sometimes he was yellow, but usually he was the red one, except the face was meaner.

NA

When I was six or seven, some married friends of my parents came to visit for a few days. While riding in the car, the woman was talking about "The Blob". I listened, terrified by this hideous creature, not realizing it was a movie. That night, I layed in bed screaming in terror that The Blob was going to get me. Suddenly a shadow appeared in the hallway and a man's voice said that he was The Blob and if I didn't shut up and go to sleep, he would eat me. I think I might have passed out from fear. On top of that, I never found out who the shadow was.

Steve

When I was younger I was very afraid to visit Chinatown in NYC because I was convinced that any moment, Godzilla, or some other reptialian giant monster, would come through and destroy everything.

Yvette