Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Share The Most Ridiculous Thing That Ever Scared Them As A Child

People Share The Most Ridiculous Thing That Ever Scared Them As A Child

The thing about fear is that it's often irrational and fear can often be summed up as the fear of the unknown. That pretty much sums up what it's like to be scared as a child, too.

What lurks in the dark corners of our bedrooms? (We don't know, but it's probably terrifying.)

What's that noise we keep hearing at night? (It's likely just the wind, but don't tell us that.)

Why did society decide that it needed Jerry Seinfeld? (This one is unanswerable.)

"What ridiculous thing scared you as a child?" –– This was today's burning question from Redditor awerli121 and it brings some much needed levity (and humor) to the notion of childish fear!


"I used to have..."

I used to have this repeating dream that scared me to death. I was always in a skyscraper made of windows, and a giant toddler would walk through the street. If the toddler saw you, you died. Weird dream, but I dreamt it repeatedly for years.

Drclarko

"I still think of that..."

Giphy

Escalators. My mother told me that they will catch my shoestring or pants hem and pull me down and cut me into shreds. I still think of that every time I step on one.

404brainn0tf0und

"I lived in Mumbai."

I thought an alligator would climb up the wall of our house like a lizard and come through my window and eat me in my sleep.

I lived in Mumbai. We don't have alligators anywhere. Also, they can't do that.

PfreedomPfighter

"Uncle told me..."

Dust.

Uncle told me it was left by ghosts.

dartie

"This one is weird..."

Rats, snakes, roaches, etc climbing up the pipe to the toilet and biting my butt.

My grandma's cocker spaniel jumping on me and knocking me over. He just wanted to lick me and was excited, it turns out.

Other people driving. This one is weird because I trusted absolutely nobody but my mom—if it was anyone else, ie her friends, babysitters, or even my dad, I was absolutely convinced I was going to die.

anonymousairman

"Consequently..."

If I clapped my hands above my head, the nightmares would start. If I clapped them up there again, they would stop. (This didn't actually happen; it was what I was afraid of.)

Consequently, I had to make sure I only ever clapped my hands above my head an even number of times. If I accidentally clapped them, I had to clap them again.

DuplexFields

"Haven't seen it since."

There's an episode of the Six Million Dollar Man where he fights this robot dude. At some point the robot gets his face punched off and the shot cuts back to his head all showing circuit boards and wires in place of the face. Freaked me the eff out. Haven't seen it since, and that was what.. 1974? Jesus.

kN3eLb4Z0d

"According to my mom..."

Balls. Literally any round object was terrifying to me apparently. According to my mom, if she wanted me in a room but didn't want me to go anywhere, she'd put a ~hand sized red ball in the exit. I was apparently too scared to even go to that side of the room.

AndrewWilsonn

"Return the slab..."

Giphy

King Ramses from courage the cowardly dog.

"Return the slab or suffer the curse~"

Duyduy12

"On a trip to London..."

On a trip to London as a ten-year-old, I woke in the small hours of the morning due to jet lag and was horrified to see an orange glow outside the windows.

I convinced myself that a nuclear explosion had occurred and somehow I had managed to sleep through it.

Nothing happened for an eternity of terror.

So I mustered the courage; I slid out of bed and crawled across the floor, to peep over the window sill and look out on the devastation, the city burning

The street lights were orange, for fog. They don't have them where I'm from.

5Min2MinNoodlMuscls

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Miriam Margolyes
David Levenson/Getty Images

'Harry Potter' Star Miriam Margolyes Offers Mic Drop Explanation For Why Respecting Pronouns Matters

Sometimes it is just that easy to make people happy. This is a lesson learned over and over in our lives, but that's because it's an important one.

Actor Miriam Margolyes shared how she learned to change her behavior to make others happier. Margolyes appeared on The Graham Norton Show recently and brought up a fairly polarizing subject in the United Kingdom: trans people.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk looks on during a public appearance, as the billionaire once again turns a newsroom style decision into a culture-war grievance broadcast to millions on X.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

Elon Musk Cries Racism After Associated Press Explains Why They Capitalize 'Black' But Not 'White'

Elon Musk has spent the year picking fights, from health research funding to imagined productivity crises among federal workers and whether DOGE accomplished anything at all besides leaving chaos in its wake.

His latest grievance, however, is thinly disguised as grammatical. Specifically, he is once again furious that the Associated Press (AP) capitalizes “Black” while keeping “white” lowercase.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk; Yale University School of Engineering and Applied Science
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images; Plexi Images/GHI/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Elon Musk Gets Brutal Wakeup Call After Claiming That Yale's Lack Of Republican Faculty Is 'Outrageous Bigotry'

Elon Musk—who has repeatedly whined about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)—took to his social media platform to whine about a lack of conservative faculty at Yale University.

Musk shared data compiled by The Buckley Institute (TBI), a conservative-leaning organization founded at Yale in 2010. TBI found 82.3% of faculty self-identified as Democrats or primarily supporting Democratic candidates, 15% identified as independents, while only 2.3% identified as Republicans.

Keep ReadingShow less
Barry Manilow
Mat Hayward/Getty Images

Barry Manilow Speaks Out After Postponing Farewell Tour Dates Due To Lung Cancer Scare

"Looks Like We Made It" singer Barry Manilow is in the process of saying goodbye to the stage and meeting his fans in-person, but he has to press pause for a few months after receiving a jarring diagnosis.

On December 22, 2025, the "Mandy" singer posted on Facebook, explaining that a "cancerous spot" had been discovered on his left lung.

Keep ReadingShow less
Chris Evans as Steve Rogers in Avengers: Endgame, the last time audiences saw Captain America before his unexpected return was teased for Avengers: Doomsday.
Disney/Marvel Studios

Marvel Just Confirmed That Chris Evans Is Returning For 'Avengers: Doomsday'—And Fans Have Mixed Feelings

Folks, once again, continuity is more of a suggestion than a rule in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel has officially confirmed that Chris Evans is returning as Steve Rogers in Avengers: Doomsday, and the internet has responded exactly how you’d expect: screaming, celebrating, arguing, and a very justified side-eye toward how Sam Wilson keeps getting treated.

The confirmation comes via a teaser now playing exclusively in theaters ahead of Avatar: Fire and Ash. There is no official online release, despite leaks circulating. If you didn’t catch it on the big screen, Marvel’s response is essentially: sorry, guess you had to be there.

Keep ReadingShow less