What did you fear most while going to sleep as a child?

I had generalized anxiety about monster grabbing me out of the dark.

I am not afraid of the dark anymore.

I do still have a severe case of arachnophobia.

Until my husband gets a full-time job, I will continue to be afraid of not making the rent.

I was never afraid to go to sleep. No closet doors in my room to harbor a monster & I knew there was nothing under my bed. I can’t even remember dreaming bad dreams.

I was afraid of a serial killer looking through my bedroom window, wearing a plain white mask
Now I’m so tired, I’m not afraid of going to sleep.

I was always afraid to close my eyes because I thought if I did the guy from scream or a robber would sneak in. Also when i would sleep on the couch I thought an anaconda would slither around me. Also I was afraid that a spider would make a hole in my skin and lay it’s eggs in there. I’m not really afraid of any of that now. Now life scares me at night.

Being abducted by aliens. I don’t know why but it always scared the hell out of me. I would stay up late at night and look out my window so I could be ready.

@lukiarobecheck Same here. I used to watch tons of shows about UFO’s and alien abductions. I was sure that other fears, like monsters, were preposterous, but so many shows about aliens couldn’t be wrong! I used to lock the windows, close the door and pick the bed furthest from all exits. I was perfectly fine with aliens taking my little brothers because they were closer!

the paranormal, ghosts zombies, bigfoot, aliens, life, dying in my sleep.
i used to read a lot about weird things. and of course i would read it before i went to sleep.
i’d get nightmares all the time.

oh, i was a troubled child…
well, i’m STILL a little troubled even now.

EDIT: oh yea, that character from tales from the crypt

If it was a Saurday night I was scared of whatever horror I had just watched on Bob Wilkins Creature Features. I can tell you my closet door was always shut on those nights.

I feared what was in the darkness of my closet. Even today, I can’t sleep with doors open.

What I feared most as a child at bedtime was for something or someone to crawl from under my bed and grab me.

I was afraid that my parents would kill me in my sleep.

I was afraid if I let my foot hang over the edge of the bed, a monster would get me; or worse, the clown doll from Poltergeist. I really don’t like clowns.

@cak I still feel that way!!

I wasn’t afraid of going to sleep on a regular basis, but hearing any kind of creepy story would make me think about it while I was trying to fall asleep. Of course, that still happens today and is in no way restricted to being a little kid. I used to also be afraid I would have a scary dream, because I’ve had some pretty creepy ones. The monsters in the bed and in the closet and such never really scared me.

Kidnapping.
Nothing paranormal. Standard humans.

@Facade don’t worry, so do I!

My parents always fought. I usually fell asleep to them screaming. That was my big problem, I would have preferred worrying about the killer under my bed. At least I wouldn’t have heard him.

I was always paranoid when going to sleep, I thought that if my blanket was somewhat touching the ground a lizard was going crawl up my bed and eat me. Till this day I can’t go to sleep without checking if my blanket is touching the floor.
And I am terrified of chickens and clowns.

@cak & @Facade A great many people don’t like clowns.

@johnpowell I’m sorry.

@cak & @Facade & @jbfletcherfan
The movie IT ruined my point of view of clowns.

i was always afraid i would die in my sleep.

My dad is a neurologist, and once when I was young I asked him why people have strokes. He told me that sometimes there is no reason at all. So for many years I was terrified of sleep itself, because I thought I might never wake up. To this day I am still frightened by the thought of dying without knowing that I was dying – I want to be there for it, y’know?

Heh, and this one tells you how much of a nerd I am – I never saw Scream or any scary movies as a child, but I read a lot. I once woke up screaming in the night because I had dreamed that the murderer from Great Expectations was stalking me in the air ducts.

Being possessed by the devil.

Thanks, Exorcist.

I was always scared of clowns! Every day I check my closet and close it because I always thought that a murderer or a freakin scary person would come out and omg I’m soo scared of ghosts,I’ve seen one in a picture with my brother and I’ve seen them in real life!
I always close my door so i dont see anything.
Im still scared that a clown will murder or eat me :o

@irocktheworld- Remember what Pennywise says.
“They all float down here.”

I wasn’t really afraid of IT, because he’s really a bug or something I don’t know

spiders…and a general non specific fear of fear itself

@AstroChuck Woah…0_o IM soo freakin scared since you said that now LOL :O
Pennywise is freakin scary! I didnt know who he was so i googled him…..

@AstroChuck @irocktheworld oh actually hell i remember that clown…it even kinda scares me now but when i first saw that as a kid i couldnt sleep properly for weeks….i was to young to watch it and never saw the end….its a ludicrous ending

I had and still do have a fear of letting any limbs hang off the side of my bed. I that if I leave them hanging of the side that someone will just chop them off ( I always pictured/feared an axe as the weapon). I also would have to jump into bed I was afraid someone could be hiding under my bed and slice my ankles.

I’m sure this proves that I have deep psychological issues but, I’m okay with that.

SIDS!

My feet cannot hang over a bed…still!

I used to be terrified to go to the bathroom at night. Probably why I was a bed wetter I’m not ashamed! lol I was scared of the dark, and monsters or aliens.
Ugh, I’m still freaked out about the dark. But my fears are more realistic ones…like a burglar or something like that. Oh, and ghosts.

Thought that a demon was going to get me (red pig eyes in the window). Probably shouldn’t have watched Amityville Horror as a youngin’.

oh my god, that freaked me out too

There was a lion under my bed, and I was afraid that it would grab my feet as soon as I stepped on the floor. Somehow it was always gone in the morning.

Later on, my grandfather was the one who transformed into a lion. I could hear him roaring in the night.

George Washington. My nightlight cast a shadow of my curtains on the ceiling that looked like a hellbeast version of GW. He was scary as hell.

Godzilla. There was a radio tower in the distance that I could see from my bedroom window. It had 2 red lights that looked like eyes, and I swore it was Godzilla’s eyes and he was going to eat me while I was sleeping. Of course, I know now this is totally illogical. Godzilla would never wait until I was asleep, he’d just come eat me whenever he felt like it.

Dying. I feared dying excessively, and still do. My Dad used to have to come in and stop my sobbing by telling me I had a good 90 years til death and that it was nothing to worry about.

@jmah

Thinking about The Amityville Horror at night still scares me. I just had a dream about the “Red Room” last night… :P

I’ve never seen Amityvile Horror movies yet….
Haha :P

The fear that pterodactyls would attack through my window. I kept the shades down for that reason.

During the 1st Gulf War, I used to be terrified that my dad would get drafted and be gone by the time I woke up. I was 9-ish, and my dad was big and brave and strong, so of course he’s be first on the list to get sent to war!

I remember the scariest night of my life quite vividly. I never seemed to get too scared in my house other than one friday night when I was on the computer in my basement. I suppose a little introduction may help with this stories peak.

One morning I woke up with my mom yelling (while I was still in high-school) “Scot, get up!” I opened to my eyes to see a child, a small child standing with a sad look on his face, he had books in his hand, a little scottish school child; standing in the corner of my room. At the moment, I shrugged it of. I am not sure how I did this, considering what I had just seen; maybe I thought it was a dream or something. Anyway, keep that in your short-term memory bank for a few minutes.

Kicked back in our office, I was talking to a great friend of mine at the time. This was on a video-chat client on our computer of course. To some-what paint a picture for you, I will tell you that if the camera were pointed at me while I was sitting our chair, one chatting with me would be able to see behind me and just outside of our office. I told my friend I would be back in a few minutes and went to use the restroom. I left and did what I needed to do without anything being our of the ordinary.

When I returned, I looked at my screen and saw a full screen of typing done by my friend. It said “very funny” and different one sentence statements about what I thought was nothing. I wasn’t quite sure why all this was on my screen, until I started reading through it. One line that caught my attention said, “what are you trying to do, scare me? Tell your brother to go upstairs, shouldn’t he be sleeping?”

My sibling at the time was probably around age eight and I am certain he was sound asleep at two in the morning.

After I asked him what the hell he was talking about and finally convinced him that I had nothing to do with this “kid” he saw when I left, he told me that a kid walked into the camera’s view and sat down at the desk that was placed outside the door of our office. He told me the kid looked like an old scottish school child…

I froze.

Needless to say, that always scared me. That is what I would always think about while I was going to sleep.

@scotielee : Welcome to Fluther! Ooh, that sure is spooky. I love a good ghost story. (says ubersiren as she watches Ghost Hunters)

:o)

Waking up and finding that summer was over.

I was afraid of being whipped out of sleep with an extension cord, which happened quite a number of times for things like leaving a cup in the sink after supper dishes had been done.

@ubersiren, I live about 10 minutes away from TAPS headquarters :)

I can get you a T-shirt.

@CodexNecro : Oooh, I’m such a big fan! Would it be a free t-shirt? I only wear free ones.

@ubersiren, yeah I’m pretty sure they just give them away. I see their vans all over the place and I actually got to meet Brian. He’s a really cool guy, he was happy to hear what a big fan I am.

@scotielee Welcome to fluther. Lurve.
@AstroChuck I loved watching Wilkins. It was sad watching him pass recently.

Ants were my greatest fear growing up. My brother once threw a slice of bolagna under his bed, and in the morning our room was carpeted with ants. Freaked me out.

Years later, when I had an apartment, I was shocked by having cockroaches (which I never saw till then). I called my sister, very upset, and she just said “don’t sleep with your mouth open”.
Come to think of it, thats about the time I started my battle with insomnia.

wolves outside the window, monsters everywhere, the big tree in the backyard.

I would have these episodes(I later learned was sleep paralysis) I would be awake, but coulednt move, sometimes I would hear or see things, but couldent move or cry out. to a little kid, this is terrifying.