Writer's Block: Too scary!!

[ladysprite]

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Showers.

I was raised Jewish, and someone - I don't remember quite who - told me when I was very little that Hitler killed all the Jews by telling them that he was sending them to the showers, and then poisoning them with gas.

I was all of four or five years old, and somehow this all mushed together in my exceedingly hyperactive imagination, until I was quite certain that Hitler was going to sneak into the bathroom and swap out the water in the shower for poison gas, and kill me because I was Jewish. I refused to take showers until I was... I don't remember how old; at least eight or nine. I'd only take baths instead; for some reason they weren't nearly as scary. I think the shower curtain was part of it; there's something about the limited field of vision that makes it entirely possible for stealth Nazis to invade without your notice.

Of course, I was also terribly afraid of monsters, the basement, sentient green ooze, triffids, and one particularly unusual Shel Silverstein poem, and my sister spent at least a year afraid of Jesus (another friend explained that He would take her to burn in H-e-double-hockey-sticks for being Jewish).

We were odd children.....

Comments

[medeaschild.livejournal.com]

I was terrified of showers when I was little too! No idea why though, either I can't recall or I didn't have any logic. (Could be either, there are large swaths of my elementary school years that I have simply blocked)

Spiders, rabbits, the movie Beetlejuice, sleeping and black sedans were also on my fear radar.

[droewyn.livejournal.com]

I was afraid of showers, but that was mostly after seeing horror movies like Witchboard, where the evil spirit turned off the cold water and jammed the shower door shut so that the heroine was badly scalded.

I used to glare up at the showerhead while taking baths, daring it to try anything.

[auntiemame67.livejournal.com]

Witches in the basement.

Specifically, scary old fairy tale witches. I have no idea why this happened, as when I was young, we had a great full sized unfinished basement that was *so* much cooler than the house in Hudson River Valley August. I used to play down there in the laundry/canned good storage area (which was huge, half the basement) and Dad's workshop. I had my own child sized tool box, real tools, not the like plastic ones that make noise you get k know, just kid-sized hammers, saws, screwdrivers, a hand saw, a wire saw and a plane and stuff... it was tomboy heaven!

But at some point, I became convinced, to both my parents' bewilderment and chagrin, that there was an evil witch in the basement, and she was going to get me. I don't recall anyone telling me she was there, or even mentioning the possibility. I just know I developed an unreasoning fear of basements, especially unfinished ones.

[z-gryphon.livejournal.com]

What a thing to tell a four-year-old. I think I'm scared of relatives like that.

[kitsunesan.livejournal.com]

And people wonder why Christianity is still a touchy subject for me. <_< But on a lighter note, do you remember convincing me when I was about four that I was from the moon because I had green blood? Which seemed logical to me, being that my pale and yellowish skin does make my veins look green. X3

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I was afraid of Jesus sending me to Hell for being an insufficiently fervent Christian. And I can totally sympathize with your childhood fear of showers; my mind worked in a similar way.

[geochick.livejournal.com]

Actually, those are extremely specific (and, in terms of kid-logic, well-reasoned) fears. Mine were a bit more amorphous. Mostly they revolved around the "things" that I knew were getting into my room at night, especially if the room were fully dark or any part of my body was not concealed by covers. The only "thing" that had a very specific shape was the shadowy, creepy guy in a big hat and a trench coat who came in for the sole purpose of removing my favorite stuffed animal/sleep toy from my arms. (Well, how else could they always end up in the floor by morning?)

[aries-walker.livejournal.com]

I have to know which Shel Silverstein poem.

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

I also had a fear of Jesus, when I was 5... well, a fear of a picture of him, anyway. There was this picture of him at a kindergarten friend's house, and it was one of those glowingly supernatural eyes portrayals, very intense, and plus the guy had long hair and my parents took a dim view of those hippie types anyway. So I ran shrieking to my friend, crying, and when I told her what was scaring me, she just said "Silly, that's Jesus!"

Ok, Jewish kid here too. I didn't know.

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

"...the shadowy, creepy guy in a big hat and a trench coat..."

Well, at least he didn't have a gas mask, or I'd be wondering how you'd seen a drawing of Sandman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandman_(Wesley_Dodds)).

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

I do remember that. We were on a long car ride.... somewhere; I don't remember, and I was trying to keep you entertained. It just sort of took off from there.... :)

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

Popsicle.

I got a copy of 'A Light In The Attic' when I was about 4 years old, and for some reason that one just freaked me the heck out. There was an illustration of a unicycle with a guy's head on it, that was incredibly disturbing, and the thought of losing control of how you talked upset me beyond all reason.

See above note about me being a strange child. :)

On the other hand, I still adore most of his other stuff....

[evcelt.livejournal.com]

I was afraid of Jesus sending me to Hell for being an insufficiently fervent Christian.

Me too. That one lasted longer.

[serakit.livejournal.com]

I had the fear of shadowy amorphous "things" too-- I used to make up elaborate protections around the bed and rituals that had to be done right before bed so that the things couldn't get me. It got better when my parents gave in to my desire for one of those gauze canopies (think purple mosquito netting) around the bed; the giant purple rhinestones on it reflected the things away.