The 80s were a great time to grow up! We had incredible toys, entertaining cartoons and some of the best movies ever were created during this time. Also, this was a time where studios could get away with marketing mass murderers, movie maniacs and nightmare creatures to kids under the age of 10! These horror icons were so well know on the schoolyard that you could just mention a first name and people instantly knew who you were talking about. Jason, Freddy, Egon. These were all popular figures of the time. With so much scary stuff integrated into an 80s child's life, you would think it would have desensitized us a little, right? Even though these characters lost their edge when they began to appear as dolls, yo-yos and even on their own records, there were still some things that scared the hell out of me when I was young. Here are 3 of those things that made it hard for me to sleep at night!
Stephen King & Berni Wrightson's Cycle of the Werewolf
My dad was a huge fan of Stephen King and anytime his books would come out, he would pick it up. The covers of the majority of these books were visually striking and I would look at them with wonder. Wondering what the story was about on the inside. I was still into books that contained lots of pictures in them, so a King novel with 300 pages of words didn't really interest me. Then my dad bought Cycle of the Werewolf!
This was a Stephen King book with freakin pictures! I did not have to wonder about what happened in this book because the beautifully horrific pictures by Wrightson told me all the gory details I needed to know. These pictures were terrifying to me. Never before had I seen so much horror in one image. It really stuck with me, but I never actually read the book. It is now on my must read list!
FLEER Grossville High Cards
These cards didn't really scare as much as gross me out as a kid. I really liked Garbage Pail Kids and collected the hell out of them when I was younger, but for some reason the grotesque artwork on these FLEER produced cards really creeped me out. I remember putting these stickers onto some of the things around mine and my brothers room when we got them just like we did with our GPK collection. Then one night I was tired of looking at them and got out of bed specifically to tear them off our stuff. I mean, these cards are no worse than GPK but the artwork just seems a little too out there for me. Check em' out for yourself and be the judge.
Pretty crazy right? Now when I look back at them they aren't really that terrible, but things look a lot different when you're 8 years old! There is a reason though, why Garbage Pail Kids are seen as great nostalgia and no one really remembers Grossville High.
The Taxi Driver Ghost from Ghostbusters
Iloved the Ghostbusters movie when it came out, but there was always one scene that made me close my eyes. That scene was with the Taxi Driver Ghost! For some reason, none of the other supernatural beings in this classic movie scared me at all. The drooling, snarling, sharp toothed terror dogs? Nope! The crazy, floating, purple Library Ghost? Nope! The freakin' taxi driver ghost that is on screen for about one second? YUP!
The Sea Snakes from Majora's Mask
This game came out in 2000. I was still a teenager and had played survival horror games like Resident Evil, Parasite Eve and Silent Hill by this time with no problems at all. I even enjoyed them, but there was something about these giant, glowing eyed sea snakes from Majora's Mask that gave me the chills. Maybe it is the dark underwater setting or maybe it's the way they jump out at you. Whatever it was it kept me from completing this classic entry in the Legend of Zelda library.
We all have differing opinions on what is scary, creepy or even terrifying. So, what kind of things scared you as a kid? Let me know in the comments below. And if you want some more creepy Halloween content, check out this post I wrote about a few more things that kept me from sleeping at night including Freddy, Aliens and that damn Tarman!
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