images of childhood

That last post got me thinking about secret traumas from my childhood, which naturally led to the things I saw on tv or movies as a kid that haunt my nightmares and imagination even to this day - I think an appropriate topic with Halloween right around the corner, especially if you are babysitting between now and then.

Most notably:

1. The Wrath of Khan: I've never seen the whole movie, but I did see the most harrowing part, when they put the bugs in the guys' ears to make them bad guys. This scene really messed me up. I was sure that one day I was destined to have a slippery bug forced in my ear canal that would change my personality permanently. I still get weird about things in my ears at doctor's appointments and such.

2. The Witches of Eastwick: This was the first R-rated movie I ever saw. I watched it at a sleepover and felt guilty for years afterwards, so that fact alone kind of scarred me. I think my aversion to fresh cherries stems (pun!) from the scene where the witches are eating cherries in the pool, causing the Christian lady to vomit violently until her husband stabs her. Welcome to the world of R-rated films, Christa.

3. The Witches: Angelica Huston as the Grand High Witch and little kids turning into mice. SCARY.

4. "The Yellow Wallpaper": This was an adaptation on Masterpiece Theatre from the Charlotte Perkins Gillman story of the same name. At one point the camera zooms in on a part of the wallpaper where from behind, a scratching sound can be heard, getting louder and more frantic. Suddenly a hole rips in the paper and an eye pops out from behind the hole. I became deeply terrified of my own inevitable descent into mental illness, as well as Victorian wallpaper, from this scene.

5. The Little Mermaid: The real Hans Christian Andersen story, not the Disney version. My best friend and I watched a very melancholy, ethereal cartoon of the tale, and at the end she turns to seafoam because she doesn't earn the prince's love. But she gets a chance to earn an soul by serving 300 years of good deeds as a ghost mermaid. Super devastating. And no Sebastian the crab.

6. "Mathnet": The segment from Square One. One time Monday pulls a mask off of a guy who appears to be Frankly but he is not - he is the bad guy. That looked just like Frankly's real face! I thought. This means ANYONE could be wearing a mask. A few panicky car trips followed where I would be overcome with creeping fear, wondering, "Where are we even going? I don't remember this way. IS THAT EVEN MY REAL MOM DRIVING? Am I being kidnapped?" I would then stare at her face for a long time determining if it was really her or a stranger in a mask. Eventually we would get home or to my grandparents' and I would forget the whole thing.

7. Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected: A man drops an heirloom pen down the subway stairs after hours and goes after it. He then embarks on this long journey to get his pen back in this weird underworld that exists in the subway after it closes. I won't go into all the places he goes or the point of this adventure, but a couple of times he is riding in a subway car that is totally empty. Then the lights flicker out for a second and when they come back on, the car is FULL OF MANNEQUINS. Then the lights flicker out again and when back on the train is empty again. Do I need to explain what kind of message this sent me about public transportation and the kind of people that take it?

This one I am still not sure about. For the longest time I thought this skit came from a Captain Kangaroo episode. Now I think it might be from Tales of the Unexpected but I can't find a plot synopsis anywhere.